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What I like about the 2018 MBP

Sackofnickels said:
So the keyboard is not your favorite but it will suffice. You have to mitigate the throttling issue with third party software, and life isn't perfect so you are willing to spend thousands on a computer that amplifies that philosophy. Good luck to you. It fascinates me what some people will do to justify their reasoning and their attitudes.
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You misunderstood, I really like the MBP, it does everything I need it too, and to boot, it does it better then any windows machine.

I'm not justifying anything, I'm perfectly content. I spent the better part of this year looking at laptops and the MBP fits my needs. No computer is perfect, I think you need to come to that realization, otherwise you will always be disappointed. I don't sweat the small stuff, and overall this is an excellent machine.

Using any application to enhance the usage of a computer is not a negative but rather using the computer to do exactly what it was designed to do, i.e., execute applications. I'm not making excuses for apple, they released a machine that should have had more testing, but my 2.2 is fast, cool (temps), has a great battery life and I'm using macOS. You're completely wrong in your assessment.
 
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I like the new machines too. Even before this refresh, they were nearly perfect for my use case, and the refresh was much better than I expected. I'm still giving it a month or two before I get one. I've been looking at Windows/Linux alternatives, but I've had enough of those before and I know it's not really what I want. Only thing now is that after all this waiting, my use case is changing, I'm not entirely convinced I'll need a laptop at all. But still very nice machines, and I think all the drama around throttling, while valid to some extent, I think it's also overblown.
 
Salty Pirate said:
Apples seems to have fixed my biggest annoyance with the 2016, the trackpad would pick up spurious input when typing and the cursor would jump around the page.
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Are you sure about this? Isn't this an OS level issue and not hardware issue?

This is indeed my second biggest annoyance after the popping noise.
 
maflynn said:
I do have the charger, because I expect to be at this site for 4+ hours, and I didn't want to take a chance. Most of the other times, I don't but since this a more extended visit, and the first time I'm using this outside of my home office I wanted to play it safe.

I have a very old Waterfield Design attache, it works wonderfully but I think its time to get a new carrying case.
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I haven been using my 2018 from 9a-6p m-f since I received it (I guess two weeks now) doing coding, illustrator, etc and have yet to run out the battery. In fact, on one extended day (8p or so) it still had ~30% left when I got home and plugged it in. The battery life has truly been impressive. That said, I DO have a spare charger that I carry in my messenger "just in case", but I've not had to use it yet. :cool:
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pubmsu said:
This is indeed my second biggest annoyance after the popping noise.
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For what it's worth, my 2017 popped, and my 2018 hasn't at all... so maybe whatever that was has been ironed out as well.
 
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maflynn said:
My benchmarks are decidedly lower cinebench but that's because I'm a bit more aggressive with the power limiting then maybe other. I've been running at 30 to 34 watts, but here's an example of 40 watts and Cinebench is a 903 with the max temps hit at 93c. W/O Volta, I was seeing 920 but the temps shot right up to 100c

View attachment 772551
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Are you still seeing 100 ℃ without Volta post-patch? No reason these should be limited below 45 W I would've thought, not even before the fix. The throttling seemed to be caused by or associated with power draw significantly above 45?
 
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simonmet said:
Are you still seeing 100 ℃ without Volta post-patch? No reason these should be limited below 45 W I would've thought, not even before the fix. The throttling seemed to be caused by or associated with power draw significantly above 45?
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Yes, I'm still seeing 100c post patch (w/o Volta app)
 
BigMcGuire said:
Oh, it's not sad! I use a Logitech K810 and K811 at home and work respectively. This keyboard has the ability to connect to 3 Bluetooth devices. So the K810 - Work computer, iPad, Macbook Pro. K811 - Macbook Pro, iPad, and work laptop.

So just out of habit, I use a bluetooth keyboard and have my devices up beside each other. My Macbook Pro sits next to my work computer at work right now, then at home, my work laptop sits next to my Macbook Pro. :)

Great keyboards, a little expensive, but they are great.
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I wish Logitech made a version of the k811 but with a numeric pad as well. I currently have to switch between my work laptop keyboard for my windows machine (Logitech k520) and an old gen Apple Bluetooth keyboard for the MacBook Pro. I want a keyboard I can easily switch between computers like your K811, but need one with a numeric pad. I love the overall design of their full keyboard w/numeric pad, the “Craft” model, but don’t want to spend $200 on a keyboard with a number pad.
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maflynn said:
Using any application to enhance the usage of a computer is not a negative but rather using the computer to do exactly what it was designed to do, i.e., execute applications.
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I agree with this. I mean there a lot of products that we buy, not just computers, that benefit from aftermarket applications or add-one. I mean you can buy an add on part for your car that makes it more efficient and/or faster, does that make it ineffective or a compromised purchase decision? No. Companies like Apple have so much going on, that there is always something they might overlook, or that someone outside the company with a different view might be able to improve on.
 
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Painter2002 said:
I wish Logitech made a version of the k811 but with a numeric pad as well. I currently have to switch between my work laptop keyboard for my windows machine (Logitech k520) and an old gen Apple Bluetooth keyboard for the MacBook Pro. I want a keyboard I can easily switch between computers like your K811, but need one with a numeric pad. I love the overall design of their full keyboard w/numeric pad, the “Craft” model, but don’t want to spend $200 on a keyboard with a number pad.
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Agreed. I have my Dell keyboard (in the pic) under my monitor so if I have to use a keypad for awhile, I'll pull that out. Sure as heck have a hard time spending $200 on a keyboard. I got my Logitech K keyboards for about $50 each via sales online and that was a lot for me (they can go for $100+ in stores).
 
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I'm on the fence as well, love Macs, had one from 2008-2011, 2013-now. Price is putting me off a bit, I can see on the Dell outlet a 2.2 6 core 32GB 1TB XPS 15 for about £2000 total inc. 3y warranty vs £3500ish for the equivalent Mac...but resale value is always much better on Macs and I prefer the OS. Just hard to stomach the increase in cost. I use it for work though plus hoping to keep it for 3 or 4 years unless a much nicer one comes along. Windows has improved a lot though, has subsystem for Linux which is pretty cool.

Much cheaper, better ports, better gfx, function keys vs Nicer OS, nicer hardware, better resale.

Aaaaargh!
 
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I'm only 2 days in but the 2018 MBP experience has been pretty good for me. My machine operates way over its published spec and pretty-much everything is a significant upgrade from before. I even dodged the firmware issue as the patch was released just before my MBP arrived.

So far my only complaint (and I admit that it is a first-world problem) is that the delete key sounds significantly different to all the other keys. Otherwise even the keyboard experience is good and, amongst its peers, it is a pretty fine keyboard. The only reason that I could never love this keyboard is that I can confidently state that the keyboard on my 2009 MBP (and its Apple-contemporaries) was the best laptop keyboard I have ever experienced - and nobody appreciates a step-back however small. A magnetic-release power lead is a must for me so had to spend a few pounds to achieve that and at least I get a choice as to which side to charge from and for me that is the righthand side. I'd rather not have the 4mm protrusion but I can certainly live with it.

As for the internals; well the CPU is fast and stable, the SSD is stupidly fast and for me the offloading of tasks to the T2 has been a positive improvement. Oh and the battery life with my workflow is slightly above the claimed figure - that is a first for me!

So I'm with Mike on this one.

:)
 
wchigo said:
So does that mean you're now no longer using Volta post-patch?
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Not at all, I'm less interested in squeezing out performance and more concerned about long term wear and tear related to continual high temps.

I'm using the volt app to throttle the wattage, and that keeps the temps around mid 50s to 60s during the day for my work connected to the mains and driving a 19" monitor. While running on the battery (and no monitor), I'm seeing temps in the mid 30s.
 
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pubmsu said:
Are you sure about this? Isn't this an OS level issue and not hardware issue?

This is indeed my second biggest annoyance after the popping noise.
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This has driven me nuts in all three MacBook pros I've owned over the years. I've never understood how it could be brushing the trackpad when typing, either. It happens even when the cursor isn't near the text entry area, and if it's equivalent to a tap, why has it never once stolen focus to a separate window under the cursor and not just within the text entry area? It's always struck me as a software bug.
 
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maflynn said:
Not at all, I'm less interested in squeezing out performance and more concerned about long term wear and tear related to continual high temps.

I'm using the volt app to throttle the wattage, and that keeps the temps around mid 50s to 60s during the day for my work connected to the mains and driving a 19" monitor. While running on the battery (and no monitor), I'm seeing temps in the mid 30s.
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Good to know. I was kinda planning to use Volta when I eventually got my Mac too.
 
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