CultCast #256 - Why we’re canceling our MacBook Pro order

The CultCast - A podcast by America's favorite Apple Podcast - Fridays

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Technology

This week:  we’ve canceled our MacBook Pro order! It’s true, and we’ll you why...  Plus: we compare new MacBook Pro’s performance to older models and similarly priced machines;  Apple call it quits on external displays;  and, the end of an era—one of Mac’s most iconic features gets retired.
 
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We also want to give Kevin MacLeod at incompetech.com a  thanks for the great music you hear on today's show.
 
On the show this week
 
Professional Mac Users' Complaints List Grows After 'Disappointing' Apple Event
It seems like everyone’s pissed!
 
 
This week’s notes and links
  • Hiked prices really make you think about what you’re getting, especially compared to how much better it is to what you already have (or what’s available on the market).
  • Raw Power differences/Speed increases in new MBP (compared to 2012 model)
  • We specs aren’t everything as Apple optimizes everything.
  • Felix Schwarz on twitter
  • CPU
    • Only ~30% increase in Geekbench Single and MultiCore increases if buying the same speed processor you have no.
    • Skylake processors are already a year old, but Kaby lake isn't due out until January and Cannonlake due in 2017 as well.
  • GPU
    • You get 100-180% increase in GPU performance over 2012 dedicated GPUs
    • AMD Pro 400 series is used for low power consumption.  4 year old architecture.
      • it’s a mobile version of a budget graphics card
      • AMD claims "the thinnest graphics processor possible”
      • ideal for artists, designers, photographers, filmmakers, visualizers
    • Not on par with Nvidia GPUs
      • Nvidia’s budget card, GTX 1060, performs at 4.2 teraflops a second vs AMD Pro 460’s 1.8 Teraflops.  455’s 1.2 Tflops 450’s 1 Tflop.
  • Nickel and dimed
    • New cables or dongles for all your USB devices, your iPhone, your peripherals and Thunderbolt 2 devices, maybe your existing monitor.
    • No power brick extension cable.
    • Funny enough, Phil Schiller noted the new MacBook Pro still has a 3.5mm headphone jack because it is a "pro machine," but lacks an SD card reader because it's a "cumbersome" slot best left to adapters or wireless transfers. 
  • Take into account the $400-$500 price increases, it’s hard to get on board.
  • Next year’s upgrade will address a number of my concerns
    • Much newer Intel CPUs.
    • More availability of USB C and Thunderbolt 3 tech.
    • Lower prices.
    • Touch Bar bugs worked out (if any).
    • Cheaper SSD upgrades.
  • Again, specs aren’t everything.  Apple says the new MacBook Pro has:
    • 130% better 3D graphics performance.
    • 60% better gaming performance
    • 57% better video editing performance
 
Performance comparison of the 2012 and 2016 15” Retina MacBook Pro
 
MacBook Pro’s two biggest problems may get fixed in 2017
  • The KGI Securities analyst told investors in a recent note that he expects Apple will bring big price-cuts to the MacBook Pro along with some internal upgrades. Kuo also claims the 2017 update will finally give the MacBook Pro up to 32GB of RAM.
  • KabyLake CPUs will be used if Intel’s Cannonlake chips aren’t ready. That will keep max RAM support at 16GB for another year.
  • Price cuts on the next MacBook Pro won’t arrive until the second half of 2017 though.
 
 
Apple is officially done making displays
Buster
  • The days of Apple making its own stand-alone displays for the Mac Mini and Mac Pro are dead.
  • Apple revealed a new 5K 27-inch Thunderbolt 3 display during its “Hello Again” keynote yesterday, only instead of being made by Apple, the company partnered with LG to create the monito
  • The Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel tweeted that, after asking about it at the Hello Again event, was informed by Apple that “it’s out of the stand-alone display biz.”
  • Apple did add some tech to LG’s display so that it integrates better with Macs. You can adjust the brightness settings on the LG 5K UltraFine display from your Mac, rather than pushing buttons on the display itself.
  • $1300, or $700 for a 4K model
 
2016 MacBook Pro loses the iconic startup chime
  • The new MacBook Pro jettisons the iconic F-sharp sound Apple uses to show a Mac is booting up.
  • The use of an arpeggiated chord when you started your Mac dates back to the Macintosh II, when software engineer Mark Lentczner incorporated it into the system.
  • The sound was later revised by Jim Reekes, Apple’s senior software engineer in charge of the audio and system sounds, during the 1990s. Over the years, its tone has changed further and the instrumentation has also varied,
  • The reason for getting rid of the sound instead has to do with the fact that the new laptops now turn on from a fully switched-off mode if they’re opened — meaning you can save all that energy you would otherwise have expended pressing the power button.
  • There’s hope!  You can reactivate the sound via a terminal command.
 
Nvidia GTX 1060 Laptop vs Desktop Benchmarks – Is Pascal Really a Game Changer?
 
How to restore Mac startup chimes on 2016 MacBook Pro
 
How Faster are the Intel processor and Radeon Pro 450 / 455 / 460 GPU on the New MacBook Pro 15 2016?
 
Apple Has Received More Online Orders for New MacBook Pro Than Any Previous Generation