WWDC 2019 Live discussion - Was: Sooo umm Apple just released new MacBookPros (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

With SSDs and better solid state electronic manufacturing I would be less inclined to buy AppleCare for a MacBook Pro. Although I’d still consider it because I don’t turn mine over yearly like Ron does. It would make zero sense for Ron to buy AppleCare since he rarely owns the product long enough to exceed the standard warranty

But I generally buy it for iPhone. As I get older I have noted several very close calls in terms of dropping them. In my youth I was sure handed, now not so much. It just takes one absentminded move on my part and it’s shatterama land for the beautiful screen.

Carlo,

Agreed. With SSD drives failures are far less common.

I drop my iPhone frequently, but it's in an Apple Folio case and never gets damaged.

People are crazy if they use iPhones without cases and in that scenario, Apple Care is a MUST

 

[Carlo_M]

I do keep a case on mine, but it's minimal by choice. I know for ultimate safety I should invest in something bulky, but I can't get myself to put a super-sleek and light device and make it a Blackberry

Hence the AppleCare, and a thin case and screen protector film that's just enough to protect it from negligence on softer surfaces and shorter drops, but will likely be all but useless from a 3' or greater fall on concrete.

 

[DaveF]

"iCloud Clusterfuck
Luckily, I don’t have to use this kind of title often. But when I do, there’s a good reason: this year’s beta release cycle for all of Apple’s operating systems has been a mess. The months since WWDC in June have been a terrible experience for both customers and developers alike and the literal center of the chaos was Apple’s iCloud syncing service.”

https://furbo.org/2019/09/04/icloud-clusterfuck/

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I just wanted to pop in here and say this...

I bought this 13" MBP for travel purposes and as of today I am out of town and using it more than ever.

I am extremely surprised and impressed with this laptop.

I used to put my nose up in the air when it came to considering an i5 processor. I have been using i7 and i9 models in the larger laptops.

This 15 2.4ghz machine is one speedy little fucker. It seems nearly as fast as my i9 I just sold when it comes to basic browsing and app usage.

And, again, this new butterfly keyboard has a totally different feel to it. Much quieter and more tolerable than the prior problematic keyboards.

This is the first time, in some time, that I am reminded at how well Macbook Pros work. The workmanship on this laptop is just first-rate. There is immense pleasure in using something as portable and powerful as this.

There's a reason why these new 13" models were rated so well. You feel as if Apple finally hit the mark in making a quality machine that deserves the PRO name.

 

[JohnRice]

I used to put my nose up in the air when it came to considering an i5 processor. I have been using i7 and i9 models in the larger laptops.

Ron, from what I understand, you're probably not gaining much if anything from the i7 and i9 processors, considering how you use your computer. Hyperthreading seems to be the primary benefit of those processors, which is used mostly by video processing and CAD software. I'm sure Sam can chime in with what's incorrect about that statement. Even PhotoShop doesn't use hyperthreading. On my home Mini, I upgraded to the i7 since I do a lot of HandBrake, but I don't waste the money on my work Macs, which don't do anything that will benefit from hyperthreading.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Ron, from what I understand, you're probably not gaining much if anything from the i7 and i9 processors, considering how you use your computer. Hyperthreading seems to be the primary benefit of those processors, which is used mostly by video processing and CAD software. I'm sure Sam can chime in with what's incorrect about that statement. Even PhotoShop doesn't use hyperthreading. On my home Mini, I upgraded to the i7 since I do a lot of HandBrake, but I don't waste the money on my work Macs, which don't do anything that will benefit from hyperthreading.

Yeah I would love a second opinion on that

Mostly use laptop for surfing, email and iMovie/First Cut editing in occasion.

Application launch and webpage processing speed is essential.

 

[JohnRice]

Yeah I would love a second opinion on that

Mostly use laptop for surfing, email and iMovie/First Cut editing in occasion.

Application launch and webpage processing speed is essential.

iMovie/First Cut, yeah, the i7 and i9 should make a significant difference. As in, roughly a 2x improvement for the same cores/speed, but it'll heat up fast and throttle back. Everything else, it's really just # of cores and clock speed (including turbo boost), and that's it. I suspect that turbo boost drops down pretty fast in MacBooks, due to cooling limitations. But, opening a web page is a very brief job, so as long as the CPU isn't warming up, that's where you get the performance.

 

[Sam Posten]

Seconded everything John is saying, which echoes everything I have been telling you for years.

 

[JohnRice]

It also occurred to me that your latest MacBook might have moved you from regular SSDs to an NVMe drive, which is probably about 7x as fast. That’ll really speed up your app launches.

 

[Sam Posten]

I personally don't understand the fascination with app launch speed. I load the apps I need and never shut down apps until the thing needs a reboot... Apple has nailed sleep technology for 15+ years while Windows still completely blows at it.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

So, Sam, on this upcoming 16" MBP..

Go with top tier i7 model instead of i9?

I just hope i9 doesn't have some kind of exclusive feature to lure someone to upgrade.

I will spend my money instead maxing out RAM and SSD

 

[DaveF]

I personally don't understand the fascination with app launch speed. I load the apps I need and never shut down apps until the thing needs a reboot... Apple has nailed sleep technology for 15+ years while Windows still completely blows at it.

To some degree, app launch speed should correlate to app wake-from-sleep speed. It’s substantially about SSD throughput in both cases no?

But sure, people and marketers look for simple benchmarks to help distill complex performance into understandable forms.

 

[Sam Posten]

So, Sam, on this upcoming 16" MBP..

Go with top tier i7 model instead of i9?

I just hope i9 doesn't have some kind of exclusive feature to lure someone to upgrade.

I will spend my money instead maxing out RAM and SSD

Probably. Too early to say.

No, there will be no exclusive i9 features tho

 

[Carlo_M]

Computers (and perceived speed by user) is always a "weakest link in the chain" scenario. And for many years, the weakest link by far has been traditional hard drives--even going from 4400 to 5400 to 7200 rpm it was always still the bottleneck in comparison to RAM and CPU power/speed.

Now with SSDs (and yes they come in different throughput speeds, but Apple tends to be on the better/higher end of even that spectrum) being standard on just about every Apple computer, the weakest link has had a tremendous boost in performance and the playing field has largely been leveled in terms of SSD performance in the same generation of device. So now the differentiating factor is CPU and RAM amount.

As Sam has said, unless one is doing extremely heavy CPU intensive things like:

• Not GarageBand, but music production on Logic Pro with a dozens of individual tracks and multiple effects on each track
• Movie production in very high resolution with a lot of effects, not a typical iMovie for use on YouTube, but something with actual effects...think nearly professional use. Amateur filmmakers trying to make projects to impress and get a job with studios.
• CAD/CAM renderings, other CPU-heavy engineering programs

...if you're not doing that, then the regular level MBPs will be fine for most of us. Like 99% of us (and I am including myself in that group because I've backed off of doing Logic Pro work as I get older).

I'm still doing very well on a 2015 15" MBP (top CPU) and it has held up well over the years. When I'm lazy and don't bring it in to work, I use one of our fleet of 2017 13" MBPs and can hardly tell a difference outside of screen real estate.

 

[Sam Posten]

I will eat a mushroom if this comes out as a press release launch. And I hate mushrooms.

ZERO chance of that happening.

See you in October sans Mushrooms

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Now it is being suggested that the upcoming 16" Macbook pro will NOT have the new scissor keyboard design

Am I reading this wrong?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/brooke...on-says-ihs-markit-release-date/#60d3998d1f4b

 

[Ted Todorov]

When it comes to Apple rumors, Forbes is not my idea of a likely reliable source.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

When it comes to Apple rumors, Forbes is not my idea of a likely reliable source.

I don't know if you read the article or not, but Forbes is not the source of the rumor. The source is a rather well-known and rather trusted one.

 

[Carlo_M]

Yeah I had to get used to the turn Forbes (online) took a few years ago. I used to work in a Business School and always thought of Forbes as a magazine with writers who wrote specifically for their pages. But their online model is more a news/opinion aggregator, so as Ron mentioned, they'll often have well informed (in their part of the industry) people write their opinions/predictions under the guise of a Forbes online article. But chances are slim that would ever appear in their print version (if they even still do such a thing?).

 

[Cranston37+]

Now it is being suggested that the upcoming 16" Macbook pro will NOT have the new scissor keyboard design

Am I reading this wrong?

If you look back to when we first talked about the Pro's getting the scissor keyboard - it was always reported they would not get them until 2020...

https://www.hometheaterforum.com/community/posts/4756945/

"Kuo believes a new scissor switch keyboard will also be used in the MacBook Pro, but not until 2020."