New MacBook Pros today, looking a bit "meh"

Already planning on it

My partner (who is still using his 2008 MB - first of the unibodies) just put in an order for his.

His current MB is dying a slow death so he always planned to get a new one this Fall whatever came out. Fingers crossed heā€™ll like his new 13-inch MBP as much as his old one. Hopefully, even as much as I love my MB Adorable. :crossed_fingers:

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Canā€™t help but wonder if the keyboard repair/replacement program for the 2016 to 2017 MacBooks, also will extend to the 2018 models.

Annoying as it might be, the replacement program has given me a bit of peace of mind, after I bought my current MBP 2017.

Iā€™ve had no problems so far (knock on wood)ā€¦

Have you actually used one? Iā€™ve built custom menus for a dozen or so apps and use it constantly (with better touch tool). Even if I did nothing with it besides highlight pdfs in Preview using the native functionality , that would practically be enough to justify it. In particular I find that with apps Iā€™ve started using after getting the MacBook pro, Iā€™m using it a lot because itā€™s easier than training myself to use the keyboard shortcuts. Especially MindNode, where the visual keys are much more intuitive.

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they answer is no at the moment until they update their keyboard replacement programme found here;

https://www.apple.com/uk/support/keyboard-service-program-for-macbook-and-macbook-pro/

I have been nursing my old work laptop for a long time until an updated version of the MB Pro 15" with 32GB memory option would become available.

Of course dear Apple pulled the discount coupon from the ACN website so I have to wait until they grace us a new one. But first pay the $800 membership fee, please :-/

I really donā€™t think as many people hate the keyboard as stated, I think itā€™s the reliability (mine was replaced a couple of months back, and Iā€™m basing this off pure speculation :relieved:).

Personally I think itā€™s the best feeling keyboard ever, except now I have a thin keyboard cover on it, taped round the edges for added peace of mind. A bit sad for such an expensive machine, and Iā€™m really not happy about that. Nothing in the Verge article convinces me Apple hasnā€™t upped reliability.

I also like the touchbar and use it for automation via Better Touch Tool extensively, and I love the volume slider; certainly much better than function keys for me. If it hadnā€™t pushed the price of the machine up so much Iā€™d be a fan, but itā€™s undeniable usefulness for me is not worth much really.

Anyway, thatā€™s just my point of view.

2018s would be covered under the standard one year warranty, or Apple Care. Whether that is extended or not is another matter.

Iā€™m conflicted. Iā€™m ready to buy the 15, but not hearing Apple say there was a meaningful fix to keyboard has me worried. I canā€™t imagine them not addressing it, so maybe they just donā€™t want to admit it they fixed it? And putting the 2018s into the repair program today would be incredibly embarrassing.

Itā€™s a great spec bump over my sticky key, 2016 non touch bar MBP, so that is good!

People have downplayed the keyboard issue, but there are two reasons itā€™s a big deal. Even a small % is a large number of people. More importantly, itā€™s the severity of the remedy that is incredibly aggravating. Several hundred dollars and a week of downtime to fix a stuck key is ridiculous in my eyes.

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32gb RAM pushes it above ā€œmehā€ - this will be huge for many people. I jumped on it. My 2015 is good enough, but Iā€™m looking forward to a little more horsepower!

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Same. 2017 MBP ā€œnā€ key repeats pretty much every time I use it.

Meh, is right. Bumped up specs but still the same set of useless ports. No return of magsafe or any new version of this idea. Sticking with my 2015 MBP for another season by the looks of it.

I got my 13" MBP with Touch Bar in Dec 2017, following a 2013 rMBP that could not work with 4K videos (HEVC H.265 issue). I have a similar problem with my keyboard, albeit with double space. It doesnā€™t affect me much (yet) as I tend to type on a magic keyboard most of the time, and have set up an Alfred text expansion rule to delete the double spaces. However I intend to drop off the machine to Apple to fix the keyboard.

For the new models, True Tone is the only item on the list that appeals to me. Iā€™m very happy with the power I have and with the RAM. Iā€™m more excited about Mojave than I am about the new specced MBPs.

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I agree with you! I use the touch bar all the time and it is simply fantastic how it can make some workflows very intuitive and easy to use.

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I use my laptop in clamshell, so the keyboard, touchbar, and Touch ID donā€™t matter to me.
But, wow! If I had $4k lying around, this would be an awesome update. 6-core I9 processor, 32GB ram, 1TB SSD. Sounds great to me.

Odds are, if I had $4k lying around, Iā€™d also have a couple of hundred bucks for adapters or docks too. I just donā€™t see Apple ever making laptops thicker so they can put old ports back in.

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At that point get a 5k iMac or iMac Pro

Then I would need two, as I work in the lab at school, and at home.

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Austin Mann has a nice review of the new MacBook Pro (with some great looking pics, of course):

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MacBook Pro review by Craig Hunter, NASA engineer and developer of Theodolite (ht: The Mac Observer).

In one of his tests it actually beats the iMac Pro on single core performance.

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