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MacBook Pro 13 and 15 2016, released today by Apple
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  • I added videos.

    Things won't be cheap. Will be loud and still overheat and throttle under high load. SSD is build using 3D NAND and will die very fast if you are editing videos, and it is soldered to MB, so say goodbye to whole computer.

  • And btw, just in case

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    Apple will love to send any data requested from your new Mac Pro to government.

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  • Looks like an overhaul of the old design and is even thinner. If you buy this thing, buy the Apple Care! You have been warned! Here's my story:

    I am almost in the same boat today as I was in 2006 needing an updated apple laptop. Back then, the laptop line hadn't been refreshed for a long time, since the G5 chip was too hot to be able to power a laptop (powerbook, back then ...I think). Apple switched to Intel processors and the 1st gen 15" MBPs were launched. They were rife with overheating problems and hard drives that emitted a noise, like a hungry cow "Moooo". A few months later they introduced the 17" version and the speculation on the street was that all the bugs would be worked out in the 17" MBP, so I bought one. Most I've ever spent on a computer. I was smart enough to buy applecare (3 year warranty coverage). The machine was fine for a year, the backlighting in the screen went out and I got it replaced. It took 3 replacement screens until I got one that was acceptable. I was living in Europe, there was no apple store there, and the store said this is quality of the "new" parts they get from Apple. A few weeks later the real problems started when it locked up during a big software upgrade, I had left it overnight and found it piping hot in the morning and locked up with black screen with some white text on it saying something like 'fatal error' or 'kernel panic' and instructing to reboot. It had probably overheated, although to this day, I have no idea why if it wasn't doing any task while it was sitting there.

    A year later it needed another new screen. This time again it took 3 screens to get a good one. The store was really not happy with me, and I wasn't happy that my "photo/video editing portable computer" should be expected to have a crappy screen by the store. One of the bad screens had actually emitted a spark and but the computer still worked with an external screen. During the repair they said the motherboard had been fried, so they replaced that too. A year later, and it was time for a new screen and my warranty was about to run out. The store installed a crappy screen and I wasn't happy, as luck would have it an official apple store was opening soon in my town. In frustration I took it in, I was just over my 3 year warranty, the week they opened. They said they'd honor the warranty and put in a new screen. Weeks went by and every week they'd call to say they were waiting on some screws (BS cover up). 4 weeks without the computer and a guy called from the store, a technician. He said he had good news and bad news. The computer was toast, the repairs had fried the networking card and they replaced it only to have it still not work, they considered replacing the mobo, but, when the looked up the repair history of the machine they said there was no point since the machine had created so many problems already. The good news was they were offering to replace my 3 year old laptop with a brand new laptop, fast processor, better backlighting in the screen, bigger HD, etc., etc. Wow, I was psyched. Picked up my new laptop and they kept that lemon I had paid so much money for 3 years before. I am still using that 2009 MBP 17" antiglare today. It's maxed out with RAM, SSD and no DVD drive, so there's a 2nd hard drive. Today the weak point is the C2D processor (2 core) is underpowered for any intensive tasks, but, it still chugs along.

    Now I'm into Hackintoshes today and you can't get a Hackintosh laptop working with anything but built-in Intel graphics, so no relief there as the Iris pro graphics don't come on any PC laptops. I would consider another Mac laptop if they didn't have those damned hi glare screens, I can't stand them. I just look at the trashcan MacPro, which hasn't been updated since 2013 and tell myself, my next computer may have to be a windows machine. This company just isn't supporting video production professionals at the moment and perhaps that's the writing on the wall, that was painted over the last few years. This was also the reason I moved to Adobe software, as the Mac "pro" X (FCPX, APERTURE, ETC) software didn't seem to be getting the attention professionals need either. At least using adobe software, it's easier to migrate to a PC. Maybe this is really a tablet/phone company today, that will sell you a boutique laptop, TV box and maybe even an electric car in the future. Keep your eyes open to these trends. YMMV.

    http://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2016/9/13/12910568/mac-pro-update-when-maybe-never

    in any event, it does look good, but, with all these new features in the keyboard, trackpad, touch pad, and even slimmer design, new smaller fans, etc…. Buy the Applecare!

    Also, I recently had to replace my iPhone 6 due to a weak speaker output. What's the point of a phone if you can't hear who's calling? It's a known issue and the Apple store (I now live in the USA) kept replying that they really couldn't do anything to help without charging me. I think the good will and good fortune I had in 2009 at the newly opened apple store in that European town, is over too. That and European warranties are better than USA warranties.

  • @CFreak

    You know that such warranty plans are very profitable for Apple?

    Of course such thing as yours can happen. Or if you travel and work a lot, can be useful. But for ordinary users they are mostly waste of money.

  • ....for this starting price you can buy a real laptop ! I ...personally....would never spend another dime on appleanythings . The first decade they were the leader. Now they´re orwellian slopmakers. At least they included a headphone jack ! You can get this computer in windowsland for about $350....might have to put in the ssd for 70 bucks !

  • mid 2012 MBP - Buy the i7 2.3 GHz or i7 2.6 GHz. Buy one with the custom 1680x1050 screen. You can run Resolve on it. RAM can be upgraded to 16GB. Best deal of all macbooks. Has USB3 and thunderbolt. I swapped out the DVD drive for 2x 750GB SSDs in RAID0

    And can be repaired at home if needed...

  • ....for this starting price you can buy a real laptop ! I ...personally....would never spend another dime on appleanythings . The first decade they were the leader. Now they´re orwellian slopmakers. At least they included a headphone jack ! You can get this computer in windowsland for about $350....might have to put in the ssd for 70 bucks !

    You can't get i7 Skylake HQ 4 core notebook with 1080p and up good IPS screen for anything near such sum.

    Ones I found are good refurbished notes like

    DELL INSPIRON 15.6'' 7559 i7-6700HQ 16GB 1TB UHD 4K TOUCH GTX960M 4GB W10PRO $849

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/DELL-INSPIRON-15-6-7559-i7-6700HQ-16GB-1TB-UHD-4K-TOUCH-GTX960M-4GB-W10PRO-/322305169544?hash=item4b0ae29888:g:1V0AAOSwX~dWmXik

    Btw resolution still are 2560×1600 for the 13-inch Pro and 2880×1800 for the 15-inch model.

  • ok...I exaggerated alittle...but not much ...$450

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834315422

    compared to the lower end at $1500

    ps ....coming from a half dozen macs or more ...and I agree with zcream....buy a used one. My last macbook pro came on a trade, runs 10.6.8...has firewire 800. The only thing it misses is usb3

  • @Vitaliy_Kiselev Interesting point about the overheating. Do you think the Apple desktop iMacs will be safe and reliable to do video editing without the computer breaking down?

  • @kurth

    It is cheap U CPU with low end GPU and slow. Plus I am really not sure about screen, seems to be TN.

    In reality it is exactly zero reason to get Windows note without external good GPU and 4K IPS touch screen.

  • @matt_gh2

    Only interesting is 15" one. And it can have issues. As you can do anything, but can not change physics. You have small weak heatsinks and extra slim turbines. Under heavy load all this must sound not too nice, especially after some time to get some wear and dirt on blades. Intel CPUs can throttle very easy as they have internal sensors.

  • Lol. Do you think the previous versions (the 15" ones available last week) will have the same problems?

  • Btw, previous "innovators" already did it, on their level

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    Yep, it is the model where they killed trackpoint keys. Also was very "smart" idea.

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  • Thanks for heads up.

  • @Vitaliy

    the processor is skylake with hyperthreading, the nvidia with gddr5 is as good as the onboard iris 540 graphics on the mac, the screen, well, personally I find any res above fhd unseeable on less than 17¨screens, but I´m old and half blind

    ....and since it's less than a third of the macbooks price, well, imho few people would see any differences, if any, whatsoever , I rest my case !

    and I still agree with zcream,and in doing this I found this 13inch from 2012 selling for around 5 bills on amazon , and it´s got usb3, firewire 800, and thunderbolt ports , you know, back when apple still believed in putting more than one port

    https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B0074703CM/ref=dp_olp_refurbished?ie=UTF8&condition=refurbished

  • Btw considering notebooks keyboards.

    Simple plan here:

    • Find guys who designed and manufactured IBM Thinkpad keyboards, like in 600 series. Torture them, if required to get all info.
    • After this find all former and current notebook keyboard designers and manufacturers, put on big ship and sink it in open ocean.
    • Declare that from now one any attempt to make notebook thinner and introduce new butterflies and moths will result in you following this poor designers.
    • Profit for everyone, can repeat with desktop keyboards, just here we need Cherry and IBM buckling spring guys.
  • the screen, well, personally I find any res above fhd unseeable on less than 17¨screens, but I´m old and half blind

    You won't see it on normal distance, except of smoother overall feel. But to check detail you can always bring it really close :-)

    You'll be surprised, but we will soon see lots and lots of 5",6" and 7" 4K screens.

  • Best innovations:

    4x Thunderbolt 3 ports. Yep, for moving a shit ton of data and GPU-compute in a portable package.

    Bi-directional Thunderbolt 2 / Thunderbolt 3 adapter cable for $49 (cheapest Thunderbolt cross converter anywhere)

  • Very funny saying I found:

    Apple is like visiting a dentist:

    1. Painful.
    2. Expensive.
    3. They remove something you use.
  • Love it ;-) ! This is so true Apple PER (Painful Expensive Removal)

  • @ zcream I still use a mid 2012 MBP but found no DVD drive of mine.
    @ Vitaliy_Kiselev they remove Wisdom Teeth SD to make profit for all those fancy face -;)

  • Apple has such a good scheme going. My sister has had 3 Apple computers go bad,not too long after the apple care period ended. She did manage to get an ipod touch replaced at least..long ago.

    Yeah the IBM thinkpad keyboards are the best feeling IMHO.. in fact I'm using one now on my T42.. I have an HP probook and don't really like the action

  • Yeah the IBM thinkpad keyboards are the best feeling IMHO.. in fact I'm using one now on my T42.. I have an HP probook and don't really like the action

    Where is good reason by TP keyboards was such - as they had been designed by professional engineers with only task to feel great and work long. Not because they wanted make notebook thinner or needed backlight. I had some long discussion and it is considered among guys who had many TP that 600 series had been pinnacle after this it was slow descending plato and after Lenovo times it is big ride to the shit.

    Btw, TP600 still can work perfect as go to writing machine. Install XP, older Office and it'll work fine. Battery just need new elements if you buy old.

  • Here is an article that points to some of the Apple strategies/failings, if anyone here still likes Apple (…sarcasm!)

    The MacBook Air line maybe disappearing and the iPad Pro may be considered their new cheap laptop, according to the author. Also mentioned the new MBP's max out at 16GB of RAM.

    http://blog.macsales.com/38426-commentary-a-closer-look-at-the-new-macbook-pro-and-what-it-means-for-creative-professionals

  • Why wouldn't the Macbook air disappear? Its main selling point of using a better CPU than the Macbook while being smaller than the 13" Macbook Pro is gone. The new 13" Macbook Pro which still has the top row of keys is the obvious replacement product.

    And as far as longevity conspiracy theories go, I still pretty regularly use a 11" mid-2011 Macbook Air (at purchase time in August of 2012, I maxed it out with a 2ghz i7 and 8GB of RAM) and I've since replaced the anemic 128GB SSD with a larger aftermarket one. The screen resolution is a bummer, but otherwise for day-to-day tasks like web browsing, etc, it's still just fine. I'm sure it'll eventually die. After 4+ years, I'll be sad, but I won't be too upset with Apple. I've had my money's worth out of it (and then some). I dunno that I'll rush out to replace it - assuming that the unix-like environment in Windows 10 keeps improving, it will keep moving toward being a viable replacement.