2018 13" Macbook pro or other?

The touch bar is so idiotic, frustrates me to no end that you have to get that to get the good processors and 4 usb ports.

Blubbs wrote: ↑ The touch bar is so idiotic, frustrates me to no end that you have to get that to get the good processors and 4 usb ports.

Yeah, I don’t see me using it, but if you want more power then it’s the only option.

As for other options, the XPS 13 seems to be the only other option in this category, and even that seems to be quite a bit slower than the i5 Pro (Handbrake takes about 25% more time and similar in geek bench scores) and battery life is about an hour less. It is about a third cheaper though!

I’m really surprised, with the number of 13” choices now, that there isn’t as much competition. I actually had the original XPS 13 in 2008 before my Air, so it would be almost serendipitous to go back to one.

Andy34 wrote: ↑ Priority is power, screen, touchpad and battery life. I'll be using it for 4k video editing and photography amongst lighter tasks, both at a desk and away from a desk so one that I can get a dock for is a plus (to attach keyboard, ethernet and screen to).

This may sound crazy but get the new iPad pro 12.9.

I built a high end desktop rig for 4k video editing and photography and splurged on the iPad to sign documents. Turns out the iPad handlea the video editing better then my desktop rig and easier with programs like Luma Fusion.

Check out the reviews of people using the iPad for video editing these days.

It’s amazing how powerful Apples new chips are in the iPads (and iPhone). I’m not a fan of the form factor for productivity unfortunately. Even with a keyboard it doesn’t work well on the lap. I have an iPad but it rarely gets used, in part for this reason.

Also want full fat Lightroom which I do more work on than video editing, alongside several other pieces of software (Sketchup and photo book software amongst others) that aren’t available on iOS. TBH there’s still a doubt in my mind if full fat MacOS will satisfy me for a lot of that stuff (I use it all on a windows desktop in part because the file management system is infinitely better than on MacOS), but it’s a lot better for laptops IMO.

My old iPad rarely got used as well. IPad mini is always used by the kids to TV.

However when I recently tried the new 12.9 things changed significantly for me. It was similar to when I changed from a ultra portable 11 inch laptop to a 13”, it just became so much more productive. Now the new bigger iPads feel closer to the experience a good 13” laptop will give you. I have a keyboard and mouse which works to remote into my office computer and gives me access to my full desktop and all my software. To me its become the best of both worlds in one device now.

It’s definitely been an adjustment for me. Not a entirely smooth transition, but I used to also use Lightroom for my photo management and adobe premiere for my video stuff, and I have found the iOS apps have come a long way in terms of user interface and accessibility. So much so I prefer them to the heavier full applications.

On lap it is still not amazing and stuff like sketch up won’t be as good remotely. I wish they would create sketch up on iOS.

Don't get it for 4K video editing (assume adobe suite, not FCP which is mac optimized), Mine struggles even doing light gaming. The Vega 20 MBP 2018 + i7 thermal throttled a lot when under constant load so I had performance issues.

Having said that - easily my favourite laptop and device I've ever used less the unreliable/bad keyboard + throttling. The screen is so beautiful I have a hard time going back to normal office monitors, and macOS is perfect for developer productivity!!!

You have the 15 or the 13? I’ve heard a lot about the throttling issue on the 15”, but everywhere I’ve read says the 13” doesn’t have that issue.