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1) You can still buy a new 2015 MBP with a processer nearly as fast as the 2017 models and 16gb ram. But the vast majority have chosen the touchbar MBP by pure

1) You can still buy a new 2015 MBP with a processer nearly as fast as the 2017 models and 16gb ram. But the vast majority have chosen the touchbar MBP by pure preference. 2) Laptops with more memory don’t have the same transfer speed or power efficiency.

jarym 9y ago
If the MBP without TouchBar that they are currently selling came with the same SSD/CPU options and 32Gb of RAM I'd buy it in a heartbeat. I also know I'm far from alone in that. Argument #2 is parrotting what Apple said. Laptops that get smaller and smaller tend not have the same power efficiency either. Blaming 'more memory' having lower power efficiency is a weak argument when you look at the whole picture. As for transfer speeds, its not true that more memory = lower transfer speed; it depends on a number of other factors (type of memory, clock rate..)
- tolien 9y ago
  > Argument #2 is parrotting what Apple said Weak argument or no, it is demonstrably true - the first Intel CPU to support LPDDR4 will be Cannon Lake, expected some time next year. The part that's missing is that Apple could have put a bigger battery in a device that was either the same size as the previous model (or anywhere between the thickness of the previous and current models), or offered customers the choice of trading RAM for battery life.
  - mschuster91 9y ago
    > or offered customers the choice Apple does not want consumers to have a choice, or at least only the barely tolerable amount of choice. The more they control and have as uniform as possible the more profit they make.
    - tolien 9y ago
      Agreed - although the argument that Apple makes the choices for you is laughable when you consider how many SKUs there are for a lot of their devices these days (never mind watch bands!).
      - mschuster91 9y ago
        > when you consider how many SKUs there are for a lot of their devices It's always the same OS, with constant nagging if it is not the newest OS. On iOS, no choice between app stores and unless you don't like distributing source around and compiling yourself, no sideloading (to ensure Apple always gets their 30% cut). The hardware choices are not really choices either - it's like packages in cars: no way to get something really adjusted to my specific needs, Apple always thinks they know my needs better than I do.
mschuster91 9y ago
> 1) You can still buy a new 2015 MBP with a processer nearly as fast as the 2017 models and 16gb ram Speed is not everything. The 2015's Skylake can't do HEVC (and VP9 but I have no idea who outside YT might use VP9). > 2) Laptops with more memory don’t have the same transfer speed or power efficiency. Everything is faster and more power efficient than using swap - in fact, my MBP with nothing more than Chrome, Outlook, Slack and Excel open has 13.12GB of RAM occupied and 16.5GB swap usage. Not to mention all that swapping drastically reduces the life of the flash memory - which is, to make stuff worse, soldered on the motherboard on the 2017 model. Yet another thing that Apple forces down the throats of its users, no way to get data recovery on these when your mobo gets fried.
- lern_too_spel 9y ago
  Both YouTube and Netflix use VP9. As videos from these two services constitute the vast majority of my video watching, Apple devices are an exceedingly bad choice for battery life and performance if I want a VP9 encode or for video quality and bandwidth usage if I stick to an Apple-approved codec.

jarym 9y ago

If the MBP without TouchBar that they are currently selling came with the same SSD/CPU options and 32Gb of RAM I'd buy it in a heartbeat. I also know I'm far from alone in that. Argument #2 is parrotting what Apple said. Laptops that get smaller and smaller tend not have the same power efficiency either. Blaming 'more memory' having lower power efficiency is a weak argument when you look at the whole picture. As for transfer speeds, its not true that more memory = lower transfer speed; it depends on a number of other factors (type of memory, clock rate..)

tolien 9y ago
> Argument #2 is parrotting what Apple said Weak argument or no, it is demonstrably true - the first Intel CPU to support LPDDR4 will be Cannon Lake, expected some time next year. The part that's missing is that Apple could have put a bigger battery in a device that was either the same size as the previous model (or anywhere between the thickness of the previous and current models), or offered customers the choice of trading RAM for battery life.
- mschuster91 9y ago
  > or offered customers the choice Apple does not want consumers to have a choice, or at least only the barely tolerable amount of choice. The more they control and have as uniform as possible the more profit they make.
  - tolien 9y ago
    Agreed - although the argument that Apple makes the choices for you is laughable when you consider how many SKUs there are for a lot of their devices these days (never mind watch bands!).
    - mschuster91 9y ago
      > when you consider how many SKUs there are for a lot of their devices It's always the same OS, with constant nagging if it is not the newest OS. On iOS, no choice between app stores and unless you don't like distributing source around and compiling yourself, no sideloading (to ensure Apple always gets their 30% cut). The hardware choices are not really choices either - it's like packages in cars: no way to get something really adjusted to my specific needs, Apple always thinks they know my needs better than I do.

mschuster91 9y ago

> 1) You can still buy a new 2015 MBP with a processer nearly as fast as the 2017 models and 16gb ram Speed is not everything. The 2015's Skylake can't do HEVC (and VP9 but I have no idea who outside YT might use VP9). > 2) Laptops with more memory don’t have the same transfer speed or power efficiency. Everything is faster and more power efficient than using swap - in fact, my MBP with nothing more than Chrome, Outlook, Slack and Excel open has 13.12GB of RAM occupied and 16.5GB swap usage. Not to mention all that swapping drastically reduces the life of the flash memory - which is, to make stuff worse, soldered on the motherboard on the 2017 model. Yet another thing that Apple forces down the throats of its users, no way to get data recovery on these when your mobo gets fried.

lern_too_spel 9y ago
Both YouTube and Netflix use VP9. As videos from these two services constitute the vast majority of my video watching, Apple devices are an exceedingly bad choice for battery life and performance if I want a VP9 encode or for video quality and bandwidth usage if I stick to an Apple-approved codec.