Buyer's Guide: Don't Buy a MacBook Pro Now

[Maconplasma]

I may be alone here, but I really don’t like most of these rumoured changes.

I want everything to move to USB C, and as we’ve seen countless times Apple’s willingness to abandon old standards has helped bring such transitions about. Reintroducing old ports like USB A and niche ports like card readers would be such a backwards step, and so un-Apple that I actually have a hard time believing this, even if Kuo supports it. MagSafe seems stupid as well: it’s a feature that should be built into the cable (breakaway cables have been around for years), not the port, so that a) you don’t waste port space on this single use feature, and b) it’s interoperable - the cable works with other devices and other devices with with the Mac. DP or HDMI ports I could get behind, but that’s it.

I also don’t see the point wasting space on physical function keys. How often do you need to manually change screen brightness for example? For me the answer is extremely rarely, and when I do I do it through control centre anyway (same with volume). Giving these things dedicated buttons is such a waste of space (same for exposé and other things you can trigger with gestures). Give the Touch Bar taptic feedback and it’d be great! It should always have had that. If Apple kill it without ever giving it haptics then that’s one of the dumbest things they’ve ever done (behind the Siri Remote and their mouse designs).

</rant> Probably going to get one anyway :’D

You're not alone. In fact I'm certain that 100% of what you prefer is what Apple will be doing. I prefer the USB-C ports and the Touch Bar. Just because some forum keyboard warriors don't like the Touch Bar doesn't mean Apple is saying; "OH MY GOSH WE MADE A MISTAKE, CUZ MACRUMORS MEMBERS HATE IT SO THAT MUST MEAN EVERYBODY HATES IT."
This type of front page news is what these keyboard warriors want to hear and it helps MR get clicks so take much of this crap on the front page news about this with a grain of salt.

 

[Doomtomb]

What is taking Team Apple so long to get these things shipped?

 

[Westside guy]

Why not the 13” MacBook Air over the 13 MBP? It’s effectively the same and cheaper.

My employer bought me a 13" M1 MacBook Air recently. They were willing to buy the Pro, but I picked the Air - no TouchBar, real function keys! 😆

 

[Johnny907]

• Additional ports to reduce need for dongles, including an SD card reader.
• MagSafe connector with faster charging speeds.
• No Touch Bar, with physical function key row instead.

I'm calling BS on these last 3. I think this was posted just to get the Touch Bar and Dongle haters excited.

Nope. Touch Bar is on its way out, sorry.
Multiple leaks from accepted reputable sources have all pointed to an end for TB. It was an idea, but no one ever really embraced it in the way Apple hoped, and now it’s just an excuse to add a hundred bucks to the MSRP.

 

[gnasher729]

I stand by this advice. There is no reason to buy a MacBook Pro right now. This is the advice I’d give to my family and friends.

The 13” MacBook Air is cheaper and functionally the same as the 13” MBP. And if you need more performance, you should wait.

Simple: If you need a MacBook Pro right now, check out if the current M1 MBP is good enough, if yes buy it. Otherwise buy the new MacBook Pro. If you are sure you can wait possibly 6 to 9 months, or a little bit less or more, then wait for the new model with M2 or M1X or whatever the next chip is called. If you need one in a few months... then the longer you wait and still buy the old model because you have to, the more you will be kicking yourself. So make your decision NOW.

 

[Zen_Arcade]

Minus Touch Bar

And, hence, better.

 

[gnasher729]

Hopefully, it's more than just a new case. Want to see at least 360 degree hinge for tablet mode with touch and pen inputs. Jump from 4 to 16 performance cores doesn't sound believable either and more likely it'll be 6 to 8 cores.

Six is unlikely. Not enough difference to M1. Six but not eight in an MBP is extremely unlikely, because that would start doubts whether Apple can deliver more cores. Six cores in an iMac as the low-level iMac with 50% more power than low-level MBP would make sense. But eight cores is most likely. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a model with doubled GPU cores and one without, because while lots of people need the GPU power, there are also lots who don't.

 

[gnasher729]

SD card reader? Why?

First thing I would get is a multi-purpose USB hub, for all my old stuff. (No, I'm not throwing out all my old hardware, scanner, hard drives, etc. etc. just because some people go mad for USB-C). And there would be an ethernet connector, an SD card reader, and probably an HDMI connector on it.

 

[gnasher729]

Except I'm looking at refreshing a fleet of developers. If it's March or July makes a big difference in what we're going to get for the money. I'm hoping if they're going to come out with something like the rumors, that it is as soon as possible.

In that case you could consider replacing MacBooks only if absolutely needed, that is broken ones.

 

[raccoontail]

The return of magsafe is an interesting theory. I assume even if they do, Apple will (must!) support still charging via USB-C.

Having both would be fantastic. Power users would likely buy a USB-C charger for their desk setup and use a MagSafe travel charger. I would guess a significant % of users never plug anything into their laptop other than the power cable. Students working in libraries and classrooms, mobile workers in coffee shops, parents of toddlers, etc. all benefit from MagSafe and it might even cut the number of Apple Care claims by enough to cover the engineering cost of adding it back.

 

[sfb1245]

I bought a new MacBook Pro M1, it has no problems with the keyboard, there is a separate escape button from the touch bar and other improved little things. There are also no problems with the display and battery.
All this I had to wait for years!

New design means new problems. I cannot imagine a new MacBook design without eternal visits to the support center, and again, and again the waiting and expensive purchase of a new revised MacBook.

If you decide to wait, maybe you don't need a MacBook at all now, and is it better to wait until you need it?

 

[Maconplasma]

Nope. Touch Bar is on its way out, sorry.
Multiple leaks from accepted reputable sources have all pointed to an end for TB. It was an idea, but no one ever really embraced it in the way Apple hoped, and now it’s just an excuse to add a hundred bucks to the MSRP.

Unless you have proof don't throw me your nonsensical crap. Seriously.

 

[MICHAELSD]

Give us a Mini-LED display and I’ll happily upgrade.

 

[Populus]

I suppose this MBP redesign is coming in few months (march-june?) otherwise it would be understandable to get an M1 laptop, if you need one and this machines weren’t coming until the 4th quarter of 2021

So I guess MacRumors has a source to know the release is near, soon enough.

 

[Neepman]

Gonna be a lot of disappointed people in 6 months. I see zero chance of apple adding back ports and power options they have removed.

 

[Yebubbleman]

I don't know that I agree with this guide's recommendation. If you need Intel, now IS the time to buy a MacBook Pro. Similarly, the M1 MacBook Pro on sale today is the direct replacement to the 2-port 13" MacBook Pro, which is a distinctly separate model in the lineup to the 4-port 13" MacBook Pro and the 16" MacBook Pro. There's no clear word about whether the rumored 14" MacBook Pro slated to replace the current 4-port Intel 13" model will also replace the current M1 MacBook Pro or not. Certainly Apple only kept around the M1 13" MacBook Pro's direct predecessor for a relatively short amount of months, but who is to say that they're going to do that with the M1 version?

If a current M1 (Two-Port) 13" MacBook Pro meets your needs and its inherent limitations (smaller screen size, only two ports, support for only one external display, 16GB RAM ceiling, etc.) don't bother or otherwise inhibit you, then I see no reason to not buy one.

 

[mtnr]

Don't forget about WiFi 6e!

(which should probably be called WiFi 7 but...we can't have nice things)

 

[richinaus]

I bought a new MacBook Pro M1, it has no problems with the keyboard, there is a separate escape button from the touch bar and other improved little things. There are also no problems with the display and battery.
All this I had to wait for years!

New design means new problems. I cannot imagine a new MacBook design without eternal visits to the support center, and again, and again the waiting and expensive purchase of a new revised MacBook.

If you decide to wait, maybe you don't need a MacBook at all now, and is it better to wait until you need it?

Eh?
the current M machines are entry level consumer machines to me. The 14 + 16" are the prosumer level machines.
That is what we are waiting for.

 

[richinaus]

I don't know that I agree with this guide's recommendation. If you need Intel, now IS the time to buy a MacBook Pro. Similarly, the M1 MacBook Pro on sale today is the direct replacement to the 2-port 13" MacBook Pro, which is a distinctly separate model in the lineup to the 4-port 13" MacBook Pro and the 16" MacBook Pro. There's no clear word about whether the rumored 14" MacBook Pro slated to replace the current 4-port Intel 13" model will also replace the current M1 MacBook Pro or not. Certainly Apple only kept around the M1 13" MacBook Pro's direct predecessor for a relatively short amount of months, but who is to say that they're going to do that with the M1 version?

If a current M1 (Two-Port) 13" MacBook Pro meets your needs and its inherent limitations (smaller screen size, only two ports, support for only one external display, 16GB RAM ceiling, etc.) don't bother or otherwise inhibit you, then I see no reason to not buy one.

exactly right.

 

[kildraik]

I think the current 13” was the sweet spot for me. The display is fine- and I do not mind the bezels for magnetic privacy screens and camera covers. It’s a screamer for on-the-go. USB-C charging is also fine for me.

The battery life is insane. I got the M1/16GB/1TB at launch to replace my Mac mini and have been “wowed” since.

My only concern with a thinner 13” is a sacrifice in battery life. But they may knock it out of the park. Time will tell.

 

[Maconplasma]

What is taking Team Apple so long to get these things shipped?

You do realize that Apple just released the first M1 products in November and it's now only February right? Apple said it would be a 2 year transition.

 

[whitby]

This advice makes sense, except I will not be following it. I use Virtual Machines and need to be able to run Windows environments as well as Mac OS on my Mac if they are to be worth the investment I make in these machines.

The M1 based MBA I have is a phenomenal machine but I can only use it for normal personal use and for MS365 applications. I make a lot of use of Virtual Machines to run Windows only applications and Windows server environments in my daily work flow. RISC ARM based designs cannot emulate the Intel environment used by the majority of these applications, let alone the MS OS needed to run them.

Apple machines have been excellent at providing everything I need in one machine. The ARM RISC machines are about to change all that and I can see I will be switching back to Windows machines for all my work related activities and the Apple machines will be relegated to personal use only and eventually eliminated since I can probably do everything I do on a Mac on a modern Windows machine (which was not the case 15 years ago when I switched to Apple).

Before anyone questions this because a lot of modern software runs using web services, we still have a lot of legacy client server apps written in C# etc. In fact I would think a very large percentage of the world's business applications still run on old legacy platforms and architectures. This requires we support them and these modern Macs will probably not ever be able to support them, in emulation mode or what other mode one thinks may be needed.

So I will continue to buy Intel based machines from Apple until I cannot buy them any longer and then make a decision where to go then.

Do not mistake this for hating what Apple has done. They have done something that is really remarkable and the fact that these new machines run so well and so seamlessly is a testament to their competence. I look forward to the new McBook Pro using the new Apple Silicon devices. However I may not be following them down this path for a while.

 

[nquinn]

Ah stop teasing me and deliver this already Apple!

Hard part will be deciding 32gb vs 16gb and how many cores. Realistically 8 cores is plenty for me but if a 12-16 core option is available will be so hard to turn down.

 

[Prof.]

I have the 16" MacBook Pro, but I'll definitely be upgrading to the new one whenever it comes out.

My mom has a 2012 15" MacBook Pro and it's on its last leg, can't wait to surprise her with my current MBP. It'll be a huge upgrade for her. ❤️

 

[Maconplasma]

I have the 16" MacBook Pro, but I'll definitely be upgrading to the new one whenever it comes out.

My mom has a 2012 15" MacBook Pro and it's on its last leg, can't wait to surprise her with my current MBP. It'll be a huge upgrade for her. ❤️

Wish I had your disposable cash. I'll be moving on from my 16" MBP 32GB to the new Apple Silicon version but I have to do a trade in. Don't have the disposable cash to spend on a second 16" MBP while keeping the old one. 😊