Waiting for the 2020 MBP

[Falhófnir]

At this point are we really even sure Apple is going to go all in with ARM? They just released their new Mac Pro, I think if they made an announcement of dropping intel in WWDC, that would have a very negative impact on their professional products. I think what's more likely is that they will transition to ARM on some products like the MBA and Mac Mini and leave the "pro" products on intel.

My other thought can really go either way, but its related to developers and Apple's 10% marketshare. Other then getting MS and Adobe to be on board for an ARM based product, other developers may not be willing (or able) to transition over and opt to leave, OR just use their less featured iOS app. For instance, MS office on the Mac is a lot more featured then iOS, yet we could see MS decide to just port the iPad version of Office to ARM macOS. This is of course all speculation, and until Apple formally announces their intent, we are just guessing

Inconceivable they'd do half a job, would make a huge mess of the lineup and would only serve to guarantee developers wouldn't support a fractured ecosystem. That is what I meant with the Touch Bar example, only a few macs use it, so no incentive for developers to put the effort in to make good use of it in their apps.

I ultimately don't see it making a difference. Just because Macs and Windows are currently both x86 systems, that doesn't automatically confer any compatibility between their apps, they still need to be worked on to be ported to Mac. In the grand scheme of things, if it's worthwhile to port a Windows App to Mac, it's worthwhile regardless of x86 or Arm. If Apple can leverage the massive iOS market/ developer base to get more people buying Macs (maybe cheaper Air models?) that's only going to grow the potential market for Windows-first software.

 

[KoolSafak]

Last time of the transition, the desktop was still a growing market and Apples market share was lower.
This mean, that people buying new Macs outnumbered PowerPC Mac owner relatively fast.
Now however, people doesn't upgrade their desktop computing device often anymore because they are mostly good enough and spend much more time on mobile. Thus, the transition process could endure much, much longer.

Apple was gaining nice market share in business laptops. I used one at work myself. I bet, business won't like an ARM transition. So Apple could decide leaving pro machines on Intel/AMD. But this would make the transition even worse, like Windows-RT-worse.

As the rage over the MBP introduction settled, I'm starting to like this release quite a bit. It's the 5th iteration of a good design, now with butterfly keyboard gone. I'll keep it and brace myself for the storms ahead haha

 

[impulse462]

For instance, MS office on the Mac is a lot more featured then iOS, yet we could see MS decide to just port the iPad version of Office to ARM macOS. This is of course all speculation, and until Apple formally announces their intent, we are just guessing

This is a great point that I don't see many people talking about. In their quest use their own more powerful CPUs, theres a risk that the Mac becomes like the ipad pro is now...way overpowered hardware crippled by basic software with not enough "pro" features that can used in enterprise, industry, academia, etc

 

[drinkingtea]

I returned my Surface Laptop 😞. It was nice, but it wasn’t a MacBook. I just placed an order for the base 13” Pro, but I upgraded the RAM to 16GB. It should be here in a few weeks. I’ll be getting $200 back thanks to my AMEX card. With this and the student discount, the MacBook will only cost me about $1,100, which is only $100 more than the SL.

I’m just sad it’ll be the 13-inch instead of the 14-inch. I’d wait, but I need a computer ASAP.

 

[eimis993]

I returned my Surface Laptop 😞. It was nice, but it wasn’t a MacBook. I just placed an order for the base 13” Pro, but I upgraded the RAM to 16GB. It should be here in a few weeks. I’ll be getting $200 back thanks to my AMEX card. With this and the student discount, the MacBook will only cost me about $1,100, which is only $100 more than the SL.

I’m just sad it’ll be the 13-inch instead of the 14-inch. I’d wait, but I need a computer ASAP.

Good choice I think! I got exactly the same model!

 

[mbaire]

I returned my Surface Laptop 😞. It was nice, but it wasn’t a MacBook. I just placed an order for the base 13” Pro, but I upgraded the RAM to 16GB. It should be here in a few weeks. I’ll be getting $200 back thanks to my AMEX card. With this and the student discount, the MacBook will only cost me about $1,100, which is only $100 more than the SL.

I’m just sad it’ll be the 13-inch instead of the 14-inch. I’d wait, but I need a computer ASAP.

I am more concerned with the 2,133MHz RAM (instead of 3.733MHz) than the slight increase in screen size from 13.3" to 14.1"

 

[jercompton]

Who went with 32gb of RAM?
So conflicted between the 16 and the 32.

 

[drinkingtea]

I am more concerned with the 2,133MHz RAM (instead of 3.733MHz) than the slight increase in screen size from 13.3" to 14.1"

True, but it’s what I could afford. Apple really dropped the ball with these 13-inch models.

 

[mbaire]

True, but it’s what I could afford. Apple really dropped the ball with these 13-inch models.

true, but it is still a great laptop especially at the price you got it

I will wait for the wwdc or maybe until July... if there is nothing new then I will probably buy the base model with 16GB

 

[PeterJP]

For instance, MS office on the Mac is a lot more featured then iOS, yet we could see MS decide to just port the iPad version of Office to ARM macOS. This is of course all speculation, and until Apple formally announces their intent, we are just guessing

It would be much harder to port the iOS Office to mac, than to port the "Intel mac" Office to an ARM mac. That's because the development framework for mac will be identical for both ARM and Intel. But the development framework for iOS is completely different.

Apple was gaining nice market share in business laptops. I used one at work myself. I bet, business won't like an ARM transition. So Apple could decide leaving pro machines on Intel/AMD. But this would make the transition even worse, like Windows-RT-worse.

Yeah, I see this as a risk as well. Suppose the ARM mac runs Office and most common applications fine, then there's still the issues that business may look at the ARM machines as an unknown, so a risk. So uptake may be slow for businesses if the message isn't 100% clear that ARM and will be the future, with concrete plans for both hardware and software.

 

[mbaire]

True, but it’s what I could afford. Apple really dropped the ball with these 13-inch models.

and we can always contemplate the possibility of sell and renew it when the warranty ends, it is sure that in that period it will hold on top, after all...
I still have an asus from 2012 with an i3 2.2GHz and 4GB of RAM that (updated with an SSD) runs quickly win10 and perfectly handles 40 open tabs in chrome with the cpu at 65 degrees not like the new MBA 😃

And since you have used the MS laptop please leave feedback here about your impression of the MBP when you receive it. Thanks

 

[reacher]

What are the chances, that Apple will abandon the TouchBar in the future?

 

[SuperSonic80]

What are the chances, that Apple will abandon the TouchBar in the future?

IMHO, ZERO. I doubt they drop it (by this they will "admit" they made a mistake).
Highly likely the TouchBar will evolve into a new product and Apple will "sell" it to consumers again.

 

[reacher]

Unfortunately I do understand. I just really do not like, even hate the TouchBar. I would even like to pay more to get rid of it

 

[SuperSonic80]

Unfortunately I do understand. I just really do not like, even hate the TouchBar. I would even like to pay more to get rid of it

We are in "the same boat", I would happily pay extra money just to get nTB model.

 

[AFPBoy]

IMHO, ZERO. I doubt they drop it (by this they will "admit" they made a mistake).
Highly likely the TouchBar will evolve into a new product and Apple will "sell" it to consumers again.

I agree with you, but don’t understand why they never included the touchbar on Their external Magic Keyboards. I suspect they didn’t include the fingerprint reader for security reasons, but why not the touch bar?

 

[maflynn]

Inconceivable they'd do half a job,

I'm not so sure, I mean how would you feel if you bought a Mac Pro for 15,000 dollars in May 2020, only to hear that Apple is moving to the ARM platform in 2021? They spent a lot of R&D on the new Mac Pro, I can't see how they would pivot off of Intel for that or even the iMac Pro given these are new products.

 

[c0ppo]

I agree with you, but don’t understand why they never included the touchbar on Their external Magic Keyboards. I suspect they didn’t include the fingerprint reader for security reasons, but why not the touch bar?

Maybe because it wouldn't sell?
I'm also one of the guys who would pay more just to get rid of that gimmicky thing they call touch bar.

Now, if I bought an iMac and it came with keyboard that has a touch bar, I would sell that keyboard. Not a problem imho.

But I can't just swap out MBP keyboard

 

[09872738]

I'm not so sure, I mean how would you feel if you bought a Mac Pro for 15,000 dollars in May 2020, only to hear that Apple is moving to the ARM platform in 2021? They spent a lot of R&D on the new Mac Pro, I can't see how they would pivot off of Intel for that or even the iMac Pro given these are new products.

True. On the other hand AMDs recent products make the MP look very very bad anyways
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[c0ppo]

True. On the other hand AMDs recent products make the MP look very very bad anyways
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AMDs recent products make any Intel based system look bad. Even MBP.

 

[Useless Touchbar]

Asking for a student friend of mine:

Do you think 16" Macbook Pro will be updated before the back-to-school discounts end?

 

[maflynn]

True. On the other hand AMDs recent products make the MP look very very bad anyways
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No question, but it probably won't take much work to move on to AMD in the new Mac Pro

 

[09872738]

No question, but it probably won't take much work to move on to AMD in the new Mac Pro

True, again. Same can be said about the rest of Apple‘s lineup. I miss nVidia too

 

[DanMan619]

No idea, but the fact remains even if they go whole hog with ARM, they will still need to support intel for years to come.

They did exactly that during the PowerPC to Intel transition. They didn't just immediately EOL PowerPC machines people had.
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It would be much harder to port the iOS Office to mac, than to port the "Intel mac" Office to an ARM mac. That's because the development framework for mac will be identical for both ARM and Intel. But the development framework for iOS is completely different.


Yeah, I see this as a risk as well. Suppose the ARM mac runs Office and most common applications fine, then there's still the issues that business may look at the ARM machines as an unknown, so a risk. So uptake may be slow for businesses if the message isn't 100% clear that ARM and will be the future, with concrete plans for both hardware and software.

I think businesses would likely be slow to update regardless. In my experience at least, unless they're a big huge tech company with tons of money to burn, they stay on what's already stable in their workflow for long periods of time until they have to update anyway.

 

[DHagan4755]

Do you think 16" Macbook Pro will be updated before the back-to-school discounts end?

No. The earliest update I could see happening is October. Jon Prosser indicated that the next update to it is coming with ARM processors & mini LED in 2021.