Who do you think the 2018 13-inch MacBook Pro is for?

[Sunshower]

Curious to know who the community thinks the 13 inch MacBook Pro is aimed at? Apple themselves seem to struggle with outlining who its targeted at, with most ads being about the 15-inch and graphics/i9 power.

In my eyes it's very much a prosumer machine for travelling creatives, or a decent secondary machines for desktop pros.

I like the machine myself and would consider purchasing one in the future (maybe the 2019 model) to upgrade from my 2015 13-inch pro.

My use is moderate music production, photoshop, word processing, media consumption, web browsing. In bed, at work, anywhere I like. It works well for me, however I would like a bit more power and maybe some very power-efficient dedicated graphics...

 

[BayouTiger]

I love mine. I carry it to job sites every day and spend a lot of time in Windows vis Fusion. I run some pretty heavy duty apps on the Windows side without any issues. Just as fast as my 16 15” was and sooooo much more portable. I also connect to a 4K and a 34” 3440x1440 monitor at the desk with an ElGato dock and it is nearly flawless.

 

[baypharm]

I think it is for anyone with really good eyesight.

 

[maflynn]

thinks the 13 inch MacBook Pro is aimed at?

Anyone who wants a small light computer ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Tbh, I see the 13" form factor in my day to day work then I do any other size.

 

[posguy99]

I went from a 2013 13" to a 2015 15" (wasn't about to buy a 2017), and I miss the 13" form factor. If there was a 2018 I dared buy, it'd be the 13", without question.

 

[chabig]

Curious to know who the community thinks the 13 inch MacBook Pro is aimed at?

It's clearly aimed folks who don't want to carry around the heft or can't afford a 15" machine.

 

[Pangalactic]

prosumer machine

travelling creatives

desktop pros

The base line 13'' model is aimed at people who can't tell a difference between a dual core and a quad-core processor in 2018

The touchbar 13'' model is aimed at professional super-creative traveling prosumer procreators and digital creative nomads, by introducing such important features as reduced battery life, removal of the SD card slot, no replaceable components and a touchbar for DJing.

 

[Novus John]

I commute to work every day so it's nice to have something to do while I'm going to work and back home. And we often get to travel to other countries from work, so I need a light and relatively no-problem laptop that I can carry with me. There are other windows laptops that can do the same but I prefer to use the Unix tools natively.

At the same time, I can't say that the 2018 13" MBP is an improvement over the older 2014/2015 versions. The Touchbar is a nightmare, the lack of various ports is infuriating because I have to carry a bag of dongles with me every time I travel, and the touchpad is honestly too big and unreliable. The screen is nice and the battery life is sufficient so I guess that's okay.

 

[DeanPSN]

I commute to work every day so it's nice to have something to do while I'm going to work and back home. And we often get to travel to other countries from work, so I need a light and relatively no-problem laptop that I can carry with me. There are other windows laptops that can do the same but I prefer to use the Unix tools natively.

At the same time, I can't say that the 2018 13" MBP is an improvement over the older 2014/2015 versions. The Touchbar is a nightmare, the lack of various ports is infuriating because I have to carry a bag of dongles with me every time I travel, and the touchpad is honestly too big and unreliable. The screen is nice and the battery life is sufficient so I guess that's okay.

Just curious, what bag of dongles you need when most of them are all in one and offer all the ports you need?

 

[Novus John]

Just curious, what bag of dongles you need when most of them are all in one and offer all the ports you need?

I do carry an all-in-one, but from my experience they never work well. I have the same problem with those stupid tb3 docking stations, I have one from Belkin at work and honestly it's a dumpster fire. I have stopped counting the times when something doesn't work with it, or the whole damn computer blacks out when I remove the cable from the station. A few of my colleagues also have tb3 docking stations from different manufacturers and their experience on average hasn't been much better than mine.

Since I got the mbp2018 I slowly replaced most of my old dongles with tb3 ones because I can't afford to screw around with docks and hubs at the worst possible moment. It still can be a problem because I sometimes need more than 3 free tb3 ports, so it's often still a struggle.

 

[frou]

The touchbar 13'' model is aimed at professional super-creative traveling prosumer procreators and digital creative nomads [..with..] a touchbar for DJing.

Ah, it was designed for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Barley !

 

[jagolden]

The base line 13'' model is aimed at people who can't tell a difference between a dual core and a quad-core processor in 2018

The touchbar 13'' model is aimed at professional super-creative traveling prosumer procreators and digital creative nomads, by introducing such important features as reduced battery life, removal of the SD card slot, no replaceable components and a touchbar for DJing.

So help me out please, which is the better model to go with. I use my laptop for both basic use and prosumer and the occasional professional needs.
Tho it’s on that?

 

[tromboneaholic]

I would ask this guy:

In my eyes it's very much a prosumer machine for travelling creatives, or a decent secondary machines for desktop pros.

 

[Leo90]

In my eyes, the 13 inch MBP is more for those people who have a pretty decent desktop at home but still need a good amount of power on the go for certain tasks. On the other hand, 15 inch MBP is for those who have it as the ultimate tool for productivity on the go and at home, i.e. it functions as both desktop and laptop. I have a 15 inch MBP and that is my sole “computer station”. When I don’t need a lot of power on the go, I bring my iPad Pro. Otherwise, MBP is always with me.

 

[Hadron]

So help me out please, which is the better model to go with. I use my laptop for both basic use and prosumer and the occasional professional needs.
Tho it’s on that?

If you could define what you mean by "basic use", "prosumer" and "professional" I'd have some clue how to answer. I use mine professionally, but that just means that I use it for work, it doesn't tell you what I do with it.

So tell us what matters to you, and someone will be able to answer the question - or maybe in the process of analysing that question the answer will become clear to you. Do you need screen space or portability, and if the answer is "both" which matters more? Do you actually need the extra cpu cores of the 15"? Do you need a discrete gpu? Do you need 32GB of RAM? If your answer to any of those last 3 is "yes" you need a 15" to get them, otherwise it's really just a matter of size, preference and price.

 

[jagolden]

If you could define what you mean by "basic use", "prosumer" and "professional" I'd have some clue how to answer. I use mine professionally, but that just means that I use it for work, it doesn't tell you what I do with it.

So tell us what matters to you, and someone will be able to answer the question - or maybe in the process of analysing that question the answer will become clear to you. Do you need screen space or portability, and if the answer is "both" which matters more? Do you actually need the extra cpu cores of the 15"? Do you need a discrete gpu? Do you need 32GB of RAM? If your answer to any of those last 3 is "yes" you need a 15" to get them, otherwise it's really just a matter of size, preference and price.

Based on your answer/questions I could easily stick with the 13".

 

[Howard2k]

I use a 2015 13". It's my primary computer. I spend 3 or 4 nights a week away from home so it's perfect to just put in a backpack. Often I find I don't use it when I'm not at home but it's always nice to have the option. I can VPN back to my home network to access all my content (obviously slower).

 

[Pangalactic]

So help me out please, which is the better model to go with. I use my laptop for both basic use and prosumer and the occasional professional needs.
Tho it’s on that?

If you really want a Macbook, I would probably rank them this way:

1) A new 2015/2016 model (13'' or 15'' if you want more power) if you can get your hands on one. Best port selection, MagSafe, great battery life, no failing keys, pretty damn powerful - just a great laptop overall. Refurb might be also good
2) Baseline 2018 13'' model with quad-core processors. Tons of problems, but at least decent for the money you are investing. Touch bar is very annoying though.
3) Baseline 2018 15'' model - again, expensive but (sort of) reasonable
4) Any other variations of the 2018 model which get more and more overpriced for what they do.

If you are willing to consider Windows:
1) Surface Book 2. Great keyboard, all the port you need, 16 hours of battery life, touchscreen, detachable screen, MagSafe (the Microsoft version of it), AppleCare (also the Microsoft version), dedicated graphics, great video cam, great speakers, one of the best trackpads on Windows - a wonderful laptop overall.
2) Dell XPS 13/15. Pretty close to Surface. I found the keyboard and trackpad to be worse and the speakers are mediocre. Also a horrible nose-up camera.
3) Huawei Matebook X Pro if you want something really Macbook-like looking on windows. Not the best trackpad, but everything else is great: keyboard, superbright screen, touch ID, battery life, graphics card, USB C and USB A, etc

 

[Space Weevil]

I have a 13" MBP and I have to say it is somewhat disappointing.
I use it as a home laptop, nothing more. So, i figured that an i5 with integrated graphics would be adequate. In hindsight, I should have bought the Macbook instead. Similar performance.
I don't see how it deserves the PRO moniker.

 

[Howard2k]

2) Baseline 2018 13'' model with quad-core processors. Tons of problems, but at least decent for the money you are investing. Touch bar is very annoying though.

What are the tons of problems with the 13"?
[doublepost=1540296756][/doublepost]

I have a 13" MBP and I have to say it is somewhat disappointing.
I use it as a home laptop, nothing more. So, i figured that an i5 with integrated graphics would be adequate. In hindsight, I should have bought the Macbook instead. Similar performance.
I don't see how it deserves the PRO moniker.

Did you get the nTB? That's pretty old tech, even by Apple standards. If it's a recent purchase it was a poor choice, but if you are within your return window there is a new 13" coming in a week or so (allegedly).

 

[Pangalactic]

What are the tons of problems with the 13"?

Pretty much the whole MacBook Pro subforum here, from sleep problems to crackling speakers to Bridge OS crashes and so on

 

[Howard2k]

Pretty much the whole MacBook Pro subforum here, from sleep problems to crackling speakers to Bridge OS crashes and so on

I think you'll find those issues also apply to the 15", they're not exclusive to the 13" as your post suggests.

 

[tamara6]

I've had my 13" TB pro for 10 days. I was concerned by the "tons of problems" type posts, and the "Touch Bar is horrible" type posts. But I have found the machine to be very pleasant to use. No issues with crashes, crackling, sleeping, etc. The battery generally lasts me all day (which, for me, means about 8 hours of use). The touch bar is about as useful as the function keys ever were, so that is a wash - I mean, I can still adjust volume and brightness, and the "flat" escape key doesn't bother me like it seems to bother some people.

I wanted a 13 inch screen, not a 12 inch (because my last computer is a 15" 2010 MacBook Pro). One of the things I liked about my old 2010 pro was that it could do anything I asked it to - run any software that I wanted it to (in its heyday, of course, not now). That's why I got this pro. With 4 cores and 16 GB of ram, it should be able to run any software that I could want for the next 4-5 years. I don't think the MacBook, with its underpowered processor, would be able to do that.

But my comment to all the "2018 MBP - horrible machine" posters is - I haven't seen that. Mine isn't horrible. My Touch Bar isn't an issue. The keyboard is noisy, but not terrible otherwise. The trackpad isn't too big. Using a dongle every time I want to plug in a usb device isn't as annoying as I thought it would be. In short, aside from worrying that apple will surprise me next week (with a pro equivalent computer for half the price) and make me sad that I didn't wait, this seems to be a great little machine.

I kind of do wish that I'd gotten regular silver and not space gray, though. I didn't realize just how dark it would be.

 

[nStyle]

I mean the title may as well have been "Who do you think the 2013-2018 13-inch MacBook Pro is for?". Nothing has really changed.

If anything the case for the 2018 version is much better since we finally have a quad core option.

I've had my 2013" 13" since Dec of said year and haven't looked back. The form factor is everything. Powerful enough for most tasks. I don't try to game or do intensive video editing because it wasn't made for that. It's the perfect laptop for everyday use and is much more productive than an iPad.

If I were to upgrade it would be to the 15" since I wouldn't mind a dedicated graphics card for better overall performance but there's no way in hell I would want the touch bar or butterfly keyboard.

 

[Pangalactic]

I think you'll find those issues also apply to the 15", they're not exclusive to the 13" as your post suggests.

Oh sure, I've meant both, which is why I ranked them together below the much better earlier models