LondonElite

I spent a bit of time in the Apple Store a few days ago typing away at the new MBP. I don't really like the keyboard. My hands hurt after a while and I didn't get the right sort of travel and feedback from the keys. I suppose I could get used to it but I much prefer the keys on my mid-2014 Retina MBP. The function bar seems a bit of a solution looking for a problem but maybe that will grow into its own.

As someone who still adds music via CDs, connects using HDMI, and has several cameras and printers regularly attached, the lack of anything other than USB-C is frustrating, meaning tons of dongles hanging out of the machine. Not a very clean look. Oh, and my current solution of having my Photos library live on a microSD with a flush adapter in the SD slot won't work either...

What is this obsession with thinness and lightweight. They're fine now.

I'll pass for now and reconsider in a year or so.

tmiw

In a year or two, the USB-C situation will get better. However, I have doubts as to whether the keyboard will get better without an increase in thickness (which is also unlikely). Something to keep in mind anyway.

Analise

Did you order it from Apple?

nkedel

On the PC side, the keyboard situation has been what's kept me on relatively thick business models rather than the thinner faux-Mac models.

tmiw

Honestly, the 2012-2015 MBP's keyboard was perfectly fine. Of course, others may disagree.

Personally I'm holding off until next year, when Apple may bring 32GB of RAM to the 15" along with a price decrease. And when the inevitable first-year bugs will be fixed.

nkedel

It wasn't bad, but to my mind the move to shorter stroke and island keyboards has all been a negative one. I still sometimes travel with an otherwise antique laptop (Lenovo X201) for if I have to do heavy typing and don't need to do software development work.

They do make some nice Mac-layout mechanical keyboards which are fairly inexpensive; the big issue is weight and bulk, although there are some which aren't bad.

For a whole bunch of my coworkers' sake, I hope they bring out the 32gb versions sooner rather than later. It's inexcusable that we've been able to put 32gb into inexpensive PC laptops for nearly two years* (since the first non-ultrabook Broadwell models came out in early 2015) , and Apple still doesn't support it.

(* and in high-end, heavy workstation models all the way back to mid-2011.)

HDQDD

Very disappointed. Touch bar and yesterday's processors are hardly features worth upgrading for. I realize that Apple couldn't wait for Kaby Lake, but I think in their rush to bring out a new MBP, they've disappointed many of of their heavy users (read: developers).

nkedel

Kaby Lake can use the same chipsets as Skylake, so they can start selling an updated model as simply as updating the BIOS and changing out the supply at the factory solders the processors down. True for any of the manufacturers, but especially so for Apple where they use their own chipsets for Thunderbolt -- the big win to the refreshed-for-Kaby Lake chipsets on the PC side will be native Thunderbolt/USB 3.1 in the main chipset.

The odd thing is not that they rushed this out rather than waiting for Kaby Lake but that they were so late with Skylake and that they skipped Broadwell (when the Broadwell-H Iris Pro quad cores were kind of ideal processors for a new MBP 15")

TheMadBrewer

I use a MacBook Air as a traveling computer (on my 3rd, starting with the original).

The current one is getting a bit long in the tooth, but still serviceable. The new MacBook didn't do it for me but the new Pro is about the same weight as my MBA with more oomph. If you look at it that way, it is not so bad. But I agree it is a bit underpowered for a "portable desktop."

chx1975

LOL wut. https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacB...Teardown/73480 Intel JHL6540 Thunderbolt 3 controller. Bog standard Intel Alpine Ridge chip. Implementing your own chipset would be foolhardy.

mvtm

Thank you nkedel! I'll have it in mind. Being said, i do, however think it's best for me to wait for next year. Either if i go Mac or Windows. Wait for the new processors, possible price cuts specially for the redesigned MBP. Thanks for pointing out the XPS upgradeability. This machine, the Air 11" still works so i think i'm going to stretch it's lifespan for an extra year to see what the God's treat us for 2017.

Also, i just checked and instead of buying Apple refurbished, it is actually cheaper to buy non-refurb from B&H. Sometimes B&H has competitive pricing, ie.. Apple products with discount, and you don't have to pay sales tax for B&H if you ship outside of NY.

I know i have used my 11" Air a lot...



I've used it a mix between plugged and unplugged.
Hey enjoy! Best of both worlds! Happy Holidays.

nkedel

Interesting. I misunderstood the cause of the issues here:
https://www.extremetech.com/computin...-3-peripherals

It's also not clear to me what they used for Thunderbolt on older (TB2) models, as at least on Linux the drivers are different from the few TB2 non-Apple devices.

LIH Prem

TB is all Intel (chipset, separate chips, and spec)

On the new 13" TB MBPs, the right hand side ports use a separate chip under a pcie switch, which is why they have lower bandwidth. (not enough pcie lanes in the chipset). the switch adds a tiny bit of latency as well.

-David

nmenaker

the battery in the air isn't too hard to replace, much easier than the rMBP.. took me 10 minutes and cost only 55$ on ebay.

edit: looks like they have gotten a ton cheaper since I did it, now 20-30$.

FlyingDoctorwu

have you replaced a rMBP battery.. i've opened up my original intel iMac and done a lot of work; SSDs in 13" MBP (and battery replacement) but the rMBP battery placement seems daunting....

FDW