Waiting for the 2018 MBP

[rotlex]

Just subscribing and whining, lol.

Following this thread as my daughter turns 16 next month and I REALLY wanted to get her a 13" MBP for her big gift. (Car is 18, lol). Man, really not sure what to do here. Was praying for an update announcement and nothing. I was hoping to get her one for the final two years of high school and then have it take her through college. I'd be really annoyed, as anyone would, if they announced an update this fall, just a few short months after her birthday.

 

[meteoreos]

Uh, yes they do. Bend gate was resolved in 1 generation, antennae gate was resolved in 1 generation , so they’re clearly capable of resolving outstanding issues in the next iteration.

Hence the 'minor fixes' they will probably incorporate into their upcoming models. But would they change the ENTIRE keyboard design before 2019/20?

 

[Ma2k5]

Hence the 'minor fixes' they will probably incorporate into their upcoming models. But would they change the ENTIRE keyboard design before 2019/20?

Nope, next keyboard redesign will probably include e-ink keys of some form. Hope they don't go the Lenovo way of a touch-keyboard.

 

[augustya]

Any possibility of the RAM being bumped to 32GB in the 2018 15" rMBP ?

 

[meteoreos]

Nope, next keyboard redesign will probably include e-ink keys of some form. Hope they don't go the Lenovo way of a touch-keyboard.

I actually didn't mind the feel of the newer keyboards, it was just the durability and obvious flaws that put me off.

I wonder if they'll keep the Touch Bar, though.

 

[shyam09]

Just subscribing and whining, lol.

Following this thread as my daughter turns 16 next month and I REALLY wanted to get her a 13" MBP for her big gift. (Car is 18, lol). Man, really not sure what to do here. Was praying for an update announcement and nothing. I was hoping to get her one for the final two years of high school and then have it take her through college. I'd be really annoyed, as anyone would, if they announced an update this fall, just a few short months after her birthday.

What you could do is the box in a box in a box in a box in a box and then leave an envelope in the last one (maybe a birthday card) and inside you can put :

"One Voucher for a Macbook Pro [put specs if you have a budget] with or without AppleCare+..."

Throw in multiple vouchers if you want. "One voucher for either a MacbookPro skin OR a decal" -- decals on the MBP are frickin' awesome. I think your daughter would love those.

"3 Apps of your choice from the App Store redeemable after <insert cruel, but lighthearted task: like placing the trashcans outside for 10 consecutive days>" and then on the back, "just kidding, Happy Birthday!".

And then leave it up to her if she wants a 2017 or wait for a 2018. That way you're still an awesome parent, you can blame it on Apple, and you give her the freedom to make the decision for herself recognizing that you trust her enough to choose her own MBP, but not enough to give her a car. 😛 I'm just kidding on the last one.

You could even buy it in advance [a few days before her birthday], keep it hidden, and if she chooses to redeem for the MBP immediately, you can give it to her on her birthday.

Be creative and have fun with this. It's the experience and the build up that's the most fun.

That all being said, unless your daughter is into heavy movie editing, photoshop, etc. the 2017 13" will be fine for her needs through college. Regarding the keyboard problems which I'm guessing is your main concern, it's a hit or miss, and unless Apple acknowledges a third generation butterfly keyboard, we have no way of knowing if they truly fixed it or not. And even if they did, we still have no way of knowing what the future holds because these laptops usually crap out a year or so after initial purchase. So to be 100% sure that the 2018 models are a safe buy, you have to wait until the 2019 models come out (theoretically).

That and me getting a great deal is why I purchased now instead of waiting.

 

[Ma2k5]

I actually didn't mind the feel of the newer keyboards, it was just the durability and obvious flaws that put me off.

I wonder if they'll keep the Touch Bar, though.

I could type faster on the new keyboards, but I didn't like the accidental typing nature or the feedback of them at all. Ignoring the durability issues, for pro-longed use (as I code), I definitely preferred the previous keyboard. It was also more comfortable.

 

[wxkkeup]

we will be waiting for forever. 🙁 luckily.. i bought my husband a used 2015 MBP with the old&preferred keyboard like.. a week before wwdc. ..wise choise.. until 2018 is annonced

 

[rotlex]

What you could do is the box in a box in a box in a box in a box and then leave an envelope in the last one (maybe a birthday card) and inside you can put :

"One Voucher for a Macbook Pro [put specs if you have a budget] with or without AppleCare+..."

Throw in multiple vouchers if you want. "One voucher for either a MacbookPro skin OR a decal" -- decals on the MBP are frickin' awesome. I think your daughter would love those.

"3 Apps of your choice from the App Store redeemable after <insert cruel, but lighthearted task: like placing the trashcans outside for 10 consecutive days>" and then on the back, "just kidding, Happy Birthday!".

And then leave it up to her if she wants a 2017 or wait for a 2018. That way you're still an awesome parent, you can blame it on Apple, and you give her the freedom to make the decision for herself recognizing that you trust her enough to choose her own MBP, but not enough to give her a car. 😛 I'm just kidding on the last one.

You could even buy it in advance [a few days before her birthday], keep it hidden, and if she chooses to redeem for the MBP immediately, you can give it to her on her birthday.

Be creative and have fun with this. It's the experience and the build up that's the most fun.

That all being said, unless your daughter is into heavy movie editing, photoshop, etc. the 2017 13" will be fine for her needs through college. Regarding the keyboard problems which I'm guessing is your main concern, it's a hit or miss, and unless Apple acknowledges a third generation butterfly keyboard, we have no way of knowing if they truly fixed it or not. And even if they did, we still have no way of knowing what the future holds because these laptops usually crap out a year or so after initial purchase. So to be 100% sure that the 2018 models are a safe buy, you have to wait until the 2019 models come out (theoretically).

That and me getting a great deal is why I purchased now instead of waiting.

I think I might just do that!!!! 🙂

 

[haydn!]

Any possibility of the RAM being bumped to 32GB in the 2018 15" rMBP ?

I wouldn’t say yes for sure, but if Apple don’t now launch any new notebooks until the Autumn, then I’d the odds of seeing 32gb will have improved.

 

[Mr. Dee]

I have always committed myself to not upgrade until 2020, I am not in the position of those who were waiting for this years upgrade. I want to see something substantial. Intel has been on 14 NM since Broadwell. Also, I am not in a rush to get the first generation 10 NM either, so, I will wait this out a bit to see how reliable it is.

What I want do though that might force me to upgrade early, I want to get a MacBook Pro before 10.15 since 10.14 will be the last to run 32 bit apps. I'm sorry, but, I am not upgrading my Adobe CS6. I want to keep it as long as ever until I can maybe switch to something like Pixelmator.

 

[MrGunnyPT]

Welp, gonna have to upgrade my Toshiba just died and I found a touch bar deal for 1700€ with monthly payment of 100€ without any additional tax.

Going for it.

Touch Bar - i5 / 8GB / 256B

Will try and see if I need the 16GB after testing.

 

[Ma2k5]

Welp, gonna have to upgrade my Toshiba just died and I found a touch bar deal for 1700€ with monthly payment of 100€ without any additional tax.

Going for it.

Touch Bar - i5 / 8GB / 256B

Will try and see if I need the 16GB after testing.

What I dislike about the 13” touch bar is that it seems like a product that was released unfinished. The non-tb model uses a 15w CPU and has a 54whr battery. The touch bar version uses a 28w CPU but has a 49whr battery (and to add, the touch bar will use some battery power). I don’t believe this was Apples intention, I think the curved/layered battery design that was in the works failed to materialise, so we ended up with these compromises.

 

[MrGunnyPT]

What I dislike about the 13” touch bar is that it seems like a product that was released unfinished. The non-tb model uses a 15w CPU and has a 54whr battery. The touch bar version uses a 28w CPU but has a 49whr battery (and to add, the touch bar will use some battery power). I don’t believe this was Apples intention, I think the curved/layered battery design that was in the works failed to materialise, so we ended up with these compromises.

I agree without a doubt.

I don't have problems with battery since I spent 85% of my time plugged in but hopefully it will behave much better than this Skylake toshiba with 15w cpu.

 

[Michael Jordan]

I was also super dissapointed by the fact that Apple didn’t update their Macbook Pro’s.. wonder what’s going up there as there are zero to nope leaks about these machines. There are only rumors but still nobody is sure. Weird.. also weird was the lack of attention/innovation for TB during WWDC. It only got mentioned in between things during the Mojave presentation. Found that super weird, what seemed as a revolutionary product back when they announced it 2 years ago.

however I do need a new MB Pro 15 inch , but the thing holding me back is that these 15 inch machines havent even dropped in prices in Europe. Nothing like a slight discount or whatever. Even though these machines are a year and a half old. This also makes me question if it’s all worth the money to pay such a big amount of money for outdated specs.

 

[Mr. Dee]

If we are looking at the 2018 MacBook Pro as a October launch, might as well just wait it out until June 2019.

Then again, this change to a late anual launch might be Apple's way of buying time for a radical upgrade to the MacBook Pro. Late 2019 would be on the cusp of 2020, which would call for a redesign, even though its not technically 5 years.

WWDC 2019 will be all about bringing iOS apps to macOS
Radical changes might be in the pipeline such as Face ID
T3 security chip for the MacBook Pro might require more work.
Thunderbolt 4

Then again, if its gonna be this radical, you probably should get the 2018 model instead to avoid the 2016 theory.

 

[Iliveon10]

Are we looking at a quiet spec bump or an announcement at an event?

Surprised it has taken this long for an update. Having a tough time waiting as I need a new laptop by late June - early July.

 

[sotorious]

Havent they skipped an entire year before?

 

[Mr. Dee]

Havent they skipped an entire year before?

Yep, they did for the 15 inch model, there was no major update in 2015, same Haswell processors from 2014. It was during that same time Intel started showing early signs of not being able to produce suitable yields of Broadwell for certain class of notebooks.

 

[maflynn]

Yep, they did for the 15 inch model, there was no major update in 2015, same Haswell processors from 2014. It was during that same time Intel started showing early signs of not being able to produce suitable yields of Broadwell for certain class of notebooks.

But yet, there was the notion of apple falling behind as well. From a marketing perspective it was bad for apple to be on Haswell for so long while Dell,Asus, etc etc promoted the fact they're were on the latest and greatest.

Part of me things that's going to occur now in 2018. We have Apple on the Kaby lake, but everyone else has moved to Coffee Lake. We're not there yet, just around the corner is the students buying their laptops for school and I don't doubt apple will be present in the students mind, I think being on an older and slower chipset will hurt them. If the keyboard issue continues to be a news story, that may also impact people's buying decisions.

 

[Hater]

Do students really need the power though? It's not like Haswells are that much slower than the Coffee Lake chips in 95% of real world applications.

Certain students will care about the processor gen, but most students looking for a new laptop just know "i7 is faster than i5" and will go "Oh the Mac has an i5 or an i7 just like these Acers and Dells"

 

[richinaus]

But yet, there was the notion of apple falling behind as well. From a marketing perspective it was bad for apple to be on Haswell for so long while Dell,Asus, etc etc promoted the fact they're were on the latest and greatest.

Part of me things that's going to occur now in 2018. We have Apple on the Kaby lake, but everyone else has moved to Coffee Lake. We're not there yet, just around the corner is the students buying their laptops for school and I don't doubt apple will be present in the students mind, I think being on an older and slower chipset will hurt them. If the keyboard issue continues to be a news story, that may also impact people's buying decisions.

I doubt that most people will know the difference, especially the Apple market of consumers.

 

[maflynn]

I doubt that most people will know the difference, especially the Apple market of consumers.

To a point yeah, but I suspect students who are more technically aware will be, but yeah I guess you're right.

 

[Frederik on MacRumors]

I have always committed myself to not upgrade until 2020, I am not in the position of those who were waiting for this years upgrade. I want to see something substantial. Intel has been on 14 NM since Broadwell. Also, I am not in a rush to get the first generation 10 NM either, so, I will wait this out a bit to see how reliable it is.

What I want do though that might force me to upgrade early, I want to get a MacBook Pro before 10.15 since 10.14 will be the last to run 32 bit apps. I'm sorry, but, I am not upgrading my Adobe CS6. I want to keep it as long as ever until I can maybe switch to something like Pixelmator.

Pixelmator and especially affinity photo are awesome products that replaced photoshop entirely for me.

 

[The Reasonable One]

Do students really need the power though? It's not like Haswells are that much slower than the Coffee Lake chips in 95% of real world applications.

Certain students will care about the processor gen, but most students looking for a new laptop just know "i7 is faster than i5" and will go "Oh the Mac has an i5 or an i7 just like these Acers and Dells"

Honestly you’re right. I can’t tell you how many people think every i5 is the same as every other i5. I don’t even think most of my peers know that there are different versions of each.