New 15-Inch MacBook Pro With Kaby Lake and 32GB of Desktop-Class RAM Coming Later This Year

[LordVic]

Nope. Sky lake brought the big power efficiency savings. Kabylake will improve 4K video handling but not much else. It's a very minor upgrade.

there was a decent enough jump in power consumption. it's why the new chips are able to be clocked higher and still fall within the TDP.

but other than that, yeah, Kaby Lake is not a significant improvement over SkyLake. But the minor Performance per watt increase that Skylake brings will help battery life on the M.Bpro

 

[theluggage]

But if you travel and give presentations for a living, presumably you've always had to take a few adapters in your bag because you never know what you're going to meet out there?

Its gonna be VGA or HDMI, and the 2012-2015 rMBPs had HDMI so you needed one adapter - a miniDP-to-VGA - just in case you go to a PC-dominated zone where there won't already be one of those on the end of the projector VGA cable. Those adapters have worked with 3 generations of Macs, so they're pretty ubiquitous now.

Now you'll need 2 (HDMI and VGA to USB-C) and both of those come with a USB-3. Or a multiport hub with both (I'd go for 2 adapters so I'll still have a USB-3 when somebody inevitably borrows the VGA one). Sure - not so bad, just another $100 on top of your already-more-expensive Mac and 2 new scenarios in which you need to take out an adapter (need HDMI/someone hands you a USB stick). Not the end of the world, but not exactly progress since its going to be years before conference rooms start sporting USB-C or wireless streaming.

For these pictures with loads of dongles and devices plugged in, do lots of people really work like that with laptops or are they just making a point?

They're exaggerated, of course, but they parody a real issue.

My MBP mainly "commutes" from home to work and I'm nicely set up so that I only need to carry the MBP itself, while my VGA adapter for on-the-road never leaves my travel bag. I can't be the only person who does that. A couple of months back, I sat down and reasoned out what I would need:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/costs-and-value-of-usb-c.2014209/#post-23900460

TLNR: the nice solution involved buying 2 USB-C docks - one for my home desk, one for my work desk - and VGA/HDMI dongles for the road - and totted up to the thick end of £500. The not-so-nice solution with extra cables to carry wasn't much less, unless I fancy unplugging my MagSafe adapter every day and taking it to work (I have an ACD with magsafe at work). Now that is a nice solution, but even on a Mac-sized budget, £500 is a significant cost.

Note that cheaper "make do with" suggestions are irrelevant: A £3000 laptop should come with a sense of entitlement as standard and it can darn well (figuratively) make me breakfast in bed every morning. If I wanted to "make do" I'd save £1000 and get a PC.

 

[hawkeye_a]

As someone who just purchased a 2016 13" tMBP, upgrading from an 8 yr old unibody MB...

All i can say is, I'm glad (and relieved) to hear that Apple might actually upgrade their hardware within the span of a year(no matter how ridiculous that sounds in this industry).

 

[Bacillus]

Tim: Oaaaarggk ! Wauuwoeoah...
Phil: Are you all right, Tim ?
Tim: Ooahh, I'm soo excited. Our R&D has changed history. We squashed the 16Gb limit !!
Phil: Tim, get real. That limit never existed. We only pretended it to conceal our pennywise, screwy RAM policy from the market.
Tim: But now we can offer the full potential to our Pro users. It will be warping fast !!
Phil: No, Intel does so. And it took 2 years, but who cares. We hardly have any Pro users left.
They went to to Dell, Acorn, HP, Lenovo. Companies who were always supplied with Kaby Lake CPUs.
Tim: But now we can offer full potential to users that want to run corporate OS'ses on their VM's
Phil: These only ask for pre-installed Sierra on VM's that run on their Dell's, Acorn's, HP's, Lenovo's
Tim: Ooaahh...that's great. MacOS is the premier OS. But get real. It's the PostPC era. Why would they use a PC anyway ?
Phil: Dunno Tim. Ask Donald Trump. I'm looking for a wall outlet...

 

[Kagio]

The biggest problem a Pro will encounter

Get a grip. If the biggest criticism you have of the new ports is that you can't plug in an iOS device to charge it, just maybe it's not the right computer for you. However for other users it's much better than previous gens with what it can do – the controller for your static workstation. In fact you need to use less wires than the previous generations, as everything comes to life just by plugging in one cable, rather than 10.

So it's all a matter of perspective, really. It's either the most limited or most expandable MacBook Pro, depending solely on how restricted your way of thinking is.

 

[KindredMAC]

There is nothing wrong with a MacBook PRO being as thick as the pre-Retina MBP, if it meant that they could provide the following:
• Enough Battery to power the beast for a full 8-10 hours of typical graphic design work (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign).
• Kept a FEW legacy ports, not all of them, but a FEW (2xUSB 3.0, Ethernet, HDMI, SD Card slot).
• Actual powerhouse of a processor and GPU, and the ability to cool them properly.

Thinness should not be a PRO feature. That is why you offer the MacBook and/or MacBook Air. Let the customer know that with insane thinness comes a trade off, just like all things in life.

 

[arbitrage]

After spending weeks on here waiting form my 2016 tricked out 15" rMBPwTB, I returned it after a week of comparing it back to back with my 2012 rMBP. I actually really liked the TB and I liked the smaller form factor and I liked that the computer could generate 5DSR 1:1 previews in LR as fast as my maxed out 2015 5KiMac. I also was happy to have the 4 TB3 ports over the varied ports on the older rMBP.

But I still didn't get on well with the keyboard and I really didn't get on well with the CDN price of over $4000. I know I'll get one of these TB models eventually. However, it may take my 2012 actually failing in some way to get me to spend the money. 32GB isn't something I would have added anyways and I don't really know what benefit Kaby Lake will give me.

So I guess all I'm saying is that even with this new fall 2017 upgrade I'm still unlikely to buy again unless the 2012 fails or goes wonky. I should add that I wiped my 2012 and started from scratch when comparing to the 2016 and that actually brought the 2012 up to a higher standard compared to the overfilled SSD that I was dealing with after 4 years of junk accumulating in the background.

 

[curtvaughan]

Apple's internal data shows less than 5% of users have EVER used the SD slot on Macs which contain them. Seems pretty silly to include them and charge everyone the price of doing so, when so few use them.

Let the couple people that need an SD reader buy one for a couple dollars and save the rest of us a couple bucks.

So "the couple of people" constitute 5% of MBP buyers? You are telling me that only 40 people bought the MBP? Nearly 5 million were bought in the 3rd quarter 2016. That means that some 250 thousand used the SD slot, by your stat. That's a lot of people and a lot of money.

 

[Investor27]

No.

Even the chips in 2016 15" models can support 64 GB RAM. See Intel's Ark.

But: Apple used LPDDR RAM to minimize power draw in order to use a 25% smaller battery so the 2016s could be made thinner. Stupid decision, IMO.

You know what amazes me is that Apple have successfully duped people into believing that the 25% smaller battery is so that they could build a thinner machine, and hide the true reason which is a 25% higher profit margins from the smaller capacity battery in addition to charging more for making the it thinner.

 

[PortableLover]

MacRumors get us some Mac Pro Tower Rumors.

 

[buckwheet]

Don't be so daft, that's not what's happening here. The MacBook Pro hadn't been updated for over a year before this one came out. To release another version less than a year after everybody has invested in the new machines is ridiculous.

Well, it wouldn't be the first time. And besides, current 2016 MBPs will still have good resale value (though 256GB base models may take a hit for the drive size), and the bigger public will get a whole crop of lightly-used machines for a decent price. Not exactly win-win, but not the end of the world. I'd far rather have Apple get back on a decent release schedule than wait to ensure they're offering a major update every time. You can always skip a release, but you can't make one magically appear when you need it.

 

[nottorp]

MacRumors get us some Mac Pro Tower Rumors.

Right. Updated "Pro" laptops are all fine and dandy, especially if they offer them without the emoji keyboards.

This doesn't do **** about a pro's chances of migrating away though, if they won't offer a usable desktop as well. Right now, the iMac doesn't qualify for cooling reasons and the trashcan doesn't qualify for "wtf are those overpriced video cards and no storage" reasons.

 

[Roobun]

Hahaha, I would have made my next computer a Mac Mini but it's clear Apple does not want my money. Already a macbook pro refresh? Us pro users are left high and dry. I'll be picking up a Wacom mobile studio pc in a few days. It's got Windows but at least it's a fully fledged workstation. I'm not looking back.

 

[mikecorp]

is there going to be 802.11ad this year?

 

[blacktape242]

where and who comes up with these names for processors?

 

[H2SO4]

If your devices doesn't have a connector on the other end, like alot of devices which interface with something, you have 8 cables. The existing USB-A cable that is connected hard to the device + the USB-C to USB-A adapter.

Sorry to appear dense, but I’m still not getting your point. I can't see any less cabling;

 

[ocnitsa]

It was obviously an unimpressive release, the reaction both here and in the media was quite dramatic.

There was a huge pent up demand, and a lot of people ignored the advice to pass on this version. If they needed a computer that badly they got one, and if they're complaining that a newer better version shouldn't come out because it makes theirs look bad, they're just fools.

I know what you are saying...but by reducing the prices of dongles Apple kind of admitted that the changes they made we're onerous and that the pricing (at least for accessories) was inflated. While this is directly related to changes in ports (like them or not), it's also related to assuaging tension resulting from the price of the system to begin with. I think a lot of these things are interrelated. Anyway, I don't think they are complaining that a newer better version came out...I think they'd be arguing that Apple took a bit of extra advantage of them by rushing their product out for the holiday sales (this next part is speculative) at a premium price, even by Apple's standards, based on a product's features that weren't fully implemented in the final product (the better-designed battery that got jettisoned). For any other company, it wouldn't be important...but Apple, through their exec interviews and stuff claims to care more about design, user experience, etc. Like they won't release a product until it fits their vision for that product...In the worst-case scenario, this release looked like a cash grab, in a slightly better scenario it looks like any other company (not the Apple we think is special). I'm not saying it's not a great laptop...just that it isn't up to the hype that generally surrounds Apple products.

 

[DaveLG526]

Don't be so daft, that's not what's happening here. The MacBook Pro hadn't been updated for over a year before this one came out. To release another version less than a year after everybody has invested in the new machines is ridiculous. Especially as a lot of those people wanted 32GB of RAM but had to settle. The machine is already over priced, can't imagine what they're charging for 32GB of RAM. Considering Apple are the only company on Earth who think RAM sticks are £/$500 each!

You have hit sore point that has made me not buy the new MBP. Apple charges are exorbitant when it comes to DRAM and SSD upgrades. The idea that Apple has some "secret sauce" built into their PCIe SSDs or DRAM is rubbish, spread by uninformed MAC analysts and "independent" reviewers that try to justify the prices.

 

[ocnitsa]

I bought the 2016 MacBook Pro and realized there would be upgrades. Do I feel cheated and screwed by Apple? No, I do not. I was needing to replace my old MBP and had been waiting a while. Technology is constantly changing and there is no ideal time. You buy when you need and can afford to and go for what you can afford. You can sit and wait and wait and get no where thinking about what might come down the line and that it might be better. I chose to buy now, and do not regret it.

I'm glad you aren't upset! I hear you. But, while this is true for you, it doesn't mean it is for others...Your statement suggests that because there will always be future revisions a particular iteration is as good as any other iteration of a product line...That isn't true. Most of the time, that wouldn't matter much, given that typically people wait a year for a new model. Don't like this one? Wait a year. But, with Apple waiting so long to update stuff, I think it made it harder for folks to hold off, if they had misgivings (and a non-working laptop).

 

[Franshans]

I am all for using desktop ram (much more power hungry) even if it means I have to leave it plugged in all the time.

Now this is MY use case. I realize others may not / can't leave their MacBooks plugged in, so perhaps for them, it means a 16gig limit.

That´s why there are iMacs. You buy a Macbook if you need to work on the road but then you don´t need the full power of your desktop computer.
But there are more than enough crappy Windows PC out there for your purposes.
Let´s just hope Apple will never jump on that bloody one-for-all-BS..

 

[Chancha]

Sorry to appear dense, but I’m still not getting your point. I can't see any less cabling;
View attachment 684109

Just because daisy chain is a capability of USB-C standard doesn't mean it will be implemented on all devices. We have gone through that in Firewire and Thunderbolt 1/2 eras. The extra cost of a controller, space taken, points of failure etc are all reasons why majority of these devices will be a single port terminal.

 

[macpanzer]

My estimate for the 2017 model:

MacBook MagicPro with no ports at all. There is only a charging connector at the bottom of the laptop (similar to the Magic Mouse) so while charging, you can't use it.

/s

 

[Franshans]

Don't be so daft, that's not what's happening here. The MacBook Pro hadn't been updated for over a year before this one came out. To release another version less than a year after everybody has invested in the new machines is ridiculous. Especially as a lot of those people wanted 32GB of RAM but had to settle. The machine is already over priced, can't imagine what they're charging for 32GB of RAM. Considering Apple are the only company on Earth who think RAM sticks are £/$500 each!

No they are not the only company trying to sell you a RAM stick for 500. BUt maybe the only one that CAN DO THIS.
And I see you´d like to live in socialism, me too, but this is capitalism and profit is the important thing.
Apple is one of the best companies worlwide when it comes to making profit. From a capitalist view they´d be crazy to lower the RAM price only so everyone would benefit.
They need to do profit. Shareholders, revenue, that´s what count´s. The rest is marketing blabla.
[doublepost=1484668811][/doublepost]

My estimate for the 2017 model:

MacBook MagicPro with no ports at all. There is only a charging connector at the bottom of the laptop (similar to the Magic Mouse) so while charging, you can't use it.

/s

hm. Not very funny or creative..

 

[MrGuder]

I didn't realize USB-C was Apple-only connector.

It isn't but when you read the tech news he would think it is Apple who created this.[/QUOTE]
So was MagSafe connector an Apple only design patent?

 

[smaffei]

Those customers who bought a Mac in the 80s must feel pretty screwed now, when Apple scoops in and releases a cheaper model that's a billion times faster.

/s

Apple been doing this since the Mac 128K and the 512K Mac (only 9 months later).