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Portables (Apple) Apple

Apple Refreshes MacBook Pro Lineup (arstechnica.com) 217

Posted by msmash from the about-time dept.
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.
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Apple Refreshes MacBook Pro Lineup More

Apple Refreshes MacBook Pro Lineup

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  • A little step in the right direction. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Ecuador ( 740021 ) on Thursday July 12, 2018 @08:13AM (#56933830) Homepage

    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).

    • Re:A little step in the right direction. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by ThosLives ( 686517 ) on Thursday July 12, 2018 @08:24AM (#56933870) Journal

      Eh, the biggest loss in my mind is still MagSafe... that was a truly useful connector.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Ecuador ( 740021 )

        Agreed. That was the most important of my "existing peripherals" ;)
        I had one for home, office, vacation home etc, all would go to waste so I was trying to avoid it when I had no reason. Now with 2 extra cores and twice the RAM, I might have to bite the bullet.

        • What, they're killing the magsafe power connector????

          Darn-- I love that connector.

          • The last magsafe-equipped MacBook Pro is the 2015, now on clearance from Apple. Get one while you still can.

            • The last magsafe-equipped MacBook Pro is the 2015, now on clearance from Apple. Get one while you still can.

              If you're quick (it helps to use something like Refurb Tracker [refurb-tracker.com]), you can also still occasionally grab a 13" MacBook Pro off the Apple refurb store.

              I prefer buying refurbished direct from Apple because you can get AppleCare+ - but there are also other options available, such as Gazelle.

              If you're buying new, you can sometimes get a better deal from B&H Photo [bhphotovideo.com] than you get directly from Apple.

      • Eh, the biggest loss in my mind is still MagSafe... that was a truly useful connector.

        I wonder why on earth they discontinued it? Perhaps with all the magnets in new aluminum laptops it became a safety issue? It was an awesome connector.

        • I wonder if it has to do with them constantly pushing for both thinner and lighter. The MagSafe connector wasn't massive, but they killed off the headphone jack in their phones so that they could go thinner and the MagSafe connector may have been the largest remaining constraint preventing that. Also, at some point they get the weight down far enough where the MagSafe connector's attraction isn't broken by gentle tugs/pulls and you can actually drag the notebook off a table with the cord because the magneti

          • but they killed off the headphone jack in their phones so that they could go thinner

            I keep hearing this, yet the current iPad models, which have headphone jacks, are thinner than the current iPhone models, which do not.

            • but they killed off the headphone jack in their phones so that they could go thinner

              I keep hearing this, yet the current iPad models, which have headphone jacks, are thinner than the current iPhone models, which do not.

              IPads don't have to be waterproof.

              • And waterproofing doesn't have to preclude a headphone jack. My last 5 phones have had IP68 or better ratings and a headphone jack.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          Same reason they removed the headphone socket and dropped down to a single combined USB/charging port.

          I guess that way they can sell more dongles.

          • Same reason they removed the headphone socket and dropped down to a single combined USB/charging port.

            I guess that way they can sell more dongles.

            Right, because only Apple does that. Except most every maker of high end cell phones, they have only a USB-C port now. Oh, and Lenovo that has that silly proprietary micro-Ethernet port, and the adapter is not included with the laptop.

            Yep, only Apple is looking to sell more dongles. Except all the other manufacturers doing away with everything but the USB-C port on their laptops, cell phones, and tablets.

            Give the Apple bashing a break for once. Everyone making everything electronic is trying to cut down

            • Same reason they removed the headphone socket and dropped down to a single combined USB/charging port.

              I guess that way they can sell more dongles.

              Right, because only Apple does that.

              Don't harsh their righteous anger, dude!

          • Same reason they removed the headphone socket and dropped down to a single combined USB/charging port.

            I guess that way they can sell more dongles.

            Funny, my iPhone came with a Dongle. Anyhow, taking umbrage at a tiny little adapter, means that the person should be very thankful that they have reached the zenith of first world problems.

            As before, buy that android phone, and be pleased with it. I've used them - they work.

        • While I mourn the loss of the magsafe connector, being able to plug in the charging cable on either side of the MBP via USB-C is pretty convenient. I do wish I could use USBC on my iphone as well and then it would be one less cable/brick to carry around.

          Magsafe was really ingenious though.

          • I'm torn on the Lightning port vs. USB-C. Since Lightning predates USB-C, and especially things like HDMI/MHL/DisplayPort/video over USB-C, I see why Apple went with it and stuck with it.

            Here's my guess, Apple will stick with Lightning until whatever that replaces USB-C comes along.

            I was also torn on the MagSafe vs. USB-C for charging port. I resolved that with a magnetic breakaway USB-C charging cable. There's small ones for 5V/15W phones and bigger ones for 20V/60W tablets and laptops. I don't miss Ma

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        TFA doesn't even mention USB. How many ports do they have? How many are USB 3.1 and how many are Thunderbolt?

        Some nice new stuff, like them finally enabling secure boot. But major problems remain, like the crappy keyboard that is riveted in to the top of the shell so you have to replace the whole thing. Also the usual glued in battery and soldered on storage etc.

      • By far, that is what is keeping me away from "upgrading". My Air is a little sluggish, but between the dongle madness (already bad enough on the Air) and a less functional power supply, it simply isn't for me.

        Fixing fat finger mod...

      • Eh, the biggest loss in my mind is still MagSafe... that was a truly useful connector.

        I disagree. I love the idea of the MagSafe connector, it seems like a brilliantly simply design for an obvious problem... but it doesn't work as well as I would like, and the problem that it solves isn't a problem. Not for me, at least.

        Taking the second point first, I got my first laptop in 1993 and I've had one ever since; a quarter century of experience. In all that time, I've never once had a laptop damaged by someone kicking a cord, and I'm anything but conscientious. I've had many cords kicked, and

        • I fixed the problem with a magnetic breakaway USB-C charge cable. The one I have is from Griffin Technology but there are others.

          I haven't had a laptop destroyed or damaged from a cord being tripped over, but I had a few close calls. I had problems with MagSafe not making contact, and also seen laptops at work made worthless because the charge port was worn or damaged.

        • The better (more cost-effective) solution to the problem is a simple 90-degree right-angle connector for the power cord plugging into the laptop. The straight plugs turned into a lever whenever you yanked the cord sideways, which would twist the internal socket and eventually break it. If you used the laptop at the edge of a table with the power cord draping down, then the weight of the cord on this lever was constantly twisting the socket down. By using a right-angle connector, you limit the maximum leng
    • Sounds like you are doing the right thing. PC's for everyone will eliminate all those terrible problems that plague Mac users. Looks like you dodged a real show stopping bullet there.

    • 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)

      Your existing USB-A peripherals will work fine. You may need to buy a couple of these [amazon.com]. Not sure what extra little box you're talking about, but maybe you mean one of these [amazon.com]? I have one (not that model, but similar) and I think it's great because it combines all of the less-needed ports into a single compact unit -- HDMI, Ethernet, SD card, etc.

      One non-obvious upside of USB-C on Macbooks is that you can use any of the ports for charging, which means you can plug your charging cable in from whichever side

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by twdorris ( 29395 )

        One non-obvious upside of USB-C

        Another, although more obvious but still underrated, upside is the fact that USB-C ports are not keyed. You no longer have to fiddle around with orientation trying to shove a cable into a port the wrong way or spend precious seconds examining the cable end and port first before inserting it. Like you said, this is one of those "eh" things until you've actually lived with it for a while and then are forced to work again with those damn micro-USB cables for some reason...then you remember what a tiny little

      • Keyboard aside - if they'd kept a couple "legacy" ports in addition to adding the new USB-C / Thunderbolt 3 ports, it wouldn't have been quite so maddening. It's not like they don't have room... several other manufacturers have managed to do it on equally-thin machines.

        I realize Ethernet is a goner just due to size considerations (and my 2015 MBP doesn't have one anyway) - but they certainly could've included at least one USB-A port, an SD card port, perhaps a Thunderbolt 2 port...

        That said, I'm perfectly h

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jeremyp ( 130771 )

      No real hardware upgrade apart from RAM, processor GPU, keyboard, display.

      I've had a new form factor MBP since 2015 and I now have quite an impressive collection of USB-C to various other kinds of adapters, most of which I never use. I have a Thunderbolt dock for when I am at work. The cable between it and the MBP provides both connectivity and power. All of my adapters together don't take up a huge amount of space in my bag, certainly much less than the horrible tangle of USB-A/B B mini, B micro and other

  • That RAM limitation really has been an issue for some people. That we can now go to 32GB on DDR4 will makean enormous difference.

  • 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 blocke

  • 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.

    • No, we won't. We have been programmed that way by Apple.

      As for 32GB, we needed that two years ago, in another two we will need 64-128GB. Soldered-on RAM makes for a short life.

    • 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.

      I still use my 17" 2011 MBP as my main computer. Sure it only has 8 GB RAM & 1 GB Video RAM, but has magsafe, Gigbit Ethernet, FireWire, Thunderbolt & USB-A x 3, as well as a headphone jack, an optical drive, a physical ESC key and a flash memory card reader. Obviously not using some of those things any more (Ethernet, DVD Drive & memory card reader almost never get used), but the rest are features I use often. Firewire is good for transferring data between computers & also target disk mode

      • I still use my 17" 2011 MBP as my main computer. Sure it only has 8 GB RAM

        Just a heads-up: despite Apple's claims, it will happily take (and use) 16GB. I have a a 17" 2011 MBP with a dead GPU that won't boot into Windows or OSX (not even the installers) but runs Linux just fine with integrated graphics; with that upgrade it's not a bad machine, even today.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Megane ( 129182 )
      If only Apple had kept it for a year longer, we would have had a 17" with USB 3.0. I'm still using mine right now, and I have one stashed away, along with an older 17" model. I think that my biggest long-term problem is going to be power supplies, thanks to wear problems at the wire ends and embrittlement of the crappy insulation on the power cords.

    • 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...

      App

  • Later?

  • 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.

  • 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.

    • Same here. Got a Dell Precision about a year and a half ago, and I've never looked back. Less irritating bugs and quirks than the Mac, and half the price. Sure the case isn't as slick and the desktop isn't as flashy, but I'm really not too upset by that. It's actually lighter by quite a bit than my last MBP. And since I've never been locked into the Apple ecosystem, I'm not missing anything since I switched.

  • In other news... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Cajun Hell ( 725246 ) on Thursday July 12, 2018 @09:29AM (#56934190) Homepage Journal

    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.

  • Still not "Pro" (Score:3, Insightful)

    by sremick ( 91371 ) on Thursday July 12, 2018 @10:34AM (#56934660)

    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 func

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