Waiting for the 2018 MBP

[Starlights]

Does anyone here feel that the all glass screens of the (especially thin new versions) MBP are overly fragile?
I am planning to to upgrade from an older MBA and I found the MBA design to be very sturdy, especially the screen due to the oversized (outdated) bezel, however I am not sure if the all glass design of the MBPs can be similarly sturdy. More so considering the numerous threads about broken/cracked MBP screens where the owners claim that they are not sure how the screen cracked by itself. While our first reaction would be to dismiss their claims as accidental damage due to users neglect, is it possible that there is a design flaw leading to heat related expansion of components behind the MBP screens ? (Many owners here claim to hear popping sounds from their MBPs, some claiming that the popping sound stopped once the LCD cracked, without a blemish to the outer glass)

Just very confused if I should go ahead with the trusted and proven maxed out MBA or the base model MBP 15. My needs are not very complex - I need to be able to run a few Linux based VMs concurrently that I think an i7 MBA should be able to handle.

I would really appreciate your thoughts, especially if you have owned both MBA and MBP as some point.

 

[Falhófnir]

Does anyone here feel that the all glass screens of the (especially thin new versions) MBP are overly fragile?
I am planning to to upgrade from an older MBA and I found the MBA design to be very sturdy, especially the screen due to the oversized (outdated) bezel, however I am not sure if the all glass design of the MBPs can be similarly sturdy. More so considering the numerous threads about broken/cracked MBP screens where the owners claim that they are not sure how the screen cracked by itself. While our first reaction would be to dismiss their claims as accidental damage due to users neglect, is it possible that there is a design flaw leading to heat related expansion of components behind the MBP screens ? (Many owners here claim to hear popping sounds from their MBPs, some claiming that the popping sound stopped once the LCD cracked, without a blemish to the outer glass)

Just very confused if I should go ahead with the trusted and proven maxed out MBA or the base model MBP 15. My needs are not very complex - I need to be able to run a few Linux based VMs concurrently that I think an i7 MBA should be able to handle.

I would really appreciate your thoughts, especially if you have owned both MBA and MBP as some point.

On the touch bar versions of the 15" there is more screen flex than with the previous generation - the 2015 model is built like a tank, and feels really robust like it can take a bit of rough handling. The Touch Bar model, not so much. I wouldn't quite call it flimsy but it didn't feel as substantial or robust to me. For your use I would certainly consider a 2015 15", even looking at the refurbished models to save some fo the extra cost over an air. By the time you configure the air with the same 256GB storage and the i7, the price is creeping up anyway. You'll get the (much more powerful) H series i7, 256GB storage, and 16GB RAM to boot with the 2015 pro.

 

[Starlights]

On the touch bar versions of the 15" there is more screen flex than with the previous generation - the 2015 model is built like a tank, and feels really robust like it can take a bit of rough handling. The Touch Bar model, not so much. I wouldn't quite call it flimsy but it didn't feel as substantial or robust to me. For your use I would certainly consider a 2015 15", even looking at the refurbished models to save some fo the extra cost over an air. By the time you configure the air with the same 256GB storage and the i7, the price is creeping up anyway. You'll get the (much more powerful) H series i7, 256GB storage, and 16GB RAM to boot with the 2015 pro.

Thanks! Is this the model you are talking about?

• Model: MJLQ2LL/A

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/apple-...-flash-storage-silver/8532502.p?skuId=8532502

 

[Falhófnir]

Thanks! Is this the model you are talking about?

• Model: MJLQ2LL/A

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/apple-...-flash-storage-silver/8532502.p?skuId=8532502

That's the model number but they actually have a picture of the 2016/17 models illustrating it! Here's the tech spec page for it:
https://www.apple.com/uk/macbook-pro/specs-2015/

 

[Starlights]

That's the model number but they actually have a picture of the 2016/17 models illustrating it! Here's the tech spec page for it:
https://www.apple.com/uk/macbook-pro/specs-2015/

Thanks, definitely worth considering however I am still concerned about the screen vs MBA as this model seems to have a very similar all glass screen. The ports are a definite plus on 2015 model. Money is not an important consideration up to the cost of 2017 (18) base 15" model however my biggest consideration is sturdiness while being portable.

 

[han_del_]

Personally I think it's just a fallacy that Mac's last longer with the comparison of a cheap OEM to a $2K MBP being a joke.

Q-6

I'm referring to personal experience just to counter the notion that you're a fool if you choose Apple as opposed to other manufacturers. I choose Apple because I've had very good experience with them. Why wouldn't I choose them if I've been happy with my purchase every single time? For a more objective measure of Apple's reliability, see my comment to Poki below.

All high-end notebooks use pretty much the same components, so failure rates should be very similar. Some specific models may fail more often due to inadequate cooling or some other specific problems (like shipping them with defective GPUs), but apart from that, I wouldn't expect any brand of notebooks to last longer than any other brand.

Having said that, I had both MacBook Pros as well as Windows based notebooks last more than ten years of active daily use, so in my limited experience, they can last pretty much as long as they are fast enough to be of any use.

For what it's worth, a recent study did find that Apple is the most reliable computer maker on the market:

"Apple has earned an A+ grade for reliability in the latest Rescuecom computer reliability report. According to computer repair company Rescuecom, Apple’s machines represent just 3.2% of all repairs it makes. That low number, coupled with the company’s millions of Macs sold per year, translates to low failure rates and the high reliability grade. Samsung and Lenovo landed in second and third place with grades of A- and B+, respectively." (Fortune)​

Full article http://fortune.com/2018/03/12/apple-macbooks-most-reliable/

 

[Ma2k5]

I don’t think Rescuecom’s methodology seems to come to that conclusion - correct me if I am wrong.

It seems like they have not weighted the manufacturers by number of laptops sold. Apple computers will be a fraction of the PC market, so naturally they won’t receive many Apple computers.

Secondly, there is an argument potentially that more Mac repairs are done in an Apple store/authorised repair centre as a % compared to other manufacturers - especially if people get Apple Care or had educational 3 year warranty. Other manufacturers do have warranties but a lot of them are sold via third party which usually limit them to 12 months (so no option for example to buy manufacture extended warranties).

Thirdly, you can’t compare relatively expensive laptops (which should have better parts) to laptops which can be sold as cheaply as £150-£350. To make meaningful statistics, you’d need to compare by price bracket / intended market (I.e premium).

Lastly, as computers come out of warranty, my personal view is MacBooks of the past couple of years are less reliable than those which came before it - excusing a couple of dGPU fails and a screen peeling off (I guess the keyboard gate is the new one!). I think the strategy Apple is taking (targeting consumer/semi-prosumer market) is taking them to a road to unreliability, but we will have to wait and see.

I am not saying MacBooks are not more reliable - I am just curious as to how they could come to that conclusion based off very non-conclusive statistics.

 

[richinaus]

I don’t think Rescuecom’s methodology seems to come to that conclusion - correct me if I am wrong.

It seems like they have not weighted the manufacturers by number of laptops sold. Apple computers will be a fraction of the PC market, so naturally they won’t receive many Apple computers.

Secondly, there is an argument potentially that more Mac repairs are done in an Apple store/authorised repair centre as a % compared to other manufacturers - especially if people get Apple Care or had educational 3 year warranty. Other manufacturers do have warranties but a lot of them are sold via third party which usually limit them to 12 months (so no option for example to buy manufacture extended warranties).

Thirdly, you can’t compare relatively expensive laptops (which should have better parts) to laptops which can be sold as cheaply as £150-£350. To make meaningful statistics, you’d need to compare by price bracket / intended market (I.e premium).

Lastly, as computers come out of warranty, my personal view is MacBooks of the past couple of years are less reliable than those which came before it - excusing a couple of dGPU fails and a screen peeling off (I guess the keyboard gate is the new one!). I think the strategy Apple is taking (targeting consumer/semi-prosumer market) is taking them to a road to unreliability, but we will have to wait and see.

I am not saying MacBooks are not more reliable - I am just curious as to how they could come to that conclusion based off very non-conclusive statistics.

I was under the impression Apple was one of the larger suppliers of computers per brand, and certainly not a fraction of [well all brands are a fraction of the whole.....].
This may help you - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_share_of_personal_computer_vendors
4th largest apparently, so I don't believe any of your post.

Not defending Apple at all but like to know the figures rather than making them up off guesses / assumptions.

 

[AlekT]

Any study that doesn't state sample size isn't really a study … Actual data and reliability studies are really only going to come from third parties like consumer rights organisations, such as Choice here in Australia or Consumer Reports.

 

[AdamA9]

Some might want to skip this, it adds little to the discussion, but it does give some recent personal experiences with Apple.

My experience with Apple is exactly the opposite of what that video says. I keep buying Apple because their products last and last beyond the point where I want a new one. In fact, it was my two Windows-based laptops that died on me prematurely. As for the guy's experience as a repairman, it could be that people don't bother repairing cheap Windows laptops compared to more expensive Apple ones. I know I threw out my two Windows laptops. Far from feeling cheap, the MacBooks have always had a premium look and feel to them compared to the competition. Mine have always looked and felt SOLID. And have performed solidly, too.​

Completely agree with this. Was chatting with a buddy at work who was lamenting the cost of my late 2013 retina MacBook Pro. It was only £2,000 for the 1tb SSD, i7 maxed out version. I then asked what he had owned in the 5 years I'd owned this one, and by the time he got to his third Windows laptop the cost had already well surpassed what I had spent on mine.

This is still my first Apple laptop, before that I had an iMac for 4 years (which I still sold for £500 when I didn't need it any longer), so in all I've had two Apple machines in 9 years. Before that I would get a new Windows computer every 2/3 years.

I definitely go well beyond my the point where I need a new one with these. I want, but I just don't need. Only now am I thinking of upgrading, while eBay has my current machine for ~£600 so I know I can make some money back, too.

I'm referring to personal experience just to counter the notion that you're a fool if you choose Apple as opposed to other manufacturers. I choose Apple because I've had very good experience with them. Why wouldn't I choose them if I've been happy with my purchase every single time? For a more objective measure of Apple's reliability, see my comment to Poki below.

Here's another little story , to add a bit if positivity among the gloom that frequents this forum.

This weekend my 2013 MacBook Pro developed an annoying issue with the space bar. It wasn't registering me using it unless I pressed firmly, which isn't something I do when typing. I had to pop into town to help my gran move to a new phone (Samsung), so thought I would kill (not literally) two birds with one stone. I'd pop to the Apple store to see what could be done and then help gran with her phone.

Walked into the Apple store and was seen within 5 minutes. They took my laptop away, returned about 15 minutes later, and they had cleaned it inside and out for me, and removed the issue. Brilliant. "How much will that be?". They looked confused and said there was no charge, asked if there was anything else I needed, and wished me a good day.

In a good mood, I went to my grans. Her Samsung was locked, the online store where she bought it from had sent her a phone that somehow had locked itself. After an hours of messing with it I couldn't get in, and then over an hour on the phone to the network provider and the online store I was advised to take it into a local store (back into town from where I had been) where they would be able to swap the phone.

I got into town and to the store, and they refused to help. It was an online order, and there was nothing they could do. Brilliant service. After much discussion and some heated words I eventually got one of them to look at the phone. 15 minutes later after he said nothing to be and sat there in a sulk the phone was wiped to factory settings and I could get in.

Being an Apple user I had no idea how to move from one Samsung to another, so asked if they could help me (considering I bought the bloody phone from them online). No, we can't do that for you. I sat in their store for a further hour trying to figure this thing out with the help of someone else in store (I had to download an app to each phone to swap the data).

Eventually it was all swapped out and she was on the new phone. Some 5 hours later and with virtually no assistance.

This, in my experience, further solidifies my position to stick with Apple. Sure they might not give me the toppest of the top of the range components, and they may be a little more expensive than the competition. But, when you can so easily get things sorted with a smile compared to the rest (I know this is a laptop vs. phone discussion, but fixing a windows laptop will never be that easy), there's nothing that'll convince me to swap at this moment.

/end.

 

[Ma2k5]

I was under the impression Apple was one of the larger suppliers of computers per brand, and certainly not a fraction of [well all brands are a fraction of the whole.....].
This may help you - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_share_of_personal_computer_vendors
4th largest apparently, so I don't believe any of your post.

Not defending Apple at all but like to know the figures rather than making them up off guesses / assumptions.

The irony... your own source has Apple only at 7.4% of the market share - which kind of proves my point...

Of course when over 90% your computers are Windows machines, you’ll get less bad Apples (pun intended).

Also, I believe one of the other points, particularly of in-house Apple repairs, are a huge contributing factor.

Anyway, I was attacking RescueCom, not Apple.

 

[richinaus]

Some might want to skip this, it adds little to the discussion, but it does give some recent personal experiences with Apple.



Completely agree with this. Was chatting with a buddy at work who was lamenting the cost of my late 2013 retina MacBook Pro. It was only £2,000 for the 1tb SSD, i7 maxed out version. I then asked what he had owned in the 5 years I'd owned this one, and by the time he got to his third Windows laptop the cost had already well surpassed what I had spent on mine.

This is still my first Apple laptop, before that I had an iMac for 4 years (which I still sold for £500 when I didn't need it any longer), so in all I've had two Apple machines in 9 years. Before that I would get a new Windows computer every 2/3 years.

I definitely go well beyond my the point where I need a new one with these. I want, but I just don't need. Only now am I thinking of upgrading, while eBay has my current machine for ~£600 so I know I can make some money back, too.



Here's another little story , to add a bit if positivity among the gloom that frequents this forum.

This weekend my 2013 MacBook Pro developed an annoying issue with the space bar. It wasn't registering me using it unless I pressed firmly, which isn't something I do when typing. I had to pop into town to help my gran move to a new phone (Samsung), so thought I would kill (not literally) two birds with one stone. I'd pop to the Apple store to see what could be done and then help gran with her phone.

Walked into the Apple store and was seen within 5 minutes. They took my laptop away, returned about 15 minutes later, and they had cleaned it inside and out for me, and removed the issue. Brilliant. "How much will that be?". They looked confused and said there was no charge, asked if there was anything else I needed, and wished me a good day.

In a good mood, I went to my grans. Her Samsung was locked, the online store where she bought it from had sent her a phone that somehow had locked itself. After an hours of messing with it I couldn't get in, and then over an hour on the phone to the network provider and the online store I was advised to take it into a local store (back into town from where I had been) where they would be able to swap the phone.

I got into town and to the store, and they refused to help. It was an online order, and there was nothing they could do. Brilliant service. After much discussion and some heated words I eventually got one of them to look at the phone. 15 minutes later after he said nothing to be and sat there in a sulk the phone was wiped to factory settings and I could get in.

Being an Apple user I had no idea how to move from one Samsung to another, so asked if they could help me (considering I bought the bloody phone from them online). No, we can't do that for you. I sat in their store for a further hour trying to figure this thing out with the help of someone else in store (I had to download an app to each phone to swap the data).

Eventually it was all swapped out and she was on the new phone. Some 5 hours later and with virtually no assistance.

This, in my experience, further solidifies my position to stick with Apple. Sure they might not give me the toppest of the top of the range components, and they may be a little more expensive than the competition. But, when you can so easily get things sorted with a smile compared to the rest (I know this is a laptop vs. phone discussion, but fixing a windows laptop will never be that easy), there's nothing that'll convince me to swap at this moment.

/end.

Exactly my experiences. I won’t buy anything non Apple unless I have to and every time I do (TV, appliances Etc) there is something wrong with them......
[doublepost=1525081482][/doublepost]

The irony... your own source has Apple only at 7.4% of the market share - which kind of proves my point...

Of course when over 90% your computers are Windows machines, you’ll get less bad Apples (pun intended).

Also, I believe one of the other points, particularly of in-house Apple repairs, are a huge contributing factor.

Anyway, I was attacking RescueCom, not Apple.

Sorry but you don’t get it. We are comparing comparable machines and brands not a generic statement of Macs vs pc’s. Anyway as long as you are happy, all is good.

 

[SteveJUAE]

Some might want to skip this, it adds little to the discussion, but it does give some recent personal experiences with Apple.



Completely agree with this. Was chatting with a buddy at work who was lamenting the cost of my late 2013 retina MacBook Pro. It was only £2,000 for the 1tb SSD, i7 maxed out version. I then asked what he had owned in the 5 years I'd owned this one, and by the time he got to his third Windows laptop the cost had already well surpassed what I had spent on mine.

This is still my first Apple laptop, before that I had an iMac for 4 years (which I still sold for £500 when I didn't need it any longer), so in all I've had two Apple machines in 9 years. Before that I would get a new Windows computer every 2/3 years.

I definitely go well beyond my the point where I need a new one with these. I want, but I just don't need. Only now am I thinking of upgrading, while eBay has my current machine for ~£600 so I know I can make some money back, too.



Here's another little story , to add a bit if positivity among the gloom that frequents this forum.

This weekend my 2013 MacBook Pro developed an annoying issue with the space bar. It wasn't registering me using it unless I pressed firmly, which isn't something I do when typing. I had to pop into town to help my gran move to a new phone (Samsung), so thought I would kill (not literally) two birds with one stone. I'd pop to the Apple store to see what could be done and then help gran with her phone.

Walked into the Apple store and was seen within 5 minutes. They took my laptop away, returned about 15 minutes later, and they had cleaned it inside and out for me, and removed the issue. Brilliant. "How much will that be?". They looked confused and said there was no charge, asked if there was anything else I needed, and wished me a good day.

In a good mood, I went to my grans. Her Samsung was locked, the online store where she bought it from had sent her a phone that somehow had locked itself. After an hours of messing with it I couldn't get in, and then over an hour on the phone to the network provider and the online store I was advised to take it into a local store (back into town from where I had been) where they would be able to swap the phone.

I got into town and to the store, and they refused to help. It was an online order, and there was nothing they could do. Brilliant service. After much discussion and some heated words I eventually got one of them to look at the phone. 15 minutes later after he said nothing to be and sat there in a sulk the phone was wiped to factory settings and I could get in.

Being an Apple user I had no idea how to move from one Samsung to another, so asked if they could help me (considering I bought the bloody phone from them online). No, we can't do that for you. I sat in their store for a further hour trying to figure this thing out with the help of someone else in store (I had to download an app to each phone to swap the data).

Eventually it was all swapped out and she was on the new phone. Some 5 hours later and with virtually no assistance.

This, in my experience, further solidifies my position to stick with Apple. Sure they might not give me the toppest of the top of the range components, and they may be a little more expensive than the competition. But, when you can so easily get things sorted with a smile compared to the rest (I know this is a laptop vs. phone discussion, but fixing a windows laptop will never be that easy), there's nothing that'll convince me to swap at this moment.

/end.

Whilst I am pleased for you that your old MB is still chugging along on borrowed time and you have been fortunate and happy to run with old hardware but this is just luck and personal preference and your friend still has newer hardware

I have equally like you with Samsung been turned away from Apple as my purchase was elsewhere, so yet again luck of the draw, but Apple does fare better generally

I find it odd that Apple buyers almost expect their devices to go wrong and justify all sorts of additional cost and after cost as they are resided to failures and warranty claims and accept this under the disguise well at least it will get fixed with a smile and less fuss most of the time

Given that many MB owners also have Iphones/Ipads etc etc which all come with premium service costs and AC/AC+ you are just double paying for convenience and risk based insurance which can easy run to over the 1000 every few years

I'm all for premium products that should be more reliable in the first instance but sometimes you have to look at real costs of being in the Apple eco garden and that extra smile may of cost you a lot more than you think

 

[richinaus]

Whilst I am pleased for you that your old MB is still chugging along on borrowed time and you have been fortunate and happy to run with old hardware but this is just luck and personal preference and your friend still has newer hardware

I have equally like you with Samsung been turned away from Apple as my purchase was elsewhere, so yet again luck of the draw, but Apple does fare better generally

I find it odd that Apple buyers almost expect their devices to go wrong and justify all sorts of additional cost and after cost as they are resided to failures and warranty claims and accept this under the disguise well at least it will get fixed with a smile and less fuss most of the time

Given that many MB owners also have Iphones/Ipads etc etc which all come with premium service costs and AC/AC+ you are just double paying for convenience and risk based insurance which can easy run to over the 1000 every few years

I'm all for premium products that should be more reliable in the first instance but sometimes you have to look at real costs of being in the Apple eco garden and that extra smile may of cost you a lot more than you think

Never bought Apple care, had one problem in 25 years, Apple gave me a refund. Well worth paying this apparent extra cost, which actually doesn’t exist. But if you don’t see the value, there are plenty of other manufacturers making ‘similar’ machines for a lot less apparently. Go buy them, no need to have a go at those who see the Apple value for what it is.

 

[afir93]

I find it odd that Apple buyers almost expect their devices to go wrong and justify all sorts of additional cost and after cost as they are resided to failures and warranty claims and accept this under the disguise well at least it will get fixed with a smile and less fuss most of the time

Given that many MB owners also have Iphones/Ipads etc etc which all come with premium service costs and AC/AC+ you are just double paying for convenience and risk based insurance which can easy run to over the 1000 every few years

I'm all for premium products that should be more reliable in the first instance but sometimes you have to look at real costs of being in the Apple eco garden and that extra smile may of cost you a lot more than you think

That's a bit of an odd statement since you're responding to someone who just told an anecdote about how he, despite the higher initial cost of his MacBook, got off much cheaper than a friend of is a couple years down the road because his machine remained thoroughly usable and reliable without any issues. Where in his post did he even mention any additional costs later down the line that you're talking about?

Personally, I've only ever once purchased AppleCare with a product (on my first Apple Watch, and in retrospect that felt like a wasted purchase as I didn't even need it) and I can't remember a single situation where I would have needed AppleCare or any additional warranty on an Apple device. I had pretty much zero of these "additional costs" from failures and failed warranty claims that you're describing. The one time I do had to bring in a product way past its 1-year-warranty was a MacBook Pro that suffered from the Staingate issue, but that was fixed completely for free and I'm not sure how many other manufacturers would have done that 2-3 years after the end of warranty.

Now of course, there are exceptions, and it's a shame that the current MBP line with its keyboard issues is such an exception for a number of people. But overall, I share a pretty similar experience to AdamA9 in that I've had pretty much zero additional costs with Apple products for maintaining/repairing them later down the line. Neither do I expect my Apple devices "to go wrong" nor do they usually do that. AppleCare is always an option for additional safety in case that something does go wrong, but in my experience it's not something that you really need to buy with an Apple product.

 

[AdamA9]

Whilst I am pleased for you that your old MB is still chugging along on borrowed time and you have been fortunate and happy to run with old hardware but this is just luck and personal preference and your friend still has newer hardware

I have equally like you with Samsung been turned away from Apple as my purchase was elsewhere, so yet again luck of the draw, but Apple does fare better generally

I find it odd that Apple buyers almost expect their devices to go wrong and justify all sorts of additional cost and after cost as they are resided to failures and warranty claims and accept this under the disguise well at least it will get fixed with a smile and less fuss most of the time

Given that many MB owners also have Iphones/Ipads etc etc which all come with premium service costs and AC/AC+ you are just double paying for convenience and risk based insurance which can easy run to over the 1000 every few years

I'm all for premium products that should be more reliable in the first instance but sometimes you have to look at real costs of being in the Apple eco garden and that extra smile may of cost you a lot more than you think

It's not chugging along at all, not sure where I said that. It works perfectly fine. No chugging at all. Come take a look, it's a darn sight quicker than my work laptop that I've been given. Sure my friend has newer hardware, and someone who buys a laptop next week will have newer hardware still. The fact is he is on his third machine and close to £5k down on hardware.

I've not had any additional costs (not sure where I said I had), and I'm not trying to justify anything. As said in my post, I moved from Windows based machines to Apple 9 years ago. The first problem I had was a sticky keyboard that was sorted out for free in store with no question that it would be a problem for them to do. The fact you can only see a negative in that says a lot.

I''m not really sure on the point of your post, but you're trying to tell me I have a problem that doesn't exist, that my premium products should be more reliable... Well, if my first problem in 9 years is a bit of dust or dirt under a keyboard that was cleaned for free is a sign of unreliability, then damn, your standards are too high.

 

[Hadron]

Completely agree with this. Was chatting with a buddy at work who was lamenting the cost of my late 2013 retina MacBook Pro. It was only £2,000 for the 1tb SSD, i7 maxed out version. I then asked what he had owned in the 5 years I'd owned this one, and by the time he got to his third Windows laptop the cost had already well surpassed what I had spent on mine.

The touble with using individual experiences is that by definition these are anecdotal. So if one person gets and unusually good or unusually bad example their perception of the reliability of the brand may be wildly out of line with the reality.

If I were to look at the experiences of myself and my family I'd say that overall we've suffered more reliability problems with the Macbooks than with (typically much cheaper) Windows computers. But that would be mainly due to one machine, and for the reason above I would no more assume that is typical than the experience of your friend who got through 3 windows laptops in 5 years (whereas my family have only ever had 1 Windows laptop which developed a fault). The only way to judge is by properly controlled and analysed large-scale surveys: anything else is just anecdote, and the plural of "anecdote" is not "data".

(That said, if my current MBP had been as reliable as it's predecessor then I'd not be giving them a third chance with its replacement).

 

[vseera]

Can we get back on track on this thread please? This isn't a comparison between Mac and Windows. It's trying to figure out when Macbook Pros are coming out.

With the delay in the release of the new Macbook Air replacement, do you think there might also be a delay for the Pro line?

 

[afir93]

Can we get back on track on this thread please? This isn't a comparison between Mac and Windows. It's trying to figure out when Macbook Pros are coming out.

With the delay in the release of the new Macbook Air replacement, do you think there might also be a delay for the Pro line?

Unlikely, I'd say. The release dates for MBs/MBAs and MBPs oftentimes weren't paired together (for example the 2016 MB came out in April, the 2016 MBP in October because it was a redesign and just took significantly longer) and I think we're looking at a similar situation here.

The meat of the 2018 MBP refresh are the CPUs and they are there, the design and therefore the vast majority of supply and production chains should remain the same, so there's no reason for Apple to wait any longer than they have to. The new MBAs would be (mostly) a completely new product line with a mostly different target audience and could be delayed for any number of reasons, from the desired CPUs not being there (most likely not the same ones as in the MBPs, maybe the successor of Intel's current m3/m5's?) to difficulties in design or production.

My prediction: new MacBook Pros (and probably new iMacs) at WWDC as the chipsets for them both are here and it has been a full year since the last refresh of both of them. The new ominous 13" MacBook (Air), together with a possible 12" MacBook refresh later this year around October/September (I don't think there are m3/m5 chips in Intel's 8th generation yet so I would rather expect the 12" MB to be refreshed later aswell). Maybe a small glimpse at the new Mac Pro at either of these two releases though I'd rather say not.

A wildcard would be the new Mac mini that is supposedly coming. The new Coffeelake chips for either the MBPs or the iMacs would also be good candidates for a new Mac mini (I think), and with the two additional cores of Coffeelake and the performance boost that comes with it, WWDC would seem like a good time to announce that new Mac mini that Tim Cook was talking about. But I wouldn't really hold my breath for it; maybe Apple is saving that one to present it alongside the new Mac Pro, whenever that will be (as the sort-of low-end brother that the Mac mini has also been to the Mac Pro in the past).

 

[EugW]

Can we get back on track on this thread please? This isn't a comparison between Mac and Windows. It's trying to figure out when Macbook Pros are coming out.

With the delay in the release of the new Macbook Air replacement, do you think there might also be a delay for the Pro line?

What delay in the Air replacement? Do you mean the MacBook 13”?

Cuz what people are expecting is a delayed MacBook 12” update, but nobody knows what the status is of the rumoured MacBook 13”. It’s plausible it could launch with an existing 2016/2017 Intel Y series CPU...or else even a new Apple A11X. That is, if the MacBook 13” even exists.

 

[Falhófnir]

What delay in the Air replacement? Do you mean the MacBook 13”?

Cuz what people are expecting is a delayed MacBook 12” update, but nobody knows what the status is of the rumoured MacBook 13”. It’s plausible it could launch with an existing 2016/2017 Intel Y series CPU...or else even a new Apple A11X. That is, if the MacBook 13” even exists.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...etina-display-to-second-half-of-2018.2116989/

 

[EugW]

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...etina-display-to-second-half-of-2018.2116989/

Ah I see. DigiTimes is revising their own rumour.

 

[Falhófnir]

Ah I see. DigiTimes is revising their own rumour.

Who even knows what’s going on any more, 13” MacBook, retina Air, price cut Air so much conflicting info. And with Kuo gone it’s going to be interesting to see if anything completely slips under the radar in coming quarters!

 

[EugW]

In any case the point is that a 13” MacBook can launch at any time without a corresponding 12” update. It should also have no effect on the Pros.

 

[AdamA9]

The touble with using individual experiences is that by definition these are anecdotal. So if one person gets and unusually good or unusually bad example their perception of the reliability of the brand may be wildly out of line with the reality.

Absolutely, which is why I qualified my post with it being personal experiences.

Can we get back on track on this thread please? This isn't a comparison between Mac and Windows. It's trying to figure out when Macbook Pros are coming out.

You're right. Let's get back to the topic in conversation since June 2017. I mean there's still so much ground we've not covered.