The notch doesn't bother me because it's literally more room on the screen. Laptops with the camera below the screen tend to have an uncomfortable angle that look sup your nose, and the design suggests that they may be adding Face ID in a future iteration.
But we don't know what Apple is comparing.
In the picture titled "GPU performance vs. power", that is "relative performance" with lower power consumption, so it doesn't say anything about literal performance.
Then there's this:
> In addition, the GPU delivers performance comparable to a high-end GPU in a compact pro PC laptop while consuming up to 40 percent less power, and performance similar to that of the highest-end GPU in the largest PC laptops while using up to 100 watts less power.[2]
Where that 2 points to:
> ... Discrete PC laptop graphics performance data from testing Lenovo Legion 5 (82JW0012US). High-end discrete PC laptop graphics performance data from testing MSI GE76 Raider (11UH-053). PC compact pro laptop performance data from testing Razer Blade 15 Advanced (RZ09-0409CE53-R3U1). Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of MacBook Pro.
82JW0012US on Amazon has a 3050Ti in it
11UH-053 has a 3080 in it
RZ09-0409CE53-R3U1 has a 3080 in it
(edit: formatting)
Certainly there are tasks they can do to skew that one way or another.
It's why when Intel moved from the GMA to Intel HD (i.e. "can just about render a desktop" to "can play indie games"), it took years before games even reliably worked on Intel GPUs, never mind performed. Of course once they did it pretty much killed off the budget GPU market.
Even at the high end consumer market, it's why you often find AMD GPUs outperforming cost equivalent nVidia cards for compute use but then falling flat in games.
Apple has the advantage that the big game engines like Unity/Unreal etc. have been targeting their hardware for the mobile support for the last while, so they have arguably a bit of a head start relative to Intel's entry, but I have to imagine they have a catch up to do before they run high end PC games comparably. Probably will run the entire iOS catalogue in 120hz though.
Mobile 3080 specs https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/geforce-rtx-3080-max-q...
fewer teraflops but higher gigatexels, gigapixels
That seems closer to the power consumption they had on their comparison chart.
I agree with everything else you said and I think overall these machines will be awesome.
I would disagree with you on the ports though, I think this is kind of a miss for Apple. They caved into some of the loudest complaints from several years ago which were already coming from a loud minority and that minority is now smaller than ever.
And if they were set on changing the ports these certainly aren't all that you could ever want. A few USB-A ports as well as keeping at least the 4 USB-C ports from last year (instead of reducing to 3) would have been more useful for more people than the HDMI and especially the SD ports are.
(HDMI used to be useful for plugging into a projector for presentations, that use-case is now nearly non-existent now that all meetings tend to happen over zoom, webex, teams, hangouts, etc. even when in-person. HDMI used to be useful for monitors but increasingly displayport over usb-c is supported by everything except the lowest end monitors. SD used to be important for stills and video footage, but increasingly cameras use CFExpress, CFast, output over hdmi to an atmos-style recorder, or even micro-SD for small GoPro style cameras, all of which will still need dongles. Devices like Raspberry Pis require micro SD not standard SD).
They also could have added the nifty ethernet-over-magsafe via the powerbrick that the iMac has and they didn't do that.
Edit: One additional thought - I'm seeing from the comments some reasonable situations where HDMI still comes in handy - cheap monitors, plugging into a tv to watch something, and I guess there are still lots of people physically plugging in at work for presentations. Fair enough, but in that case it's weird that this is a "Pro" feature. These are all very non-pro usecases and you'll still need dongles around for anybody with a non-pro machine (like a macbook air).
They basically made a line-in-the-sand on USB-C adoption, and it pretty much worked. I'd argue that an HDMI and SD card readers are less useful, and certainly far less versatile than additional USB-C ports.
For all the dongle jokes of a few years ago, I don't really see a reason to go back to less versatile ports in laptops.
You're right though the HDMI port might come in handy in random situations, better to include it than not. The SD port is the one I really don't get. And I still maintain that the continued lack of USB-A ports is a much bigger dongle problem than the lack of HDMI port was.
/snark
Why is that?
Edit: I'm obviously oversimplifying, but most of the world doesn't have always-on data connections (e.g. rural areas) and manufacturers outside of silicon valley do optimise for people that may want to download media so the can view/listen when they're not connected. Nothing beats a cheap phone replaceable battery and storage.
MicroSD support would have actually made more sense to me than standard SD. But from what it looks like micro cards will still require a dongle of sorts.
https://tweakers.net/geheugenkaarten/vergelijken/#filter:q1Y...
And they ALSO have the single most needed and bitched about port if it's absent, by far, for nearly all business users, which is HDMI. Far and away the best thing they could have added.
I personally will not use it often, but when I do, it will be invaluable, and for the users I support, it will be a tremendous increase in convenience and ease-of-use.
If you need a lot of USB-A ports, get a CalDigit dock and be done with it. If you need just 1, there are extraordinarily tiny adapters.
It's time to get over USB-A.
However, I would be using it in every conference room I use, multiple times daily. It’s the difference between plugging in the cable vs. finding the right dongle that’s security-cabled to the presenter cable, and connecting it in the middle.
SD card reader is a nice addition for a handful of pros, sure, but definitely not essential for everyone who does photo/video seriously.
MicroSD->SD is easy with a dummy adapter
Don't get me wrong, I would still buy a MacBook with no SD card slot, but I would occasionally run into cases where I wish I had that dongle that I lost somewhere.
There's a single use case for which can't easily be replaced by a USB-C dongle: using it as makeshift additional "internal" storage.
SD cards work pretty well for that, for most read-heavy use cases. On older Macbooks, with undersized internal storage, I'd keep an SD card in the slot. I'd keep downloaded media there, installers, even infrequently used applications. Assuming one's using a high quality SD card, performance was "plenty good enough."
I wouldn't keep anything crucial on an SD card, but everything on my local storage is backed up to the cloud anyway, so not really an issue.
on my M1 MacBook Pro (which, throughout the pandemic, has rested on my desk in clamshell mode all day, like a desktop), I use a
ethernet <=> ethernet to thunderbolt 2 <=> thunderbolt 2 to thunderbolt 3/usb-c
unfortunately, there seems to be some kind of hardware bug in the thunderbolt 2 ethernet adapter, so even when the machine is asleep or off, it runs hot
it also seems weird that Apple doesn't manufacture a first party ethernet <=> usb-c adapter — if i'm not mistaken, the only one on their website is made by Belkin and costs $30; moreover, I don't think anyone even manufactures a 10gbps ethernet adapter for the M1
QNA-T310G1T is the RJ45 model, but there are other makes available too.
(I bought the Mini at launch, and they've since released a SKU with built-in 10gbit Ethernet)
I'm not sure you have the information to make the claim that the use case for HDMI is nearly non-existent. We use HDMI all the time. Availability bias is a thing. I find that people drastically underestimate how much they don't know about a subject or use-case of a product.
For a static port set, I think the burden of proof lies on whoever wants to remove the HDMI port.
However, I think Apple ought to have considered a Framework-style approach to ports. Why have static ports when you can have dynamic ports?
Because dynamic ports (basically internal dongles) reduces the amount of internal volume they have to work with. This would cause compromises in other areas like a thicker laptop, less battery life, noisier fan, etc.
The numerous USB-C dongles are basically dynamic ports..albeit with a lot more inconvenience. But internal swappable ports removes a lot of internal space.
Why they shouldn't have been removed?
Because USB-C is awesome and _almost_ everywhere, but you need ONE important occasion where you need to connect a screen, plug in an SD card or even an external (pen|hard) drive, maybe in front of customers, and you get really infuriatingly frustrated, and regret buying this stupid trap which has half the ports of the one from 10 years ago, but costs 3x as much and just lost you a customer.
The old one would have worked. Who's the idiot which came up with this contraption?
Dongles are NOT the solution. They get lost or forgotten, they're messy.
Reducing to 3 USB-C ports is perfectly fine as we regain the dedicated magsafe.
I'm with you right up 'til that '3X as much' part - MacBook Pros have remained static or gone down in real prices over the last decade - not 3x higher.
Doing presentations at work is a non-pro use case?
> the cheap $400 monitor market.
I found your employer is great and you're rich.
I'd be happy to know that they made this choice deliberately to fix whatever issues where I guess plaguing the USB-C display connections.
[] https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/some-users-having-exter...
[1] https://psrefstuff.lenovo.com/Detail/Legion/Lenovo_Legion_5_...
EDIT: Nevermind, they mention other laptops in the other slides, some of which do have a 3080.
@23:15 the high end laptop being a MSI GE76 Raider 11UH-053
But now I am VERY curious how well it will do at gaming using CrossOver Mac. I’d been eyeing a getting a 3080 laptop as a secondary for being able to do mobile gaming, but an M1 Max + CrossOver Mac setup might scratch that itch with only a single laptop. A fun experiment for next Tuesday.
It really isn't. Nvidia should be using clearly differentiated model numbers to represent two completely different lines. They did this to intentionally confuse customers.
But their partners probably weren't happy that the highest end laptop sku was a xx60, so here we are again.
Same for intel, there is a huge number of people who were asking me why their laptop with a dual-core I7 is slower than a desktop with an I3
- When you go "fullscreen", does the fullscreen window stop at the bottom of the notch, or like can you see the notch in maximized Netflix videos? In the keynote I thought I saw a maximized video whose height stopped just under the notch.
- So is the extra notch space used only for the menubar? What happens when you auto-hide the menubar (which I do)? Is that functionality disabled on this hardware?
I guess that if you auto-hide the menu bar, a black strip will mask the area.
Since I replace my machine frequently enough for work, 32gb and 1TB is plenty for me for the work I do.
I agree it's probably designed with a future FaceID implementation in mind but if this isn't the case, Dell have managed to move their camera back up above the screen on the latest XPS's. In my opinion, this is the best looking option currently:
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81FV+91am5L._AC_SL1500_....
(I really wish there was a matte screen option at the price point, my old macbook pro was a very expensive mirror and it puts a lot of strain on the eyes to try to concentrate on whats on screen, rather than behind it)
A Windows laptop from HP or Lenovo with similar specs/performance won't be cheaper.
Literally just picked up an asus zephyrs g15 15.6" with 2560 x 1440QHD 165 hz refresh rate, AMD Ryzen 9 5900HS, 16GB Memory, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 and 1 Tb ssd for $1850 at Best Buy, then picked up 2x16gb DDR4 3200 MHz for $150 off Amazon to upgrade to 32gb.
Weight is a little over 4 lbs. (4.1lbs)
Total cost: $2000
Other than that yes MacBooks are expensive. But so are HP EliteBooks or Lenovo ThinkPads.
What's your point. Of course you can get a laptop with lesser specs from a cheaper manufacturer for less, especially if you upgrade it yourself after the fact.
But if you price a Thinkpad P series of HP ZBook with 64GB RAM, 2TB storage, and similar GPU/CPU performance, you are looking at $4000. I know because I have one.
Anyways that's the beauty of PCs, you don't have to pay the exorbitant prices or the OEM if you don't want to, a Lenovo P15 will allow you to swap the RAM and SSD however you want and it takes 5 minutes and like 9 screws.
For Dutch people: https://www.smartfolie.com/
[1] https://live.arstechnica.com/apple-october-18-unleashed-even...
[2] https://live.arstechnica.com/apple-october-18-unleashed-even...
I don't want to know the thermals on the laptop then.
There is a reason for the 3070 being available with a minimum of 2 large fans and liquid cooling existing at all. How do you want to cool the same performance in a thin laptop? With passive airflow?
For reference, this is what a laptop with the mobile (!) version of a 3070 looks like:
https://gzhls.at/i/89/84/2618984-n1.jpg
It's also 1199 euros, just saying.
It's not clear to me that's a cooling win, though? Unless there are actually some kind of vents on the bottom?
nvidia/amd just don't design with thermals in mind and that's exactly why you need to attach multiple helicopters to every piece of their hardware.
Add 4xUSB-A and Ethernet please.
I can see someone having an aesthetic issue with it, as a distraction perhaps.
But having a fat bezel at the top, as all other bezels shrink toward zero, is also aesthetically non-optimal.
The person that can’t get any work done because of the notch staring back at them has probably other bigger issues on the go.
The 64G of ram is huge though. It only took them half a decade to figure it out.
That other 0.01% of the time is the killer.