Waiting for the 2018 MBP

[bluecoast]

@leman I admire your patience! For a thread titled 'Waiting for the 2018 MBP' on a website called MacRumors, there sure are a lot of people desperate to complain about Apple. Good on you for bringing some rationality and critical thinking to the Let's Pray to the RAM Gods party. (But maybe save your energy.)

People on Internet forums have a default setting of ‘complain’. It ever was thus so!

Mind you, if I were Apple, I’d be concerned about how many of their most obsessive fans are down (in a not good way) on the current MBPs - Even when the Internet forum effect is accounted for.

 

[BiscottiGelato]

And yes... this actually IS arrogant... that I say "we". But I pretty much get the consensus here that a lot of people actually agree with this sentiment. Plus... since no one wants to take YOUR MBPs away... everyone wins. Except for Apple... with overall slimmer margins. But I think... no... know that they could easily take that without having to file for chapter 11.

Yeah, very arrogant. What right do anybody have to tell any other entity to 'go with slimmer margins' as if it's a right? They get to make whatever the heck they want. Shareholders get to vote with their money on whether they buy their vision. Consumers get to vote with their wallet on whether they like the product.

With your argument, I can say for the minority interest of just my personal gains, you should gimme $100 because you won't go chapter 11. What kinda argument is that?

For Apple to go with slimmer margins just for the need of a selective few, that'd hurt shareholders, which can be a lower-middle class owning just odd dozen shares. That might mean their budget will hire a few less employees. Or are you suggesting that the executives should put all their net worth in charities to serve the exclusive needs of mobile power users that want low demand niche SKU Macbook models?

You can wish for Apple to make it. But that tone of entitlement is what's wrong with the 1st world... If you see so much demand for such niche machines, you should take your own medicine and build a startup around this such sought after niche. Would make a killing.

 

[richinaus]

Yeah, very arrogant. What right do anybody have to tell any other entity to 'go with slimmer margins' as if it's a right? They get to make whatever the heck they want. Shareholders get to vote with their money on whether they buy their vision. Consumers get to vote with their wallet on whether they like the product.

With your argument, I can say for the minority interest of just my personal gains, you should gimme $100 because you won't go chapter 11. What kinda argument is that?

For Apple to go with slimmer margins just for the need of a selective few, that'd hurt shareholders, which can be a lower-middle class owning just odd dozen shares. That might mean their budget will hire a few less employees. Or are you suggesting that the executives should put all their net worth in charities to serve the exclusive needs of mobile power users that want low demand niche SKU Macbook models?

You can wish for Apple to make it. But that tone of entitlement is what's wrong with the 1st world... If you see so much demand for such niche machines, you should take your own medicine and build a startup around this such sought after niche. Would make a killing.

Funny how people forget that Apple is a business that makes money. And that the hardware they supply is designed to sell to the most people possible - aka the majority. Those in the minority don't seem to grasp this concept, and are all about "what about me......". Well tuff titties all those who want their Macbookpros to replace workstation desktops. That is why MSI exist, and don't they look lovely.

 

[BiscottiGelato]

Funny how people forget that Apple is a business that makes money. And that the hardware they supply is designed to sell to the most people possible - aka the majority. Those in the minority don't seem to grasp this concept, and are all about "what about me......". Well tuff titties all those who want their Macbookpros to replace workstation desktops. That is why MSI exist, and don't they look lovely.

I'd even argue that Apple is doing society a service. Max consumer demand and real-world usage scenario for the minimal engineering dollars.

Unless they charge an arm and a leg for the niche SKUs (I'm talking 3x 4x if not more like 10x) for naming a few of the things such as:
- custom PCB layout
- chipset configuration
- software driver development
- exponential increase in the test matrix,

Otherwise they are asking the other buyers, or Apple as a company (which probably hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people have their paycheque at least indirectly dependent on), to subsidize for the high development cost of the niche SKUs due to low economies of scale....

I don't want to be an armchair analyst on the business and downstream impact of putting an entire different DDR subsystem will have, especially if given insufficient economies of scale to subsidize for the cost. I'd figure Apple would actually know a lot better than I do on this one.

 

[Ener Ji]

AMD had their earnings call yesterday. I was disappointed to see NO mention of Mobile Vega. I wouldn't consider this dispositive, but I would say that the odds of a MBP refresh in June including Mobile Vega just got a little longer. Unfortunately.

 

[wilfred2013]

...
Still, their battery life is worse then the 15" MBP, even despite bigger battery. And that is the 16GB version. I still haven't seen any tests for the 32GB version, but extrapolating from power draw measurements, you can easily shave an additional hour of usable time from that.



Again, the choice was either to keep the old form factor and please the very small group of users who have a real case for 32GB, or to limit the RAM to 16GB and improve the mobility (while retaining all other performance characteristics). I have no doubt that the second options benefits more users, which I think is also reflected in the sales performance of Apple laptops in the last two years.

The battery life may be a little less but the laptops can do a lot more. And it is not hard to find a plug point really.

Yes .. apple chose to slim it down with an RSI inducing keyboard and a TB - instead of making a quality computer - like say the 2015 version. That is classic form over function.
You cannot pay me to own the 2016/2017 MBPs with the current keyboard and TB (no Esc Key no F keys).

 

[leman]

AMD had their earnings call yesterday. I was disappointed to see NO mention of Mobile Vega.

I think that there is no doubt that Mobile Vega exists — after all, they do use some chips in the Intel/AMD hybrid solution. Its similar like in 2016 — where mobile Polaris rather suddenly appeared in the MBP. I interpret the lack of any information about mobile Vega as Apple buying out all the chips for themselves.
[doublepost=1524810831][/doublepost]

Yes .. apple chose to slim it down with an RSI inducing keyboard and a TB - instead of making a quality computer - like say the 2015 version. That is classic form over function.
You cannot pay me to own the 2016/2017 MBPs with the current keyboard and TB (no Esc Key no F keys).

That is your subjective opinion. There are plenty of people that find the new keyboard a usability improvement over the old one (reliability issues notwithstanding). Me, I can't even imagine going back to pre-2016 keyboards with its wobbly unstable keys and large key spacing. I find the new keyboard more precise and easy on the fingers.

 

[Poki]

I think that there is no doubt that Mobile Vega exists — after all, they do use some chips in the Intel/AMD hybrid solution. Its similar like in 2016 — where mobile Polaris rather suddenly appeared in the MBP. I interpret the lack of any information about mobile Vega as Apple buying out all the chips for themselves.

Ironically, NVIDIAs new partner program does not allow most gaming notebook manufacturers to use Vega Mobile in their notebooks (which also explains the lack of Kaby Lake G gaming notebooks), so Apple is probably one of the only companies which still can use AMD GPUs without having to go through the trouble of creating separate brands to do so.

 

[richinaus]

I think that there is no doubt that Mobile Vega exists — after all, they do use some chips in the Intel/AMD hybrid solution. Its similar like in 2016 — where mobile Polaris rather suddenly appeared in the MBP. I interpret the lack of any information about mobile Vega as Apple buying out all the chips for themselves.
[doublepost=1524810831][/doublepost]

That is your subjective opinion. There are plenty of people that find the new keyboard a usability improvement over the old one (reliability issues notwithstanding). Me, I can't even imagine going back to pre-2016 keyboards with its wobbly unstable keys and large key spacing. I find the new keyboard more precise and easy on the fingers.

Total sense as usual and I agree 100%.
I could never go back to those awful spongy wobbly keys and always disliked
It, where as I love the current keyboard feel.

 

[Queen6]

I think that there is no doubt that Mobile Vega exists — after all, they do use some chips in the Intel/AMD hybrid solution. Its similar like in 2016 — where mobile Polaris rather suddenly appeared in the MBP. I interpret the lack of any information about mobile Vega as Apple buying out all the chips for themselves.

As much as we disagree, you might just be on the money as both Apple and AMD are no fans of NVidia, with NGreedia having a strangle hold on much of the Windows OEM's and the to potential to stifle their ability to launch systems with the Intel/AMD solution.

Would make for a more balanced MBP and for all the excitement of the upcoming CPU's unless applications can lever the extra cores, but you know that already

Q-6

 

[The Mercurian]

As much as we disagree, you might just be on the money as both Apple and AMD are no fans of NVidia, with NGreedia having a strangle hold on much of the Windows OEM's and the to potential to stifle their ability to launch systems with the Intel/AMD solution.

Would make for a more balanced MBP and for all the excitement of the upcoming CPU's unless applications can lever the extra cores, but you know that already

Q-6

@leman and @Queen6 in agreement ?!?!?! Quick everyone....look for other portents of an impending apocalypse!!!!

 

[leman]

@leman and @Queen6 in agreement ?!?!?! Quick everyone....look for other portents of an impending apocalypse!!!!

Good that my house is equipped with a nuclear bunker

P.S. He might agree with me, but I certainly don't agree with him! (Just kidding @Queen6 cheers buddy!)

 

[Queen6]

@leman and @Queen6 in agreement ?!?!?! Quick everyone....look for other portents of an impending apocalypse!!!!

LOL,and exactly why I'm still here despite Apple's best efforts

Q-6

 

[cool11]

So, are there any realistic estimations of the date of appearance on the market of the new mbp?

 

[EugW]

So, are there any realistic estimations of the date of appearance on the market of the new mbp?

June 4

 

[youdontsay]

https://translate.google.fr/transla...retard-de-cannon-lake.html&edit-text=&act=url

 

[EugW]

https://translate.google.fr/translate?sl=fr&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=fr&ie=UTF-8&u=https://consomac.fr/news-8490-intel-annonce-un-retard-de-cannon-lake.html&edit-text=&act=url

The new MacBook Pros in 2018 will not be using 10 nm Cannon Lake, so the above link isn't that relevant here.

They will be Kaby Lake Refresh or Coffee Lake in 2018, both 14 nm variants. And in 2019 some may actually still be 14 nm, with Whiskey Lake.

 

[TheralSadurns]

https://translate.google.fr/translate?sl=fr&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=fr&ie=UTF-8&u=https://consomac.fr/news-8490-intel-annonce-un-retard-de-cannon-lake.html&edit-text=&act=url

Yup... I'll wait for Ice Lake now anyways.

My 2011 machine feels like the USS Enterprise heading into Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. 40 years old and battered

But upgrading now... would be like moving to what they got at the end of Star Trek IV with the Enterprise A. Essentially the same ship... just a bit newer. When all I want is a sexy new Excelsior Class Enterprise B

Everyone who understands my references, good for you
Everyone else... whatever

Oh and... Star Trek Discovery is a disgrace! If you crave Star Trek... watch the Orville... you can thank me later!



(There are no real news... and we always only go around the same **** here every single day... so I thought... take the topic... and use it as a starting point to just go OFF topic... let's see what's gonna happen... but I expect a heated discussion nonetheless )

 

[afir93]

https://translate.google.fr/translate?sl=fr&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=fr&ie=UTF-8&u=https://consomac.fr/news-8490-intel-annonce-un-retard-de-cannon-lake.html&edit-text=&act=url

So, Cannon Lake is delayed again? Wasn't it delayed a couple of times already? And the 2019 statement seems pretty vague aswell, no concrete time of year given; I wouldn't be surprised if this ends up not being the last delay. At this point I'm not even sure if I would expect it to be ready in time for the 2019 MBPs at all.

 

[EugW]

So, Cannon Lake is delayed again? Wasn't it delayed a couple of times already? And the 2019 statement seems pretty vague aswell, no concrete time of year given; I wouldn't be surprised if this ends up not being the last delay. At this point I'm not even sure if I would expect it to be ready in time for the 2019 MBPs at all.

The original release target for Cannon Lake was 2016, so it's been delayed several times. There is actually Cannon Lake product in the wild already now in 2018, but it is a low performance and low volume part. No high volume Cannon Lake to be seen, and some believe we may never see it. It is possible that high volume Cannon Lake will be skipped entirely, with 14 nm Whiskey Lake and friends appearing in 2019, and then Ice Lake being the true 10 nm high volume release in the second half of 2019.

 

[Poki]

It is possible that high volume Cannon Lake will be skipped entirely, with 14 nm Whiskey Lake and friends appearing in 2019, and then Ice Lake being the true 10 nm high volume release in the second half of 2019.

... and with a late 2019 release, we might well be looking at a summer 2020 release for MacBook Pros with 10 nm based CPUs, since Intel usually takes ages to release higher power chips.

Whatever, the 2009 MacBook Pro I'm typing this on needs to be replaced sooner rather than later, and I guess Coffee Lake is a big enough upgrade when coming from that thing.

 

[Ener Ji]

... and with a late 2019 release, we might well be looking at a summer 2020 release for MacBook Pros with 10 nm based CPUs, since Intel usually takes ages to release higher power chips.

Whatever, the 2009 MacBook Pro I'm typing this on needs to be replaced sooner rather than later, and I guess Coffee Lake is a big enough upgrade when coming from that thing.

I'm in the same boat. Would have loved to have been able to upgrade directly to a 10nm CPU, but this year's CPUs will most likely have to suffice. Around September Apple will likely drop security updates for El Capitan, which is still running on my "backup" 2008 MBP. Some time before then, I'll likely buy a new laptop and make my current 2012 rMBP my new "backup." It's had an excellent run.

 

[EugW]

I'm in the same boat. Would have loved to have been able to upgrade directly to a 10nm CPU, but this year's CPUs will most likely have to suffice. Around September Apple will likely drop security updates for El Capitan, which is still running on my "backup" 2008 MBP. Some time before then, I'll likely buy a new laptop and make my current 2012 rMBP my new "backup." It's had an excellent run.

Which MacBook Pro and with which WiFi module exactly? Just a note that you can run Sierra (or High Sierra) on the 2008 MBPs, but some of the MacBook Pros from that era have WiFi issues with Sierra (or High Sierra).

 

[falcon511]

So I am assuming the next refresh of the MBP will be in June like last year.

Is it safe to assume that the 15 inch will have a 6 core cpu standard and a vega gpu?

 

[TheralSadurns]

So I am assuming the next refresh of the MBP will be in June like last year.

Is it safe to assume that the 15 inch will have a 6 core cpu standard and a vega gpu?

I say this with 90% confidence:
June.
Hexa-Core
Polaris OR Vega... this one is the biggest wildcard actually!