MacBook Pro with faster performance and new features for pros

Re:MacBook Pro with faster performance and new features for ... by mgkimsal on Thursday July 12, 2018 @09:18AM (#17514118)

Bought a 2016, then returned it and got a refurb 2015. My only regret was getting the 500g SSD vs waiting for a 1tb model (which my friend got). The refurb levels were changing daily, and I kept missing the 1tb models, so I pulled the trigger on a 500g.

Didn't care for the touch bar - yes, hey, apparently all the cool kids 'remap' their ESC key, and many did it I guess 20 years ago(!), but I've got decades of muscle memory to overcome. But beyond that, yeah sure it was thinner and sexier, but had a 20% smaller battery, and for the work I do, I guess I'm not 'pro' enough, but never managed more than about 4 hours max of real work.

The 2015 model was 'good enough' in most respects, and better in others (keyboard, battery), and... cheaper.

Always interested to see and try the newer models, but probably won't upgrade in 2018 or 2019 without some massive reason to do so.

EDIT - well, the 32g option might be a worthwhile reason to upgrade. And the battery looks slightly larger than the 2016 model.

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Re:MacBook Pro with faster performance and new features for ... by thesephist on Thursday July 12, 2018 @11:05AM (#17515328)

The battery increase for the high end i7/i9 models is to offset the increased power draw -- it supposedly won't give you much in terms of battery life in actual usage.

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Re:MacBook Pro with faster performance and new features for ... by sounds on Thursday July 12, 2018 @11:36AM (#17515628)

Pro models will probably not have amazing battery life, especially if you're saturating the GPU (i.e. gaming).

However, Apple has previously led the market in power optimizations. I'm not confident they'll do that this time.

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Re:MacBook Pro with faster performance and new features for ... by mgkimsal on Thursday July 12, 2018 @11:47AM (#17515729)

Or just... running stuff that kicks on the GPU? Running development tools (ios stuff, java stuff) would always kick things in to overdrive and send the fans whirring, and killing my battery. Yes, I'm often plugged in, but knowing that, if I need to be mobile, I'm going to get 2-3 hours... was a hard pill to swallow for $3700, when for 30%+ less I'd have a machine that lasted longer, had quieter keyboard, etc.

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Re:MacBook Pro with faster performance and new features for ... by eatbitseveryday on Thursday July 12, 2018 @10:10AM (#17514754)

500g SSD is misleading. 'g' is used for 'grams' not for storage size. GB or GiB (or gb if you're really lazy), but not 'g'.

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Re:MacBook Pro with faster performance and new features for ... by mgkimsal on Thursday July 12, 2018 @10:13AM (#17514793)

apologies - I can def see how it can read like that.

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Re:MacBook Pro with faster performance and new features for ... by robin_reala on Thursday July 12, 2018 @09:41AM (#17514413)

You can upgrade the SSD yourself (e.g. https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ssd/owc/macbook-pro-retina-d... ) although a 1TB drive is $600.

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Re:MacBook Pro with faster performance and new features for ... by mgkimsal on Thursday July 12, 2018 @10:11AM (#17514761)

had looked at that - seemed potentially more trouble than it's worth, but... it might be a cost-effective avenue (factoring in time/value) before another upgrade. thanks.

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Re:MacBook Pro with faster performance and new features for ... by drivingmenuts on Thursday July 12, 2018 @10:39AM (#17515031)

I'm about to do that with my mid-2015 MBP, although I'm probably going to get an mSATA off of Amazon.

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