Waiting for the 2019 MBP [Merged]

[Surf760]

I thought about the iMac too. Won't have the keyboard issue. It's an option but I ended up going for the latest MacBook Pro. I like being portable. Bought the extra warranty and I hope I don't have a bad experience.

As you'll see from my signature I have the iMac/Macbook combo. I already had the Macbook at the time of my iMac purchase and so that changed things a little, but in hindsight, I would have done things differently.

As much as I really love my iMac it would have been much more practical to just have one computer with everything on it. Right now I do the dropbox sync dance. Personally, I'd say just get the best portable you can afford that fills your needs and add an external monitor like most do.

 

[PKoz]

Exactly. Vinyl hasn't gone away and neither has tinkering with your own car. It's just become less mainstream. I can imagine large parts of the creative sector using touch screens instead of Wacom tablets or... mice. I myself, for example, take all my notes in GoodNotes on the iPad Pro 11. It has replaced both my paper notebook as well as parts of what I use my laptop for. Will it replace a laptop? No, but my laptop is less central to my digital life now.

You should never take comparisons literally

Yeah, I just read that. It's a real shame. "Woah, in 2021, the 13" will get 32GB!" Doesn't sound so spectacular as when that should happen in 2019.

I have a late 2013 13" which sometimes shows its age. I could upgrade the SSD, but it's a hassle and it won't change the fact that I only have 8GB RAM. I'm not looking forward to buying a base model 15" because with VMs, 16GB is still limited. But only the base models get seriously reduced prices here and I'm not looking forward to paying around €1000 to upgrade a base model to 32GB either...

I have the 12.9" iPad Pro and use it extensively with Goodnotes. I wish the iPad Pro could replace the laptop, but without a first-class browser and the ability to save save, recall, search, files in the same way that the macOS does I don't see this ever happening. And yes, I am painfully away of Dropbox, Files, and Documents, but those arguments fall flat on their face. iOS is a hindrance when it comes to file management. If all I ever used was Pages and Numbers, I suppose it would feel okay, but that's not the case. And Apple will never remove that hindrance. It will hold iOS back forever. Even working on art is painful, not because of the apps themselves, but because of the hindrance of how the files are saved and recalled. iOS release after release does virtually zero to make this better.
[doublepost=1554826311][/doublepost]

So there was a rumor that a new MBP would come out this year and now another rumor says it’s not coming. I’m not sure if anyone should really base their purchase decisions on stuff like that.

If you don’t need a new computer right now, the only logical thing to do is wait until WWDC and not your decisions on fact and not rumor.

Ps: and yes, 2021 decidedly sounds like ARM in that case I’m happy I got the 2018 model.

I used to play the waiting game. I had a 2011 MacBook Pro and waited for years before Apple did anything meaningful at all. Then the bad keyboard hit and I waited again. Third gen bad keyboard and I finally bought. I have the second gen bad keyboard on a MacBook 12".

 

[xxray]

I
I used to play the waiting game. I had a 2011 MacBook Pro and waited for years before Apple did anything meaningful at all. Then the bad keyboard hit and I waited again. Third gen bad keyboard and I finally bought. I have the second gen bad keyboard on a MacBook 12".

What made you stop playing the waiting game? I'm trying to decide between waiting for the supposed 2019 16" MBP and just getting the 2018 one. Here's my dilemma: when my 2011 MBP needed replaced, I decided to switch to the Dell XPS 15 because it was literally $1000 less for the comparable specs even with two student discounts on the MBP. However, I've been badly missing macOS, it's creative software, and integration with my iPhone and iPad ever since. At this point, I'm just ready to sell my XPS and switch back to macOS.

The 2018 mid-range 15" MBP (2.6/512GB/560X) Apple Certified Refurbished model is going for $2000 at Micro Center. That's $800 off the original price, still with a 1 year Apple warranty, and will perform just as well as a brand new non-refurbished model. However, it's also been 9 months since the 2018 MBP was released and WWDC is coming up which means we can expect a new model soon. The new model is supposed to have a larger screen (maybe small bezels too?) which I'd like and it'd make me feel better about spending so much money if they made a change to the keyboard.

However, I've already been wanting a new MBP for 2 years now. Do I really want to wait another 2 months (assuming WWDC is even the earliest it would be released), and then another 3 months for refurbished models to come out, and then still not be able to get a MBP for as good of a price as this option at Micro Center? I could be waiting another 6-12 months and get a worse price. But also, I've already been waiting for 2 years now and have finally decided I'm going to get one. Am I going to regret my purchase in a few months when I see a (slightly?) redesigned model released, especially after waiting so long before finally buying one? Probably.

Who even knows if a 16" MBP will even come to fruition? Who even knows if there will be a new model this year? Sigh.

 

[cool11]

I have late 2013 mbp 15'.
So far, everything fine all these years.

I do not know if I should feel cheerful with everything I read here.

But, in the near future, I guess I will have to upgrade.
I can wait though.

The perfect time for me, will not be to just get a mbp with higher specs.
But I want a mbp without problems!!!!

 

[PKoz]

What made you stop playing the waiting game? I'm trying to decide between waiting for the supposed 2019 16" MBP and just getting the 2018 one. Here's my dilemma: when my 2011 MBP needed replaced, I decided to switch to the Dell XPS 15 because it was literally $1000 less for the comparable specs even with two student discounts on the MBP. However, I've been badly missing macOS, it's creative software, and integration with my iPhone and iPad ever since. At this point, I'm just ready to sell my XPS and switch back to macOS.

The 2018 mid-range 15" MBP (2.6/512GB/560X) Apple Certified Refurbished model is going for $2000 off at Micro Center. That's $800 off the original price, still with a 1 year Apple warranty, and will perform just as well as a brand new non-refurbished model. However, it's also been 9 months since the 2018 MBP was released and WWDC is coming up which means we can expect a new model soon. The new model is supposed to have a larger screen (maybe small bezels too?) which I'd like and it'd make me feel better about spending so much money if they made a change to the keyboard.

However, I've already been wanting a new MBP for 2 years now. Do I really want to wait another 2 months (assuming WWDC is even the earliest it would be released), and then another 3 months for refurbished models to come out, and then still not be able to get a MBP for as good of a price as this option at Micro Center? I could be waiting another 6-12 months and get a worse price. But also, I've already been waiting for 2 years now and have finally decided I'm going to get one. Am I going to regret my purchase in a few months when I see a (slightly?) redesigned model released, especially after waiting so long before finally buying one? Probably.

Who even knows if a 16" MBP will even come to fruition? Who even knows if there will be a new model this year? Sigh.

Here is the problem with waiting, You waited two years already. And now you'll wait for WWDC. Now, just suppose for a second that no new MBP is announced at WWDC. At that point, we will be 11 months into the 2018 model. That alone will convince you to wait a little longer. I waited 7 years to get a new MacBook Pro. The reason is simple. The normal cycle said to wait after all the average wait is just over a year. And it got more and more insane.

I had a Dell M4800 and later upgraded to a Dell M6800. The first is 15.6 inches, the other is 17 inches. I can hardly tell the difference. The current 15.4" vs a 16" is going to be just as you described. Slightly thinner bezel.

Another issue which you didn't describe but was on my list of waits was the GPU. The Vega 16 and Vega 20 are BTOs and I thought that the Vega 20 would be a new standard, not a BTO.

The main thing I was waiting for is Intel to shrink the chip down a little more to give Apple better thermos in this thin device. But Intel's roadmap looks to be a year or more away from that. And that assumes Intel delivers at all.

Then there is the keyboard. It is flawed and we all know it. Apple is trying to lessen the flaw but the flaw is a bonafide flaw. Better to get rid of it and put into place something flawless.

So image a 16" thinner bezel, a 10nm Intel CPU with better thermos, vega20 standard GPU, and a new keyboard. If that released tomorrow I'd feel like, dang I just paid $4,500 ($5,500 after tax, warranty, and other goodies) on the laptop I have now. But look again. A better thermos would be great, but I don't hear my fan screaming at me now. I bought Vega20 graphics. 15.4" vs 16"? If it weren't for the thinner bezel, you wouldn't know it. And the new keyboard would be gen 1 of a new design. That can be good or bad. The first gen butterfly keyboard sounded awesome and turned out to be a bonafide flaw. In reality, the only thing I really want is a flawless keyboard. Everything else I can totally live with. My main fear is that the keyboard will cause me grief and I might have long periods of sending in the laptop for repair. I doubt that happens to 50% of the users. I doubt it happens to 10% of the users. Let's assume it happens to 5% of users. That means 5 in 100 will have the issue. In reverse, that means I have a 95% chance of being totally fine. Let's assume we're playing poker. I have a straight flush. I have calculated I have a 95% chance of winning this hand. Do I bet the farm on this hand? Absolutely. Now I could be wrong. It could be 10% or 20% of people having keyboard issues. I don't know. But if that many people are having this issue, then Apple will have to support it on their own dime as it will be declared a flaw and not normal wear and tear. It all goes back to my experience. Will I have a bad experience? I sure hope not. I really think Apple had completely damaged their reputation with the flawed keyboard. They are sending the wrong message to their customers. It is this fear along which worries me. Apple should project that will take care of us and we will have a good experience. Deception does not help the situation. It makes it worse.

You could be waiting forever. That's the problem with rumors. Maybe Apple postpones the 16" for some unknown to us reason. Maybe intel misses their roadmap. Maybe the next MBP is nothing more than a 4th gen butterfly keyboard...

 

[Howard2k]

Ultimately it's a lot of money for a laptop, whichever one you end up getting. But then again, it's not a lot of money really. If it feels like an overwhelming sum of money then maybe it's not right to be putting it on a MBPro.

I have a 2015. I was playing the waiting game for an update but decided that I'd buy in early 2016. Early 2016 came and I bought a 2015 refurb and then, surprise surprise, about 4 months later the 2016s came out. Faster, slimmer, lighter, sexier etc.

I did consider that I wish I had waited for the 2016. But as it turns out... I'm glad now that I didn't.

Things change, new products come out, usually they're better in many ways but not always. Too much indecisiveness over such a decision is probably not warranted, sometimes it's worth rolling the dice, jumping in, and spending less time worrying about it.

 

[Mr. Dee]

Exactly. Vinyl hasn't gone away and neither has tinkering with your own car. It's just become less mainstream. I can imagine large parts of the creative sector using touch screens instead of Wacom tablets or... mice. I myself, for example, take all my notes in GoodNotes on the iPad Pro 11. It has replaced both my paper notebook as well as parts of what I use my laptop for. Will it replace a laptop? No, but my laptop is less central to my digital life now.



You should never take comparisons literally



Yeah, I just read that. It's a real shame. "Woah, in 2021, the 13" will get 32GB!" Doesn't sound so spectacular as when that should happen in 2019.

I have a late 2013 13" which sometimes shows its age. I could upgrade the SSD, but it's a hassle and it won't change the fact that I only have 8GB RAM. I'm not looking forward to buying a base model 15" because with VMs, 16GB is still limited. But only the base models get seriously reduced prices here and I'm not looking forward to paying around €1000 to upgrade a base model to 32GB either...

I have an early 2015 MBP 13 and its struggling with the latest Windows 10 1903 64 bit build. It is soooooooooooooooooooo slooooooooooooooooow. I know I probably should go with 32 bit, but I work 64 bit apps like Office that I also use for testing, so I want to keep things consistent.

Its a reminder to definitely max out when I do upgrade. I thought that 32 GBs might have been overkill, but now, if Apple ever brings 64 GBs to the 17 inch MacBook Pro, I am spending the money to get it.

 

[PKoz]

I have an early 2015 MBP 13 and its struggling with the latest Windows 10 1903 64 bit build. It is soooooooooooooooooooo slooooooooooooooooow. I know I probably should go with 32 bit, but I work 64 bit apps like Office that I also use for testing, so I want to keep things consistent.

It's a reminder to definitely max out when I do upgrade. I thought that 32 GBs might have been overkill, but now, if Apple ever brings 64 GBs to the 17 inch MacBook Pro, I am spending the money to get it.

Every time I have dumbed the laptop, I have lived to regret it. The 2018 model I bought has 2 TB of storage. 32 GBs of RAM, it has the 6-core i7, not the i9 because I don't see that as a big deal. And it has the VEGA20 GPU because I think the speed is better and the thermos is better with that GPU. The main thing was the storage. This is my first 2 TB storage anything. The previous largest storage I bought was 1 TB. in 2011 I had 512 GBs which at that time cost around $1200. Now 2 TB costs about $1000. 4 TB is $2800 add on. So it doesn't make sense. If 4 TB was $1800 I would have pulled the trigger.

 

[danwells]

The report that xxray shared this morning (the 2021 machine is a totally redesigned MacBook with new display technology (and A-series CPUs???), while the MBP is on track for 2019) makes a LOT more sense than pushing the MBP back two years ... Apple is obviously aware of their keyboard problem - they've made public statements saying they're aware of it. They also know that they have one more generation of 14nm processors to accommodate (or ignore, but it's a core count bump with significant performance implications, so ignore at their peril) - and that those processors will probably run hot.

Pulling the next MBP forward from 2020 into 2019 gives them a chance to deal with the keyboard and heat issues. Assuming that this chassis runs through 3-4 CPU generations, it'll accommodate 1 or 2 14nm generations (I know Intel says it's just 1, but how much do we trust that Intel won't toss in YetAnother Lake before we see Sunny Cove)? It'll also accommodate a couple of generations of 10nm chips. If Apple brings ARM to the MacBook Pro, it'll be around the time of the next chassis (2022-23)? If they pulled the chassis back all the way to 2021 (why not 2020 if it's not ready for 2019), any ARM transition might be in the middle of its run.

A 2021 MacBook, on the other hand, makes a ton of sense. That probably will be ARM since the MacBook is the machine where ARM makes sense, it might have some sort of haptic keyboard that isn't ready yet (the MacBook does need an incredibly thin keyboard), and it's a good place to put in a new gee-whiz display.

 

[afir93]

https://9to5mac.com/2019/04/09/kuo-mini-led-apple-display/

“This week’s Ming-Chi Kuo report has been wrongly reported by other publications a few times based on mistranslations. The previously-reported ~16.5-inch MacBook Pro is not delayed — or at least that is not what Kuo is claiming here. This latest report is referring to future generations of iPads and MacBooks.“

Good on you for correcting it, the initial wave of articles strongly made it sound like Ming-Chi Kuo changed his prediction from 2019 to 2021 in the span of just 2 months.

Having said that, he seems to have a rather mixed track record lately. Just within the last year or so, he has:

- predicted an updated MacBook Pro last summer but for sometime in fall 2018, only for it to be released less than a week after he made that prediction, still within summer,
- predicted an iMac refresh with "significant display improvements" for fall 2018, but instead we get new iMacs 6 months after his predicted timeframe and these significant display improvements are sadly nowhere to be seen,
- predicted a 12" MacBook refresh for fall 2018 which hasn't yet happened to this day,
- predicted AirPower to be released in Q1 2019, which he (only a couple weeks ago) corrected to "first half of 2019" – only for it to be discontinued shortly thereafter,
- predicted some AirPods-like OverEar headphones from Apple for the end of 2018 which didn't end up happening, instead he later changed his prediction to sometime in 2019 (though to be fair, he changed his prediction early enough that I'm kind of willing to give him the benefit of the doubt here and believe that the product was delayed internally by Apple sometime around that time which he just didn't know earlier – but still)...

I'm not doubting that he has his inside-sources, and he also got a lot of predictions right, but I wouldn't exactly take anything he says for granted anymore. I truly hope that his rumor about a 16-16.5" MacBook Pro this year turns out correct and we finally get that machine with a fixed keyboard and improved thermals that so many people have been waiting for, but until we have more rumors from other sources that substantiate this claim, I wouldn't advise anyone to entirely take his word for it, or else there's a nontrivial chance that you may be setting yourself up for disappointment.

 

[kis]

A better thermos would be great, but I don't hear my fan screaming at me now.

Mine’s loud AF. It’s the one thing that really annoys me about the 2018. I know it’s because I got the 6-core i7 and the 560, but man it does get loud fast.

The Surface Book 2 is whisper quiet, even under fairly heavy load.

 

[fokmik]

Mine’s loud AF. It’s the one thing that really annoys me about the 2018. I know it’s because I got the 6-core i7 and the 560, but man it does get loud fast.

The Surface Book 2 is whisper quiet, even under fairly heavy load.

i also have the 2018 MBP and it runs quiet, ofc under full load when fans go very high in RPM gets louder, but not that loud, and from my perspective, it runs quieter than the former SB2 (i had 15" the base model with dgpu)
I also have disappearing discrete GPU and the laggy touchpad on SB2,The 15-inch Surface Book 2 has a real problem with its power supply. Cant keep up with the GPU and so on....the keyboard gets a lot hotter than on my MBP, and it sholdnt be the case since the gpu is on the base and the cpu is under the display, while the MBP has both on the base. Maybe magnesium cant keep up like aluminium, or the thermal paste, or the 2 fans are weaker? i dont know
But in the last year, 2017 fall to 2018 fall...i experience a lot of Dells, surface and Hp...and now for my men i will go with either MBP if they release new ones at WWDC or with Thinkpad X1 extreme
Maybe you have a bad fan or something?

 

[PKoz]

i also have the 2018 MBP and it runs quiet, ofc under full load when fans go very high in RPM gets louder, but not that loud, and from my perspective, it runs quieter than the former SB2 (i had 15" the base model with dgpu)
I also have disappearing discrete GPU and the laggy touchpad on SB2,The 15-inch Surface Book 2 has a real problem with its power supply. Cant keep up with the GPU and so on....the keyboard gets a lot hotter than on my MBP, and it sholdnt be the case since the gpu is on the base and the cpu is under the display, while the MBP has both on the base. Maybe magnesium cant keep up like aluminium, or the thermal paste, or the 2 fans are weaker? i dont know
But in the last year, 2017 fall to 2018 fall...i experience a lot of Dells, surface and Hp...and now for my men i will go with either MBP if they release new ones at WWDC or with Thinkpad X1 extreme
Maybe you have a bad fan or something?

I haven't really pushed mine super hard yet. I just got it last Friday, 4/5. Planning on using Harmony from Toon Boon a bit. The Vega 20 should be better for the thermos. It's the 6 core i7. Under normal everyday use, it's quiet.

 

[fokmik]

yes, i was talking with kis about the fact that my mbp is definitely quieter under full load than my former surface book 2

 

[PKoz]

yes, i was talking with kis about the fact that my mbp is definitely quieter under full load than my former surface book 2

I'm at the point where I wish to get rid of Windows and focus on just the Mac and my iPad Pro. I don't hate Windows, as much as I just want to get rid of all the tech I have. It's easy to go a little overboard simply by not getting rid of the old as you get the new. I have three mac laptops right now. 12" MacBook, 13" MBP, 15" MacBook Pro. Just want the last one. And iPads, I have the new 7.9", the last gen 10.5" and the newest 12.9". I have a few Windows PCs. I just want two iPads and the MBP 15" and nothing else. SurfaceBook looks more like a good idea that has never evolved far enough. That Metro interface has never been fully developed. Microsoft is one giant disaster in my humble opinion. I like Apple 10x more.

 

[xxray]

Thank you all for the perspectives and advice, I really appreciate it. I caved and I'm typing this on my new MBP. I just figured it wasn't worth waiting till WWDC at the earliest, and then 3 months after that for a refurb, and still be paying a price that I don't feel is a super great value. I also wanted to have a Mac over this summer so I could edit videos and do music production with my extra free time that I won't be in school. I'm feeling good about my purchase so far. This is the latest model, the model I wanted, and I got it cheaper than the same used models that are selling on Swappa and eBay that aren't Apple Certified Refurbished or have a full year of warranty left.

 

[PKoz]

Thank you all for the perspectives and advice, I really appreciate it. I caved and I'm typing this on my new MBP. I just figured it wasn't worth waiting till WWDC at the earliest, and then 3 months after that for a refurb, and still be paying a price that I don't feel is a super great value. I also wanted to have a Mac over this summer so I could edit videos and do music production with my extra free time that I won't be in school. I'm feeling good about my purchase so far. This is the latest model, the model I wanted, and I got it cheaper than the same used models that are selling on Swappa and eBay that aren't Apple Certified Refurbished or have a full year of warranty left.

Yup, didn't wait either. Looking forward to WWDC and won't mind if something newer and better is announced. It will happen sooner or later. So, what did you get?? MBP with what?

 

[xxray]

Yup, didn't wait either. Looking forward to WWDC and won't mind if something newer and better is announced. It will happen sooner or later. So, what did you get?? MBP with what?

I got the 2018 15" model with 2.6GHz i7, 512GB storage, 16GB RAM, and Radeon Pro 460X. What model did you get?

 

[PKoz]

I got the 2018 15" model with 2.6GHz i7, 512GB storage, 16GB RAM, and Radeon Pro 460X. What model did you get?

I did a BTO, i7 processor, 2TB storage, 32 GB RAM, Vega 20 GPU. Had to wait a while for it. Took about 8 days to get it.

 

[DCIFRTHS]

Thank you all for the perspectives and advice, I really appreciate it. I caved and I'm typing this on my new MBP. I just figured it wasn't worth waiting till WWDC at the earliest, and then 3 months after that for a refurb, and still be paying a price that I don't feel is a super great value. I also wanted to have a Mac over this summer so I could edit videos and do music production with my extra free time that I won't be in school. I'm feeling good about my purchase so far. This is the latest model, the model I wanted, and I got it cheaper than the same used models that are selling on Swappa and eBay that aren't Apple Certified Refurbished or have a full year of warranty left.

I hope you enjoy it, and have a lifetime of trouble free use

[doublepost=1554890363][/doublepost]

I did a BTO, i7 processor, 2TB storage, 32 GB RAM, Vega 20 GPU. Had to wait a while for it. Took about 8 days to get it.

Congrats! Enjoy it

 

[Dave245]

I did a BTO, i7 processor, 2TB storage, 32 GB RAM, Vega 20 GPU. Had to wait a while for it. Took about 8 days to get it.

Wow very powerful, nice machine

Did you not want to wait until the keyboard is fixed or the new design that's rumoured for later this year? (according to Ming Chi Kuo)

 

[Stephen.R]

Had to wait a while for it. Took about 8 days to get it.

8 days is “a while”? When I asked a reseller about a BTO Mac mini in November I was told it’d be ready to pick up in January.

 

[Dave245]

If there are going to be new machines this year, I wonder when they come out? If there’s a redesign I would say WWDC in June or maybe a Pro focused event in October.

 

[PKoz]

Wow very powerful, nice machine

Did you not want to wait until the keyboard is fixed or the new design that's rumoured for later this year? (according to Ming Chi Kuo)

Well, I absolutely live in fear of this 3rd gen butterfly keyboard. That being said we have no idea what the next keyboard will be. Could be nothing. Could just be the same 3rd gen butterfly. Could be a 4th gen butterfly with some minor improvement from the 3rd gen keyboard. That would assume that the 3rd gen shows little to no progress as a fix. Or we could see the 1st gen of something entirely new. And as a 1st gen new keyboard, Apple wouldn't have millions of them in the field to really know if it is better than the current 3rd gen butterfly.

This is the problem with Apple which doesn't publish an open roadmap. I'm left to read rumors and guess the future. So I bought the extended warranty and I hope I don't have an issue. I've waited already. I feel like everything Apple is one long frustrating wait. What I think the true answer should be is that Apple should just come out and say that if you suffer from this keyboard problem, we'll take good care of you, no questions asked. That to me would remove fear and doubt and Apple, unfortunately, choose to obfuscate and deceive which only builds distrust and ultimately loses sales.
[doublepost=1554912191][/doublepost]

8 days is “a while”? When I asked a reseller about a BTO Mac mini in November I was told it’d be ready to pick up in January.

Was that closer to the release of the mini or was the new mini out in force by then?

I've been interested in the new mini, perhaps linking an external GPU to it. But that's Pro money for a really souped up one. So I told myself if I were going to fo that route I'd just "wait" for the pro machine, which is also taking a long time to release.
[doublepost=1554912292][/doublepost]

If there are going to be new machines this year, I wonder when they come out? If there’s a redesign I would say WWDC in June or maybe a Pro focused event in October.

I have waited for WWDC previously and then been disappointed. I then think, back to school, and then been disappointed. I think the holiday season... And this goes on and on and on.
[doublepost=1554912363][/doublepost]

I hope you enjoy it, and have a lifetime of trouble free use

[doublepost=1554890363][/doublepost]

Congrats! Enjoy it

Well, I went into the parking lot and did a dance for the gods. I should be good.

 

[Dave245]

I have waited for WWDC previously and then been disappointed. I then think, back to school, and then been disappointed. I think the holiday season... And this goes on and on and on.

This is very true. It’s true for me as well, I have waited to update my laptop for while now, just when I was going to pull the trigger I saw the apology that Apple released and the issues with the keyboard, I paused on buying yet again