“Noted KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo sees slow demand for Apple’s recently released MacBook Pro with Touch Bar models, as the notebooks ship at higher than expected prices and present disappointing specifications to core Mac users,” Mikey Campbell reports for AppleInsider.
“Apple’s 2017 MacBook Pro update,” Campbell reports, “expected in the second half of the year, may gain support for up to 32GB of RAM, making the platform a more compelling option for power users.”
“The recently released MacBook Pro series is powered by Intel’s Skylake class of processors with LPDDR3 memory, a specification that supports up to 16GB RAM,” Campbell reports. “Next-generation Cannonlake CPUs that efficiently run LPDDR4 RAM at higher allotments are scheduled for release in time for next year’s MacBook update. If Intel fails to ship Cannonlake on time, however, Apple will likely turn to Coffee Lake, which features the same LPDDR3 specifications as Skylake.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The first MacBook Pro refresh will be the one for the small percentage of power users who require 32GB RAM.
SEE ALSO:
Apple limits 2016 MacBook Pro models to 16GB of RAM to maximize battery life – October 29, 2016
There’s massive pressure for the computer industry to get off the DDR3 RAM, all of which is susceptible to the Rowhammer Attack. (Even a few DDR4 RAM models have been found to be susceptible, but most are not). The Rowhammer Attack can be performed rapidly (in seconds) and can result in kernel level owning of devices. A few weeks back it was found that most ARM CPU based Android devices are susceptible. This attack was discovered nearly a year and a half ago…
Cutting-edge hack gives super user status by exploiting DRAM weakness
“Rowhammer” attack goes where few exploits have gone before, into silicon itself.
Correction, maybe: To my knowledge, not all DDR3 RAM has been tested for susceptibility to the Rowhammer Attack. Therefore, using the word ‘all’ to describe DDR3 susceptibility may or may not be the case.
Got a MacBook Pro and do not need a gadget bar for Emoji.
Wake me up when Apple gets serious about the Mac.
I appreciate the “sourcasm” but obviously the Touch Bar is used for much more than that. But I agree with your sentiment. I’m going on at least 2 years waiting for the Mac Pro I want (and not likely to ever get being hampered by misguided and unwanted Ives miniaturization attention – the one Apple product that doesn’t need it). And much more RAM, etc.. I wouldn’t buy a new MBP without at least 32Gb now.
Apple and it’s pundits whole argument against a touchscreen Mac is that they do not want fingerprints on their precious screens, which is laughable in light of the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch.
So your working along on your new computer, has a touch screen, then you reach a spit where you want to do something, you’ve got a choice, move to the track pad and do the task or raise your hand completely off the keyboard, touch the screen, (possibly leaving really annoying marks that you don’t see that much on iPad screens because of how they are used) then back to the keyboard, back to the screen, that would get really old after a while..
Now you can use a touch bar, on the same working plane as the keyboard and track pad, makes much more sense then constantly lifting your hand to he screen, course usage and logic isn’t the point is it.?
I use touch screens in my work and have no problem with fingerprints- maybe because they are not glossy. Apple followed the PC market and abandoned Low Gloss Scenes for Glossy years ago.
No. it’s because a Touch screen on a laptop forces the user’s arm and hand into an awkward ergonomic position. Tell us how well Microsoft’s Surface is working in three- to five years when owners start experiencing carpal tunnel syndrome.
I have been using touch screens far longer than that and have not seen a single peer complain with Carpal Tunnel.
Carpal Tunnel seems tied most closely to cheap keyboards and bad posture.
Ergonomics don’t really favour using fingers on a steeply sloping or near-vertical screen.
The Surface Studio goes all the way down to 20% according to the stuff I have read. 20% is not much different from the angle many laptop stands use.
Then get a Surface Studio and get the hell out of here, because your stupid whining is getting old.
Apple has peaked and you still have yet to figure it out. The iPad Pro is an attempt to address the market but is not got the horsepower or the ability to address the file system like a proper device.
Seems to me Apple is clueless as to how to bridge the gap or so stubborn as to how to do it. Maybe an executive housecleaning is in order.
So one should wait until 2017 then…?
So wait for the next one?
What is this a Windows release?
The use of the term “core” is misleading, in my opinion. To me, it implies that a significant percentage of pro users find the specs of the recently released MacBook Pros to be disappointing. While some are disappointed (and a few can never be satisfied), I do not believe that that opinion is broadly held.
Also, isn’t is a bit too early to declare that there is slow demand for the new MacBook Pros?!
The 256 GB drive size in the base model is the biggest disappointment for me. I need to getting a model with 500GB and probably postpones the purchase until 2017.
This makes me sad, after I just bought an entirely maxed out Late 2013 15″ MacBook Pro. I won’t be buying another laptop for 3, maybe 4 years. Would have liked 32 GB of RAM. Oh well.
I was thinking about getting the last model but waited for this one. I think this will be a fine update for me. (I’ve been waiting a while). My only disappointment is the price. The Touch Bar looks useful to me and the specs are fine. 32GB would have been nice but not a make or break.
the whole Macbook Pro Line is disappointing. Period.
I am glad the 16 GB limit is not an Apple design decision but it adds to the general negative value perception of new MBPs.
The touch bar will have to prove its value. I think It is a nice to have feature, but not so nice if it is imposed at a higher cost.
And for a desktop version the TB may better be a keyboard upgrade option at a reasonable price.
There probably would not be nearly as much negativity if this MBP was delivered without the price increase, and/or was at least shipping with some extras such as USB-C lightning cable / USB-A dongle / power cord extension that people now have to pay extra for.
It *is* an Apple design decision though. Intel architectures supports 32 GB RAM. My coworker’s new Windows laptop has that much, right now.
Apple *chose* not to use architectures that supported 32 GB RAM because it was above their energy usage targets. They *chose* not to give pros the choice of lower battery life in favour of better capability, when the majority of the time pros that need that capability are connected to external power anyway.
They also chose to shave off another millimeter in thickness that nobody really cares about. If not for that, they could have used a bigger battery thus making the power usage problem irrelevant.
I am kind of disappointed that the new MacBook Pro has a headphone socket. It kind of makes a nonsense of Apple’s proclamations that removing it for the iPhone was about better sound and not just space saving. This is by no means a new trend but I’d like to see some more consistency about Apple’s approach across their devices. A connection is either antiquated or it’s not.
@mxnt41
Thanks for pointing that out, I couldn’t agree with you more. I guess they didn’t have “courage” when designing the new MBP.
Actually, Apple clarified that the audio out was left in because a lot of users have speakers hard wired and they are not proposing that bluetooth is the future for audio out of a pro-laptop.
Had to laugh a bit. Maybe they should have added a lightning port to the MBP or maybe start making USB C head phones?
I somewhat agree with you about the true reasons behind removing the 3.5mm jack. But I have also come to the conclusion, it’s for something else down the road that they can’t reveal just yet. Sometimes senseless iterative changes have to happen before the final vision is in place.
It’s not a justification, on my part, but I am willing to see how this plays out. As more time passes and nothing exciting happens to make this choice have sense or benefit, then I will feel cynicism is justified.
The thing is though, no matter their reasons why would they apply to one device and not others? I think it also raises one of the slight problems with a custom connector in that the lightning port currently connects the iPhone either to power or to a computer for data transfer wherein the iPhone is temporarily a peripheral of the computer. If they both have lightning connectors do you connect them together using a new cable with lightning connectors at both ends, or does the iPhone still connect to the Mac via usb with the Mac’s lightning being just for sound? If you connect them via their mutual lightning connectors then to avoid having loads of cables you have to change the power adapter so it has a a lightning socket rather than usb which as a change offers no benefit.
The whole thing seems like a solution for a problem we didn’t know existed but that somehow only occurs in certain instances.
The Touch Bar is useless for a majority of what I do with my laptops and all of my co workers. We have Apple Thunderbolt screens one or two in some cases, close the laptop and use the a apple keyboard and mouse. Essentially we use them like desktop computers.
So save yourself a bunch of money and buy the base model w/o touch bar
So Apple should stop making laptops?
It seems like the solution is that they should release a standalone keyboard with a Touch Bar, which for all we know they will do.
How do you know the touch bar is useless? Its not even out yet. When Apple first shipped a mouse a lot of people scoffed. Walt Mossberg: “There’s no evidence that people want or need this”
Mac Daily News
“The first MacBook Pro refresh will be the one for the small percentage of power users who require 32GB RAM”
If if shell out over 4K for the most powerful Apple Laptop with 2 TB, I better get 32 megs of RAM…
Correction 32GIGS…
Will all the MBPro whiners take your bellyaching to a Windows forum please? All your bitching is really really getting old.
If you hate everything Apple offers, buy another brand and leave Apple related forums to the rest of us.
pbiphoto you are wrong
These new MBP are “Pro”, for professionals not for general consumers, and are also traditionally designed for demanding professionals who use Macs for content creation, engineering, programing, etc. And are these demanding professionals, who had been using Macs for years and now what they need, the users who have the most serious critics for the direction and lack of attention the Mac Pro line receives from Apple.
Gawd… I hate to see what, if any, update they have planned for the Mac Pro!
A gimmick bar keyboard?
Smaller, lower power trashcan design, with RAM on board?
Mobile processor with 16 GB of DDR3 SDRAM?
People, they can sink lower…
I hate to tell you, but Apple has no plan to update the Mac Pro
OK. So it looks like I have to wait for the 2017 refresh then….another year goes by! Here I was thinking the Macbook Pro was in fact a pro computer, you know, one that pros use for large image processing and the like. The current Macbook Pro is just another mid-level prosumer laptop!
I call “bullshit” on the claim that the 16GB limitation is an Intel limitation. The processor (the i7 6920HQ) is in other laptops with 32GB. Who made this claim?
Fire Tim Cook!
See:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIAAVC4NM5724
Furthermore, this processor supports DDR4 memory but Apple was too god damn lazy to update the machine to DDR4.
Fire Tim Cook!