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64GB RAM is like "hallelujah". Doing enterprise dev with Docker + Java is pretty horrible with 16GB on my 2017 MBP. The fact that this review didn't even onc

64GB RAM is like "hallelujah". Doing enterprise dev with Docker + Java is pretty horrible with 16GB on my 2017 MBP. The fact that this review didn't even once mention the fact that this machine is now thicker & bigger and yet they didn't add any useful ports back in is amazing. I still hate that the 2017 one I have has only USB-C + Headphone jack. I appreciate that it still has the headphone jack. But at our office we all got OWC Thunderbolt 3 Docks @ $300/desk and the whole experience sucks.

pwthornton 7y ago
I'd get an external display with a dock built-in. I have the new 4k LG one at my desk, and I love needing only one cable to connect to my MBP when I'm at my desk. It even handles power.
whalesalad 7y ago
My 15” has 32gb of memory and 4 usb-c ports. I’m excited too, but you could have alleviated your problems a year ago.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
jeffshek 7y ago
I was pleasantly surprised about the 64gb also. Same issue with Docker making me want to upgrade. This has the largest battery possible under TSA regulations.
fjp 7y ago
I have the 15" with 32gb and I thought docker was making my laptop shit the bed - screens flickering all the time, mouse barely moving, etc. It turned out to be docker plus Firefox (current version/Quantum yada yada) that was too much - I can't stop using all this docker stuff but I switched to Safari and haven't had any problems at all
- kitsunesoba 7y ago
  Both Chrome and Firefox are much more demanding than many realize. It’s gotten to the point that they should consider a feature freeze and focus on nothing but efficiency and performance for the next few years.
  - TremendousJudge 7y ago
    That's kinda what Firefox did
  - timw4mail 7y ago
    Websites are a huge part of the problem.
    - dmlittle 7y ago
      While true the fact that Safari runs without these issues shows that it's not just websites but also the browsers themselves.
keymone 7y ago
Any port that isn’t usb-c has to die and I’m glad Apple is contributing to this.
frozenport 7y ago
The MSI and ThinkPads have had four ram slots for years... You can easily upgrade to 128 gb on these models.
charlesju 7y ago
What are you using that isn't USB C/Bluetooth at this point? Honest question.
- expectsomuch 7y ago
  Inexpensive monitors. USB keys. Older external drives. Ethernet. Office realities.
- mantap 7y ago
  Not OP but I don't own a single device that uses USB-C. Every USB device I have uses USB-A, including a mouse I bought last month.
- abstractbarista 7y ago
  (I'm not an Apple user.) I routinely simultaneously use all of the following: Ethernet, 1-2 USB Type A, SD Card, 3.5mm audio, DisplayPort, (while charging too). As we can see, Apple's 'Pro' products simply do not work me.
  - danaris 7y ago
    If you're using DisplayPort, that suggests you're at a desk, with an external monitor; for this, a dock works great. I routinely use all of those simultaneously on the TB3 dock I've got at my desk.
- lostgame 7y ago
  All of them? I don’t have a single device that uses USB-C. How about iPhones, as a great example? :P
- Rebelgecko 7y ago
  Literally every single TV or projector I've ever given a presentation on Ethernet (micro-)SD card Keyboard Mouse Displays Flashing microcontrollers (technically could be done over BT but it is a pain in the ass) Gamepad I've bought dongles/docking stations for all of these devices but it is a huge hassle when traveling, which is a use case a laptop should be able to excel at. Adding just a single USB-A port and HDMI would be a complete gamechanger for me. Apple wouldn't be able to sell as many of their $70 dongles though.
Aperocky 7y ago
Get a cloud desktop, a cleaner environment that will likely be closer to what production look like. The mac only need to be powerful enough to run the IDE.
- hinkley 7y ago
  It's still one of my goals to be able to get half a dozen devs in a room and be able to emulate most of our infrastructure on those 6 machines, for purposes of prototyping and debugging.
- gatherhunterer 7y ago
  Then you have to pay for cloud processing. Owning your hardware is an investment that pays off more than ever now that things like Kubernetes’ resource provisioning can escalate costs to the stratosphere even when the nodes are not doing any real work. I think my next Mac will be whatever laptop still has all of its keys and I’ll just keep building machines to run linux with a one-step Kubernetes solution for development clusters. Many people don’t want to assemble machines and that makes a beefy laptop running Minikube the easiest solution to dodge cloud costs outside of production.
  - kkarakk 7y ago
    It's not ideal right now but cloud dev is clearly the way it's going. I'd say buying el cheapo chromebook + cloud dev environment would work out to be cheaper even if the cloud provider somehow screwed up and took off(not been my experience but i haven't needed to work with k8 yet)
    - gatherhunterer 7y ago
      On AWS K8s provisioning a basic 4-node cluster to sit there and do nothing costs over $300 per month. The amount you spend in a year can be used to build an unreasonably powerful cluster in your home or office.
    - unethical_ban 7y ago
      I work at a financial institution that is going the reverse, potentially because of internal issues - the dev environment is underprovisioned, and I guess they can't/won't beef it up, so all the developers are going back from virtual desktops to fully loaded for local dev and testing.

pwthornton 7y ago

I'd get an external display with a dock built-in. I have the new 4k LG one at my desk, and I love needing only one cable to connect to my MBP when I'm at my desk. It even handles power.

whalesalad 7y ago

My 15” has 32gb of memory and 4 usb-c ports. I’m excited too, but you could have alleviated your problems a year ago.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

jeffshek 7y ago

I was pleasantly surprised about the 64gb also. Same issue with Docker making me want to upgrade. This has the largest battery possible under TSA regulations.

fjp 7y ago

I have the 15" with 32gb and I thought docker was making my laptop shit the bed - screens flickering all the time, mouse barely moving, etc. It turned out to be docker plus Firefox (current version/Quantum yada yada) that was too much - I can't stop using all this docker stuff but I switched to Safari and haven't had any problems at all

kitsunesoba 7y ago
Both Chrome and Firefox are much more demanding than many realize. It’s gotten to the point that they should consider a feature freeze and focus on nothing but efficiency and performance for the next few years.
- TremendousJudge 7y ago
  That's kinda what Firefox did
- timw4mail 7y ago
  Websites are a huge part of the problem.
  - dmlittle 7y ago
    While true the fact that Safari runs without these issues shows that it's not just websites but also the browsers themselves.

keymone 7y ago

Any port that isn’t usb-c has to die and I’m glad Apple is contributing to this.

frozenport 7y ago

The MSI and ThinkPads have had four ram slots for years... You can easily upgrade to 128 gb on these models.

charlesju 7y ago

What are you using that isn't USB C/Bluetooth at this point? Honest question.

expectsomuch 7y ago
Inexpensive monitors. USB keys. Older external drives. Ethernet. Office realities.
mantap 7y ago
Not OP but I don't own a single device that uses USB-C. Every USB device I have uses USB-A, including a mouse I bought last month.
abstractbarista 7y ago
(I'm not an Apple user.) I routinely simultaneously use all of the following: Ethernet, 1-2 USB Type A, SD Card, 3.5mm audio, DisplayPort, (while charging too). As we can see, Apple's 'Pro' products simply do not work me.
- danaris 7y ago
  If you're using DisplayPort, that suggests you're at a desk, with an external monitor; for this, a dock works great. I routinely use all of those simultaneously on the TB3 dock I've got at my desk.
lostgame 7y ago
All of them? I don’t have a single device that uses USB-C. How about iPhones, as a great example? :P
Rebelgecko 7y ago
Literally every single TV or projector I've ever given a presentation on Ethernet (micro-)SD card Keyboard Mouse Displays Flashing microcontrollers (technically could be done over BT but it is a pain in the ass) Gamepad I've bought dongles/docking stations for all of these devices but it is a huge hassle when traveling, which is a use case a laptop should be able to excel at. Adding just a single USB-A port and HDMI would be a complete gamechanger for me. Apple wouldn't be able to sell as many of their $70 dongles though.

Aperocky 7y ago

Get a cloud desktop, a cleaner environment that will likely be closer to what production look like. The mac only need to be powerful enough to run the IDE.

hinkley 7y ago
It's still one of my goals to be able to get half a dozen devs in a room and be able to emulate most of our infrastructure on those 6 machines, for purposes of prototyping and debugging.
gatherhunterer 7y ago
Then you have to pay for cloud processing. Owning your hardware is an investment that pays off more than ever now that things like Kubernetes’ resource provisioning can escalate costs to the stratosphere even when the nodes are not doing any real work. I think my next Mac will be whatever laptop still has all of its keys and I’ll just keep building machines to run linux with a one-step Kubernetes solution for development clusters. Many people don’t want to assemble machines and that makes a beefy laptop running Minikube the easiest solution to dodge cloud costs outside of production.
- kkarakk 7y ago
  It's not ideal right now but cloud dev is clearly the way it's going. I'd say buying el cheapo chromebook + cloud dev environment would work out to be cheaper even if the cloud provider somehow screwed up and took off(not been my experience but i haven't needed to work with k8 yet)
  - gatherhunterer 7y ago
    On AWS K8s provisioning a basic 4-node cluster to sit there and do nothing costs over $300 per month. The amount you spend in a year can be used to build an unreasonably powerful cluster in your home or office.
  - unethical_ban 7y ago
    I work at a financial institution that is going the reverse, potentially because of internal issues - the dev environment is underprovisioned, and I guess they can't/won't beef it up, so all the developers are going back from virtual desktops to fully loaded for local dev and testing.