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So what's the consensus on 2018?
- Thread starter Ploki
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I'm very happy with my 2018, but coming from a late 2008, they probably didn't have to do a whole lot to wow me as far as performance is concerned. I hope to have this MBP for many years to come, although the screen isn't as brilliant as I had anticipated. No problems with it, just didn't oooo and ahhhh me. Not really important for most people, but I find the speakers are really impressive for a 15" laptop.
How can you be disappointed in something you don't even own? My nearly maxed out i9 has been great from day one and will likely get even better with new OS and if needed, firmware.
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I'm not happy with it; CPU mostly, will be getting RAM because i seldom have to use tricks to lower RAM usage, but i could stick with it for another year... Been wanting to update for a year now, waiting for exactly this (more cores and more RAM).
It's for audio production. I already have to disable most of oversampling and seldom freeze tracks on larger projects, else i get overloads, so its less than smooth sailing. But manageable.
I, along with others, have experienced issues with the sound getting garbled and messed up, and crackling noises coming out of both the speakers and the headset port.
Some people have pointed out that the T2-chip might be the root of the problem – you can read more about it in this thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/macbook-pro-2018-speakers-crackling.2128234/
I upgraded my 2014 to an i9/32/1TB and I have been ecstatic. Virtually all of my workflow as a software dev (Ruby, iOS, Android) is vastly faster than before. I personally like the new style keyboards, and having used a 2016, I really enjoy the 3rd gen in the 2018.
I don't use the Touch Bar much, since I use the magic keyboard/trackpad in my office, but I do use it when I'm elsewhere and always to log on. With that in mind, I really like having it. Logging in with it is great, I never really realized how obnoxious it was to type in a password every time. I have caps lock mapped to be escape when solo pressed, so I don't care about the Touch Bar escape button.
I haven't had any issues like others, except for the sound issue which seems to plague every single machine. However, force quitting coreaudiohd does the trick (in case you don't see that in the speaker crackle thread). The speakers do sound really nice however.
I'm not sure what sort of requirements audio production require, but it's handling mine without even blinking.
I don't use the Touch Bar much, since I use the magic keyboard/trackpad in my office, but I do use it when I'm elsewhere and always to log on. With that in mind, I really like having it. Logging in with it is great, I never really realized how obnoxious it was to type in a password every time. I have caps lock mapped to be escape when solo pressed, so I don't care about the Touch Bar escape button.
I haven't had any issues like others, except for the sound issue which seems to plague every single machine. However, force quitting coreaudiohd does the trick (in case you don't see that in the speaker crackle thread). The speakers do sound really nice however.
I'm not sure what sort of requirements audio production require, but it's handling mine without even blinking.
From some who had a 2013 Haswell and tried to upgrade to the 2016 Skylake model (which I returned for Battery, freezing issues and other problems):
My 2013 rMBP was the best Mac I have ever owned...never a single issue and I even still debated upgrading it since it has been almost five years with it with year issues.
I tried in 2016 when the redesign came to upgrade and got excited, but there were so many problems it was unreal. Battery life was truly atrocious, the laptop froze randomly (anywhere from 2-8 a day), not to mention the keyboard problems, and other issues.
The 2018 13" TB model is FANTASTIC. The battery life is much better and in line with the nTB model (where it should have been). The SSD is blazing fast, and the machine is completely reliable.
I am a prosumer in many ways. I am a teacher, and use all different kinds of software from standard documents, spreadsheets all the up to and including video editing, graphic design and photography. I haven't had the chance to fully do my workload since school is out at the moment, but I have been using it in all different ways over the past few weeks and its just a joy to use.
My 2013 rMBP was the best Mac I have ever owned...never a single issue and I even still debated upgrading it since it has been almost five years with it with year issues.
I tried in 2016 when the redesign came to upgrade and got excited, but there were so many problems it was unreal. Battery life was truly atrocious, the laptop froze randomly (anywhere from 2-8 a day), not to mention the keyboard problems, and other issues.
The 2018 13" TB model is FANTASTIC. The battery life is much better and in line with the nTB model (where it should have been). The SSD is blazing fast, and the machine is completely reliable.
I am a prosumer in many ways. I am a teacher, and use all different kinds of software from standard documents, spreadsheets all the up to and including video editing, graphic design and photography. I haven't had the chance to fully do my workload since school is out at the moment, but I have been using it in all different ways over the past few weeks and its just a joy to use.
this is literally the best answer I have read to any should I upgrade question on here. It applies to all the products apple sells. the last few days my arrow has been hovering over the place order button for a new 2018 i9 and I just cannot bring myself to press it. I just get caught up in that new computer feeling and am ready to fork out $3000 for one with no regard to the trusty 2015 that I am typing this on.
Apologies for the necro, but I felt the need to chime in here. Despite the resolution being advertised on the Apple site as 2880x1800 (same as the 2015 model), The 15" 2018 MBP actually is 3360x2100. I have no idea if this is a marketing mistake, but I confirmed this in Photoshop by taking screenshots from each machine and overlaying them.
Real pixels
Remember -- even though the menu bar appears to be the same height, if you put both of these images onto the same 15" display, the old resolution will end up scaling to a larger size. (Note the significantly larger Apple logo at the upper left.)
Scaled
I just upgraded from a 2015 MBP a few days ago. When I got my new machine, the UI scaling was one of the first things I noticed. The 2015 model always felt a bit "geriatric" to me; the new model has scaling that's more in line with my ~2012 iMac (although the DPI is of course much higher on the MBP). When I put them side by side, the new MBP feels more "correct".
Yes, that's common knowledge, but the Retina display combines/scales in a way that produces a great display. You can run your MBP at full resolution if you want too, but for a 15" laptop, the objects will be too small, at least they are for me.
The 2018 MBP is running a scaled resolution by default, 3360x2100. 2880x1800 is still the true physical (native) resolution of the panel, meaning the screen contents are rendered at 3360x2100, then downscaled with quality loss to fit on the panel.Apologies for the necro, but I felt the need to chime in here. Despite the resolution being advertised on the Apple site as 2880x1800 (same as the 2015 model), The 15" 2018 MBP actually is 3360x2100. I have no idea if this is a marketing mistake, but I confirmed this in Photoshop by taking screenshots from each machine and overlaying them.
Real pixels
Remember -- even though the menu bar appears to be the same height, if you put both of these images onto the same 15" display, the old resolution will end up scaling to a larger size. (Note the significantly larger Apple logo at the upper left.)
Scaled
I just upgraded from a 2015 MBP a few days ago. When I got my new machine, the UI scaling was one of the first things I noticed. The 2015 model always felt a bit "geriatric" to me; the new model has scaling that's more in line with my ~2012 iMac (although the DPI is of course much higher on the MBP). When I put them side by side, the new MBP feels more "correct".
I'm sure to some people the quality loss caused by running a scaled resolution doesn't matter. But for the amount of money the 2018 MBP costs, I simply expect better - especially as Apple with the release of the 2016 MacBook Pros running at 3360x2100 by default has basically admitted that 2880x1800 is no longer enough.
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Ahh okay, I think I understand now. I'm curious though -- why do the new machines render a desktop at 3360x2100? My old machine (2015) and new machines (2018) are both running 10.13... Is there a firmware setting that tells the new machines to render at a higher default resolution compared to the old hardware?
And any idea why Apple chose this higher res as the new default? Just to achieve a desired UI scaling?
(edited for clarity)
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It's a software setting. The 2012 - 2015 models can be set to 3360x2100 as well, in System Preferences > Displays. MacOS just doesn't default to it like on the 2016+ models.
Rendering at a higher resolution provides more screen space at the expense of quality. On a Retina display the quality loss is much less noticeable compared to a standard display, hence why Apple opted to make it default. But the quality loss is a compromise that can be avoided completely by increasing the panel's physical resolution up to 3360x2100.
VERY happy and satisfied with my 2018 15". I had a 12" previously as well using a 13" at work, this 15" is a dream to use. Screen, typing, the whole experience is great.
Consensus: very hit and miss
Great CPU
Mediocre GPU
Great keyboard until it fails and becomes terrible
Great screen
Terrible touchbar
Great speakers
Terrible port selection
Mediocre battery life
Great SSD
Mediocre camera
Terrible repairability/upgradability
Terrible value for money spent
Great CPU
Mediocre GPU
Great keyboard until it fails and becomes terrible
Great screen
Terrible touchbar
Great speakers
Terrible port selection
Mediocre battery life
Great SSD
Mediocre camera
Terrible repairability/upgradability
Terrible value for money spent
I'd wait for 3-6 months.
Most of the people i know who had keyboard failures with their 2015-2017 machines were inside that time frame.
I know there have been keyboard changes. I do not yet trust that these are a positive. They might be, but the machines haven't been out long enough, in my opinion yet for me to re-gain any sort of trust in them.
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the screens on Macs are objectively great. No they aren't 4k but they generally have industry leading (or close to it) colour accuracy, brightness, etc. 4k on a screen that size is not required anyway. There's far more to a display than simple pixel count.
The touchbar is a few hundred dollars extra on the machine for something with limited utility, and for some users, negative impact.
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The panels aren't even 3360x2100, with Apple instead opting to default to a non-native resolution with quality loss. It's an embarrassment at the price point, and sadly subtracts from the other areas where the MacBook Pro's display (and HiDPI support in MacOS) is clearly ahead of the competition.
The screen is a great 2K screen with almost zero reflection and great color accuracy, contrast ratio etc. Obviously, it's not 4K but I personally haven't found too many cases when the 4k would be substantially better. Would be nice to have it though.
The touch bar is a solution to a non-existent problem. You can swipe with the trackpad and you can use the Fn keys or the shortcuts to do everything else, so there are almost zero cases when it is more useful.
Let's see:
1. It shows buttons during dialog windows, which I find more convenient than the trackpad if I don't use a mouse (e.g., "delete, ok, cancel", etc.).
2. It allows a much more precise control over volume and brightness.
3. Enables picture-in-picture for some videos on sites where it is disabled.
4. Allows you to scroll videos or the itunes music you are currently playing without switching windows or using trackpad/mouse.
It's kind of useful, and I like it. That's just quick observations. Haven't tried it with pro tools.
Oh, you're one of those ones who doesn't understand how "good enough" resolution works.
It's not an embarrassment at all. It's a case of Apple prioritising things that matter (contrast ratio, brightness, colour accuracy, etc.), rather than spec sheet racing on numbers that people understand easily, but don't actually matter.
I'll bet you want 4k on your phone display too, right?
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- Already have keyboard shortcuts for that
- already have dedicated buttons for that; but even so, i adjust volume less than once per day (likely less than once per week) and brightness is automatically adjusted based on ambient light
- don't care
- trackpad is easier to reach for than touch bar
On the flip-side, you now have a UI element that is no longer consistent and needs to be LOOKED AT to see what it is currently representing. It's well out of the way and more difficult to reach than the trackpad.
Apple could have integrated a display into the trackpad (activated by the Fn key or similar) instead and left the keyboard alone; THAT would have been far, far better than this half-baked emoji bar trash.
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Really happy with my 2018 13" MBP. The only technical niggle was with Apple Pay and that has been resolved. My only observation is that the delete key sounds different to the others. Apart from that:
- Perfect display
- Perfect finish
- Great battery life
- Fast SSD
- Fast and unlocked CPU
- Encryption with zero performance loss
- 4x blazingly fast Thunderbolt 3 ports
- Zero glitches
Whilst I have used most MBPs released over the last 10 years I have only purchased 2 of them with my own money - this one and my 2009 MBP. About the only things I miss over those years is the SD card slot (used as a TM drive) and the old 'perfect' keyboard. The only feature I could not now live without is the fingerprint reader.
I never really grew to like the 2016/17 MBPs and in retrospect they were just the worlds largest beta test for the 2018 MBPs. Of course, Apple had the move to 10nm in mind when the current MBP design was first penned. This forum would have looked a lot different if Intel had met its development cycle.
- Perfect display
- Perfect finish
- Great battery life
- Fast SSD
- Fast and unlocked CPU
- Encryption with zero performance loss
- 4x blazingly fast Thunderbolt 3 ports
- Zero glitches
Whilst I have used most MBPs released over the last 10 years I have only purchased 2 of them with my own money - this one and my 2009 MBP. About the only things I miss over those years is the SD card slot (used as a TM drive) and the old 'perfect' keyboard. The only feature I could not now live without is the fingerprint reader.
I never really grew to like the 2016/17 MBPs and in retrospect they were just the worlds largest beta test for the 2018 MBPs. Of course, Apple had the move to 10nm in mind when the current MBP design was first penned. This forum would have looked a lot different if Intel had met its development cycle.
To add insult to the injury it:
- is 300$ more expensive
- runs in the background 24/7 draining the battery
- stops any programmers who use the ESC key often dead in their tracks
- cannot be turned off when you want it (eg watching a movie in the dark), being forced to wait a minute or so for the turn-off
And perhaps most importantly, even you really really try to make good use of the touch bar and master it, your skills will be totally incompatible with MacBook Air, regular MacBook, base 13'' MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac Mini, iMac Pro, Mac Pro and all existing Windows and Linux laptops and PCs.