Nvidia's Studio Laptop Lineup Aims to Compete With 15-Inch MacBook Pro

[Janichsan]

I’d say there’s no competition. MacBooks nowadays are surpassed by every manufacturer when it comes to reliability, performance and usability ( their keyboards work)

I have to agree. There are only two things were Apple in one way or the other still excels: they manage to find a decent sweet spot between performance and battery life (pretty much every Windows alternative I've seen so far with better performance has worse battery life or vice versa), and they still make the sturdiest yet still aesthestically pleasing chassis.

But that's really about everything.

 

[simonmet]

Hopefully one of these will be my next laptop. These brands are seeing a niche opening up because of Apple’s greed and incompetence.

Apple has pushed away this customer with well over 2 decades loyalty to the brand. Thanks Tim Apple!

 

[PickUrPoison]

Despite the new naming, these laptops no more compete with MacBooks than Android hardware competes in the iPhone market.

And while “Studio” is fine, “Studio Shack” is a terrible name.

 

[Praahan]

The new AMD 7mm Navi GPU should perform similar to NVIDIA... I am guessing.

 

[H3LL5P4WN]

Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Except for usability which is god ****ing atrocious on Win 10. Even died in the wool Windows users hate it.

Funny, I find Windows 10 to be the best version yet. Even my "I want my Word 6.0 on floppies" father likes it.

 

[neuropsychguy]

I’d say there’s no competition. MacBooks nowadays are surpassed by every manufacturer when it comes to reliability, performance and usability ( their keyboards work)

As someone with a Dell XPS I bought instead of a MacBook Pro, I can say your statement is not true. I’d gladly go to a MacBook Pro over this terrible keyboard. There are so many other little issues I’ve never had to deal with in any Apple laptop (poor fan control, sleep issues, audio problems, etc). This isn’t some cheap laptop, it’s Dell’s high end prosumer machine. There’s a lot I like about it but it (not just my laptop - the model) is nearly a disaster. So many complaints online. I’d sell it if I could get any reasonable amount for it. That’s not possible at this point and it’s only 6 months old.

 

[FFR]

As someone with a Dell XPS I bought instead of a MacBook Pro, I can say your statement is not true. I’d gladly go to a MacBook Pro over this terrible keyboard. There are so many other little issues I’ve never had to deal with in any Apple laptop (poor fan control, sleep issues, audio problems, etc). This isn’t some cheap laptop, it’s Dell’s high end prosumer machine. There’s a lot I like about it but it (not just my laptop - the model) is nearly a disaster. So many complaints online. I’d sell it if I could get any reasonable amount for it. That’s not possible at this point and it’s only 6 months old.

That sounds terrible.

I wouldn’t want to endure that, I would just sell it.

 

[Lone Deranger]

The lack of nVidia GPUs in Macs today is one of the bigger reasons (there are many) why pro/power users have left Apple behind in the dust and moved on to better, faster, more flexible solutions.

What are the chances that the new modular Mac Pro will come with AMD GPUs only? Pretty good odds on that I fear.

Whatever Apple's beef is with nVidia, it's costing them dearly in the creative circles.
Sort it out Tim Apple! If you can kiss and make up with Qualcomm you can do so with nVidia.

 

[Defthand]

Question for fellow Creatives: When or where are you using laptops capable of graphics tasks normally reserved for desktops?

I'm nearing retirement after 30+ years in commercial arts and used a laptop very seldomly—and never for design tasks. It was an early 17 in. MBP. Veterans like me spent decades advocating for bigger and bigger desktop displays. The thought of working with a 15 in. screen makes me cringe.

 

[Callander]

It's the software not the hardware now.

I love Figma (web based so PC/MAC compatible) but some major industries utilize Sketch, which is Mac only!)

 

[Martius]

If the chin bothers you too much, just keep buying your pretty but underpowered, overpriced, thermally constricted, mechanically flawed macbook pros.

Yes, it bothers me sooo much. When you develop websites, the 16:10 is a must (of course the 3:2 is even better). And for most tasks, the 16:10 is better. You just see more content.

I'm just surprised that most manufacturers are still sticking with that 16:9 just to save a few bucks.

 

[jeyf]

it has a functional kb?

 

[Ael_MR]

My personal experience, since I bought a 2017 MacBook Pro I had nothing but issues: failing logic boards, dead pixels , creaky hinges, flawed GPU, failing keyboard.
After 12 repairs I got a 2018 model from Apple as replacement: after 2 months of usage i’m back at the Genius Bar because of T2 chip related problems, manifested mostly in random kernel panics.

Call me mad, but all this hardware issues made the software mean nothing to me: no point in using MacOS if the machine it runs on fails every time the wind blows.
Im seriously considering to go with a Dell as my next laptop, will go back to Apple if and when they get their s**t together.

Your patience with Apple is legendary. Most people would have demanded a refund. Have you considered and does this apply?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemon_law

 

[guzhogi]

There's no market for Nvidia, and I wouldn't say its their incompetence. They don't become industry leaders because of incompetence.

The only computer that can take a video card is the ancient Mac Pro, why spend big bucks on a drivers for a platform that cannot (and will not) use their GPUs.

I disagree; there's the eGPU crowd that might want Nvidia cards. The only thing would be to get more game designers onboard.

 

[maflynn]

I disagree; there's the eGPU crowd that might want Nvidia cards. The only thing would be to get more game designers onboard.

You missed this post:

Yes I did

Another member already mentioned eGPU which I forgot

 

[opeter]

Well I am not dependent on macOS, so I welcome every new "competitor" in that field. Nice move nVidia!

Personally I don't need that much horsepower, but it is good, to know, that there is also options like this.

 

[guzhogi]

You missed this post:


Another member already mentioned eGPU which I forgot

My bad; I saw the other post right after I posted. Sorry!

 

[poorcody]

I’d say there’s no competition. MacBooks nowadays are surpassed by every manufacturer when it comes to reliability, performance and usability ( their keyboards work)

The latest Consumer Reports survey of laptop owners in Winter 2018 (36,919 surveyed):

 

[gnipgnop]

"Combined with the Studio Shack SDKs and dedicated drivers, which are designed to increase graphics rendering and video editing performance, Nvidia claims they will be able to perform up to seven times faster than a 15-inch MacBook Pro under an equivalent workload."

Nobody's skeptical of this claim?

 

[Kinotto]

Your patience with Apple is legendary. Most people would have demanded a refund. Have you considered and does this apply?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemon_law

Yes I’ve considered and no it doesn’t apply.

We all know consumers law: the point here is that a professional which invested in the Mac as work machine doesn’t find anymore in the lineup a machine that suits him as the whole MacBook lineup is underpowered/unreliable.
So, going back to the article, Nvidia Studio machines have no counterpart in the Mac universe, so there’s no competition with the MacBook Pro

 

[coolfactor]

Besides, windows is fine these days. The aspects of the os that you would interact with would be perfectly fine.

Wrong. Some of us have workflows that fall apart in Windows due to poor adherence to user interface guidelines.

... These days there isn’t much difference between windows and OS10, and both are very stable.

It's not OS10. It's macOS 10. It WAS "OS X" (with X = 10). If you're going to make statement, at least get the name right.

...Personal opinion, but windows is not bad, my machine at work is solid, its been something like 10 years since I saw a BSOD at work...

It's not just stability, but productivity. macOS has an application-centric UI, whereas Windows has a document-centric UI. Big difference with a multi-application workflow.

 

[Stella]

It's not OS10. It's macOS 10. It WAS "OS X" (with X = 10). If you're going to make statement, at least get the name right.

Stop being so petty. Oh dear,a typo , forgot to add a ****ing character... :-\

 

[justperry]

I have to agree. There are only two things were Apple in one way or the other still excels: they manage to find a decent sweet spot between performance and battery life (pretty much every Windows alternative I've seen so far with better performance has worse battery life or vice versa), and they still make the sturdiest yet still aesthestically pleasing chassis.

There are many more but I will just add one.

Trackpad

But that's really about everything.

"Combined with the Studio Shack SDKs and dedicated drivers, which are designed to increase graphics rendering and video editing performance, Nvidia claims they will be able to perform up to seven times faster than a 15-inch MacBook Pro under an equivalent workload."

Nobody's skeptical of this claim?

Yup, I too am sceptical, there's no way those are 7 times faster than the new -full option- MacBook Pro which has been just released.

 

[johnnygee]

If it's the typical Windows computer, there won't be any technical support 15 minutes after you leave the store with it and the battery will be exhausted in 6 months. I wonder if they'll make it out of Coke can aluminum, like Sony did with their VAIO line?

 

[Stella]

I have to agree. There are only two things were Apple in one way or the other still excels: they manage to find a decent sweet spot between performance and battery life (pretty much every Windows alternative I've seen so far with better performance has worse battery life or vice versa), and they still make the sturdiest yet still aesthestically pleasing chassis.

But that's really about everything.

If a laptop is being purchased for an office environment , does battery life have a high priority of importance? Most people, from my observations of working in several companies with ONLY laptops, always have their laptop powered.

Most meetings last one hour, most 3 hours, and again, those meeting rooms have power supplies if needed. These people want a laptop for portability, not necessarily to work for 8 hours, on battery alone.

Personally, I'd rather performance at the cost of some battery loss. However, that's me - others have other preferences.