
2020 13-inch MacBook Pro review: The standard macOS workhorse - feross
https://arstechnica.com/?p=1674461
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cpascal
Yesterday, I priced out the 13-inch MBP and the Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition
(Ubuntu 18.04). The config was:

\- 32GB of RAM

\- 1TB SSD

\- 10th generation i7

\- 3 year extended warranty with accident protection.

With taxes, the MBP came to just about $3.1k, and the XPS 13 was just under
$2500. The XPS 13 also came with an UHD 4k touch screen (higher res than the
MBP). The price difference was nearly $600. If you drop the 4k touch screen on
the XPS and opt for the 1080p screen, the price difference is almost $900.

The other thing the XPS comes with that the MBP does not is physical function
keys.

I'm having a tough time justifying the Apple premium here. I love the polish
of macOS and the MBP's build quality/industrial design, but how much is that
premium worth?

I'm curious if choosing the MBP and paying the premium is worth it for other
people.

~~~
heipei
Since you pointed out the screen options, this is one of the biggest thing
stopping me from getting a non-MacBook: 4K is way too high-res and sucking too
much battery and FHD is to coarse for a 13-14" screen. Apple hit a sweet spot
with their Retina displays.

~~~
cpascal
I completely agree re: Retina. All laptop manufacturers should take a cue from
apple and focus on DPI rather than resolution. Ideally, DPI should be fixed
across screen sizes.

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dehrmann
Ugh. The keyboard still has only 1mm of travel.

My other gripes are things Apple's pretty committed to. My work laptop is a
Macbook Pro, but my personal one is an X1 Carbon. When I was looking for a new
laptop a year and a half ago, I thought about a Macbook Pro, but realized the
non-removable HDD was a dealbreaker. I'm also not a fan of the aluminum body;
the edges can be uncomfortable, and as Louis Rossmann (watch his Youtube
channel before getting a Mac) points out, you actually _want_ some flex in a
computer frame, and you don't get it with an aluminum unibody.

~~~
robrtsql
> as Louis Rossmann (watch his Youtube channel before getting a Mac) points
> out, you actually want some flex in a computer frame, and you don't get it
> with an aluminum unibody.

You do?

Would you be willing to share why that is?

I know you cited a source, but depending on how many videos the channel
creator has, and how long they are, it might take me a while to find exactly
what you are referring to.

~~~
dehrmann
It's like structures in earthquakes and crumble zones in cars. Flexing helps
absorb impacts. That said, I've had issues with BGA chips and flexing, so it
comes with problems, too.

I couldn't find him talking about flexing, but here's Rossman's take on a lot
of Apple's mistakes:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUaJ8pDlxi8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUaJ8pDlxi8)

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diebeforei485
The $1799 config with 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD is actually a good deal IMO.

But I am a bit disappointed that it seems to have the same 58Wh battery as the
2016 models. I know the consumption side has gotten more efficient, but I'm
surprised that the battery capacity hasn't improved.

~~~
pathartl
I don't know about a good deal. That seems to be $200-300 higher than most
similarly spec'd machines on the market. While the CPU base clock isn't great
on the LG Gram ([https://www.lg.com/us/laptops/lg-14z90n-u.aas7u1-ultra-
slim-...](https://www.lg.com/us/laptops/lg-14z90n-u.aas7u1-ultra-slim-
laptop)), it's $200 cheaper, nearly a pound lighter, and gets a full work day
more of battery. And it still has a full USB-A port, Thunderbolt, and full
HDMI. I also imagine that the thermals are probably better too.

I really can't get over how important it is that Apple's entire line of
laptops cannot readily plug into a standard monitor without some sort of
adapter. USB-C adapters are terrible. Thunderbolt adapters are insanely
expensive. There's still an argument to be made for "dumb" display
protocols/connectors.

My girlfriend is on a 2018 15" MBP for work and we went through multiple USB-C
adapters to try to get something to work with a 1440p 144hz display or a 32"
4k 60hz display. We ended up finding one that worked with the 4k display, but
by default only ran at 30hz. We had to option-click the "scaled" setting in
preferences to force it to display at 60hz. For a company built around the "it
just works" model, the current state of trying to just get up and running on
standard equipment is painful at best.

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mrgreenfur
Not entirely sure what the difference is between the top speced 13" pro and
air, the air is 1k cheaper and the parts are the same, aside from the touchbar
and better cooling.

~~~
turnipla
There's a comparator on apple.com:
[https://www.apple.com/mac/compare/](https://www.apple.com/mac/compare/)

~~~
mrgreenfur
Thanks! Looks like the differences are: \- Iris graphics 645 on the pro vs
iris graphics on the air \- i7 cpus are clocked a little higher on the pro,
which according to this benchmark is about 12% faster
([https://appleinsider.com/articles/20/05/04/compared-2020-13-...](https://appleinsider.com/articles/20/05/04/compared-2020-13-inch-
macbook-pro-versus-2020-macbook-air)) .

~~~
secabeen
The big question on Air vs Pro is what the thermal budget is. Generally, I've
found that Airs will down-clock pretty quickly when running computationally
intensive work for more than a minute or two. Pros have more ability to
dissipate heat, which lets them run faster for longer.

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valuearb
16 inch FTW.

