Waiting for the 2019 MBP [Merged]

[KarmaRocket]

Well, I got the MacBook Pro 2018 i9 32GB 2TB Radeon 560X. Purchased it a few months ago. I don't really have any complaints. I can deal with the keyboard and touchbar but really wanted the dGPU to be better. Since I'm getting into more game development and 3D software. Weird they would upgrade so quickly and screw over previous purchased customers like that.

Looking at the supposed specs, I'm sure these GPU's will be better. maybe close or slightly better than the GTX1050ti or 1060. Not bad at all.

I had to purchase the 2018 MBP since my 2013 MBP was on it's last legs. I think I'm ok with sticking with this model and waiting to see if Apple does something in 2019. I was more than willing to sell this machine at a loss if something better comes in 2019. Or just switch to Windows and not look back. But I rely on XCode and FCPX (though slowly looking at Premiere and Resolve). Hopefully a new chassis for better cooling and the AMD 7nm Vega or Navi mobile chip will be available in the 2019 model. A better keyboard and no touchbar would be a bonus. One can dream. I mean this is the "Waiting For the 2019 MBP" Thread

 

[cool11]

So, the only that's left from we used to call as 'bto'(built to order) models, is choosing the color?
I mean, ram, ssd, all are soldered, so I don't think there is any real customization.
I can choose color, grey or space grey, and which model (which one from the standard 'packages' of clock speed/ram/ssd combination).
Am I wrong?

 

[Ploki]

Weird they would upgrade so quickly and screw over previous purchased customers like that.

Looking at the supposed specs, I'm sure these GPU's will be better. maybe close or slightly better than the GTX1050ti or 1060. Not bad at all.

I had to purchase the 2018 MBP since my 2013 MBP was on it's last legs. I think I'm ok with sticking with this model and waiting to see if Apple does something in 2019. I was more than willing to sell this machine at a loss if something better comes in 2019. Or just switch to Windows and not look back. But I rely on XCode and FCPX (though slowly looking at Premiere and Resolve). Hopefully a new chassis for better cooling and the AMD 7nm Vega or Navi mobile chip will be available in the 2019 model. A better keyboard and no touchbar would be a bonus. One can dream. I mean this is the "Waiting For the 2019 MBP" Thread

Mine is barely a month old, i feel completely screwed over. I have max specs sans 4TB drive (its 2TB) so it was *expensive*, and it doesnt work properly anyway, the display occasionally flickers. (been on with apple support for 3 weeks about it already).
Magic Mouse i bought it with was defective and I still wasn't issued a replacement.
This is not what i expect when I buy a ridiculously expensive product from a supposedly reputable company... I've been on mac since the 2008 cheese-grater, and every apple computer i had was a joy up until the 2018 story, it just keeps getting worse every week.
[doublepost=1540979640][/doublepost]

So, the only that's left from we used to call as 'bto'(built to order) models, is choosing the color?
I mean, ram, ssd, all are soldered, so I don't think there is any real customization.
I can choose color, grey or space grey, and which model (which one from the standard 'packages' of clock speed/ram/ssd combination).
Am I wrong?

you can BTO RAM, CPU, GPU and SSD. What more is there? It's always been like that.

edit:
opened a case with apple.
paid 5300€ for a computer that hasn't worked properly since i bought it in late september, just to have it superseded by a new one a month later - resale value dropped, if i could even sell it since, well, it doesnt work properly.

+ a magic mouse that was so crooked it felt like an ebay clone not a 130€ apple product... which is till haven't gotten a replacement for...

I'm so utterly pissed at apple right now, i wish i never replaced my 2012, i just lost money.

I should add in the unrelated CalDigit TS3 +, a 350€ dock that made noises and worked improperly, i had to pay return shipping for...

Just about the only thing from this upgrade cycle that worked fine is the Thunderbolt3 to thunderbolt2 adapter.

 

[afir93]

Mine is barely a month old, i feel completely screwed over. I have max specs sans 4TB drive (its 2TB) so it was *expensive*, and it doesnt work properly anyway, the display occasionally flickers. (been on with apple support for 3 weeks about it already).
Magic Mouse i bought it with was defective and I still wasn't issued a replacement.
This is not what i expect when I buy a ridiculously expensive product from a supposedly reputable company... I've been on mac since the 2008 cheese-grater, and every apple computer i had was a joy up until the 2018 story, it just keeps getting worse every week.
[doublepost=1540979640][/doublepost]
you can BTO RAM, CPU, GPU and SSD. What more is there? It's always been like that.

edit:
opened a case with apple.
paid 5300€ for a computer that hasn't worked properly since i bought it in late september, just to have it superseded by a new one a month later - resale value dropped, if i could even sell it since, well, it doesnt work properly.

+ a magic mouse that was so crooked it felt like an ebay clone not a 130€ apple product... which is till haven't gotten a replacement for...

I'm so utterly pissed at apple right now, i wish i never replaced my 2012, i just lost money.

I should add in the unrelated CalDigit TS3 +, a 350€ dock that made noises and worked improperly, i had to pay return shipping for...

Just about the only thing from this upgrade cycle that worked fine is the Thunderbolt3 to thunderbolt2 adapter.

Best of luck with the case, I definitely feel you. Keep us updated please, I'd actually be interested in knowing if you can convince them to let you return it in favor of a new model. Personally I wouldn't have my hopes to high but with the praise that people here oftentimes sing about the Apple support, who knows.

Bought my 2018 model right in July after release though for me graphics power wasn't a very important factor so I probably wouldn't haven chosen the Vega GPU upgrade to begin with, but I definitely understand the frustration.

On one hand, it's great that Apple releases these refreshes in such an unexpectedly timely manner at all – this along with how great the new MBA and Mac mini look and how great of a release Mojave is make me hope that Apple is back on track with the Mac and puts a little more focus into their Mac lineup from now on. But on the other hand, they should just have been more transparent about these sort of things. Had they announced back in July that there would be a new model with a higher-end GPU coming soon then it all wouldn't have been an issue – in fact it would have been an awesome move. But as it stands, most people who need(ed) a new MacBook Pro this year and who might have been interested in the Vega GPU upgrade probably already jumped the gun over the last months since Apple so rarely refreshes a product twice in a single year.

 

[Paapaa]

I've been using MBP 15" 2017 (quite maxed) since June 2017 on daily basis. I have to admit now that:

• I hate TouchBar. It brings no additional but causes problems (less battery life, misclicks, need to watch the bar to use it, higher cost...). It is absolutely idiotic I can't even pay money to get a model without it (the nonTB model has not been updated.)
• I don't like the layout of the keyboard: why did they make the arrow keys like that? Now you can't easily feel if your middle finger is touching the up or down by the position of the other two fingers. Major pain in the ass.
• The feel of the new keyboard is ok, I'm mostly typing just fine with it, although it could be more silent
• The new keyboard regularly needs pressured air and keys fail quite often. This NEVER happened to me with a 2013 model. Just unbelievably low quality and bad design.
• I miss MagSafe. It is by far the best way to protect your laptop while charging it. I agree that the ability to charge from both left and right side is also nice feature. But that is missing from the non-TB model.
• I still mostly need old ports like HDMI and USB-A so a dongle is a must. I need two of them regularly.

Apple made just too many errors with this new design that it is unbelievable. All this just t shave a fraction of a centimetre/inch from the thickness. I hope they realise the state of affairs and redesigns the whole thing sooner or later. And despite this rant I will be using this as my daily tool. Things are still far from being optimal.

 

[puma1552]

was so damn close to buying a macbook or an air. the macbook didnt get updated, and the air still has a junk keyboard. both machines were a compromise in some way, so i put ssd #2 into my old garbage pile mid-2010 and am thinking of even putting a new battery in now and just riding it out as long as possible until apple delivers a reliable machine with a working keyboard and no major known issues at the time of purchase. its been like a 3 year self imposed stop sale on apple machines, wtf

found a few sealed in box new 2015s for sale but it was like really, 2k for a 3.5 year old machine? as soon as apple fixes the keyboard the resale of those - which right now is very high - will go in the toilet.

 

[Ma2k5]

was so damn close to buying a macbook or an air. the macbook didnt get updated, and the air still has a junk keyboard. both machines were a compromise in some way, so i put ssd #2 into my old garbage pile mid-2010 and am thinking of even putting a new battery in now and just riding it out as long as possible until apple delivers a reliable machine with a working keyboard and no major known issues at the time of purchase. its been like a 3 year self imposed stop sale on apple machines, wtf

found a few sealed in box new 2015s for sale but it was like really, 2k for a 3.5 year old machine? as soon as apple fixes the keyboard the resale of those - which right now is very high - will go in the toilet.

The keyboard itself is one of my main gripes, I was a victim of Gen 2 butterfly keys and don’t want to deal with that again.

I’ll be making a decision in a couple of weeks of if I want to move to a Windows/Linux machine permanently.

 

[koyoot]

https://twitter.com/CDemerjian/status/1059864890469343232

All of the rumors about AMD Zen2 are turning out to be true .

 

[pubmsu]

Who else thinks there's a strong possibility of an early 2019 refresh of MBPs that will further improve the keyboard with final solution for the reliability issues of 2016-17 and resolve kernel panic issues?

 

[Howard2k]

Who else thinks there's a strong possibility of an early 2019 refresh of MBPs that will further improve the keyboard with final solution for the reliability issues of 2016-17 and resolve kernel panic issues?

If I was buying one of the current generation I would have a plan to test it against the audio and T2 issues to try to confirm that I didn't have an affected unit as soon as possible. It seems that certainly not all are affected, but these don't seem like random isolated issues either.

So a s/w fix wil come soon, if possible. Or a hardware fix / replacement at some point I'd expect.

 

[Falhófnir]

Who else thinks there's a strong possibility of an early 2019 refresh of MBPs that will further improve the keyboard with final solution for the reliability issues of 2016-17 and resolve kernel panic issues?

More likely is that it will continue to use the gen 3 butterfly keyboard and the redesign in 2020 will bring either a completely new keyboard that might be called 'gen 4 butterfly' or similar to save face, an actual 'gen 4' butterfly design if they can find a way around the laws of physics that they've slammed into full tilt, or a misguided attempt at moving to a touchscreen keyboard with haptic feedback.

I wouldn't expect the refresh before June again, either, especially not with the vega options being added to the 2018 imminently.

 

[Martius]

So I started to see this white "glowing" spot on display on my MBP 15" 2015 (that is visible mostly on white background). I was reading about it a little bit and almost every article said it's mechanical damage. I'm carrying my laptop in a sleeve & nice tech backpack, I'm very careful what I place near the laptop etc. So I don't really know how that happened... my diagnosed OCD have been unleashed.

So I told myself maybe it's time to upgrade after 3 years... and BAM! there is not a single Apple laptop which I would really love to buy.

MBA: underpowered, overpriced, didn't even have the nice MBP screen, just a cheaper version
MB: same as MBA
MBP: nice specs, but no SD card slot / only with touchbar
MBP without touchbar: last year model without 4 cores / 3rd gen keyboard

And of course all have that not-typing-friendly keyboard and no magsafe.

Of course the 15" would be the choice but why the hell there is that bloody touchbar? It's actually the only thing that makes me not want to buy a new MBP, because I think could live with the keyboard. Back in the day the price was the only compromise I made. I wish I could get that 512gb 2015 MBP model new in the box. I guess I will try to get a new screen via that "Staingate program" (even though I don't really have problem with stains, only few tiny spots here and there), because I will keep my beautiful laptop till the end of times

What a dark age for the Apple fanboys.

 

[motime]

I've been using MBP 15" 2017 (quite maxed) since June 2017 on daily basis. I have to admit now that:

• I hate TouchBar. It brings no additional but causes problems (less battery life, misclicks, need to watch the bar to use it, higher cost...). It is absolutely idiotic I can't even pay money to get a model without it (the nonTB model has not been updated.)
• I don't like the layout of the keyboard: why did they make the arrow keys like that? Now you can't easily feel if your middle finger is touching the up or down by the position of the other two fingers. Major pain in the ass.
• The feel of the new keyboard is ok, I'm mostly typing just fine with it, although it could be more silent
• The new keyboard regularly needs pressured air and keys fail quite often. This NEVER happened to me with a 2013 model. Just unbelievably low quality and bad design.
• I miss MagSafe. It is by far the best way to protect your laptop while charging it. I agree that the ability to charge from both left and right side is also nice feature. But that is missing from the non-TB model.
• I still mostly need old ports like HDMI and USB-A so a dongle is a must. I need two of them regularly.

Apple made just too many errors with this new design that it is unbelievable. All this just t shave a fraction of a centimetre/inch from the thickness. I hope they realise the state of affairs and redesigns the whole thing sooner or later. And despite this rant I will be using this as my daily tool. Things are still far from being optimal.

I waited for a long time to purchase a MBP in anticipation of the new redesign a few years back. After watching the Apple event I was so disappointed that I instantly ordered a refurbished 2015 MBP. Have been using one since and have no regrets.

 

[cool11]

After so many serious complaints, it would sound like a joke that I would miss the glowing back lid logo...they manage to make the prestigious machine, like any other with a circular logo with no light...

 

[Spudlicious]

After so many serious complaints, it would sound like a joke that I would miss the glowing back lid logo...they manage to make the prestigious machine, like any other with a circular logo with no light...

Absolutely. The illuminated Apple logo, as prominently seen in a zillion TV shows and movies, was a great feature, a unique luxury product badge.

 

[IdentityCrisis]

Mine is barely a month old, i feel completely screwed over. I have max specs sans 4TB drive (its 2TB) so it was *expensive*, and it doesnt work properly anyway, the display occasionally flickers. (been on with apple support for 3 weeks about it already).
Magic Mouse i bought it with was defective and I still wasn't issued a replacement.
This is not what i expect when I buy a ridiculously expensive product from a supposedly reputable company... I've been on mac since the 2008 cheese-grater, and every apple computer i had was a joy up until the 2018 story, it just keeps getting worse every week.
[doublepost=1540979640][/doublepost]
you can BTO RAM, CPU, GPU and SSD. What more is there? It's always been like that.

edit:
opened a case with apple.
paid 5300€ for a computer that hasn't worked properly since i bought it in late september, just to have it superseded by a new one a month later - resale value dropped, if i could even sell it since, well, it doesnt work properly.

+ a magic mouse that was so crooked it felt like an ebay clone not a 130€ apple product... which is till haven't gotten a replacement for...

I'm so utterly pissed at apple right now, i wish i never replaced my 2012, i just lost money.

I should add in the unrelated CalDigit TS3 +, a 350€ dock that made noises and worked improperly, i had to pay return shipping for...

Just about the only thing from this upgrade cycle that worked fine is the Thunderbolt3 to thunderbolt2 adapter.

Weird, I had that dock and never had any issues with it compared to other brands. It was an awesome dock.

 

[mehdijobs]

hi everyone,
As a Graphic designer working on Creative cloud (photoshop, illustrator, indesign) but also Sketch (i design apps), i really have no idea on which config to get.

I come from a 2014 mbp with 16gb of ram and the intel iris pro.

Form factor, im good on that part, as i know that the 15'' is my favorite screen size.

Hard drive, good too: got dropbox pro account for real storage, an 512gb should be enough for my short term files i need to have with me.

RAM, i will upgrade to 32. Because i know the tools i use do take advantage of the available RAM.

CPU and GPU, that's where it gets complicated for me.
CPU, with all the mess around the i9, i have no clue whether i should upgrade to this or not. The i7 2.6ghz sounds like a safer option. But again, i have no idea of the gains i will get by upgrading to i9.
GPU is also where im confused. I have no idea whether those tools are relying on the GPU intensively or not, and if i should wait on the vega GPU coming soon. I have the LG 5K monitor by the way, that i can't really use right now with my current mbp (even tho it's scaled down to 2.5k automatically, fans start running heavily).

Also, its tiring to see all the reviewers just focusing on Video editing and Fortnite performance. Im pretty sure majority of macbook users are not youtubers, and i'd like to know how "Other tools" perform on a new laptop, rather than just Premiere and Final Cut.

Hope some of you can help. And i hope i ll be purchasing a new mbp soon!

 

[Falhófnir]

hi everyone,
As a Graphic designer working on Creative cloud (photoshop, illustrator, indesign) but also Sketch (i design apps), i really have no idea on which config to get.

I come from a 2014 mbp with 16gb of ram and the intel iris pro.

Form factor, im good on that part, as i know that the 15'' is my favorite screen size.

Hard drive, good too: got dropbox pro account for real storage, an 512gb should be enough for my short term files i need to have with me.

RAM, i will upgrade to 32. Because i know the tools i use do take advantage of the available RAM.

CPU and GPU, that's where it gets complicated for me.
CPU, with all the mess around the i9, i have no clue whether i should upgrade to this or not. The i7 2.6ghz sounds like a safer option. But again, i have no idea of the gains i will get by upgrading to i9.
GPU is also where im confused. I have no idea whether those tools are relying on the GPU intensively or not, and if i should wait on the vega GPU coming soon. I have the LG 5K monitor by the way, that i can't really use right now with my current mbp (even tho it's scaled down to 2.5k automatically, fans start running heavily).

Also, its tiring to see all the reviewers just focusing on Video editing and Fortnite performance. Im pretty sure majority of macbook users are not youtubers, and i'd like to know how "Other tools" perform on a new laptop, rather than just Premiere and Final Cut.

Hope some of you can help. And i hope i ll be purchasing a new mbp soon!

I would have thought if your workflow is going ok on your iris pro only machine the basic 555X GPU would still be overkill, so certainly no need to pay more for the 560X or wait for what will undoubtedly be pricy Vega upgrades. 2018 machines can run, I believe, 4 separate 5K monitors at once, so a single one should be just fine!

With the CPU the gains are pretty marginal quite honestly - the i9 branding is just marketing, it’s the same top clocked/ highest binned version of the chip they were selling as the i7/HK last year. Probably overall not worth the premium they charge for it unless you really know you’ll push the chip to its absolute limits constantly.

 

[Eason85]

I would have thought if your workflow is going ok on your iris pro only machine the basic 555X GPU would still be overkill, so certainly no need to pay more for the 560X or wait for what will undoubtedly be pricy Vega upgrades. 2018 machines can run, I believe, 4 separate 5K monitors at once, so a single one should be just fine!

With the CPU the gains are pretty marginal quite honestly - the i9 branding is just marketing, it’s the same top clocked/ highest binned version of the chip they were selling as the i7/HK last year. Probably overall not worth the premium they charge for it unless you really know you’ll push the chip to its absolute limits constantly.

Do not bother with an i9, or even an i7-8850H, over an i7-8750H IF you can still get the better GPU. Even on the PC side, there are almost no thin laptops that can use the extra speed of the 8850. Coffee Lake just runs too hot and uses too much power.

 

[mehdijobs]

Do not bother with an i9, or even an i7-8850H, over an i7-8750H IF you can still get the better GPU. Even on the PC side, there are almost no thin laptops that can use the extra speed of the 8850. Coffee Lake just runs too hot and uses too much power.

Many thanks to both of you.
So basically you re saying that going up in the cpu is not really useful considering how thin the mbp is, but that the Vega card will be a major upgrade?
I’m waiting for apple to communicate the prices and will order it after reviews come out.
Some reviews of a dell 2 in 1 pc with a similar Vega GPUare saying that it’s quite a big update.

 

[xxray]

What differences are we expecting from the 2019 model over the current? What advantages (and how big of advantages) will the next-gen processor have over the current?

 

[Falhófnir]

What differences are we expecting from the 2019 model over the current? What advantages (and how big of advantages) will the next-gen processor have over the current?

Personally the biggest thing they could do is start the 15” model with 512GB of storage. I doubt at this point we’ll ever see a price cut again, but getting 512GB on the £2,349 model rather than having to step up to the £2,699 model would be a huge increase in the value proposition of the computers.
[doublepost=1541865457][/doublepost]

Many thanks to both of you.
So basically you re saying that going up in the cpu is not really useful considering how thin the mbp is, but that the Vega card will be a major upgrade?
I’m waiting for apple to communicate the prices and will order it after reviews come out.
Some reviews of a dell 2 in 1 pc with a similar Vega GPUare saying that it’s quite a big update.

The higher clock CPUs have always been of questionable value even with thermal limitations aside tbh. Again, you have to be really maxing the machines out to see any benefit, and then it will be quite marginal anyway. With lower performance MacBooks the core Y i5 has been at various points a better or worse deal than the m3, but at 45W H series level I just don’t see significant gains for the extra you will be charged.

Vega will be up to 60% faster than a 560X (for reference the 560X is in the region of 20% faster than the 555X) by the official numbers so yeah it’s a pretty significant upgrade, I guess there’s no harm in waiting and seeing what they do but honestly it doesn’t sound like you’d benefit from upgrading from a 555X anyway - if they do make the 560X standard I’m sure that wouldn’t hurt though so yeah wait and see

 

[therocksome]

Personally the biggest thing they could do is start the 15” model with 512GB of storage. I doubt at this point we’ll ever see a price cut again, but getting 512GB on the £2,349 model rather than having to step up to the £2,699 model would be a huge increase in the value proposition of the computers.
[doublepost=1541865457][/doublepost]
The higher clock CPUs have always been of questionable value even with thermal limitations aside tbh. Again, you have to be really maxing the machines out to see any benefit, and then it will be quite marginal anyway. With lower performance MacBooks the core Y i5 has been at various points a better or worse deal than the m3, but at 45W H series level I just don’t see significant gains for the extra you will be charged.

Vega will be up to 60% faster than a 560X (for reference the 560X is in the region of 20% faster than the 555X) by the official numbers so yeah it’s a pretty significant upgrade, I guess there’s no harm in waiting and seeing what they do but honestly it doesn’t sound like you’d benefit from upgrading from a 555X anyway - if they do make the 560X standard I’m sure that wouldn’t hurt though so yeah wait and see

What differences are we expecting from the 2019 model over the current? What advantages (and how big of advantages) will the next-gen processor have over the current?

Personally, not much should change. Apple is most likely to do a redesign in 2020/21 as its usually every 4 years. Also their A chips will prob make its machine a lot thinner. I expect the 12 incher will use Arm next year, which will give Apple enough time to make sure macOS is able to handle A chips well with the software - They are probably working with big people already such as BMagic, Adobe, Microsoft, Sketch, Affinity, and more.

2019 will be incremental at best. Chassis will prevent full advantage cause Intel failed in their roadmapping. 2020/21 is the year of the beast

 

[Howard2k]

What differences are we expecting from the 2019 model over the current? What advantages (and how big of advantages) will the next-gen processor have over the current?

I would expect to see faster wifi too. 2x2 Wave 2, or hopefully 3x3 Wave 2. Or even 802.11ax. Very doubtful on the latter.

 

[puma1552]

After so many serious complaints, it would sound like a joke that I would miss the glowing back lid logo...they manage to make the prestigious machine, like any other with a circular logo with no light...

i also miss the battery indicator lights and the sleep indicator