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Apple Updates MacBook Pros with 8th-Generation Intel CPUs and 32GB RAM

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Let me write a comment out of fury, given the "PRO" tag they attach to the computer and the hefty price tag.

On real life, I think it's NOT a PRO computer. It should be named "Mac Expensive" or "Mac Poser" rather than Pro. The last Macbook Pro, imho, was Late 2007 Santa Rosa, where you had lots of ports (2 USBs, 1 Firewire 400, 1 Firewire 800, DVI, PCI Express), detachable battery, Matte or Glossy screen, upgradeable memory & Hard Disk, as well as Mac Novelties such as the MagSafe connector (that REALLY had a purpose), together with a decent build quality. All that coated with the less ever bloated OS: Snow Leopard, which was barely 1Gb in size and of a non-intrusive nature.

Fast forward to 2018 and meet this €7000 toy and we find the following

- SOLDERED, NON-UPGRADABLE MEMORY (really??)
- SOLDERED SSD (... !!! ...)
- Only Thunderbolt ports. (But you can purchase tons of dongles in the Apple Store)
- No specialist ports like FireWire. Ask Siri to throw your €30,000 pro video cameras and rack sound systems down the toilet.
- Non-detachable battery.
- No Magsafe
- The worst keyboard ever
- Only Glossy screen (so photos of your dog or happy family look cool, but unfortunately Photoshop calibration will be a ruin)
- Bloated operating system a-la-microsoft: Siri, iCloud, iTunes, App Store ...

Their selling points appear to be the following:

- New T2 chip so you can say "Hey Siri!"
- LCD stripe on the keyboard to display iTunes controls and a couple other supported programs. But you can play DOOM on it
- It syncs nicely with your Apple Watch, they say.
- Super super slim. We'll see how well it cools, but in general, Apple is focusing on making things slimmer and slimmer without a real purpose. I would trade an additional kilogram for the possibility of changing the SSD, upgrading my memory or, of course, plugging real-world PRO equipment like Video Cameras, sound racks, etc.

So for me it's not really about the money. All computers I own are around for nearly a decade, won't hesitate investing €7000 if it's worth it.

In resume, I think this computer is an insult for many loyal pro users, specially across the photography / video / sound studio industry. It's not maybe a scam of the dimensions of the wastebin-embedded Mac Pro, but close to it.
 
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In resume, I think this computer is an insult for loyal pro users, maybe not of the dimensions of the wastebin-embedded Mac Pro, but close to it.

All I can say is that I hope the next Mac Pro is not a flop like the 2013 model was. I also want to see an Intel Xeon chip in it. If it's 4 or more ARM based Apple designed A chips, the end is near. There may be a massive migration away from macOS to Linux or Windoze. We all know how painful that could be.

Apple designed chips in the Macbook and MBP line do make sense. I would buy one if they helped lower the cost, increase the battery life and make them run cooler. That will probably happen in the next 3-4 years, if not sooner. Seeing how Apple is already making 7nm A series chips while Intel is still stuck at 10nm Apple really wants use their own chip designs. Coffee Lake Refresh will be another refresh of a refresh. Sounds refreshing doesn't it ?
 
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All I can say is that I hope the next Mac Pro is not a flop like the 2013 model was. I also want to see an Intel Xeon chip in it. If it's 4 or more ARM based Apple designed A chips, the end is near. There may be a massive migration away from macOS to Linux or Windoze. We all know how painful that could be.

Lots of professionals I met on a daily basis are screaming for that. Unfortunately, Windowze or Linux is not normally an option if you are used to OSX or depend on specific software, so ironically, a Hackintosh is the best Mac Pro you can have today. Apparently Tim Cook is aware of our frustration, so I hope they separate the Iphone hype from the Pro users, and build a decent computer, because we know they can !
 
There's so much to love about macOS I sincerely hope we're not all driven away because of chip decisions. Coffee Lake CPU's seem to be causing overheating problems despite their greater efficiency than earlier generations. I'm not sure I understand why, given Apple's engineering expertise. In PCs like we build, Coffee Lake is most definitely cooler and more power-efficient than previously.

I suppose Apple are already coding macOS for a new chip architecture then? Or would we get some awful upgrade from iOS?

I shudder at the thought. I own an iPhone but I can't see iOS realistically becoming a desktop OS. Look what happened to Window's attempt at integration.

What's more I don't think any prices would get cheaper. Margins would get higher is all. The 'cheap' iPhone 5c didn't seem popular. Customers no doubt thought, if I'm going to get an iPhone and pay for it over a two-year contract, then I might as well get a flashier model. A laptop is a huge amount of money, pro or not, many bought on credit or lease, but there's not much difference between "a lot" and "a little bit more than a lot", in a scenario like that, just a huge difference in profit worldwide.

I guess any architecture change-over would be handled like the PowerPC to Intel one where an emulator, Rosetta, allowed older software to run on the new CPUs. But that doesn't cater for old hardware running new software. So we're scuppered.

If pushed to Windows I've discovered there are now Quicklook utilities that work (Seer etc) and Stardock make ObjectDock and WindowBlinds interface skinning ... I've not researched if Linux has anything similar.

What's more I'd miss GarageBand, Photos, iMessage, FaceTime, real Quicklook and, crazy though it may seem, the pop-up dictionary and thesaurus widget.

Oh, and reliability, natural virus protection, solid updates, a great-looking interface, and printer-drivers that don't tell you a tank is empty just to sell you another, when it's not.

The future is looking suddenly uncertain.

:confused:
 
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2012 MacBook Pro in "C" Condition
It's really amazing what these old used Macbook Pros still demand in price. $450 for a grade C refurb with 4GB of ram and a mechanical HDD. The 13.3 inch screen is only 1280 x 800. The reason is that you can easily remove the hard drive and install a large SSD. Even upgrade the ram. Then add a second SSD where the optical drive goes. You would be stuck with the very old Ivy Bridge laptop CPU. Will a 2018 MBP you paid well over 2 grand for today be worth anything 6 years from now ? Probably not. Especially if Apple does switch to ARM chips by about 2020-21.

Screen Shot 2.jpg
 
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2012 MacBook Pro in "C" Condition
It's really amazing what these old used Macbook Pros still demand in price. $450 for a grade C refurb with 4GB of ram and a mechanical HDD. The 13.3 inch screen is only 1280 x 800. The reason is that you can easily remove the hard drive and install a large SSD. Even upgrade the ram. Then add a second SSD where the optical drive goes. You would be stuck with the very old Ivy Bridge laptop CPU. Will a 2018 MBP you paid well over 2 grand for today be worth anything 6 years from now ? Probably not. Especially if Apple does switch to ARM chips by about 2020-21.

View attachment 345210

Scary but true.

I see 'old' Macs here going for daft money, but you're right - easy to replace the RAM, HDD and Optical drives. Compared with a cheap Win laptop you'd still get a fast and useful machine even with older gen CPUs.

BUT Grade C ?? Who with any sanity would touch it? That would set off alarm-bells for me. And "Refurbished" too...

I guess there's a market though.

:rolleyes:
 
2012 MacBook Pro in "C" Condition
It's really amazing what these old used Macbook Pros still demand in price. $450 for a grade C refurb with 4GB of ram and a mechanical HDD. The 13.3 inch screen is only 1280 x 800. The reason is that you can easily remove the hard drive and install a large SSD. Even upgrade the ram. Then add a second SSD where the optical drive goes. You would be stuck with the very old Ivy Bridge laptop CPU. Will a 2018 MBP you paid well over 2 grand for today be worth anything 6 years from now ? Probably not. Especially if Apple does switch to ARM chips by about 2020-21.

View attachment 345210

I agree there's a big market for those computers nowadays, actually my coworker has just bought one.

$450 computer
$120 16Gb memory
$100 1Tb SSD

And you get a nice laptop that can do a lot of things right. The CPU is a respectable i5, so you can probably run Sierra or El Capitan on it.

Anyways for that price, I'd go the Hackintosh way, of course :headbang:
 
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Somehow people think that throttling was a software issue on the macbook :|
 
Let me write a comment out of fury, given the "PRO" tag they attach to the computer and the hefty price tag.

On real life, I think it's NOT a PRO computer. It should be named "Mac Expensive" or "Mac Poser" rather than Pro. The last Macbook Pro, imho, was Late 2007 Santa Rosa, where you had lots of ports (2 USBs, 1 Firewire 400, 1 Firewire 800, DVI, PCI Express), detachable battery, Matte or Glossy screen, upgradeable memory & Hard Disk, as well as Mac Novelties such as the MagSafe connector (that REALLY had a purpose), together with a decent build quality. All that coated with the less ever bloated OS: Snow Leopard, which was barely 1Gb in size and of a non-intrusive nature.

Fast forward to 2018 and meet this €7000 toy and we find the following

- SOLDERED, NON-UPGRADABLE MEMORY (really??)
- SOLDERED SSD (... !!! ...)
- Only Thunderbolt ports. (But you can purchase tons of dongles in the Apple Store)
- No specialist ports like FireWire. Ask Siri to throw your €30,000 pro video cameras and rack sound systems down the toilet.
- Non-detachable battery.
- No Magsafe
- The worst keyboard ever
- Only Glossy screen (so photos of your dog or happy family look cool, but unfortunately Photoshop calibration will be a ruin)
- Bloated operating system a-la-microsoft: Siri, iCloud, iTunes, App Store ...

Their selling points appear to be the following:

- New T2 chip so you can say "Hey Siri!"
- LCD stripe on the keyboard to display iTunes controls and a couple other supported programs. But you can play DOOM on it
- It syncs nicely with your Apple Watch, they say.
- Super super slim. We'll see how well it cools, but in general, Apple is focusing on making things slimmer and slimmer without a real purpose. I would trade an additional kilogram for the possibility of changing the SSD, upgrading my memory or, of course, plugging real-world PRO equipment like Video Cameras, sound racks, etc.

So for me it's not really about the money. All computers I own are around for nearly a decade, won't hesitate investing €7000 if it's worth it.

In resume, I think this computer is an insult for many loyal pro users, specially across the photography / video / sound studio industry. It's not maybe a scam of the dimensions of the wastebin-embedded Mac Pro, but close to it.

I'm not defending Apple here, but what is a "Pro" machine to you?

If it gets the job done, then it's a machine used in a professional environment.

Sure these things are not perfect, but it's the best we have.

I'd rather trust macOS and an Apple computer for day to day work that requires stability, which can easily be swapped out by IT. Most studios that buy these machines in bulk have backups to go back to work very quickly with zero downtime.

You can do the same thing you do with a MBP with a Windows laptop/workstation.

The biggest difference is obviously macOS and most professionals working in post production, sound design, graphic design, illustration etc. prefer macOS for day to day productivity.

Apple can't make perfect machines and I do agree their "quality" has went downhill. I don't understand how they didn't do tests with Premiere Pro exports and the i9 processor. A 1 trillion dollar company didn't do internal tests on such a simple workflow??

Anyway, my point is, this is the best we can get. If we're shooting for the stars then we have to look at this from a wider perspective.

Would you rather use a fat Thinkpad with Windows or a thinner MacBook Pro with macOS? I prefer the latter, despite some of it's weak points.

USB-C is not a problem at all and you should have dongles in your bag anyway. Or a dock on your desk. USB-C is here to stay and most likely the same port will stay for USB4.0.
 
Let me write a comment out of fury, given the "PRO" tag they attach to the computer and the hefty price tag.

On real life, I think it's NOT a PRO computer. It should be named "Mac Expensive" or "Mac Poser" rather than Pro. The last Macbook Pro, imho, was Late 2007 Santa Rosa, where you had lots of ports (2 USBs, 1 Firewire 400, 1 Firewire 800, DVI, PCI Express), detachable battery, Matte or Glossy screen, upgradeable memory & Hard Disk, as well as Mac Novelties such as the MagSafe connector (that REALLY had a purpose), together with a decent build quality. All that coated with the less ever bloated OS: Snow Leopard, which was barely 1Gb in size and of a non-intrusive nature.

Fast forward to 2018 and meet this €7000 toy and we find the following

- SOLDERED, NON-UPGRADABLE MEMORY (really??)
- SOLDERED SSD (... !!! ...)
- Only Thunderbolt ports. (But you can purchase tons of dongles in the Apple Store)
- No specialist ports like FireWire. Ask Siri to throw your €30,000 pro video cameras and rack sound systems down the toilet.
- Non-detachable battery.
- No Magsafe
- The worst keyboard ever
- Only Glossy screen (so photos of your dog or happy family look cool, but unfortunately Photoshop calibration will be a ruin)
- Bloated operating system a-la-microsoft: Siri, iCloud, iTunes, App Store ...

Their selling points appear to be the following:

- New T2 chip so you can say "Hey Siri!"
- LCD stripe on the keyboard to display iTunes controls and a couple other supported programs. But you can play DOOM on it
- It syncs nicely with your Apple Watch, they say.
- Super super slim. We'll see how well it cools, but in general, Apple is focusing on making things slimmer and slimmer without a real purpose. I would trade an additional kilogram for the possibility of changing the SSD, upgrading my memory or, of course, plugging real-world PRO equipment like Video Cameras, sound racks, etc.

So for me it's not really about the money. All computers I own are around for nearly a decade, won't hesitate investing €7000 if it's worth it.

In resume, I think this computer is an insult for many loyal pro users, specially across the photography / video / sound studio industry. It's not maybe a scam of the dimensions of the wastebin-embedded Mac Pro, but close to it.

Then go buy an XPS or something similar and have a good day. If you want macOS on your laptop, this is the trade off. People keep bitching and moaning, but that is the way it is. It's not changing. Some of the trade-offs SUCK. You see more and more companies making thinner/less upgradeable laptops every year. That's the way it is. I'm sick of people complaining about the newer MacBook Pros. If you don't like them then don't get one! Every pro would like a slightly larger MacBook Pro with more ports and expandability, but it's not happening. Get over it.
 
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