I'm looking to transition from being a 15" MacBook Pro user (which I have been for two different machine purchase cycles now) to being an iMac user that will occasionally take a low-end Mac laptop for the times when portability is important (figure a 13" MacBook Pro without Touch Bar or a 12" MacBook for that purpose).
Part of that is simply a lifestyle and use style change that has slowly happened over the years. However a lot of it is simply that I am not at all happy with the changes that have happened to the 15" MacBook Pro since the advent of the Touch Bar.
Particularly, I'm not a fan of the idea that a logic board replacement necessitates a drive replacement and vice versa. I can stomach this on a portable Mac that is not my primary machine, but on my primary machine (which a 15" MacBook Pro would be), I consider this to be intolerable. Similarly, I'm REALLY not a fan of the T1 and T2 co-processors and how they make things like system cloning and partitioning near-impossible. Nor am I AT ALL a fan of the default configuration of the T2 chip to dictate what version of macOS I can install. I recognize that on T2 systems, I can turn this feature off, but Apple certainly has the ability to silently slip a firmware update on a subsequent version of macOS that disables that freedom on those systems.
I don't know what an 8th Gen Intel Core i Processor series based iMac would hold beyond those processors. I know those processors upp the standard core count from 4 to 6, much like the processors in the 2018 15" MacBook Pro. That seems worth holding out for. However, I fear that if they pick this next refresh as the time that they redesign the iMac, that a T-series co-processor is almost guaranteed. Even if they don't redesign the iMac, there still seems to be a chance that they may include at least the T2 (especially since it's in the iMac Pro presently). I'm reluctantly willing to go with a 7th Gen Intel based iMac if it means no T-series chip. It sucks, but that's more important to me than going hexa-core. Apple seems to have shifted the (Flagship/Touch Bar) MacBook Pro from its strict 8-10 month refresh lifecycle to once per year. Things with the iMac seem murkier given that suitable processors for it have been out since the same time those for the 2018 MacBook Pros came out. Apple might wait until September or next year or who knows.
To add to my troubles, I probably won't be able to pull the trigger until October at the earliest.
So my dilemma is this: Either buy the current model when I can while I can guarantee that it's devoid of the one feature I really am dreading it getting or wait and hope that I get an awesome hexacore iMac devoid of any pesky T-series co-processor (and if my fears come true, just wait patiently until a refurbished model with my desired configuration appears on the Apple Certified Refurb section). The option of buying current gen as an Apple Certified Refurb is comforting, though it will be trickier since I will for sure be going SSD-only.
Thoughts? Sorry this post was so long.
Part of that is simply a lifestyle and use style change that has slowly happened over the years. However a lot of it is simply that I am not at all happy with the changes that have happened to the 15" MacBook Pro since the advent of the Touch Bar.
Particularly, I'm not a fan of the idea that a logic board replacement necessitates a drive replacement and vice versa. I can stomach this on a portable Mac that is not my primary machine, but on my primary machine (which a 15" MacBook Pro would be), I consider this to be intolerable. Similarly, I'm REALLY not a fan of the T1 and T2 co-processors and how they make things like system cloning and partitioning near-impossible. Nor am I AT ALL a fan of the default configuration of the T2 chip to dictate what version of macOS I can install. I recognize that on T2 systems, I can turn this feature off, but Apple certainly has the ability to silently slip a firmware update on a subsequent version of macOS that disables that freedom on those systems.
I don't know what an 8th Gen Intel Core i Processor series based iMac would hold beyond those processors. I know those processors upp the standard core count from 4 to 6, much like the processors in the 2018 15" MacBook Pro. That seems worth holding out for. However, I fear that if they pick this next refresh as the time that they redesign the iMac, that a T-series co-processor is almost guaranteed. Even if they don't redesign the iMac, there still seems to be a chance that they may include at least the T2 (especially since it's in the iMac Pro presently). I'm reluctantly willing to go with a 7th Gen Intel based iMac if it means no T-series chip. It sucks, but that's more important to me than going hexa-core. Apple seems to have shifted the (Flagship/Touch Bar) MacBook Pro from its strict 8-10 month refresh lifecycle to once per year. Things with the iMac seem murkier given that suitable processors for it have been out since the same time those for the 2018 MacBook Pros came out. Apple might wait until September or next year or who knows.
To add to my troubles, I probably won't be able to pull the trigger until October at the earliest.
So my dilemma is this: Either buy the current model when I can while I can guarantee that it's devoid of the one feature I really am dreading it getting or wait and hope that I get an awesome hexacore iMac devoid of any pesky T-series co-processor (and if my fears come true, just wait patiently until a refurbished model with my desired configuration appears on the Apple Certified Refurb section). The option of buying current gen as an Apple Certified Refurb is comforting, though it will be trickier since I will for sure be going SSD-only.
Thoughts? Sorry this post was so long.
