#293

relevant and actionable info for recent mac owners

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#294

I’ve now had the new 16-inch MBP for a while and I can report that I am generally quite pleased with it, in and of itself. I was upgrading from the 2015 design. The keyboard on the 2016-2018 models was completely unacceptable to me, but the keyboard on this 2019 16-inch model is perfectly fine. The new keyboard is basically the mechanics of the 2015 design applied to the larger key size of the later models, but with the old arrow key arrangement and a hardware ESC key. The screen is very nice. The on-board speakers sound stunningly good considering what they are, but I seldom use those. I’m finding the fingerprint sensor to be a boon. (YMMV)

The other key details—to me—are the configuration options, particularly RAM. Some folks have stated that 16GB is plenty; I think they’re wrong wrong wrong. As soon as you’re actively paging, performance goes out the window, even with modern fast SSDs. I advise you do not skimp on RAM. I would not purchase one of these with less than 32GB, particularly given these machines are not upgradeable. Spend a few extra hundred and don’t regret it later.

Now, Hainbach just did a rather critical video about this 16" model and its suitability for music production, and his criticisms are not wrong (although the same criticisms apply to all the MBP models of the last several years, not just this new one):

USB-C is a cute connector design, but it’s maybe a bit too cute. Too small, too flimsy (although not quite as bad as the appalling micro-USB connector). These MBPs are pretty nice computers right up until you want to attach anything to them. And the total cost and inconvenience of all these hubs, docks, adapters, and stuff quickly adds up.

All that said, IMO, at this particular moment—until Apple refreshes other computers in the product line—the new 16" model is probably the ONLY MacBook you should consider, if you’re buying new.

6 Likes
#295

My 2010 15" MBP is on the fritz. Random restarts and whatnot. Really hoping the improvements of the 16" are translated to the 13" in the first half of next year, which seems to be the current rumor. I don’t want another 15" and the 16" feels too big too. Plenty of power for me in the 13" I think.

If anyone hears any good info on new 13" MBP though, I’m all ears.

1 Like
#296

I’ve just received my new MBP 16’’ today.

i9 8 core 2.3 - 32GB RAM - Radeon 5500M 8GB - 1TO SSD

Really nice looking machine, not that big. I appreciate the connectivity (sidecar/airplay) with the iPad Pro too. This is going to be super useful with Logic X ( And yes, the sound is great :slight_smile:

My previous MBP, also a 2015 one didn’t require any USB-C dongle etc so I’m new to these accessories but after all, I find the four thunderbolt 3 ports really convenient, I can plug all my devices on one port using a usb-c hub, left of right depending on where the MBP is on my desktop.

For the USB-C hub, I recommend the “StayGo” made by Twelve South, it costs around 100€ which is more than most hubs but… It has a detachable USB-C cable and this is super useful, it comes with a 10cm cable and a 1m cable. (Ethernet, micro Sd and SD, 3 USB A and 1 USB C, and a port for a 4K display)

1 Like
#297

my 2016 MBP continues to be an absolute piece of trash

(like other things from 2016 i suppose)

6 Likes
#298

I’ve had the MBP 16" for two weeks now, and it’s excellent.

Pros:

  • Ridiculous screen. I love it. So much better than my 13" 2013.
  • Keyboard. I shouldn’t need to praise this, but here we are.
  • The speakers are very impressive. There’s a surprising amount of bass and stereo separation.
  • Battery life. I’ve been able to relax on my couch and use VCV or Bitwig for hours on end.
  • Performance is excellent. Debug plugin compilation takes under a minute, where it took 6-8 on my previous MBP. Linking is still slow. I’m hoping that the tooling improves, as Microsoft made massive linking performance improvements on VS 2019.3.

Either way:

  • USB-C. The only USB-A thing that I really need daily is the iLok key, so it’s super annoying not even having one USB-A port. On the other hand, I have a single USB-C dock on my desk now to switch everything between two laptops, and that’s really convenient.
  • I’m going to be the weird developer that actually likes the Touch Bar. I know. I never really use F keys, so it’s nice to replace them with visual buttons on a per-app basis. However, a lot of the default layouts are silly, and the placement has caused quite a few accidental button bumps.

Cons:

  • I hate the stupid decision to put the headphone output and speakers as two separate outputs. The use cases I’ve heard are iffy at best. “Oh, it’s great, you can send your system alert sounds to the speakers while you listen to music on headphones.” K. “Oh, it’s great for DJ’s”. Yes, especially the ones that don’t use dedicated audio interfaces? What? It’s super annoying. Every time I open a DAW, I have to go to the audio options and pick the headphone output. I’m totally going to embarrass myself on an airplane with this “feature”. This is on all T2 Macbooks (not just this one).
  • Catalina, the Nanny State OS. Software incompatibility aside, I’ve run into a number of infuriating security changes that have caused a bit of development slow down. A lot of the default folder permissions have been changed to read-only, so a lot of our development scripts needed either rewritten or folders need to be noted and chmoded. Basic things like installing a plugin now have 3 extra steps. “Installer wants permission to access Documents”. OK. “Installer wants permission to access Downloads”. OK. etc. Plus, there’s the added headaches of the extra steps needed to enable a debugger on a DAW when chasing down a plugin bug. Thankfully, REAPER has a non-hardened download available, so I’m now using that as my main debugging platform.
8 Likes
#299

Yes, software and sometimes hardware too :disappointed: N.I Maschine Mk1 is not compatible with Catalina for example, that’s unbelievable… it might be Native Instrument’s fault in that specific case, I don’t know. Sorry for the off-topic comment :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

#300

I’ve found myself with a conundrum suitable for this thread. My Mac is a work one and they’ve started to audit them more regularly (regulated sector - finance) so I need to remove all my odd coding and music environments.

This means I don’t own a computer for photography or music now which I need to.

So I need to find a Mac. I’m a Mac guy, all my software is Mac based. And in my opinion nobody makes hardware to the same quality, especially the track pad.

The 16” looks great, but damn if prices aren’t getting silly. I don’t like credit or loans but may have to go that route.

I’d normally do a problem statement route to making any purchase - but with this one part of the problem statement is it has to be a Mac leaving me with few options. Lightroom and Capture One like room to breathe so the lower spec machines are out.

I know I gotta do it but in a way am frustrated to find myself trapped. A lot of my time is spent in Sketch and they’ll never port that to Windows or Linux. A lot of my dev tools for work are custom made and Mac only.

Trapped.

1 Like
#301

Well you can still look at the used/refurbished market. I got many of my computers that way, since more often than not the current Apple offering wasn’t really suiting my needs and older machines were a lot better.
For eg. when the only Mac Pro available was the trashcan, I got a slightly older “normal” case one, and that one is still running here in the studio. Looking back I would have wasted a lot of money buying a new trashcan Mac Pro back then

3 Likes
#302

Does it have to be a laptop? Could a Mac mini + screen or an iMac work for you? They tend to be better value, especially from the refurb store.

1 Like
#303

I can confirm that the Mac Mini (I have the 2018 i5 model here) is great if you don’t have to carry things around. Upgrading the RAM yourself is a bit finnicky but seems doable (and saves you a lot of money).

#304

This is what I’m pondering. For photography I don’t look at my images for 6 months after I take them, to remove bias, so a laptop isn’t needed there.

But… being constrained to one place. Dunno how I’d cope. Other side to that is having one place to “be” and focus in.

This forum… I question everything much more than before I joined. :grinning:

2 Likes
#305

What’s the GPU like? GPU is the most important thing for me.

#306

MBP prices aren’t getting any more “silly”: the price points haven’t really changed in well over a decade. If there’s an extra cost factor, it’s in the docks/hubs/cables/peripherals that the Thunderbold 3/USB-C world has saddled us with.

If you live in a market it serves, don’t overlook the Barclays special financing option. I went this route for an iMac, and now I’m doing it again with the MBP: it spreads the cost out over 18-24 months, interest free, which is easier for me to handle than paying one big lump. It does take a modicum of effort to set up the autopayments correctly, but you can actually talk to the goons at Barclays and they’ll sort it out.

If you don’t need a laptop, the current iMac is superb—arguably the best product Apple makes. Still doesn’t have enough ports, but it’s otherwise been a great computer. Note that an update is due in the next few months.

#307

To balance my negativity, I found a solid fix for this on the Ableton forums:
https://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php?t=231868

Okay, so the only con now is Catalina :laughing:

1 Like
#308

HI there

I am looking to buy a new laptop for music production on the go. I have always been a PC guy, but too many stories about bad drivers on windows laptops and horrible DPC latency have pushed me towards looking for a macbook.

Normally I wouldn’t look at macbooks because of their thermal problems, but it looks like their 16 inch handles them pretty well.

It might be overkill, but on the go I rely entirely on plugins and I use multiple instances of omnisphere/kontakt etc etc.

Anyways the actual question: Have any of you had interface issues with the new mbp? I heard a lot fo interfaces (specially USB 2/3 interfaces) are having problems with the T2 chip that is on all the new macbooks, causing dropouts, popping and latency.

I cant find many people that have bought it yet, so I was wondering if any of you had any first hand experience with this problem?

#309

I thought this video by Heinbach was pretty on point: https://youtu.be/DKR0yjJ7lNM

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#310

Thanks! I’m watching it right now, I also finished watching this which explains the T2 chip issues to anyone who is curious.

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#311

His criticisms are valid, but keep in mind he’s “upgrading” from a much older computer and most of his complaints would apply to any MBP of the last five years or so.

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#313

Yes, you are right. His opinions resonated with mine, because I’m thinking of upgrading from my 2009 MBP, and can’t bring myself to shell out so much money only to have to spend yet some more for at least 3 dongles, and lug them with me at all times. My current macbook runs ok, no hiccups, but is a bit slow. I can’t justify getting any of the new macbooks right now, but I might go with a mac mini.

1 Like