Apple to Introduce New Macs at October 27 Event
- Thread starter ChrisD.
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Due to a number of widely reported issues I got rid of a SP4 last year and spent a larger amount on a Macbook Pro Retina. I have found the combination of a MBP (which IMO is miles better as a laptop than the SP4) and an iPad (which IMO is miles better as a tablet than a SP4) to be a better combination.
Having said that however I wouldn't go anywhere near the new Macbook Pro at these prices. They are selling the same MBP 15 I bought last year for £400 over what was already a silly price 12 months ago.
Dell XPS combined with an iPad would be my choice now rather than a device trying to achieve both in one.
Soldato
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This will be my preference for a lightweight laptop, just hope Dell have fixed the adaptive brightness issue on the FHD model.
It's not the prices that should give you a shock. Prices you will get used to, we are entering two to five years period when everything on our shelves will go Norwegian.
What you should be getting shocked by is the inconvenience of this device. Once again, after Mac Pro and iPhone, it's everything the Macbook Pro customer didn't want.
Two USB-C ports on entry level £1.5k laptop without the imovie bar. That's it.
It didn't sink in fully yet, so I'm going to repeat it. Two ports. One is for your charger. One is for your EVERYTHING else.
No SD cards, no USB pens, no portable hard drives, no HDMIs, no Thunderbolt accessories, NO IPOD OR IPHONE. Not without an adapter. Everything you had at home. Everything that you have at work. Everything you have for your iMac. Everything that you have for you iBin MacPro at work. Everything that you have for your brand new, weeks old, iPhone 7. Even the most modern, cutting edge hotel rooms with USB ports in socket face plates. Are incompatible with your Macbook. The entire world needs an adaptor to interface with you. Loads of them. A bucket of adaptors everywhere you go.
And then there is the cherry on the top for you my Pro friend...
You will never have more than 16Gb of memory.
That's right. True story.
Because they downsized battery. They made it smaller this time. So if this thing is to survive the same time without charging as the last one, they had to artificially hardware block possible power drains.
So the Pro in Macbook Pro gets 16Gb. For all of his hypervisors, all the video editing, all of his music suites, all of his photoshop files.
Do you feel that uncontrollable rage yet, that anger, that urge to yank that stupid non-magsafe USB-C charger cable sticking out of one of the only two cretin ports of this poser device with its stupid non backlit apple logo that looks like ebay sticker out of kitchen foil and knock your one and a half grand onto the floor?
What you should be getting shocked by is the inconvenience of this device. Once again, after Mac Pro and iPhone, it's everything the Macbook Pro customer didn't want.
Two USB-C ports on entry level £1.5k laptop without the imovie bar. That's it.
It didn't sink in fully yet, so I'm going to repeat it. Two ports. One is for your charger. One is for your EVERYTHING else.
No SD cards, no USB pens, no portable hard drives, no HDMIs, no Thunderbolt accessories, NO IPOD OR IPHONE. Not without an adapter. Everything you had at home. Everything that you have at work. Everything you have for your iMac. Everything that you have for you iBin MacPro at work. Everything that you have for your brand new, weeks old, iPhone 7. Even the most modern, cutting edge hotel rooms with USB ports in socket face plates. Are incompatible with your Macbook. The entire world needs an adaptor to interface with you. Loads of them. A bucket of adaptors everywhere you go.
And then there is the cherry on the top for you my Pro friend...
You will never have more than 16Gb of memory.
That's right. True story.
Because they downsized battery. They made it smaller this time. So if this thing is to survive the same time without charging as the last one, they had to artificially hardware block possible power drains.
So the Pro in Macbook Pro gets 16Gb. For all of his hypervisors, all the video editing, all of his music suites, all of his photoshop files.
Do you feel that uncontrollable rage yet, that anger, that urge to yank that stupid non-magsafe USB-C charger cable sticking out of one of the only two cretin ports of this poser device with its stupid non backlit apple logo that looks like ebay sticker out of kitchen foil and knock your one and a half grand onto the floor?
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Soldato
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The number of Thunderbolt/USB-C ports isn't such an issue considering that one port can be used for multiple things at the same time. If you are travelling with 4 devices that you want to plug in at the same time, then a 50 gram hub/splitter isn't going to be an issue.
Because walking around with docking stations worked out so well in the past?
You are providing answer to a wrong question. The question is not how (to lead semi-normal life with impaired Macbook Pro and adapters). The question is why (do we have to in the first place). Is there not enough space for magsafe, SD card reader, thunderbolt and regular USB next to those two usb-c ports on both sides of the MBP?
The answer is - because Apple didn't want you to have them, they knew better for you.
Don't be apologist for retarded ideas. They took stuff away and want more money. They deserve to be lynched for it.
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I hope they lose a lot of business this time around.
Silly sods are pushing themselves into the teeny tiny specialist market while pricing out anyone with a bit of common sense when it comes to buying tech and like you say, removing essential ports for no good reason.
Even if they had to make the laptops 2-3mm or something silly extra thicker to keep those ports - I'd have that.
Although on the other hand, at least they're not lightning ports and the silly licensing costs associated with that standard.
I was waiting for these to come out to buy one... but they have me looking at the Surface Book and Razers now.
Most likely a Razer given Linus Tech Tips glowing review of the keyboard especially.
That's the other thing I strongly dislike about this generation of macbook and another reason I won't buy one... new new keyboard is HORRIBLE.
Best keyboard I've ever used on a laptop... was a macbook... back when they had the silver keys. That thing was amazing. So I was slightly annoyed when they moved to the black chicklet style keyboard, but at least it was a really good one - so I got on with it. Now it's just silly. Keyboard is one of the most important parts of any computer - I can't stand bad ones.
Soldato
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Nothing proves this more then Apple removing the extended power cable, now you need to pay £20 for something that come for free on every macbook I've owned :/. I guess its 1 way to stay rich.
Soldato
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I never got one with my US 11" Macbook Air. Both 13" MBPs came with one though. Never found it useful until recently. Definitely not worth £20 though when any figure 8 power cable will do.
Wouldn't it at least make sense to make the stupid usb-c charging cable magsafe on the charging brick end?
I just can't get over it. It feels so stupid it's like going back to nineties. I almost expect them to roll out plastic body macbook next year.
I just can't get over it. It feels so stupid it's like going back to nineties. I almost expect them to roll out plastic body macbook next year.
Soldato
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I'm disappointed they didn't also just remove the keyboard and screen as well
The last few MBPs (probably MBs and MBAs too) have been un-upgradeable. Soldered RAM and SSDs meant you had to pay the "Apple tax" and get your upgrades at the beginning.
Gone are the days of buying the base MBP (like I did with Edu discount at £879) and upgrading the internals for a couple of hundred quid. For me to get the new MBP - base model with TouchBar - will cost me £1750, and that's a device with a dual-corei5, 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD, which is what I have now. It's even less, in fact, when you factor in the OptiBay conversion I have to store the RAW files from my camera. For me to get an upgrade, it'll be £2500, for a dual-core i5, 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD. Sure I could partition the drive, but I'll still never have more than 1TB.
I agree that it is silly to remove THIS many ports but a solution is offered and calling some an apologist for it is ridiculous. They could have filled it with USB-C ports so people could just use multiple USB-C devices.
The fact that people walk around with heavy power bricks for their phones and other devices says to me that carrying around a small dock is hardly going to be an issue. Also, when you're on the move. How many devices do you realistically need to plug in all the time anyway? USB stick? headphones? Well it's got both of those. The only port I can see being a problem is the memory card port loss. But there are countless cheap small lightweight solutions for that on the market as well.
When you're at your desk have a proper dock with all your devices connected so you just plug in and go.
Market research shows people want consistently thinner and lighter devices. One way to do this is to remove ports.
Got to work this morning and connected:
Magsafe
HDMI Monitor
Thunderbolt Monitor
USB 3 Hub (Keyboard & Mouse, USB Storage)
USB 3 Hub in Monitor (Ethernet Adapter, USB Storage, Colorimeter)
In addition, I have 128GB Transcend drive in the SD Card slot. Is there a single USB-C hub that would cater for all of this?
Admittedly, I should probably have a desktop. Although I do also have a Windows desktop which I RDP into and have open on one of the screens.
Magsafe
HDMI Monitor
Thunderbolt Monitor
USB 3 Hub (Keyboard & Mouse, USB Storage)
USB 3 Hub in Monitor (Ethernet Adapter, USB Storage, Colorimeter)
In addition, I have 128GB Transcend drive in the SD Card slot. Is there a single USB-C hub that would cater for all of this?
Admittedly, I should probably have a desktop. Although I do also have a Windows desktop which I RDP into and have open on one of the screens.
Yep, that's what I meant. Even if willing to pay, there's no option to get 32GB! Apparently it's due to battery life concerns
If that's the case why did they shrink the battery so much! What the heck is going on over there. These are supposed to be Pro machines, not the thinnest and lightest they can so they can circle circle jerk about thin and small it is now. They've lost the plot.
Apparently you don't even get a full sized power cable now?
I'm quite sure what that means we do actually get in the box.
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I think we can rationalise some of the things that apple have done until the cows come home but any good will I had for them evaporates when they do something as cheap as only giving you a 2m power cable. Even sitting on the sofa next to a power socket that won't be much use.
All they had to do is say "Hey guys, you can charge your macbook pro from any of the 4 ports on the laptop and we have designed a neat little magsafe breakaway adaptor so that you still have the safety of the old cable and the versatility of the new one. Oh and naturally we have included a 3/4m long cable in the box."
They have compromised on too many thing for these laptops for me to be happy. When asked why you can't get 32gb ram schiller says that it means a bigger memory controller that is more power hungry. You've already nearly halved the battery capacity to stick in an unnecessarily large touchpad and slightly better speakers so why not keep the same trackpad and put a bigger battery in. I have never heard anyone say "I wish the trackpad on my macbook was larger or I wish my speakers were better". Laptop speakers are crap, end of. Making them twice and good will still leave them in the realm of crap.
They really have gone far too far towards portable and too far from powerful. I can swallow the lack of ports but they are taking the mickey on too many things.
No magsafe
Short charging cable
Small battery because of stupidly large trackpad and speaker area
Astonishing pricing
No 32gb Ram option
Usual crazy upgrade prices for memory / ram
Slightly gimped non touchbar version
Yes i know it gets the same battery life as before but they could have improved it because if you are using it for serious work you do not get 10hrs, you perhaps get 4-5.
All they had to do is say "Hey guys, you can charge your macbook pro from any of the 4 ports on the laptop and we have designed a neat little magsafe breakaway adaptor so that you still have the safety of the old cable and the versatility of the new one. Oh and naturally we have included a 3/4m long cable in the box."
They have compromised on too many thing for these laptops for me to be happy. When asked why you can't get 32gb ram schiller says that it means a bigger memory controller that is more power hungry. You've already nearly halved the battery capacity to stick in an unnecessarily large touchpad and slightly better speakers so why not keep the same trackpad and put a bigger battery in. I have never heard anyone say "I wish the trackpad on my macbook was larger or I wish my speakers were better". Laptop speakers are crap, end of. Making them twice and good will still leave them in the realm of crap.
They really have gone far too far towards portable and too far from powerful. I can swallow the lack of ports but they are taking the mickey on too many things.
No magsafe
Short charging cable
Small battery because of stupidly large trackpad and speaker area
Astonishing pricing
No 32gb Ram option
Usual crazy upgrade prices for memory / ram
Slightly gimped non touchbar version
Yes i know it gets the same battery life as before but they could have improved it because if you are using it for serious work you do not get 10hrs, you perhaps get 4-5.