Three Months After Launch, Apple Still Struggling to Meet Demand for Redesigned 14-Inch and 16-Inch MacBook Pro

[tmoerel]

You’re kidding right? Would you accept a brand new sealed in the box $2500 item that was damaged?

You wouldn’t accept a new car delivery with a dent in the door or a cracked windshield I wouldn’t expect, would you?

If so, sucker much?

I would accept a small scratch yes. No big dents, but it does not need to be without any blemish. To me this computer is a tool. I do not think resale value. I think production value. And in my eyes a tool does not have to be without blemish but should be 100% functional.
These are pro machines and not status symbols!

 

[GMShadow]

Seeing same shortages on iPad mini - which looks to be my first personal iPad since the original launched.

The Mini delays just continue to surprise me. The base iPad too - I expected demand for both to stabilize after Christmas, but it just continues to be about 2 months out.

 

[Macintosh TV]

Loving mine. Glad I got it right away.

 

[Scotticus]

I must have gotten lucky then - I ordered an M1 Pro, 16GB, 14 inch and it arrived at my door in less than two hours.

 

[tmoerel]

You know these machines are used out in the field... literally? And it quite happy goes for four hours (for the first couple years) on battery just doing file copies then you plug in for editing later.

Yes I do and use mine in the field.....and I have a little TB hub that allows me to connect all I need. Also if you need to offload footage, why would you need more than three ports? Two readers and a target drive should cover most needs no?

 

[alexe]

I played around with the new MBPs at BestBuy yesterday, that notch in the screen was driving me nuts! It is funny how the new heft these machines have is very noticeable coming from the 16" MBP. The return of the MagSafe was a welcome sight for sure.

I honestly don't understand how people care about that notch so much, to the point where it "drives them nuts".

It's really just more screen real estate than you would otherwise have, that's all. What's not to love about that?

I've had my 16-inch M1 Max since November and don't notice the notch as a negative thing at all.

 

[tmoerel]

Thank you, I was just yelling at my screen about this before I refreshed the page.

Yep, but try to explain to computer illiterate people that 4xTB3 < 3xTB4

 

[ruka.snow]

Yes I do and use mine in the field.....and I have a little TB hub that allows me to connect all I need. Also if you need to offload footage, why would you need more than three ports? Two readers and a target drive should cover most needs no?

Two readers to two external SSDs. Each CF Express card is 325 GB and I am about 1 TB per card per day. At full swing I could use 6 TB3/4 ports if I had them available and I was very much hoping that would be the logical upgrade from the old 4 TB3 port configuration.

 

[GMShadow]

I can't se how 3 REAL TB slots slow you down - when you had 2 shared ports on either side before on the MBP Retina? The shared ports before would create issues if you had multiple "fast" transfers going between devices on the same side.

Now it does not matter which port you use - port to port speed is "full" - that should speed you up.

And then if you need more devices - you can just use 1 of them for a TB4 Dock - giving you another 3 (shared) ports. They would/could have the same issues as the old "shared" ports on the MBP Retina though.

I do a lot of movie / photo stuff - and the new M1 is so much faster - and I have no issues with lack of a 4th TB port.

There's also a port that's now fully freed up by not needing to use it for charging any longer. I feel like the list of people who used all four old ports on battery only has to be vanishingly small.

 

[ruka.snow]

Yep, but try to explain to computer illiterate people that 4xTB3 < 3xTB4

TB3 lets you use more PCIe lanes than TB4. The TB4 hub ability comes with a penalty. 4 physical ports even if they can't run at full speed is still better than a TB4 hub.

 

[justinhill]

Yep, but try to explain to computer illiterate people that 4xTB3 < 3xTB4

Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4 are both 40Gbps. The difference is that the old MBPs had 2 TB controllers servicing 4 TB ports, totaling 80Gbps of bandwidth. The new MBPs have 3 TB controllers servicing 3 TB ports, totaling 120Gbps of bandwidth.

 

[ohthehorror]

Kinda agree here. An older slow SD card slot like the one on the MacBook pros I could see being used by a newbie photographer or something? Seems like it would be more helpful on a lower end system like a MacBook Air, who knows. I'm just beyond thrilled I have an HDMI port!

I have to sort of disagree here. All of those accessories hangin off like tumors. I too ama photographer but I shoot MF and an SD card slot is welcomed. Just my two cents.

 

[ChrisGerber87]

I’m waiting for M2 pro etc…

 

[tmoerel]

Two readers to two external SSDs. Each CF Express card is 325 GB and I am about 1 TB per card per day. At full swing I could use 6 TB3/4 ports if I had them available and I was very much hoping that would be the logical upgrade from the old 4 TB3 port configuration.

So get a little hub. CF Express readers are probably USB-C. TB4 has the bandwidth of 2x TB3 and on a USB-C hub you will never saturate the bus. Then have your TB SSDs on the other two ports.
Hey, I offload 4k video and it is blazing fast so I can get by with a fast CFast reader and a Sandisk X5

 

[ruka.snow]

So get a little hub. CF Express readers are probably USB-C. TB4 has the bandwidth of 2x TB3 and on a USB-C hub you will never saturate the bus. Then have your TB SSDs on the other two ports.
Hey, I offload 4k video and it is blazing fast so I can get by with a fast CFast reader and a Sandisk X5

CF Express readers are TB3(specifically not TB4 for improved speed). USB-C does not have the required bandwidth and a hub has to be TB4 which would slow down the PCIe TB3 reader to 750 MB/s instead of over 2.8 GB/s. TB4 hubs are not more bandwidth. The old MacBook Pro splitting a controller to two TB3 ports gave nearly twice as much bandwidth than a TB4 hub.

You are also only shooting 4K. I am shooting 8k and compressed 45MP RAW images.

 

[justinhill]

CF Express readers are TB3(specifically not TB4 for improved speed). USB-C does not have the required bandwidth and a hub has to be TB4 which would slow down the PCIe TB3 reader to 750 MB/s instead of over 2.8 GB/s. TB4 hubs are not more bandwidth. The old MacBook Pro splitting a controller to two TB3 ports gave nearly twice as much bandwidth than a TB4 hub.

TB3 and TB4 are both 40Gbps specs. There is no improved speed between TB3 and 4.

 

[Octavius8]

And still there will be lots of new Apple hardware releases this year.
How to keep up with the demand?. The world simply can’t sustain this kind of excessive demand.

 

[ruka.snow]

TB3 and TB4 are both 40Gbps specs. There is no improved speed between TB3 and 4.

That is not the whole story. TB3 can let a host device use up to 4 lanes of PCIe, TB4 is single lane only to support the hub. Your TB3 device can however use all four lanes on a TB4 port, just TB4 devices can't.

 

[justinhill]

That is not the whole story. TB3 can let a host device use up to 4 lanes of PCIe, TB4 is single lane only to support the hub. Your TB3 device can however use all four lanes on a TB4 port, just TB4 devices can't.

Thanks for clarifying.

edit: This doesn't actually seem to be true.

Thunderbolt 4 is ready: here is what is new and changed - gHacks Tech News

Intel unveiled Thunderbolt 4, the next-generation of the hardware interface designed to connect hardware devices to computer systems, on July 8, 2020.

www.ghacks.net

 

[tmoerel]

TB3 lets you use more PCIe lanes than TB4. The TB4 hub ability comes with a penalty. 4 physical ports even if they can't run at full speed is still better than a TB4 hub.

Perhaps you need to have a read. TB4

TB3 lets you use more PCIe lanes than TB4. The TB4 hub ability comes with a penalty. 4 physical ports even if they can't run at full speed is still better than a TB4 hub.

Your CFast cards and SSDs will not run at full bus speed. Not even close! There is no issue sharing on a bus!

 

[Shirasaki]

There's also serious problems of quality control with these new Macs. It took me 4 remplacements before finding one that wasn't scratched or dented right out of the box.

And whichever one you pick it will get scratched and dented shortly after you get it and use it for a bit anyways.

 

[dwsolberg]

Who knows why there's a shortage, but I have a 16", and it's so much better than the previous generation. The keyboard works and feels good; the battery life is much much better, the screen is amazing, having real function keys makes hitting those keys so much faster; the ports are genuinely helpful, and the computer is very very fast. The M1 chip also makes the computer instantly responsive when it wakes up, which is a small thing, but is really enjoyable.

 

[Detektiv-Pinky]

And here lays the problem. We as consumers lost a TB4 port so a few niche industry wouldn’t have to step foot in the 21st century. Pandering to audio engineers and “smaller” airline companies was disappointing. And I would argue it’s niche in the professional audio scene to use SD.

To say it was for photographers is BS; no one uses SD in photography minus already mentioned newbies.
Updating your plane’s avionics with an SD is just as dated as me updating my OS with a DVD.

My 3D Printer uses SD-Cards. A lot of IoT-Stuff runs on SDs (all the Raspberry PIs, my heat pump in the basement, etc.). It is a well established memory solution in many engineering domains. I am glad that I can again recommend a Macbook to my engineering students after years of steering them away from the previous models.

 

[tmoerel]

That is not the whole story. TB3 can let a host device use up to 4 lanes of PCIe, TB4 is single lane only to support the hub. Your TB3 device can however use all four lanes on a TB4 port, just TB4 devices can't.

Can you please provide tech docs confirming this!

 

[ruka.snow]

Perhaps you need to have a read. TB4

It seems you have missed the differences between TB3 and TB4.

Your CFast cards and SSDs will not run at full bus speed. Not even close! There is no issue sharing on a bus!

I am sure if I was still using CFast like it was still 2016 that would be true as those cards topped off at under 500 MB/s. My CF Express type B cards come over at the full 1750 MB/s over the PCIe lanes on TB3.

Thanks for clarifying.

edit: This doesn't actually seem to be true.

Thunderbolt 4 is ready: here is what is new and changed - gHacks Tech News

Intel unveiled Thunderbolt 4, the next-generation of the hardware interface designed to connect hardware devices to computer systems, on July 8, 2020.

www.ghacks.net

A TB4 port is backwards compatible with TB3 to give you all four lanes. Once you introduce a TB4 hub you only get one lane of PCIe. But it does look like Sonnet have that dual CF Express reader that can top off at 2.8 GB/s which while it is a penalty, it should be fast enough. CF Express 2.0 will be a different story but I am more interested in the write speed than reading 4 GB/s.