Y'know, I sometimes wonder why Apple never put a full-size numeric keypad on the 17-inch MacBook Pro while it was still around. Granted, the additional navigation keys that usually come in between it and one's keyboard's main key group above the arrow keys wouldn't fit into place like they do on a desktop keyboard, but there otherwise looks like there was enough space for at least the number pad on there.
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Waiting for the 2018 MBP
- Thread starter benface
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Y'know, I sometimes wonder why Apple never put a full-size numeric keypad on the 17-inch MacBook Pro while it was still around. Granted, the additional navigation keys that usually come in between it and one's keyboard's main key group above the arrow keys wouldn't fit into place like they do on a desktop keyboard, but there otherwise looks like there was enough space for at least the number pad on there.
Any speculation about the Kaby Lake G chips making an appearance in the entry level model of the 15 inch MacBook Pro's? They seem like a perfect fit for my needs.
I'm looking at a pretty good deal on the current gen entry level model (over 600 off). It's an open box--which isn't ideal--but I'd push the savings into applecare to protect myself against issues.
I've made my peace with the keyboard after using my wife's MacBook for a bit. She seems to love it. My only reservation is the possibility of an entry level 15 model with a significantly better GPU. I have no need for 6 cores, but the screen real estate on a 15 inch would be nice.
I'm looking at a pretty good deal on the current gen entry level model (over 600 off). It's an open box--which isn't ideal--but I'd push the savings into applecare to protect myself against issues.
I've made my peace with the keyboard after using my wife's MacBook for a bit. She seems to love it. My only reservation is the possibility of an entry level 15 model with a significantly better GPU. I have no need for 6 cores, but the screen real estate on a 15 inch would be nice.
There's nothing confirming if that's what you are looking for... However the competition has been putting Kaby Lake G on both 13" and 15" so there's a possibility of seeing it happening on entry 15" for sure.
Bear in mind that the implementations of Kaby Lake G are quad-core. Given that Coffee Lake is a major point of interest for this generation of Macbook Pros, selling a quad core CPU while the rest of your lineup is 6-core might be a hard sell, to say nothing of the altered cooling design that Kaby Lake G would need.
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I currently have a 15" MacBook Pro, I'm leaning towards getting a 13" this time around when the new one comes out mainly due to its compact size/ low weight to carry to school.
My question is will the 13" also be getting the 32gb RAM and other rumored or assumed specs that the 15" will have?
My question is will the 13" also be getting the 32gb RAM and other rumored or assumed specs that the 15" will have?
Imagine getting a dedicated GPu in the 13” model... that would be heaven!
The 32GB RAM is actually pretty unlikely even for the 15”, as the upcoming chips don’t support LPDDR4. As for the rest:
CPU —> The 15” will go from 4 cores to 6 cores (at least the mid & high tier configs), the 13” from 2 to 4 (huge improvement, definitely worth waiting for)
GPU —> The 15” should get the new rebranded AMD Polaris cards (minor improvement), unless Apple surprises us with an exclusive early access to the Vega architecture. The 13” will use the integrated graphics in the new chips.
Ultimately, the jump to 4 cores will make the 13” a much more powerful machine, but the 15” is still going to be a different beast.
Kaby Lake G has another issue - concentration of CPU and dgpu heat. By placing them on the same chipsets the same heatsink needs to service both of them in close proximity. The only way I can see Apple making it work well is with sophisticated liquid cooling. Currently its very throttle sensitive and not too nice on the battery.
I think the KBL G series (65 Watt versions) will be on the 15” but only at the lower end, they’re only quad core. At the higher end, the hexacore CPUs will be paired with traditional (off package) discrete GPUs, 560X assuming Vega parts aren’t available. So same graphics performance as 2017. But maybe Vega M will be ready, fingers crossed.
June-August refresh this year. New form factor next year, hopefully Intel has Ice Lake ready so we can get 32GB LPDDR4. October-December release next year, or it might slip until early 2020.
For most Mac laptops I’d expect 8GB default for another few years but at some point it’s inevitable it will increase to 16GB across the board. 32GB min config is probably a decade away.
Re: 32GB base config, 15” MBP aren’t workstations. They’re just as close as you can get to a desktop while staying within a combined 70-75W (peak) power dissipation for CPU and GPU. 16GB is plenty for most people, but higher maximums will be much appreciated by those who need it.
64GB support will be there, I’m sure Apple will offer it along with 32GB. Pricing could be expected to follow iMac, something like 32/64 for +400/+1200.
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That's my dream and Kaby Lake G would be amazing to see on the 13" but I doubt it happens
It's not conditioning: I've used touchscreen laptops, and would definitely have a use for one. A convertible with a pen even more so. But Apple have very publicly set their face against it, and told us that if we want one we are wrong, so it doesn't seem worth raising in this thread because the probability of it happening seems extremely low (though Apple have done such volte face before now, so never say never. But in this round, which everyone expects to be a cpu bump with no redesign, it seems incredibly unlikely).Speaking of stepping up their game, I still wonder why no one is talking about neither touch screen nor OLED/AMOLED screen for the MBP’s...Apple has surely preconditioned its herd to not even go there for years, and if anybody dares, tons of poor excuses follow. But really, if anything, forget ram etc. touch screen is like THE big differentiator between Apple and PC, and some kind of OLED tech would make a much more visible screen in sun light, making it “even more pro”
(And whatever Apple say, I still believe that the real reason is that they think they'd lose more in iPad sales than they'd make up in extra Macbook sales).
As for OLED, I do not want one. I like my laptops to last a while, and I don't want the colour balance changing as the different coloured LEDs age at different rates. Nor do I want burn-in from static elements on the screen, and as my laptop shows static elements for far more hours per day than my phone does, as well as lasting longer before replacement, this would be a bigger concern than it is in a phone. And in addition to which it would cost more. So no, OLED would be a deal breaker for me.
For ~ $3k the new XPS 15 is out with exactly the specs I would want in a "pro" computer:
The i9 also supports up to 64GB of ram... so could be configured as such from the factory, or potentially upgraded down the line if they have a user-accessible dimm slot (unknown, but unlikely).
This is the competition. This is what Apple needs to have on display in the next iteration if they really want to be taken seriously. If, as we have discussed for rather a number of pages here, they are instead going to be a prosumer fashion accessory - well, that's perhaps a better strategy for short-term profits. And it's going to lose them an (in my opinion) important segment of halo users.
The i9 also supports up to 64GB of ram... so could be configured as such from the factory, or potentially upgraded down the line if they have a user-accessible dimm slot (unknown, but unlikely).
This is the competition. This is what Apple needs to have on display in the next iteration if they really want to be taken seriously. If, as we have discussed for rather a number of pages here, they are instead going to be a prosumer fashion accessory - well, that's perhaps a better strategy for short-term profits. And it's going to lose them an (in my opinion) important segment of halo users.
Dang... we all know that technical specs are not everything in a computer, but that's, like, 100% what a high-end pro laptop coming out today needs to look like. And it stings soooo much to know that Apple doesn't want to match that (because they could if they wanted to). I'll say it: if it weren't for the fact that I'm so sold on macOS, I'd place an order for one right now.
Intel i9 6-core, 32GB RAM, CUDA-compatible graphics card, 4K screen. If all goes well, we'll get only one of those (the CPU) in the next MBP, which is going to sell for ~4-5k€/$.
DANG!
The base 15" rMBPro is $2,399 (16GB Ram, 256GB SSD, Radeon 555).
For $1899, you can get an XPS 15 9570 with 1050 TI, 8th gen CPU, 16GB Ram, 256 GB SSD, 4K display. This is Dell so, just bugging sales will usually get you up to ~15% discount (from personal experience buying laptops and accessories).
I am sure MacBook will do better at some things than the XPS 15 - but the vice versa holds true too, besides 97 WHr battery is really useful for my productivity requirements (Apples battery life claim doesn't work so well for me, due to how they conduct their tests). For value proposition, it looks really good. I may consider upgrading my XPS 13 to one, especially since I could probably squeeze an almost max spec'd XPS 15 9570 to not be much more than a base model MacBook Pro after discounts.
I completely second this. Now gimme a Trackpad worth using and macOS... and I'd buy it RIGHT THIS SECOND.
Concerning the RAM... (don't take my word for it!)
I think it's the same what was going on with the MacBook Pros some years ago.
Back then some of them (like my 2011 machine) officially supported up to 8GB of DDR3. Why? It had TWO slots... and RAM was only available up to 4GB per DIMM. Even though the CPU supported up to 16GB.
Now... there are machines available right now with 64GB DDR4. All of them have FOUR DIMM slots... and take 4x16GB. Like the bigger Dell Precisions.
The Dell XPS on the other hand has ONLY 2 DIMM slots... thus maxing out at 2x16GB. As I am not aware of any 32GB DIMMS. In all likelihood once 32GB DIMMs become available you'd be able to upgrade it to 64GB, though!
Apple took the path of slim and light laptops so NO, they couldn't match those specs, not with the power limit they put themselves into.
The main reason is - USB-C can only provide up to 100W power (and don't forget that the current models come only with 87W power adapter) which is not enough for nvidia cards and all the other hardware. So either Apple needs to make a dedicated power input and give the system more juice (not likely), or you will have to wait until nvidia will make chip which is not so power hungry. And it's not gonna happen this year for sure. So for 2018 you'll stick wich 6-core CPU, some cooked up AMD low power, low performance GPU and 16 Gigs of good old DDR3.
Oh and... "halo effect" if I were to move away from macOS I'd most likely also move away from both iPhone and iPad.
Funny how I kept 'converting' everyone to the Apple ecosystem... well... these times have mostly passed...
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Me...personally... I don't care about THAT particular GPU... I'm totally cool with AMD and OpenCL, Metal, and FCPX performance!
My answer was to the guy who wants a CUDA-compatible GPU (nvidia). But I also explain what the main reason behind all that power savings hardware is - no enough juice. End of story.
Ya. I know. That was more like another comment concerning the XPS15 discussion.
In the sense...he lists it. I say "woah yes! Me want THAT!". Then you saying "nah, GPU won't fit". Me saying "well ya... f* the GPU... I want everything else!"
Along those lines
So ya... no contradictions or anything the like here.
But even the lower end Vega M GL benches significantly higher than non-X 560. The song and dance apple would have to do to sell the high-end 6-core HQ cpus with weaker GPU would be astounding, not to mention having to engineer two completely separate motherboards and cooling systems.
Would be fun if Apple managed to get Intel to drop hexacore Coffee Lake-H processors into the package with AMD GPUs.
I am very well aware of what Apple's design choices for the MBP imply, as well as of the reasons why there won't be either 32GB RAM or a Nvidia GPU in the next lineup. In fact, I'm not hoping that they will choose another path, since we all know they won't. It's however a matter of fact, I think, that high-quality alternatives exist in the market which look extremely appealing for professional users who do want those specs.
We can then argue on whether it was the right business choice for Apple to prioritize other factors at the expense of a small niche of power users, but it's a discussion that has been beaten to death, and I don't think there's really anything to add at this point...
Most likely? I own an iPad Air. But never use it. So no plans on purchasing any iPads in the future.
But currently own iPhone SE, iPhone 7 and iPhone X.
If I move from MacOS, I wouldn't ever purchase an iPhone again. Currently they are great for me, but only because of entire apple ecosystem. It's nice to work on iMP, and answer phone calls without touching my iPhone. And a lot of small stuff like that.
But I find iOS too limiting and too dumbed down for my personal liking. What iOS does, it does great. But a lot of stuff it can't do at all, and a lot of them are some really basic stuff.
I'm also using Android phones (Oneplus 5t, Samsung Note 8), and if I drop MacOS, I wouldn't even look at iPhones at all anymore. So "halo effect" would be very real in my case
True, but it would help if Dell could up the Quality Control. Bent chassis, pinched screens, coil whine and more seem to be common complaints. How widespread they are is difficult to judge, but it still is frustrating that these are concerns for a product sold as premium. The XPS line may not be sold at MacBook prices, but they are still expensive compared to other PC's.
That Kaby Lake G chip would be ideal for me in an entry level model, but I guess the cooling issues and lack of discrete GPU options for 6 core models makes it unlikely. Too bad, it's a neat product which runs cooler and faster--assuming driver support is there--than a GTX 1050.