My buying decision is gated on the keyboard. It doesn't matter what else it has: fail keyboard = fail machine. I buy Macs. I have directly purchased dozens of them since the 512ke. Apple needs to scrap the crappy butterfly keyboard before I will consider a laptop from them.
I personally have yet to meet anyone who likes the touchbar..
We haven't met, but I really like the Touch Bar on my new MBP 15". If one takes the time learn how to use it, and modify it for their workflow it is a very impressive piece of kit that greatly increases my productivity. FYI I am also a fan of the butterfly keyboard (the latest version).
Looks like the Touch Bar is here to stay. Also these have the butterfly keyboards so it’s possible Apple isn’t ditching butterfly and the rumors of a new keyboard are for the rumored new 16” model. That could end up being an uber-pro machine, the laptop equivalent of a Mac Pro.
Actually, no. The Touch Bar is not here to stay. This is just Apple training the user base for a glass haptic keyboard, so it’s not surprising that they’ve expanded it across the line.
And as for the butterfly keyboard, what Apple are failure rates as a percentage of machines sold. What we have is internet-based echo bitching. If Apple has chosen not to fix the “design problem”, then that could possibly be an indicator of how big the problem actually is.
I personally have yet to meet anyone who likes the touchbar..
We haven't met. Hi, I love mine. I would love a standalone keyboard for my Mac Pro that incorporated one. Once you get used to it the old keyboards feel ... mmm. what's the term I am looking for ... well do you use floppies, SCSI, Optical drives a dial up modem?
Use mine a lot more than I thought I would, but then I also have BetterTouchTools installed.
The touchbar is one of those things that will get much more useful over time, though I find it very useful for a variety of things right now -- scrolling through photos/videos is my favourite, but also quick access to the emoji symbols (otherwise more complicated to do on Macs) and a few other things (the rare occasion where I have to use Office, for example). I'd really like to see a new Magic Keyboard with touchbar, and of course far more third-party support (which will likely accelerate now that there's no other option).
The 128GB of storage at the base is a bad move IMO, perfectly fine for consumer-level stuff but I would have thought 256GB would have been a better base for MBP buyers. Thanks to most models now having Thunderbolt 3, adding massive storage is easy and still extremely fast, but 128GB is a bit thin when you're constrained from bringing along detachable storage.
I guess "pro" buyers should just pretend the $1299 model doesn't exist and that $1499 is the base price, unless you live entirely on the cloud for your files (which is probably why that's the "student" model). As for the alleged "16-inch" model, I remain convinced that this will be a moderately-bumped 15-inch with thinner bezels to allow for more screen, and now doesn't look like it's coming until late this year or early next.
I personally have yet to meet anyone who likes the touchbar..
Well, we haven't met.
So that makes nine or ten of us so far, alone in this thread.
I like the one on my 2018 MBP15 too. So, +1. No real problems with the keyboard either. Maybe my biggest complaints are that it isn’t force touch sensitive and it isn’t configurable enough.
I think it will only get larger (like 1” tall, 2” tall, ...) and eventually it will just be a second display for content. Who knows, it may become an iPad display size.
Looks like the Touch Bar is here to stay. Also these have the butterfly keyboards so it’s possible Apple isn’t ditching butterfly and the rumors of a new keyboard are for the rumored new 16” model. That could end up being an uber-pro machine, the laptop equivalent of a Mac Pro.
If anything, the new non-butterfly keyboard will make its debut on the rumored 16 / 16.5" MPB but by no means will it end there. I expect over the next year for all of Apple's laptops to have the new keyboard design.
The touchbar is one of those things that will get much more useful over time, though I find it very useful for a variety of things right now -- scrolling through photos/videos is my favourite, but also quick access to the emoji symbols (otherwise more complicated to do on Macs) and a few other things (the rare occasion where I have to use Office, for example). I'd really like to see a new Magic Keyboard with touchbar, and of course far more third-party support (which will likely accelerate now that there's no other option).
The 128GB of storage at the base is a bad move IMO, perfectly fine for consumer-level stuff but I would have thought 256GB would have been a better base for MBP buyers. Thanks to most models now having Thunderbolt 3, adding massive storage is easy and still extremely fast, but 128GB is a bit thin when you're constrained from bringing along detachable storage.
I guess "pro" buyers should just pretend the $1299 model doesn't exist and that $1499 is the base price, unless you live entirely on the cloud for your files (which is probably why that's the "student" model). As for the alleged "16-inch" model, I remain convinced that this will be a moderately-bumped 15-inch with thinner bezels to allow for more screen, and now doesn't look like it's coming until late this year or early next.
"The 128GB of storage at the base is a bad move IMO, perfectly fine for consumer-level stuff but I would have thought 256GB would have been a better base for MBP buyers."
I don't look at that low-end / entry-level 13" MBP as a true MBP but more as a higher-spec MBA. The low-end 13" MBP are still using the low-power 15W processors vs 28W for the higher-end (AKA true) 13" MBP.
Also only 8GB RAM standard. 240€ to bump it to 16GB. That is supremely disappointing.
That is reason I buy second hand only. Price is set by demand then.
The problem is that high Configure-To-Order prices affect the availability of upgraded units on the second-hand market. I’ve been shopping for a used MacBook Air and am finding very few with 256 Gb storage, presumably because very few people were willing to pay the high cost of upgrading when they bought those machines new.
Comments
I can not tell how bad the TouchBar is. Its making me mad!
And as for the butterfly keyboard, what Apple are failure rates as a percentage of machines sold. What we have is internet-based echo bitching. If Apple has chosen not to fix the “design problem”, then that could possibly be an indicator of how big the problem actually is.
Use mine a lot more than I thought I would, but then I also have BetterTouchTools installed.
The 128GB of storage at the base is a bad move IMO, perfectly fine for consumer-level stuff but I would have thought 256GB would have been a better base for MBP buyers. Thanks to most models now having Thunderbolt 3, adding massive storage is easy and still extremely fast, but 128GB is a bit thin when you're constrained from bringing along detachable storage.
I guess "pro" buyers should just pretend the $1299 model doesn't exist and that $1499 is the base price, unless you live entirely on the cloud for your files (which is probably why that's the "student" model). As for the alleged "16-inch" model, I remain convinced that this will be a moderately-bumped 15-inch with thinner bezels to allow for more screen, and now doesn't look like it's coming until late this year or early next.
I think it will only get larger (like 1” tall, 2” tall, ...) and eventually it will just be a second display for content. Who knows, it may become an iPad display size.
I don't look at that low-end / entry-level 13" MBP as a true MBP but more as a higher-spec MBA. The low-end 13" MBP are still using the low-power 15W processors vs 28W for the higher-end (AKA true) 13" MBP.
It wouldn’t be such a kick in the crotch if the price to upgrade were more reasonable, but USD$200 for an additional 128 GB is lunacy.
The function keys are still there if you want them but I don't remember using them when I ran Pro Tools.
Glued together, over priced, lacking expandability, dodgy keyboard but thin!
I have two stalwart laptops to keep me going until Apple gets things right again!
But, what on earth does your comment have to do with the paltry stock RAM offering?
Nothing.