Is canon lake not next in line? Haha it's hard to keep up. I find if your the "oh I'll just wait for the next chip to release" type that you'll never end up buying anything. Take the plunge now.
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New 13-Inch MacBook Pro Sans Touch Bar is Marginally Faster But More Efficient Than Last Year's Base Model
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It is obvious that Macbook Pro this time around stands for 'Prosumer' and not 'Professional'.
When the unibody Air and Pro were released in 2008 nothing like them had come before and they set the benchmark for the entire industry. These pro models will certainly not have the same effect and just like everything else post-Steve these releases are simply evolutionary rather than revolutionary.
When the unibody Air and Pro were released in 2008 nothing like them had come before and they set the benchmark for the entire industry. These pro models will certainly not have the same effect and just like everything else post-Steve these releases are simply evolutionary rather than revolutionary.
Except that they did choose the same processor class, the 15-W TDP 'U'-class CPUs, as the MBA line has used all along.
The problem is that a retina MBA would look pretty much like the entry-level 13" MBP. It's the same CPU class, the same integrated GPU class, the very similar battery life. Maybe an 'true' retina MBA would gotten an SSD that is not quite as fast (the MBA did a slower SSD than the 13" MBP), maybe it would gotten TB3 and USB-C a year or two later (the MBA did USB3 and TB2 a year or two later than the MBP), but USB-C is switch Apple would have very likely wanted to make even for a new retina MBA this year.
And Broadwell laptops, the currently sold 13" MBA and 2015 13" MBP, aren't massively outdated compared to Skylake given the limited performance gains Intel is making per generation. Their SSDs are still among the best as well.
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Yup, we used to have two of each, two 'bridges' (Sandy Bridge, Ivy Bridge), two 'wells' (Haswell, Broadwell), but we will have many more 'lakes' (Skylake, Caby Lake, Cannonlake, Coffee Lake, Icelake, Tigerlake). And don't ask me by what rule the 'lakes' are written as one word or as two.
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I cannot shake the feeling that 90% of the misery here is caused by people having to buy new cables and a couple of adaptors. And that people are more upset about spending $150 on cables and adaptors than by spending twice ($300) due to the price increase of the actual laptop.
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Yeah, have you ever seen an Apple product offered in two different battery sizes?
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Yes, but they didn't offer the same design in parallel in two different product lines. There is a difference between reclassifying a product (they added FW800 as a 'justification') and selling it under two names.
And this is why I'll keep on plugging away on my older iMac that actually has ports and my Macbook Pro that has those too! All they need is a little wakeup from an SSD and maybe some ram and they are good to go. I love my iMac. Until they get their stuff together and get past this whole "designing for experience thing" my wallet will continue to have no urge to come out and play.
All in all, I think I'm in a good phase of the product lineup. They are near the anorexic stage and then hopefully someone will remind them they are still pretty if they have a couple of mm's here or there.
I'm still happy with my base Early 2015 13" MacBook Pro. I use it for portability and battery life but I do need USB for USB to RS232 at times to setup an older Crestron or AMX system's ethernet settings. The newer Crestron and AMX systems use a USB B connector so I use USB A To B cables. I see no benefit in "upgrading". I don't care at all about cutting a few millimeters of thickness off of a already super thin design.
Not to mention Apple removed the SD card. What was the use of flush SD cards for more permanent storage options killing the Apple bank accounts that badly? Maybe if they sold something more then 128GB for a reasonable price it wouldn't have been a issue.
I think my next laptop is either going to be some variant of the Razer Blade or Microsoft Surfacebook when the time comes at this rate.
Not to mention Apple removed the SD card. What was the use of flush SD cards for more permanent storage options killing the Apple bank accounts that badly? Maybe if they sold something more then 128GB for a reasonable price it wouldn't have been a issue.
I think my next laptop is either going to be some variant of the Razer Blade or Microsoft Surfacebook when the time comes at this rate.
The really compelling case for USB-C power is the fact this it is likely to become the much sought-after "universal power standard", at least for laptop computers and phones. I've occasionally been stuck when I'd left my Apple power supply at home, or a meeting has gone on longer than planned and I'm short of battery life. We will now have a much better chance of someone else (non-Mac user) having a USB-C charger, and finding power ports in other devices such as monitors.
I think Apple should certainly include a magnetic "break-apart" option like Griffin's to keep the MagSafe feature. It would be a win-win situation.
While I typically agree with you in this, sometimes it does pay to pay attn to specs and wait it out. Prime example is a Macbook that is sitting next to me that was the first unibody that lacked FireWire. It still "looks" modern but I told my sister not to buy it due to the limited ports. We still use multiple FireWire HD's.
Pouring salt in the wound was when my mom would get out her iBook and hook up to the HD via FireWire or not as relevant but the external iSight camera! Haha. Still have one of those.
There is no question it is different. Typing on it now. It is of course toward that direction, but, it is quite a bit better. The MB should have been made like this one. I looked into it and grabbed screenshots showing this:
MacBook: Notice the X shaped dome
New MacBook Pros: Notice the full circular dome
After using this keyboard for a day then trying out an old Air at the store, the old keyboards feel like they are off of a typwriter. For some people that might be a good thing I guess, but I do like the new slimmed down form.
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But of course , we have hundreds maybe thousands of posts on the MacBook Pro based on our opinions, be it positive , negative or question marks , its all based on the limited information we have been provided. I like physical keys.....therefore I have never liked the idea of the display strip .
I had rhe same view point about multi touch track pad and also 3D Touch , and two this day it's features I don't use, and even without trying it, I know it's a gimmick , I'm actually looking for a used 2015 top spec machine while I have the new machine on pre-order cause I see it as much better value, and I really dislike the concept of not having physical function keys. As I said , nothing beats an excellent quality mechanical keyboard for me, a 12 MacBook KB is a major step backwards , and styling on paper, while loosing physical keys is even worse.
Is it a huge deal, no , I can just ignore it, but I'm paying a premium for something I don't need or want. I can see it being a emoji bar for many.
One thing I still have to research is the Touch ID implementation , if it offers the same security benefits like the iPhone .
After my initial disappointment and shock at the price, I am warming to the idea of the base MBP 13. It's more a replacement for the MBA in my mind (15W CPU, fewer ports than the rMBPs), and I suppose the price increase for the better screen, faster SSD, new ports, trackpad etc is *just about* justifiable. Battery life may end up close to the MBA in practice, and the performance appears to be better.
It has one advantage in that it can upgraded to 16GB RAM which I find makes quite a lot of difference for my usage.
It is still expensive though (although as pointed out, the same price as the previous rMBP 13 upgraded to a 256GB SSD), and very expensive in Australia.
However, looking at the competition (XPS 13, Surface Pro 4), it's often about the same price, so the decision is not clear cut. Dell tend to have discounts & offers though. At the moment XPS 13 with Kaby Lake i7, 16GB, 512GB, touch screen is AU$2549 now. A similar spec'd MBP 13 is AU$3,319 - that's nearly $800 cheaper. The SP4 is AU$3,399 - even more than the MBP 13. For some reason MS charge AU$600 to upgrade from 256GB to 512GB SSD!
It has one advantage in that it can upgraded to 16GB RAM which I find makes quite a lot of difference for my usage.
It is still expensive though (although as pointed out, the same price as the previous rMBP 13 upgraded to a 256GB SSD), and very expensive in Australia.
However, looking at the competition (XPS 13, Surface Pro 4), it's often about the same price, so the decision is not clear cut. Dell tend to have discounts & offers though. At the moment XPS 13 with Kaby Lake i7, 16GB, 512GB, touch screen is AU$2549 now. A similar spec'd MBP 13 is AU$3,319 - that's nearly $800 cheaper. The SP4 is AU$3,399 - even more than the MBP 13. For some reason MS charge AU$600 to upgrade from 256GB to 512GB SSD!
I had my eyes set on buying a Mac from 2012, but I said, let me wait this out a bit more. The 15 inch remained stuck on Haswell, so I said, let me go with the 13 inch instead, since it will only be a generation behind.
That 13" Broadwell is still considerably slower than the 15" Haswell model. Don't get too caught up in the name if speed is what you're looking at because Intel really aren't improving IPC for a few years now and there's nothing on the horizon that really changes that up much. If you're looking for off the plug efficiency then, sure, you'll squeak out an extra few percent from a newer gen and lower power model like the 13" has vs the 15"
At the end of the day, the computers you use, have to be liked by you and fit your needs. I misjudged the first post of yours that I quoted, as you discounting and dismissing something (like many on here do) without giving it a chance or trying it.
Me personally, I love my multitouch trackpad (nice for photo / video work for me), and find 3D Touch hard to live without when I have my iPad. Those items have become part of my workflow, so, if the function keys are like that to you, I understand and sympathize with your dislike for that change.
The hardest thing I have had to deal with in my years of using Apple, is them dropping the MightyMouse. Laugh if you like, but love that form factor, and can fly through some tasks with it better than the magic mouse, and I liked the hand feel much better.
I guess it's a good thing I purchased a few as spares
So the new 2.0 ghz 15W i5 runs neck and neck with the old 3.1 ghz 28W i7, and people find that disappointing?
I'm as dismayed as anyone at the pricing of the new MacBook pros, but if we put price aside and look at pure performance, I don't see a problem with the new low end i5 running basically even with the old high end i7. (Though, I will admit, it's easier for the new one to look good since apple skipped broadwell entirely on the MacBook Pro line, we're thus comparing low end skylake to high end haswell)
I'm as dismayed as anyone at the pricing of the new MacBook pros, but if we put price aside and look at pure performance, I don't see a problem with the new low end i5 running basically even with the old high end i7. (Though, I will admit, it's easier for the new one to look good since apple skipped broadwell entirely on the MacBook Pro line, we're thus comparing low end skylake to high end haswell)
At the end of the day, the computers you use, have to be liked by you and fit your needs. I misjudged the first post of yours that I quoted, as you discounting and dismissing something (like many on here do) without giving it a chance or trying it.
Me personally, I love my multitouch trackpad (nice for photo / video work for me), and find 3D Touch hard to live without when I have my iPad. Those items have become part of my workflow, so, if the function keys are like that to you, I understand and sympathize with your dislike for that change.
The hardest thing I have had to deal with in my years of using Apple, is them dropping the MightyMouse. Laugh if you like, but love that form factor, and can fly through some tasks with it better than the magic mouse, and I liked the hand feel much better.
I guess it's a good thing I purchased a few as spares
I have a sin.... I prefer the Mighty Mouse , and really dislike the Magic Mouse with a passion, again cause I like physical buttons
my worst apple product was the shuffle 3rd gen, horrible product without intuitive physical controls on the device. I have a MacBook Pro on order so will try it, but I suspect I will be connecting my daskeyboard to it. Though let's I think I'm just getting old and grumpy .....one of my favourite macs is the 2012 Mac mini....miss my powerful upgradable macs
Yes, I don't like them. I strongly prefer the keyboard and trackpad from the 2013 MacBook Pro.
...and $300 more expensive. People have an expectation that this years model will be better than last year, at the same price. There is now nothing at the old rMBP 13 entry/mid-range Air price point.
Also, this one is particularly tight on ports - 4xTB3 will be fine down the line once you've bought the right cables and adapters and the USBC ecosystem has matured a bit - 2 (and nothing else) is always going to be tight. That's another thing that makes this an Air replacement rather than a MBP.
Same thing with iPads. We are 7 generations in but battery life is still 10 hours because Apple shrinks the battery at the same time they made efficiency improvements to the display and SoC.
I don't think it's as long as 20 years ago. I added RAM to a PC 10 years ago, and it made a huge difference to the Sony Viao desktop I had at the time. It became like a new machine.
I then switched to Macs in 2008. I maxed out the RAM in the first one, because I didn't know any better. I haven't bothered since. In real world comparisons with people with standard MacBooks it didn't make a noticeable difference. It was faster, but not by much, and my real world usage requirements don't require the difference.
I think that is a very interesting idea for the Touch Bar. It could be revealed in a swipe up option from whatever programme / app you are using.
I've had that situation too. And with digital working, it can be a serious issue. A world with standard power ports will make so many things so much easier.
I agree with you again, my friend. I love the MagSafe feature. I will miss it on my next MacBook.