Guaranteed to be thinner and less usable, with more hyperbole so Apple can push it's margins once again...
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Next major re-design
- Thread starter bunce66
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The use case for the touch bar is minimal, but the cost increase when it was added was major, without anything else apparent to cause it. I'm not to fussed either way about it being there on performance grounds, but I am for cost reasons. My last computer was a 15" MBP. I won't be buying another MBP at the current prices.
This is Apple, never going to happen we're all firmly stuck with the current rubbish, pretty Ultrabook's with neutered performance, but they might charge you for the privilege of owning the box next time around if your really lucky...
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Cost is "too high".
I call bs!
The last two 13" modestly loaded mbp's I acquired were in 2013 & 2014 respectively. They cost 2K. In today's money that 2K = $2,130.00
I seem to recall that a mbair, when they were first introduced, cost around 1.5K'ish.
A brand spankin' new 2018 13" mbp with i7/512ssd/16gb ram can be had for around 2.4K (w/student or govt discount)
The $270.00 increase in price buys a modern quad-core processor, a better screen, faster ports, etc.
All that said, 2k+ is 2k+..that's a bit of money but c'mon..Apple has always commanded a premium for the PREMIUM product(s) they offer.
Just some perspective, IMO.
I call bs!
The last two 13" modestly loaded mbp's I acquired were in 2013 & 2014 respectively. They cost 2K. In today's money that 2K = $2,130.00
I seem to recall that a mbair, when they were first introduced, cost around 1.5K'ish.
A brand spankin' new 2018 13" mbp with i7/512ssd/16gb ram can be had for around 2.4K (w/student or govt discount)
The $270.00 increase in price buys a modern quad-core processor, a better screen, faster ports, etc.
All that said, 2k+ is 2k+..that's a bit of money but c'mon..Apple has always commanded a premium for the PREMIUM product(s) they offer.
Just some perspective, IMO.
The issue people have is the forced added cost of Touchbar, especially if you want one of Intel's Coffee Lake CPUs (4 core/8 thread) since Apple decide to keep the non-TB models on the old Kaby Lake CPUs (2 core/4 thread). Then, you have some additional segmenting between the TB and non-TB by adding 2 more thunderbolt/usb-c ports and an extra cooling fan. Then, for funs sake, we have the somewhat fixed keyboard on the current TB model, while the older 1299/1499 non-TB models don't have the new keyboard. Can you justify the extra $300 over the non-TB and TB models?
IMO, it's a bad move considering the other OEMs don't segment their laptops like Apple does. If I want a loaded HP Spectre X360, the build will be the exact same as a base Spectre X360, not worse cooling and less ports. Just the cost of the extra features without a forced addition that increases price (TB).
The only big update I can see coming that might be worth waiting for will be 4K screen, and probably they make this edge to edge, and with Face ID. That’s how they are going with everything.
Personally I wish they would add pencil support to use on the track pad and add a SIM card slot.
Other than that what can they really do apart from the usual spec bumps?
Personally I wish they would add pencil support to use on the track pad and add a SIM card slot.
Other than that what can they really do apart from the usual spec bumps?
Your point of forced extra cost isn't lost on me, and, I get that. I personally haven't any issue with a 3bill up-charge for the tb however, if given a choice? Well, I don't know..I think I'd still opt for it. The 'more bang for the buck' element that's occurred on the 2018 13" mbp is hard to deny..it's clearly a more powerful computer compared to its predecessors and a 300.00 up-charge is not unreasonable in my view. I do wish an sd slot would come back and it'd be pretty neat for Apple to roll out a 'legacy' mbp akin to the 2015 era design along with updated computing power but, that's not likely, of course.
*edited to add: now, on the other hand - an ssd that's not removable..that flat out sucks and does indeed equate to less value considering the increased complexity of replacement and/or ability to troubleshoot/repair. There is that.
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Yeah, I definitely agree Apple isn't using the TB to its full worth. And not introducing a (corded USB, if needed) keyboard for desktop Macs even though it's been years since the Macbook line got the TB is stupid. But Apple does a lot of stuff that's stupid, sadly. Like junking its router/time capsule line of products... *sigh* (But that's a different topic.)Whatever happened to “A Touch of Genius?” Now it’s more like “Oh yeah and it also has that touch thingie for what it’s worth”
I agree with all of the that. But I would go a couple of steps further on the Touchbar. Make the whole wrist rest area touch bar. You can customize the are for numerical keypad, Application usage, different keyboard all together. In addition, make it work with apple pencil so you can edit, draw and write like a tablet. You might even be able to run native iOS apps in the area. It would retain haptic feedback. It would make the ergonomics better. You no longer have to move between keyboard, touchpad and touch bar. You could also move the touch pad from center to right or left side in software, so that you can navigate, but have application, user specific or context specific work area in location on wrist rest of your choice. Keyboard would only be for extensive data entry.
I hope that makes sense!
If that's the case, I wonder if the next redesign drops intel from lineup and Apple goes with its own ARM CPU
Not clear to me that this will happen with the Pro machines on the next redesign. They may do it for the MacBook, but I think it will take longer for the Pros. But then again, this is Apple, and recent Apple is full of decisions that make no sense.
If they’re transitioning over to ARM they won’t want to be dragging it out, it’ll be a rip the plaster off job, I’d imagine. Perhaps the really high end desktops (Mac Pro and iMac Pro) might stay intel on a special version of MacOS for a bit longer, but otherwise the least disruptive way is to just do it.