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Mac Hardware and Software |OT| - All things Macintosh

Anion

Member
So I've been thinking of upgrading my 2011 Macbook Pro to either this 2016 m7 rMB or the MBA. Based of the CPU stats:

rMB [m7 1.3GHz] = 3714 *note this is for the 1.2GHz, Im hoping Apples 1.3GHz version is better!*
MBA [i5 1.6GHz] = 3628
MBA [i7 2.2GHz] = 4203

So, basically if Im going MBA, I'm going to shell out for the i7 version cause the m7 rMB is better than the base MBA. Ugh, I hope the extra 0.1GHz corresponds to a jump to close that gap a tad lol.


Source: https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare.php?cmp[]=2641&cmp[]=2503&cmp[]=2478


Edit: Someone on the mac rumors website made this
image.jpg

http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/any-benchmarks-for-the-core-m7.1968663/#post-22829667
 

Servbot24

Banned
So I've been thinking of upgrading my 2011 Macbook Pro to either this 2016 m7 rMB or the MBA. Based of the CPU stats:

rMB [m7 1.3GHz] = 3714 *note this is for the 1.2GHz, Im hoping Apples 1.3GHz version is better!*
MBA [i5 1.6GHz] = 3628
MBA [i7 2.2GHz] = 4203

So, basically if Im going MBA, I'm going to shell out for the i7 version cause the m7 rMB is better than the base MBA. Ugh, I hope the extra 0.1GHz corresponds to a jump to close that gap a tad lol.


Source: https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare.php?cmp[]=2641&cmp[]=2503&cmp[]=2478


Edit: Someone on the mac rumors website made this
image.jpg

http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/any-benchmarks-for-the-core-m7.1968663/#post-22829667
I'd wait til June. Guessing there will be a new MBP then.
 

Ayumi

Member
There was a known issue with MBP Retina using Yosemite that caused a lag with airplay. Can someone confirm this is fixed in El Captain?

Are there reasons I shouldn't update anyway?
 

Ryck

Member
Last question...

Have it down to 13" Air and 13" Retina Pro.

Difference is about $75 more for the Pro. Any reason I should consider the Air?

Both have 8gb ram. And 128gb of flash storage.
 
Last question...

Have it down to 13" Air and 13" Retina Pro.

Difference is about $75 more for the Pro. Any reason I should consider the Air?

Both have 8gb ram. And 128gb of flash storage.

No reason to get the Air TBH, and I recommend at least 256BG of storage. You'll instantly kick yourself for only getting 128GB when you realize you only get like 90GB usable since the OS takes up some space.
 

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
Get the Pro. We've beaten the "Air is dead" thing to death, though it's still true. Just get the Pro. The extra weight isn't bad and the extra power will be really really nice. Plus the resolution options you'd get with the Retina are much better than the default 1440x900 of the Air. You'd be able to set it to 1680x1050 if you want to. Cant do that with the Air. (15" goes up to 1920x1200)

However, wait for June. At the very least. No one knows exactly when the next update is coming but it'll be sooner rather than later so buying now would be a mistake if you can wait.
 

Ryck

Member
Was gonna get it for the wife for her bday, but she isn't expecting it in the slightest so maybe ill just wait till June.

Maybe they will make 256gb the base model.

I noticed theres a 500gb one which is super cheap and non retina. I am guessing that one should be avoided?
 
It's bullshit that the cheapest Retina Pro is 128GB. I could deal with the limited hard drive size on the mechanical HD versions in the past because that was easily upgradable but the upcharge for storage on the Pro is silly. Made even worse by the fact that the baseline Macbook has more storage than the baseline Retina MBP.
 

jts

...hate me...
It's bullshit that the cheapest Retina Pro is 128GB. I could deal with the limited hard drive size on the mechanical HD versions in the past because that was easily upgradable but the upcharge for storage on the Pro is silly. Made even worse by the fact that the baseline Macbook has more storage than the baseline Retina MBP.
It was last updated a year ago, so that makes it older than than the MacBook.

Next refresh will get it bumped to 256GB guaranteed.

They could have stealthily updated that spec like they did with the MBA 13", they didn't because a full blown refresh is coming up soon at WWDC, whereas the MBA will not get the same treatment.

The maths just add up.
 

Ryck

Member
Ok yeah, waiting till June. Thanks guys!

Edit: whoa checked the price this morning and the 13" Air is down to $749.00 :0
 
Get the Pro. We've beaten the "Air is dead" thing to death, though it's still true. Just get the Pro. The extra weight isn't bad and the extra power will be really really nice. Plus the resolution options you'd get with the Retina are much better than the default 1440x900 of the Air. You'd be able to set it to 1680x1050 if you want to. Cant do that with the Air. (15" goes up to 1920x1200)

However, wait for June. At the very least. No one knows exactly when the next update is coming but it'll be sooner rather than later so buying now would be a mistake if you can wait.

Even with the $300 markdowns going on right now?

I'm thinking about switching to Mac for my laptop, with the idea that I'd run it dual boot when I needed to interface with work. I know that 256GB is my storage level, and trying to decide between 8GB and 16GB. I've lived with 8GB and less with Windows, I can't imagine 8GB would be maxed out with OSX for awhile.

The 8/256 13" Pro is $1200 this week. It's plenty tempting. Particularly when I don't know what the base specs/pricing will be come June.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
Even with the $300 markdowns going on right now?

I'm thinking about switching to Mac for my laptop, with the idea that I'd run it dual boot when I needed to interface with work. I know that 256GB is my storage level, and trying to decide between 8GB and 16GB. I've lived with 8GB and less with Windows, I can't imagine 8GB would be maxed out with OSX for awhile.

The 8/256 13" Pro is $1200 this week. It's plenty tempting. Particularly when I don't know what the base specs/pricing will be come June.

Realistically the prices will be the same, since Apple rarely raises prices unless it's a "new" product (like the original rMBP). I'm not sure if you'll get $300 off a device, but you can also get refurbs for good discounts direct from Apple after the next version comes out—I picked up my 13" MBP for $250 off after the last Haswell refresh from Apple refurb.
 
Even with the $300 markdowns going on right now?

I'm thinking about switching to Mac for my laptop, with the idea that I'd run it dual boot when I needed to interface with work. I know that 256GB is my storage level, and trying to decide between 8GB and 16GB. I've lived with 8GB and less with Windows, I can't imagine 8GB would be maxed out with OSX for awhile.

The 8/256 13" Pro is $1200 this week. It's plenty tempting. Particularly when I don't know what the base specs/pricing will be come June.

You might also want to check out Apple's refurbished store. I've bought a couple of things from there, including my rMBP, and the quality is impeccable. I even got a stealth upgrade to a higher model, which is known to happen.
 
You might also want to check out Apple's refurbished store. I've bought a couple of things from there, including my rMBP, and the quality is impeccable. I even got a stealth upgrade to a higher model, which is known to happen.

Yeah, I've been looking at both refurb and Best Buy this week. BB is cheaper with the markdowns, and has a longer return period.

I think I'll end up holding off, particularly in the hope that the bezels will be reduced.
 

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
I really wish they'd add a blue or green color. Just to fill out the spectrum a bit. Gold is kind of yellow. Rose is kind of red/pink. So give me a blue or green and I will be so happy.

But only if they make it available on ALL models of ALL devices. Even as a BTO option that takes extra time. Just don't charge extra for it.

I want my next MacBook to be a blue 15" MacBook Pro.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
I really wish they'd add a blue or green color. Just to fill out the spectrum a bit. Gold is kind of yellow. Rose is kind of red/pink. So give me a blue or green and I will be so happy.

But only if they make it available on ALL models of ALL devices. Even as a BTO option that takes extra time. Just don't charge extra for it.

I want my next MacBook to be a blue 15" MacBook Pro.

They could charge $200 extra for non-standard colors and it'd still put ColorWare out of business and be cheaper than you could ever get it done yourself.
 

Anion

Member
I really wish they'd add a blue or green color. Just to fill out the spectrum a bit. Gold is kind of yellow. Rose is kind of red/pink. So give me a blue or green and I will be so happy.

But only if they make it available on ALL models of ALL devices. Even as a BTO option that takes extra time. Just don't charge extra for it.

I want my next MacBook to be a blue 15" MacBook Pro.
Just in general, I would predict the iPhone 7S to introduce a navy blue color. That would carry on and yes I too would buy it lol
 

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
They could charge $200 extra for non-standard colors and it'd still put ColorWare out of business and be cheaper than you could ever get it done yourself.
Well I wouldn't want to put a company out of business like that, but also I'd rather not pay a fuckload just to paint my computer. Therefore I'd love if Apple offered more color options as BTO. Color ware would be fine. They don't just color Macs and would still offer colors and combinations that Apple wouldn't have anyway.

I just want blue.

Well technically I want bright red. Or orange. Like real red and oranges. Basically I want the color choices that they've offered on the iPod touch's for years. We already know they have the ability to do it. At least there's bright red Product (RED) cases for the iPhone. But I can't do the same for my laptop. Well I guess you can, but it wouldn't be the same. It'd just be a cover that doesn't even cover the part you actually see when using it.

Just in general, I would predict the iPhone 7S to introduce a navy blue color. That would carry on and yes I too would buy it lol
Would be nice. I'd buy a colored iPhone and matching MacBook Pro.
 
(I've since learned that the SATA cable is probably the actual issue, and that it's a common failure point on these models. If I want I can just replace it and have a second internal drive. Don't know why the Genius Bar didn't catch that...)

It is a pretty bizarre problem to have, and probably wouldn't spring to mind in the early days. I only identified it in my SIL's MBP because a person here (jts?) had it in a Mac Mini.

You may have sleep issues running the OS off the Optical Drive's SATA port. It might be OK with a single disk, but the Fusion Drive I built in a MacBook pro worked much better with the SSD in the HDD bay and the HDD in the optical bay.
 

entremet

Member
I really hope Apple gives us a new Cinema Display in June for WWDC. It's been too long. And my 27 inch display resolution is killing me and I don't want an iMac 5k since I prefer notebooks.

Sure, I can get a non Apple monitor, but too much of an Apple whore and I love the built in MagSafe and Thunderbolt.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
I really hope Apple gives us a new Cinema Display in June for WWDC. It's been too long. And my 27 inch display resolution is killing me and I don't want an iMac 5k since I prefer notebooks.

Sure, I can get a non Apple monitor, but too much of an Apple whore and I love the built in MagSafe and Thunderbolt.

I dunno. It made a certain amount of sense to wait for TB3 since next to no models could drive a single 5K panel and you wanted the retina scaling, but then TB3 doesn't actually allow a 5K@60Hz SST signal. Feel like they might axe the monitor at some point, since they could have updated it a while ago.
 

mrkgoo

Member
It is a pretty bizarre problem to have, and probably wouldn't spring to mind in the early days. I only identified it in my SIL's MBP because a person here (jts?) had it in a Mac Mini.

You may have sleep issues running the OS off the Optical Drive's SATA port. It might be OK with a single disk, but the Fusion Drive I built in a MacBook pro worked much better with the SSD in the HDD bay and the HDD in the optical bay.

The sata cable is actually a super common (relatively of course) point of failure in 13" unibody mbp models. So much so we often used to preemptively replace them if we were inside anyway.
 
I tried out the 12" Macbook keyboard and...I can't say I'm a fan. The old keyboard feels much more natural, and I can't tell if my disconfort was exacerbated by the closeness of the keys. I felt like I wasn't getting enough feedback.
 

jts

...hate me...
So what's the deal with MS Office? Is it the defacto productivity suite on the Mac (and iOS) now? Does iWork have a future?
 

EmiPrime

Member
iMore going to clarify that no, Apple Music won't delete all your local music if you don't tell it to? Seems like a worthy subject for an article considering how many people ran with that dumb blog post since it fits into the "Apple doomed, iTunes sucks" narrative.

I fundamentally disagree that this is a user error issue. It's telling that Google has had none of these problems with its own music service including the user music library upload part (which is subscription free).

So what's the deal with MS Office? Is it the defacto productivity suite on the Mac (and iOS) now? Does iWork have a future?

For those who need to send documents to other people, yeah MS Office reigns. Google Docs is best for collaboration. Scrivener is a very good alternative for large documents like dissertations and novels. Keynote is still decent and iWork as a whole has a future as a good enough for most people, free office suite.

I don't like subscription software and I don't have £100 to spend on the home edition of Office 2016 so I am staying with Office 2011. Most businesses and universities lag a version or two behind with Office anyway.
 

Ambitious

Member
Speaking of iWork, the fact that you can't edit a formula using the formula bar at the bottom is probably one of the dumbest design decisions I've ever seen.

numbersk8qdz.png


As far as I remember, I actually had to google how to edit formulas when they released this redesigned version. I had to fucking google how to edit a formula in a spreadsheet application.
 
Speaking of iWork, the fact that you can't edit a formula using the formula bar at the bottom is probably one of the dumbest design decisions I've ever seen.

numbersk8qdz.png


As far as I remember, I actually had to google how to edit formulas when they released this redesigned version. I had to fucking google how to edit a formula in a spreadsheet application.

While I agree with most of your complaints towards Apple, you just always sound super angry. Take a chill pill. ;)
 

Deku Tree

Member
So how would it work if I wanted to put a GTX1080 into a Thunderbolt enclosure to connect it to my 5K iMac 4GHz i7 with 16GB ram? What would be a good Thunderbolt enclosure for that?
 
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