13-inch 2018 MacBook Pro with Touch Bar has full speed on all Thunderbolt 3 ports

AppleInsider

According to Apple documentation, the old bandwidth limitation on the 13-inch MacBook Pro is a thing of the past.

Apple's shift to a processor with more PCI-e channels is responsible for an increase in total bandwidth to the new 13-inch MacBook Pro. The previous dual-core i5-7360U processor in the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar had 12 PCI-e lanes for communication.

The new model has the i5-8259U processor, with 16 PCI-e lanes. More PCI-e lanes allow for both Thunderbolt 3 controllers of the machine to have full data path width, and as such, full speed.

Apple detailed the bandwidth limitation on a document covering Thunderbolt 3 connectivity after the 2016 MacBook Pro was released. Specifically, the two ports on the older notebook's right hand side provide full Thunderbolt 3 functionality, but have reduced bandwidth, while the left pair retains full PCIe throughput.

For this reason, Apple recommended connecting high performance peripherals like fast Thunderbolt 3 RAID arrays via the left-hand ports. The 15-inch MacBook Pro model has always supported full PCI-e bandwidth on each of its four Thunderbolt 3 ports.

entropys

hmm, seems the 13 inch is the pick of this update.

rayz2016

Don’t care. 

No parallel printer port, no deal. 

Maybe in 2019, Cook will finally deliver a Mac laptop with the built-in rotisserie we’ve been screaming for. 

lkrupp

Rayz2016 said:

Don’t care. 

No parallel printer port, no deal. 

Maybe in 2019, Cook will finally deliver a Mac laptop with the built-in rotisserie we’ve been screaming for. 

Are you mocking a certain group that lurks here?

edited July 2018

wreighven

MFW I realize I've been plugging my 5K display into the wrong ports...

soli

Good! As far I know Apple doesn't make it easy to know which ports had full speed. Maybe we'd put to memory which ports could support a 5K display or other peripherals, and why, but the typical user shouldn't. Luckily, this probably wan't ever a major issue.

tipoo

After overhead, their SSDs already seem at the limit of the PCI-E 4x connection. I wonder if Apple would go even faster on storage with whole banana control, if they could put as many PCI-E lanes as they wanted and were physically constrained by in their own silicon...

mplsp

Soli said:

Good! As far I know Apple doesn't make it easy to know which ports had full speed. Maybe we'd put to memory which ports could support a 5K display or other peripherals, and why, but the typical user shouldn't. Luckily, this probably wan't ever a major issue.

I think this was probalby the biggest issue. The majority of users don’t necessarily need more than one high speed port, but if it wasn’t clear which was which it makes it confusing. This may open up the 13” machines as a possibility for the subset who do actually need that much connectivity, but I suspect the majority of those people would stick with a 15” machine anyway. 

rayz2016

lkrupp said:

Rayz2016 said:

Don’t care. 

No parallel printer port, no deal. 

Maybe in 2019, Cook will finally deliver a Mac laptop with the built-in rotisserie we’ve been screaming for. 

Are you mocking a certain group that lurks here?

Of course not! I'm diddly serious!

I've asked two of my friends and both of them said 'yes', so I know for a fact that 100% of Apple's customers have a professional need to roast chicken while they're editing video.

Deny it all you want, but facts are facts.

duhsesame

Rayz2016 said:

lkrupp said:

Rayz2016 said:

Don’t care. 

No parallel printer port, no deal. 

Maybe in 2019, Cook will finally deliver a Mac laptop with the built-in rotisserie we’ve been screaming for. 

Are you mocking a certain group that lurks here?

Of course not! I'm diddly serious!

I've asked two of my friends and both of them said 'yes', so I know for a fact that 100% of Apple's customers have a professional need to roast chicken while they're editing video.

Deny it all you want, but facts are facts.

Sigh.  People lost their mind (if they have).

wood1208

Good to know on touch bar 13" MBP but I care to see same spec in Function key MBP. Better spec with affordable cost MBP.

ckay

Does anyone know if you can connect 2 of the Thunderbolt 3 LG 5K Displays to the 2018 13” MacBook Pro if ones connected to the Blackmagic eGPU?

mike wuerthele

ckay said:

Does anyone know if you can connect 2 of the Thunderbolt 3 LG 5K Displays to the 2018 13” MacBook Pro if ones connected to the Blackmagic eGPU?

You can.

cgwerks

entropys said:

hmm, seems the 13 inch is the pick of this update.

No doubt... they fixed a bunch of stuff with this update of the 13". I wish they'd have gone farther, but it is now quite tempting.

lkrupp said:

Rayz2016 said:

Don’t care. 

No parallel printer port, no deal. 

Maybe in 2019, Cook will finally deliver a Mac laptop with the built-in rotisserie we’ve been screaming for. 

Are you mocking a certain group that lurks here?

Apparently attempting to, however poorly.

Soli said:

Good! As far I know Apple doesn't make it easy to know which ports had full speed. Maybe we'd put to memory which ports could support a 5K display or other peripherals, and why, but the typical user shouldn't. Luckily, this probably wan't ever a major issue.

Or engrave slo-mo or something next to them. Or, color them yellow for caution (though maybe people would think yellow means fast... can't win).

Rayz2016 said:
I've asked two of my friends and both of them said 'yes', so I know for a fact that 100% of Apple's customers have a professional need to roast chicken while they're editing video.

That would come in handy, and I hear the 15" i9 is a good candidate.

cgwerks

This is good, if for no other reason than preventing confusion and more convenience. It's unlikely I'd be using that many ports at once very often, but having to have the cable on a particular side when you see 4 identical ports is less than optimal. They probably should have made back ports the high-speed and fronts lower, instead of side to side (or something like that).

jdb8167

This is useful info. I just got the new 13” and was confused when I didn’t see any info on what ports to use with my RAID. Now it makes sense. 

zombat

The thunderbolts 3 ports on the right side of the 2018 T2 chipped MBP/MBA doesn't work properly. The ports are corrupting external drives. Apple needs to sort this out! Reported to Apple but still, no news if its hardware issue or firmware. 

edited December 2018