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The No Touch Bar 13 Macbook Version

thesaint024

thesaint024

macrumors 65816
Nov 14, 2016
1,073
888
suspension waiting room
I got the TB version. The only reason I'd consider non Touch is the battery life. Non is more of a MBA replacement as advertised, 10+ hours battery. However for my use, the battery is more than enough. If battery is not your top concern (or the +$300), TB usage is a game changer. Well at least the Touch ID at this point. Think how much it changed your behavior on your iPhones. Also, the TB itself is becoming more and more useful as I get used to where the efficiencies are.

Regarding the question about "future proofing" if there is such a thing, you must maximize the RAM and SSD and get the TB. The RAM and SSD are soldered and will not be upgradeable like past Macs, except the SSD on the non Touch. The TB hasn't even scratched the surface of functionality yet, especially Touch ID. I see it's potential already with the little I use it now. My opinion. Don't flame me for having an opinion that may differ from yours. Of course +$300 is not insignificant. But if you really cared about absolute price, you wouldn't be using Macs. But you love the OS and the design and build like the rest of us.
 
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budfoot

budfoot

macrumors 6502
Jul 1, 2008
261
167
Boston, MA
Lollo said:
I see a lot of people regretting the TB and buying the nTB instead. Seems that only 15" users, who MUST adapt to the touch bar, are dealing with it.

I'm sincerely curious to know what Apple thinks about this...!
Click to expand...


I saw a Reddit post where someone had DOOM running on the touch bar. That's the most useful thing I've heard of.
 
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supajam

macrumors newbie
Oct 31, 2016
25
9
Ma2k5 said:
Ordered machine last week from John Lewis as they were offering 3 year guarantee and option to add 3 year accidental damage cover for £80.

Total came to £1530 made up of £1449 + £80 (Apple with Applecare after student discount came to £1420). I felt paying an extra £110 compared to buying from Apple directly was worth it for 3 years accidental damage cover.

Then today I noticed John Lewis selling the same machine for £1304 instead of the usual £1449, albeit at only 2 years warranty. Called them and they price matched.

So all in all, £1414 for 3 years warranty and 3 years accidental damage cover!. Very pleased with that.
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Damnit!! Looks like they're matching education pricing as that's what I paid last night from Apple's website. Bah, I'm just going to stick with it now and forego the extra years JL warranty - already faffed around with a now returned BTO 12" MB for the last 3 weeks. I need a new laptop now!
 
Ma2k5

Ma2k5

macrumors 68030
Dec 21, 2012
2,565
2,541
London
Lollo said:
I see a lot of people regretting the TB and buying the nTB instead. Seems that only 15" users, who MUST adapt to the touch bar, are dealing with it.

I'm sincerely curious to know what Apple thinks about this...!
Click to expand...

I think they understand it's work in progress and as time goes by, it will be improved greatly over the years.

Nothing new ever works perfectly first time. As a recent innovation, just look at how much better touchId has got
 
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benz240

macrumors regular
Dec 25, 2008
201
294
Well I picked up a 2016 MBP non-TB base 13" model today, and am instantly loving it over the 15" TB I had for the last week. The return of physical volume/brightness/esc keys is such a relief, and I don't miss a single function of the TB. Battery life is finally that 10+ hour estimate that I was used to seeing on my old MBP. Real-world use will of course be determined over the next few weeks of owning it. Power wise, I detect no discernible difference from the i7/16/512/460 that I had before, and if anything the 13" is running cooler and the fans are never on. Of course I love the smaller form factor, and don't really have a problem with losing some screen real-estate. MacOS has great full-screen features so you don't really ever need to manage multiple windows on top of each other anymore. Oh and the icing on the cake is that I'm saving nearly $2k over the 15" TB.

Those of you in a similar situation, get the non-TB 13" base model. You'll be happy, your wallet will be happy, and you won't feel so slighted when Apple inevitably fixes all these problems in next year's MBP lineup....there will be plenty of cash left over to just trade up for the next one!
 
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coopercoop

macrumors member
Nov 14, 2016
43
26
benz240 said:
Well I picked up a 2016 MBP non-TB base 13" model today, and am instantly loving it over the 15" TB I had for the last week. The return of physical volume/brightness/esc keys is such a relief, and I don't miss a single function of the TB. Battery life is finally that 10+ hour estimate that I was used to seeing on my old MBP. Real-world use will of course be determined over the next few weeks of owning it. Power wise, I detect no discernible difference from the i7/16/512/460 that I had before, and if anything the 13" is running cooler and the fans are never on. Of course I love the smaller form factor, and don't really have a problem with losing some screen real-estate. MacOS has great full-screen features so you don't really ever need to manage multiple windows on top of each other anymore. Oh and the icing on the cake is that I'm saving nearly $2k over the 15" TB.

Those of you in a similar situation, get the non-TB 13" base model. You'll be happy, your wallet will be happy, and you won't feel so slighted when Apple inevitably fixes all these problems in next year's MBP lineup....there will be plenty of cash left over to just trade up for the next one!
Click to expand...
Good to hear, can't wait to get mine! The way I see it the touchbar is just another thing that could potentially break. Its not something ill need and I would rather just keep it simple, especially considering this is gen 1 of these models.
 
R

Rigby

macrumors 603
Aug 5, 2008
6,257
10,215
San Jose, CA
thesaint024 said:
I got the TB version. The only reason I'd consider non Touch is the battery life. Non is more of a MBA replacement as advertised, 10+ hours battery. However for my use, the battery is more than enough. If battery is not your top concern (or the +$300), TB usage is a game changer. Well at least the Touch ID at this point. Think how much it changed your behavior on your iPhones.
Click to expand...
I tried the Touch Bar and it does nothing for me. On the contrary, I would miss some of the physical keys, especially Esc which I use all the time in vi. For this reason alone I'd actually prefer the non-TB version, but the even more restricted ports and the weird keyboard kills it for me. :(

Touch ID is more useful, but IMO far from a game changer. For one, typing a password on a computer is much less painful than on a phone. Also, Apple Pay works just fine with a paired Apple Watch or iPhone, and unlocking with a Watch is even more convenient than Touch ID. I guess it's more useful if you use 3rd party apps with Touch ID support (which I don't).
 
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Juneauu

macrumors newbie
Nov 9, 2016
8
4
benz240 said:
Well I picked up a 2016 MBP non-TB base 13" model today, and am instantly loving it over the 15" TB I had for the last week. The return of physical volume/brightness/esc keys is such a relief, and I don't miss a single function of the TB. Battery life is finally that 10+ hour estimate that I was used to seeing on my old MBP. Real-world use will of course be determined over the next few weeks of owning it. Power wise, I detect no discernible difference from the i7/16/512/460 that I had before, and if anything the 13" is running cooler and the fans are never on. Of course I love the smaller form factor, and don't really have a problem with losing some screen real-estate. MacOS has great full-screen features so you don't really ever need to manage multiple windows on top of each other anymore. Oh and the icing on the cake is that I'm saving nearly $2k over the 15" TB.

Those of you in a similar situation, get the non-TB 13" base model. You'll be happy, your wallet will be happy, and you won't feel so slighted when Apple inevitably fixes all these problems in next year's MBP lineup....there will be plenty of cash left over to just trade up for the next one!
Click to expand...
Really glad to hear you're loving your non-TB base 13''! I have been on the edge between TB vs non-TB, and your comment for some reason confirmed my decision to get non-TB. I may ask what specific specs you chose to go with? I am thinking 2.0/16/512 for me, but im not completely sure.
 
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coopercoop

macrumors member
Nov 14, 2016
43
26
Juneauu said:
Really glad to hear you're loving your non-TB base 13''! I have been on the edge between TB vs non-TB, and your comment for some reason confirmed my decision to get non-TB. I may ask what specific specs you chose to go with? I am thinking 2.0/16/512 for me, but im not completely sure.
Click to expand...
Those are the specs I went with, I did consider the i7 but its so much more money and I don't think its really worth the cash.
 
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benz240

macrumors regular
Dec 25, 2008
201
294
Juneauu said:
Really glad to hear you're loving your non-TB base 13''! I have been on the edge between TB vs non-TB, and your comment for some reason confirmed my decision to get non-TB. I may ask what specific specs you chose to go with? I am thinking 2.0/16/512 for me, but im not completely sure.
Click to expand...

I actually went bare bones, got the absolute min specs: 2.0/8/256. Part of my reasoning was that the less processing power and RAM, the less battery impact it would have. That could be totally false, but I can't see how it would hurt battery life to go for lower specs. Second, I still have until Jan 8th to return this, so I'm going to put it through its paces and see if there is anything I do that would really justify any upgrades. I don't think RAM is very important anymore, given the tremendous speeds of the SSD. 256 was plenty for me in my old MBP, and I actually store even more of my data on external drives now days so I should be good on space. But it's really up to you and what you use it for. Browsing, email, office documents, youtube, and the occasional VM session - this is more than enough. And again, I view it as an extended trial. This isn't my only computer (I have a windows desktop with dual monitors for any "heavy lifting" I might need to do), and I fully expect Apple to introduce updates to the MBP line in the next 1-2 years that solve a lot of these "1st gen" issues that people are dealing with now. With the money I saved by making this "downgrade", I can just buy another at that time!
 
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bwv1060

macrumors member
Sep 28, 2006
35
9
I had the hardest time deciding on a model this year. Apple's pricing kept me inching upwards. Pre-ordered a base 15" and then settled for a base 13" TB when it came out. I liked the TB, and especially Touch ID, but the price premium was ultimately too much. Once the non-TB discounts started appearing it made the decision a lot easier to switch. Just ordered the base non-TB. My biggest requirements were a Retina display, Thunderbolt 3, and graphics to power a 4K display at 60Hz. I will probably reassess things in a year or two once TB matures a bit. The base model, at a discount price, should not take too big of a hit when it comes to resale like I suspect the higher end models will.
 
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BeefJerky

macrumors newbie
Feb 14, 2014
25
1
Australia
Do you guys think there is any use in upgrading the processor to the 2.4 i7? I'll be keeping the unit for a number of years, but unsure of how or even if upgrading the processor will benefit.
 
09mac

09mac

macrumors newbie
Nov 9, 2016
17
17
BeefJerky said:
Do you guys think there is any use in upgrading the processor to the 2.4 i7? I'll be keeping the unit for a number of years, but unsure of how or even if upgrading the processor will benefit.
Click to expand...

From what I've read on on here, most say it isn't worth it. I'm just one of those that maxes out everything :)
 
Nugget

Nugget

Contributor
Nov 24, 2002
2,166
1,466
Tejas Hill Country
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BeefJerky

macrumors newbie
Feb 14, 2014
25
1
Australia
BasicGreatGuy said:
Unless you are a heavy load user, stick with i5 and save the money.
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09mac said:
From what I've read on on here, most say it isn't worth it. I'm just one of those that maxes out everything :)
Click to expand...

Nugget said:
I did it just because it'd bug me otherwise. Here's a GeekBench 4 comparison of the i7 vs the i5:

https://browser.geekbench.com/v4/cpu/compare/1118512?baseline=1117895

The difference is slight.
Click to expand...

Thanks guys ::)

I'm getting a $200 student discount off the total cost, but it would still be a $430 upgrade. For a 2.4 / 16 / 256, the typical consumer would be paying $AU 2999 as opposed to me $AU 2797.30. So y'all won't think it'll be worth it? Really all I'll be using it for is word processing, occasional video creation for a school project or whatever. On top of the stereotypical teenager thing to do; Netflix, YouTube, FaceBook, etc. I'm thinking the majority of the use will be browser wise as I'm pretty sure Google Docs is encouraged at the school I'll be attending.

I do have Mac Mini (2014) that was issued as a replacement for a 2012 model. It's only dual core as opposed to the quad core it replaced. It's a 3GHz i7, but I notice it doesn't perform nearly as well as my 2012 MacBook Pro with a quad core 2.3GHz i7. The Pro has a SSD installed, but the Mini a fusion-drive. Would the hard drive have anything to do with the performance of the processor? Not very familiar with all this stuff!

Cheers ;)
 
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alldat

macrumors regular
Aug 10, 2008
174
6
Im thinking of going from my tb13in with 3.1/16gb/1tb to the non tb model. Im just concerned over the 2.0 vs 2.4.

I mainly use iTunes, Chrome w/ 15 to 20 tabs open, Tweetbot. Some youtube/netflix maybe but nothing crazy.
 
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