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Apple Refreshes MacBook Pro Lineup (arstechnica.com)
Apple said on Thursday it is refreshing the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pro models. Neither machines are getting major redesigns, but the innards are getting a spec update. For starters, both the models are powered by the 8th-generation Intel processors and house more cores than before -- a maximum of six cores on the 15-inch model (compared to four in last year's models) and four in the 13-inch model (compared to two). That means faster performance for many use cases. Maximum SSD capacity is also doubled, and the MacBook Pro line offers DDR4 RAM for the first time. ArsTechnica: The laptops also borrow some features from the iMac Pro and the iPad Pro -- the T2 chip and True Tone, respectively -- and feature a revised butterfly keyboard, the third generation of the design Apple introduced in 2016 (the revision is a little more significant this time around). Apart from those tweaks to the keyboard, the basic design of the MacBook Pro is unchanged. The top configuration of the 15-inch model includes an 8th-generation, six-core Intel Core i9 CPU clocked at 2.9GHz. Six-core Intel Core i7 processors are also options. The 2017 iteration of the MacBook Pro featured DDR3 memory with a maximum configuration of 16GB. This time, it's DDR4, and the maximum is 32. The faster memory uses more energy, so a bigger battery is now included -- but Apple's battery life estimate remains the same as last year's. The GPU in the top standard configuration is listed as an AMD Radeon Pro 555X.
The 13-inch model has different specs, of course. It still only offers integrated Intel graphics, for one thing -- Intel Iris Plus 655, this time with 128MB of eDRAM. But the maximum number of cores are again doubled -- in this case to four -- in 8th-generation Intel Core i5 or Core i7 CPUs, which run at up to 2.7GHz. Maximum SSD capacity is also doubled; it's now 2TB. The maximum memory is still 16GB. Apple claims the 13-inch model is up to twice as fast as its predecessor, though it will of course depend on the application. ArsTechnica says the keyboard on the new MacBook Pro models, though look similar to the one in the predecessor lineup, feel a little different to type on. The price of 13-inch starts at $1,799 while the 15-inch starts at $2,399.
The 13-inch model has different specs, of course. It still only offers integrated Intel graphics, for one thing -- Intel Iris Plus 655, this time with 128MB of eDRAM. But the maximum number of cores are again doubled -- in this case to four -- in 8th-generation Intel Core i5 or Core i7 CPUs, which run at up to 2.7GHz. Maximum SSD capacity is also doubled; it's now 2TB. The maximum memory is still 16GB. Apple claims the 13-inch model is up to twice as fast as its predecessor, though it will of course depend on the application. ArsTechnica says the keyboard on the new MacBook Pro models, though look similar to the one in the predecessor lineup, feel a little different to type on. The price of 13-inch starts at $1,799 while the 15-inch starts at $2,399.
6 Core on the 15" and 4 Core on the 13", which makes the 13" a viable alternative for many people who could not previously consider it. More importantly, there is finally a 32GB option (welcome to the 2010s Apple), but as you'd expect from Apple only for the 15" and only at the time of purchase as it is soldered-on. Yeah, those 32GB RAM modules are too large to fit in just a 13" laptop.
Sadly, you only get USB-C connectors, which is the main reason I have asked my company to refrain from upgrading my 2015 MBP (my existing peripherals won't work, plus there will be an extra little box to carry around with me), although there was also the fact that so far there was no real hardware upgrade - esp. regarding memory (compare to a Mac Pro I have at home, with 48GB and 6 cores - sure not a laptop, but it almost a decade old, a 2010 model).
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That RAM limitation really has been an issue for some people. That we can now go to 32GB on DDR4 will makean enormous difference.
Oh arse
I have a lingering doubt about the current case design. The previous Retina models had ventilation intake and exhaust opening to the top of the case (between the base and the screen). So when placed on a soft bed with all bottom-facing openings thoroughly blocked, they would not overheat. And this is how I work a lot, laying on a bed. That includes gaming that runs at maximum power and spins up the fans to the full speed.
The current design has the ventilation openings at the bottom only, that will be blocked when placed on a blanket or pillow.
Does this result in overheating and slowdown or thermal shutdown when running a computationally intensive task, like a game? Any informal reports on this aspect of thermal performance?
Another complication is that I am using Windows (i.e., no MacOS) that does not use energy saving features, so it will run hotter even when idling.
The touchbar is of course useless under Windows, but I guess I will have to put up with this blinking annoyance. There is still no word of 15" models without the touchbar. Apple keeps pushing this feature on the users. Just as they are pushing USB-C while lots of peripherals in continuing use need normal USB.
4 TB drive is fantastic. Just what is needed for scientists and creative pros who keep a lot of data. This is now four to five years ahead of the nearest competitor (Microsoft Surface).
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The 32GB ram option is here now, but there is still so little options for a real pro portable mac. Make a "fat macbook" with USB-A, 17 inch screen and optical drive and long battery life and it will sell like hot cakes.
Later?
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
I have bought several Macbook Pros over the last 15 years, and I'd buy one of these if they didn't have the touchbar. I've tried the previous generation and I constantly touch it by mistake. And the virtual escape key is no good if you have to use it frequently, because it feels completely different from the real keys.
So I'll be sticking with my existing pre-touchbar model for another year at least.
Go find that in a hotel room, in vacation home, etc. That's a huge dongle to carry around! There are a few laptops that do not have ventilation openings at the bottom, MS Surface and the previous (2013) MacBook Pro are some of them. All the rest have shitty thermal design that requires air flow under the bottom.
In short, a notebook should not require any add-ons in normal use. Bed is my normal use.
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I've already switched back to Linux. I'm done paying twice the price for mediocre hardware.
Sure, the Mac experience can be nice, but it's not *that* nice.
You must be new on Slashdot.
I remember back in the Early 2000's every minor Linux kernel release got a front page story. It was darn annoying.
That being said, Apple is the only major player, offering a Non-Windows Laptops. While Apple hasn't been offering a major Redesign in appearance, the Hardware upgrade is actually the more important part then the appearance.
Especially as the Macbook pro line is still arguably the industry standard on the "Premium" Laptop which the likes of Asus, Dell, Lenovo are all trying to copy off of.
In all fairness The current Macbook pro isn't that much different then for the Titanium Powebook back in 2002. Thinner, more powerful, but still a Gray Metal Laptop With a clamshell design, with a keyboard and a track pad.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Hamilton Beach has a new drip coffee maker, whose parts cost $0.17 less than the previous model but make coffee 2% faster!! (Why isn't this on Slashdot's front page yet?)
Oh, you use a French press? A French press, really. Looks like some snob is already getting ready for this weekend's celebrations, I see. Well, good for you! But some of us prefer drip coffee makers even though the coffee isn't nearly as good. And my favorite manufacturer is Hamilton Beach, which is why my coffee maker case-cover has a hole, to show off the Hamilton Beach logo.
"Believe me!" -- Donald Trump
A hotel room is likely to have random cards for room service, and you can probably find a newspaper. You can also use a suitcase; even the softest of suitcases aren't likely to block the ports. This is a problem that I learned how to work around at least ten years ago, back in the era of the Aluminum case design, of which I had three. It was very nice looking, but crappy in so many ways, the cooling being just one of them. Unibody was an amazing improvement.
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
I'll be holding out for a Dell Precision, some of them seem to work well for Hackintosh, or I would get a Linux version. Meanwhile, my 17" still marches on. I just ordered replacement screws for the bottom plate, and last night a random CD cleaner disc restored its ability to play DVDs (and probably burn them as well).
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
The butterfly keyboards has been phased out, and replace with a new design called "mote".
New mote keyboards will be 0.0001 inch thinner, only sacrificing minimal travel length, comes in 2 new colors.
Guys, sigh, don't tell me how to work. I'm too old to reconsider my habits :).
Here is the use case (not actual me): https://www.shutterstock.com/v...
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The SMART (impossible) thing for Apple to do is simply attach the battery to the bottom of the case and make it part of the battery. They get all the size savings and users could remove and replace the battery with a little effort. This would also open the market to creating 3rd party bottom plates that are thicker with larger batteries (Apple could sell their own as well.)
The quality has gone down, especially as the phones take greater priority; Jobs being gone and those who retired around that time...
Apple needs to spin off the Mac division like they did with Claris (now Filemaker) and still owning them can share plenty between the two but separating and making the mac division survive on it's own may produce better results. The Mac side is not weak it's just being undermined and going downhill despite doing as well sales wise.
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What, they're killing the magsafe power connector????
Darn-- I love that connector.
http://www.geoffreylandis.com
Still glued-in battery (consumer hostile)
Still no removable/expandable SSD (consumer hostile)
Still no removable/expandable RAM (consumer hostile)
Still no easily-replaceable keyboard (consumer hostile)
Still a horrible keyboard design that people will continue to hate
Still no necessary ports
Still no Magsafe, so users are back to busting their computer motherboard
Still overpriced, especially for repair parts like the display ($500 or more for some models)
Still not recyclable
There's nothing "Pro" about this. This is the "MacBook Contempt"... as in, Apple's overt contempt for their customers.
in the 90's proved more cores is not faster.
NeXTstep OS...which is the same kernel OS in MacOS X revealed that its architecture did not gain increases in throughput above 4 cores. This testing was done when 4+ cores emerged with " more cores the better" marketing hype.
Darwin kernel (ex BSD) with proprietary enhancements for MacOS X by Apple is not a modular kernel but hybrid monolithic/modular architecture that takes advantage of modularity by design.
Additional core improvement to throughput must be a function of off-loading CPU intensives by algorithmic and hardware optimizations.
In all fairness The current Macbook pro isn't that much different then for the Titanium Powebook back in 2002. Thinner, more powerful, but still a Gray Metal Laptop With a clamshell design, with a keyboard and a track pad.
I worked on a solar car competition in college and in the early years the cars came in all kinds of shapes. The size was constrained by the rules on height, width, and length, so size didn't vary all that much but inside that box the cars filled that in the best way they thought at the time.
The next couple competitions the more outrageous shapes disappeared and the more successful shapes were copied and varied upon by others. Another couple competitions and all the cars looked basically the same, a wide and flat wedge with a bubble on top for the driver.
Why mention solar cars in a thread about laptops? Because when it comes down to the evolution of the shapes of the things we deal with everyday there are shapes that just evolve naturally. This has been true for all laptops since the demise of the trackball in the 1990s. Of course the current Macbook Pro looks like the PowerBook from 2002, because that is a shape and size that has a nice compromise of cost and convenience. I'm guessing if people had their way they might like some variations on the shape and color but a brushed aluminum, titanium, or stainless steel shell is durable that looks nice enough that people will buy it. A thin flat clamshell design is well suited to a keyboard and screen, and being folding shut to fit in a purse, briefcase, or backpack. For pointing devices it's a trackpad, because nobody wants a trackball or pencil eraser sized joystick any more.
In all fairness The current Macbook pro isn't that much different then for the Titanium Powebook back in 2002. Thinner, more powerful, but still a Gray Metal Laptop With a clamshell design, with a keyboard and a track pad.
Just like those solar cars where the shape and size settled into really just variation on a single theme the real competition comes with what's under the hood. This includes the ports offered. I'll hear people complain about the lack of ports on Apple laptops and yet we find other high end laptops copying it. Sure, we might still see a single USB-A port alongside the USB-C ports but for the most part the choice of ports on high end laptops is thinning. If there is an Ethernet port then it's a flimsy pop-out thing or a proprietary micro-port which may or may not have the adapter included. Video ports will be HDMI, mini-DisplayPort, or just video out of one of the USB-C ports. Maybe there is a slot for SD cards but those seem to be disappearing. Charger ports are switching over to USB-C. I miss the magnetic charger ports but I'll take the standard USB-C until we figure out a standardized magnetic charge port that doesn't require buying only those expensive chargers from the manufacturer.
That being said, Apple is the only major player, offering a Non-Windows Laptops. While Apple hasn't been offering a major Redesign in appearance, the Hardware upgrade is actually the more important part then the appearance.
Yep. We'll be getting plain metal grey laptops with only 2 or 3 ports, maybe 5 ports on the high priced ones, for a long time. Gone are the days with laptops with 12 ports on them. Remember those days? I have an old laptop here with headphone, microphone, PCMCIA, power, serial, VGA, parallel, Ethernet, modem, S-video, and 2x USB-A. Dealing with only USB-C and a combo headphone/mic port is annoying sometimes but I'll take that over the heavy, colorful, and many ported, laptops of the past.
I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
Pretty sad when incremental hardware updates is big news. I guess it shows how infrequent Apple upgrades hardware on Mac's. PC makers upgrade model much faster without much fanfare.
How infrequent Macs Are upgraded? Are you high, or just stupid?
We'll just concentrate on the past few upgrades of the MacBook Pro.
November 2016: Significant upgrade of the MBP over the 2015 lineup.
June 2017: Processor upgrade. Keyboard upgrade.
July 2018: Processor Upgrade.
I would like to see all those "PC" mfgs. Who have upgraded significantly faster.
Many of the differences between 2002 and now haven't been improvements. Loss of ports, loss of Magsafe, no more matte screens, no more user-replaceable RAM and disk, idiotic design decisions like a keyboard that's bonded to the top shell so it costs $900 to replace.
I hope my 2012 MBP stays viable for a few more years, and then it's time for a Hackintosh.
Well said.
As for the ports, the nice thing about USB-C standardization is that we no longer need to guess which port anyone will need, only the general largest number of simultaneous accesses they'll want. Very few people have ever plugged more than 2-3 things into their laptop at the same time, especially in the WiFi era; many have never attached anything but power.
You're special forces then? That's great! I just love your olympics!
DisplayLink is a USB based video adapter, that's just fucked up to begin with. Do the math on a 1080p/60 display...
1920 (horizontal) x 1080 (vertical) x 24 (bits of color) x 60 (frames per second) = 3 Gbps
3 Gbps the raw data rate for a 1080p/60 display on a bus that has a max speed of 5 Gbps data, 4K/60 needs 4 times that bandwidth. DisplayLink is trying to squeeze 4K and 5K video on a 5 Gbps, or maybe 10 Gbps if they use USB 3.1, and to do that they compress the frames and expand them on a chip they made. If they can't figure out how to make that work on MacOS then maybe they should get better code writers or use the built-in DisplayPort chip in every Apple computer with a USB-C port.
Other vendors can figure this out by using Thunderbolt and/or DisplayPort which can achieve 20 or 40 Gbps on the same USB-C port. With 20 Gbps that gets 5K/60 or 2x4K/30 without compression, with compression (which again is built-in to the DisplayPort chip in every Apple with USB-C and DisplayPort 1.4 displays) and/or 40 Gbps cables/adapters it gets up to 5K/120 or 4K/240.
A quick Google search tells me that DisplayLink and Linux have their own problems. Don't blame Apple on this. Blame the maker of your dongle for using DisplayLink chips for passing video or blame yourself for choosing crap dongles.
I had to take support calls on DisplayLink shit and so I have all kinds of hate for them. This isn't an Apple thing, or Linux thing, because even in Windows DisplayLink support sucks balls. DisplayLink can go fuck themselves.
I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
I'm guessing if people had their way they might like some variations on the shape and color but a brushed aluminum, titanium, or stainless steel shell is durable that looks nice enough that people will buy it.
In all seriousness, I could go for a modern MacBook Pro that looked like the old colorful iBook G3 "Clamshell" laptops.
All the cookie-cutter laptops offered by most vendors, which all look more or less like Apple's MacBook Pro, are sleek... but boring.
As an aside - I just bought a refurb 2015 MacBook Pro, and for me this announcement reinforces that I made the right decision. Right now Apple is doubling down on form over substance - the current-sen keyboards are an abomination.
#DeleteChrome
Well said.
Thank you.
As for the ports, the nice thing about USB-C standardization is that we no longer need to guess which port anyone will need, only the general largest number of simultaneous accesses they'll want.
I'll agree with one caveat, video.
USB-C supports at least three different video alternate modes natively, MHL, HDMI, and DisplayPort. Then there are adapters and docks that think it's a great idea to dispose of the native video protocol that might be on the USB-C port and provide a USB video adapter chip instead. So someone can have a laptop with a perfectly functional and quite elaborate video chip to drive a display but unless they take great attention on their purchases they might get crappy video because the chip in the adapter sucks, or find no video because the drivers suck.
The people in the USB group should have, for their benefit and ours, stuck with one video standard or none at all. With one USB-C video standard we'd have less of this confusion, either the port supports video natively or it doesn't. With no USB-C video standard we'd know that a USB-C to video cable or dock had a chip in it and we'd need supported drivers and that the video would be limited to the chip in the adapter.
Very few people have ever plugged more than 2-3 things into their laptop at the same time, especially in the WiFi era; many have never attached anything but power.
I find myself using the two USB-C ports on my laptop mostly for power and a mouse. Once in a while I'll have to swap one of those out for a while to plug in a flash drive or something. Sometimes I find a USB hub so I can plug in multiple things at a time, like when my wireless scanner acts up and I'd rather just plug it in than try to find out what's up with it. I thought about investing in a dock of some kind but I've got by without so far. I've been using various dongles for so long I don't even think of it anymore. I just leave the dongles on the cables and shove them in my bag when I pack up the computer, the dongles are just part of the cable to me. I've worn out or broken some USB-A cables and adapters and I'll just replace them with their USB-C equivalents so I don't need the dongles any more.
I hate USB-A and I'd like to be done with it. I have a greater hate for micro-B ports. Both of them are difficult to tell which way is up and if I hadn't invested so much money in devices and cables with those connections then I'd just toss them in the trash to get USB-C replacements.
I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
Lenovo P series. Three models. Introduced around the end of 2014. About 3.5 years ago. Three major revisions (meaning entirely new designs) for each model, and multiple hardware upgrades in-between - probably close to 6-7 changes over the last 3.5 years (they seem to upgrade every 6 months). Oh, and you can install more than 32 GB of RAM, and get a real 17" screen, too...
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My Lenovo P71 has its cooling fans on the sides and rear. Works great on a soft surface, no overheating at all.
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Seriously, you can take away my ports if you give me Face ID on my Mac.
In Windows-land, you can buy an Acer E5-576-392H for $380 which has 7 ports: 4x USB (mix of types), 1x VGA, 1x HDMI, and an RJ-45. And the obligatory audio jack, so I guess 8 total. It even includes a DVD drive.
Let's see, 1/3 the processors, 1/3 the RAM, 1/3 the screen resolution, for 1/3 the price. Oh, and twice the weight. TAKE MY MONEY!!
You can still buy motherboards with serial ports or PS/2 jacks.
Why? So I can plug in my CueCat?
The Windows side of the market actually has variety of products and meets consumer demand. It's not a problem.
I'm boggled on why Acer isn't getting more mention on Slashdot then. No... wait... I changed my mind. I'm not boggled at all.
Except for Apple. Apple has a problem where they want to make their products a work of art rather than tools. That's fine for consumer hardware to a point, but it really falls apart with the trash can Mac Pro.
Absolutely, because I wasn't getting anything done until my CueCat was plugged in.
Are you for real?
I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
Unfortunately, it also means that we *know* that they will most likely need dongles or docks. Admittedly I haven't looked very hard, but apart from the power supply, I have never seen anyone use a device with a native USB-C connector attached to a Macbook. Always via some kind of adapter.
I have a photo of one of our C*O:s carrying his MBP on a presentation, with dongles sticking out on both sides of the state-of-the-art laptop, making it look not so cool. In my view, the silhouette of the MPB is not a rectangle, but rather like the head of a teletubbie.
Interesting. I wouldn't say that from the pictures. Half the bottom panel is ventilation grille.
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The MacBook Air hasn't been upgraded since march 2015*.
* the small CPU speed bump on the low-end model in june 2017 does NOT count as an upgrade. The internal name is still "MacBookAir7,2".
#DeleteFacebook
Lenovo P series. Three models. Introduced around the end of 2014. About 3.5 years ago. Three major revisions (meaning entirely new designs) for each model, and multiple hardware upgrades in-between - probably close to 6-7 changes over the last 3.5 years (they seem to upgrade every 6 months). Oh, and you can install more than 32 GB of RAM, and get a real 17" screen, too...
If those were more than simple CPU/GPU-type Upgrades every 6 months, then, after the first couple of revs., that points more to an unstable design, not "innovation".
The MacBook Air hasn't been upgraded since march 2015*.
* the small CPU speed bump on the low-end model in june 2017 does NOT count as an upgrade. The internal name is still "MacBookAir7,2".
Did I mention the Air, the Mac Pro or the Mac mini?
No I did not.
And the parent did not specify MacBook Pro, only Macs. You used one of the two only Macs regularly upgraded to defend Apple, I simply told you the truth. The MacBook Air (2015), Mac mini (2014, a downgrade of the 2012 model too) and Mac Pro (2013) are not upgraded regularly at all.
#DeleteFacebook
Wait. So if a company updates more frequently than Apple, they are unstable. And if they update slower than Apple, they are slow?
Dude. you are the ULTIMATE Apple shill...
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Let's see, 1/3 the processors, 1/3 the RAM, 1/3 the screen resolution, for 1/3 the price. Oh, and twice the weight. TAKE MY MONEY!!
1/3 the processors - a little more but ok
1/3 the RAM - OK, I'm sure there's a 18GB ram option
1/3 the screen resolution - 6Kx3K? hmm,
for 1/3 the price - bitch, please. If they sell that thing for 1100 let me know because I will stand in line for a week for that.