Apple enthusiasts had been waiting since 2016 to see some major improvements to the MacBooks. The new MacBook lineup just dropped unexpectedly and brought with it some major under the hood improvements. Now the 2018 MacBook pros are sporting Intel’s 8th gen CoffeeLake processors. This upgrade in itself has brought in some serious performance boosts. This is because Intel’s CoffeeLake chips start from Quad Core configurations and go up to six core combos.
This is also the first time that the MacBook Pros would come with an i9 chip for extreme performance in that compact form factor. This is also the first time that Apple is providing users with the choice to go upgrade up to 32GB of RAM. There’s also one more extremely costly update available to users this time around. Interested people can upgrade their systems to up to 4 TB of extremely fast SSD storage. This makes the price as high as $7000 for the maxed out MacBook Pro model.
One of the major issues with the 2016 MacBook pros and subsequent models was the Butterfly switch keyboards. Many users have reported serious issues with these. The butterfly mechanism was firstly seen on the 12-inch MacBook and even the second generation Butterfly mechanism didn’t seem to improve things much.
This time around Apple has provided users with the third generation Butterfly switches which are reportedly quieter in operation. This has been reported by YouTube channel iFixit in one of their recent teardown videos. There’s a new silicone membrane which surrounds each key. This can prevent clogging up of keys due to debris and also leads to quieter keyboard experience than the previous generation of butterfly switches.
But only time can tell whether the newer switches can withstand long periods of usage and heat. This is because of the fact that a thin silicone membrane would be very prone to mechanical wear and tear over a long period of time.
Now let’s talk about the final nail in the coffin. It’s the pricing of the new 2018 MacBook pros. The 13 inch model with the lowest configuration starts at $1299 which in Indian currency is 89,200 INR. This price goes all the way up to $6699 which is roughly 4.5 Lakh rupees. That’s a hell lot of money for a laptop. In that budget, one can easily create a workstation desktop which can outperform that laptop in almost every task.
The maxed out Core i9 model without the fancy 4TB SSD upgrade and only 512 GB of storage would still cost around $3499, which is around INR 2.4 Lakh. This still might be somewhat reasonable for someone who wants a pro-Mac OS-based laptop which is powerful yet portable. For storage, a user can always opt for a Samsung T3 external SSD which would offer great performance yet not cost a bomb.
One of the sadder things is the fact that in the 13-inch models there’s only one option which comes with the 8th gen processor all the rest are the same.
There’s also one more thing that we would have loved to see in the 2018 MacBook Pro models. That would be the inclusion of more ports. Currently, the port selection and number are the same as before. Even 1 or 2 more thunderbolt 3 ports could have made a world of difference for a lot of professional users!
There’s also a dedicated eGPU by BlackMagic which comes with an RX580 Graphics card inside. That too is priced quite exorbitantly but still is a good pick for those looking to boost up the graphics capabilities of their MacBooks!
So what do you think? Is the extreme price justified for this upgrade? Or will you skip this generation of MacBook Pro refresh models!
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