Replacing a Macbook Pro

[ashleykaryl]

My daughter picked up a 2017 13" MacBook Pro less than a year ago and it's had a lot of problems. After three months the logic board was replaced and it's always been a bit glitchy since then, including a sticky keyboard at times. More recently the screen went wrong without warning, developing black lines across the display, so I contacted Apple.

After a three week wait and a lot of miles going back & forth between Apple service centres I finally received a diagnostic report that revealed problems with the screen, CPU, GPU, cooling system and microphone. I am very much of the opinion that when computers go wrong early on they are never right and this experience only adds to that theory. This was the top spec custom build i7 3.5Ghz with 16 gigs of ram and a 512mb ssd, but it never seemed especially fast to me. Perhaps it was underperforming from day one.

Apple has now agreed to offer a refund or a replacement computer. They initially offered a refurbished computer of the same spec, which we refused. The 2018 model has a slower processor with the top spec coming in at 2.7Ghz, however it's a quad core rather than a dual core. In theory it should be faster on heavy tasks like video exports with the right software, but slower in other circumstances.

Does anybody have any thoughts on the new 2018 model? We've been really disappointed by the reliability of the old one, along with the 5 weeks lost time while it's been away with Apple. The problem is that I honestly don't know what we would do if we had a refund instead.

 

[meme1255]

Take the 2018 model.

 

[SDColorado]

If you have a little time, shop around. They will generally give you a day or 3 to “sleep on it.”

Then if you still decide on the 2018, you won’t have some nagging feeling in the back of your head that maybe you should have at least looked at option or two.

 

[buran-energia]

You need to take into account the Turbo Boost. The 2.7 GHz CPU on the 2018 model goes up to 4.5 GHz vs 4.0 GHz on the previous model. This CPU should be faster than even the CPU on the 2017 15 inch model.

 

[leman]

The 2018 model has a slower processor with the top spec coming in at 2.7Ghz

What are you talking about? The 2018 CPU is miles faster, and it also has faster overall clocks in all scenarios (4.5Ghz vs 4.1Ghz for you machine). They were offering you a computer that has significantly faster CPU (in all scenarios), better battery life as well as much faster storage — it's really a no-brainer!

 

[Fishrrman]

Take the 2018.
In fact, take whichever 2018 that they offer you, and be happy.

 

[jeyf]

you didnt mention your daughter intended use?

if she is streaming, surfing... almost any device will do a good job:
-get an in expensive Dell or no name brand.
-toss the device when her needs change or the device dosnt measure up

if she is in college:
-most work environments are not apple
-Apple has a mid life crisis going on and I just down see where this is going
-a few good companies acknowledge; give the employee the computer they are familiar with


you guys do what you want to do, good luck

 

[jerryk]

The 2018 is a considerably faster more powerful system, up to 2X as fast on some compute intensive tasks.

So I would take the 2018.

 

[ashleykaryl]

Thanks for the replies and I'll forward this thread to my daughter, since this is ultimately her decision. She was at university until very recently and trained in games development as an animator. That sort of work is invariably done using Maya on Windows desktop machines, but she has always had a Mac since she was four years old for everything else.

In the brief time that I worked with her laptop I found the speeds disappointing; lagging way behind my old 2010 Mac Pro in Photoshop or exporting video. I found the fans would kick in the moment it did anything demanding and appeared to be under stress, making me think it would not be a great replacement for my desktop.

For similar money you can get a nice 27" iMac, but I expect she will be moving quite a lot for the next few years, so portability is an issue and she has a nice 4K display that would become redundant as well if she went that route. I wish the battery on the MBP could be removed, so it could be run off the mains most of time, keeping the battery for when it is really needed.

 

[buran-energia]

Thanks for the replies and I'll forward this thread to my daughter, since this is ultimately her decision. She was at university until very recently and trained in games development as an animator. That sort of work is invariably done using Maya on Windows desktop machines, but she has always had a Mac since she was four years old for everything else.

In the brief time that I worked with her laptop I found the speeds disappointing; lagging way behind my old 2010 Mac Pro in Photoshop or exporting video. I found the fans would kick in the moment it did anything demanding and appeared to be under stress, making me think it would not be a great replacement for my desktop.

For similar money you can get a nice 27" iMac, but I expect she will be moving quite a lot for the next few years, so portability is an issue and she has a nice 4K display that would become redundant as well if she went that route. I wish the battery on the MBP could be removed, so it could be run off the mains most of time, keeping the battery for when it is really needed.

The integrated video card on both the 2017 and 2018 touchbar models is practically the same. So if the software makes heavy use of it and it's what causing it to be slow, then there might not be too much difference.

15 inch has a dedicated GPU. Maybe they'll be able to exchange it for one of those, as the base 15 model costs the same as the one with your upgrades (assuming i7 3.5 GHz touch bar). Or even let to add a few hundred and upgrade it to the middle 15 inch model (2.6/512/560x).

 

[ashleykaryl]

I'm really fed up with Apple on this one. It has now been almost 8 weeks since I first contacted them about this and we still don't have a replacement. That's in addition to the earlier problems with the failed logic board that took a couple weeks to sort out and this is very poor for such an expensive laptop.

 

[sosumi99]

Sorry to hear all the troubles, OP. I'd like to think your daughter just got a really bad machine the first time around and the 2018 replacement ought to do what she needs, but your comment that "That sort of work is invariably done using Maya on Windows desktop machines" makes me pause. If that's going to be her industry experience, maybe it makes more sense for her to switch to a good Windows machine now. I guess it's ultimately her decision, but I switched to Windows for many years for professional reasons (Windows development) and it wasn't the worst thing in the world.

 

[jerryk]

Sorry to hear all the troubles, OP. I'd like to think your daughter just got a really bad machine the first time around and the 2018 replacement ought to do what she needs, but your comment that "That sort of work is invariably done using Maya on Windows desktop machines" makes me pause. If that's going to be her industry experience, maybe it makes more sense for her to switch to a good Windows machine now. I guess it's ultimately her decision, but I switched to Windows for many years for professional reasons (Windows development) and it wasn't the worst thing in the world.

Agreed. If you are going to use a Windows only product as your primary use of the system, get a windows machine. If not you are asking for support issues and weird bugs that the software vendor's staff will have limited expertise in a handling.

 

[ashleykaryl]

Without a doubt my daughter had a bad laptop. I've been using Macs now for 20 years and past experience has shown that if computers go wrong early on they are very unlikely to be reliable over the longterm. That's why I would avoid a refurbished Mac nowadays, no matter how good a deal it might appear. Ironically I've never experienced a hardware issue on cheap Windows machines costing several times less.

Perhaps the more crucial point though is why Apple are taking so long to put things right and forcing customers to spend extended periods without a computer after paying for a premium product. I have been told by Apple reps that they will repair an item five times before replacing it under warranty, but in what way is a computer fit for purpose if it has to be fixed five times in the first year?

The laptop is now 12 months old and has been unusable for almost 3 months of that period. I have had to chase them for progress at every stage and it's just a really bad way to treat customers. On a recent call I was told they may give us a "cable accessory" after the computer has been replaced as compensation for all the lost time and travel. In other words something that costs Apple about $10 and I'll bet we never even see it...

Games animators typically use Maya on big Windows boxes and chances are they are used for that purpose alone. Indeed there is a limited range of recommended hardware configurations, but you can build a Windows box to match those specifications fairly easily. During the day they work on the animations and spend very little time outside that walled garden, so the OS is almost irrelevant as long as the software runs smoothly.

For everything else she is far happier using Mac and has been using Apple computers at home since she was 3 years old. In theory we could install Windows on the MBP, but she has only just left university and we'll have to see which direction she goes. I suspect she will keep this MBP for travel and personal use, along with anything else outside of Maya, but we'll end up with a big Windows box as well before long. The cost of running Maya is eye watering, so the expense of a dedicated Windows box is almost incidental.

 

[jeyf]

Without a doubt my daughter had a bad laptop. I've been using Macs now for 20 years and past experience has shown that if computers go wrong early on they are very unlikely to be reliable over the longterm. T...

So sorry but I told you so.

 

[lambertjohn]

My daughter picked up a 2017 13" MacBook Pro less than a year ago and it's had a lot of problems. After three months the logic board was replaced and it's always been a bit glitchy since then, including a sticky keyboard at times. More recently the screen went wrong without warning, developing black lines across the display, so I contacted Apple.

After a three week wait and a lot of miles going back & forth between Apple service centres I finally received a diagnostic report that revealed problems with the screen, CPU, GPU, cooling system and microphone. I am very much of the opinion that when computers go wrong early on they are never right and this experience only adds to that theory. This was the top spec custom build i7 3.5Ghz with 16 gigs of ram and a 512mb ssd, but it never seemed especially fast to me. Perhaps it was underperforming from day one.

Apple has now agreed to offer a refund or a replacement computer. They initially offered a refurbished computer of the same spec, which we refused. The 2018 model has a slower processor with the top spec coming in at 2.7Ghz, however it's a quad core rather than a dual core. In theory it should be faster on heavy tasks like video exports with the right software, but slower in other circumstances.

Does anybody have any thoughts on the new 2018 model? We've been really disappointed by the reliability of the old one, along with the 5 weeks lost time while it's been away with Apple. The problem is that I honestly don't know what we would do if we had a refund instead.

Agree. Take the 2018 model.

 

[ashleykaryl]

Agree. Take the 2018 model.

I'm told it will be here by the 2nd of October. Leaving aside any technical differences I just want it to be reliable. That seems like the very least we should expect on such expensive laptops.

 

[jeyf]

I'm told it will be here by the 2nd of October...

not a lot of difference between the 2017 and the 2018.

 

[sosumi99]

I'm told it will be here by the 2nd of October. Leaving aside any technical differences I just want it to be reliable. That seems like the very least we should expect on such expensive laptops.

Surprised by the way Apple has handled this for you -- I've not had such bad experiences, but then again, I'm in the States and just go to the Apple store. It may be different if you have to go through the online process. I really think you just had bad luck and got a lemon the first time around. In general I've found their machines to be reliable (except for various design flaws like the fragile keyboard that is prone to failure from dust or debris, which seems to be much improved on the 2018). I hope that you used up your share of bad luck with that first machine and this 2018 machine will serve your daughter well. They are nice machines -- if pricey.