So I have been waiting for the new MacBook pro that I thought I would buy. Now that it came, I am a little disappointed actually. For what I can see, to buy a new laptop here in 2020, the Macbook Air is the best buy. Currently, I have two Imacs, my main computer, a late 2012 Imac with a quad-core i7 and 1 TB fusion drive. This is the computer I have been most happy with ever. It is still doing OK, but it has started to misbehave once in a while. It also is a bit slow showing preview in Rapidweaver (Rapidweaver being my main cause for buying a new Mac). But I can live with this computer. Then I have an iMac from 2014 with a HD and a i5 processor. That is a really slow computer due to the HD. It also has a small burned spot on the screen, so I never use it. I keep it only as a backup if something should happen to my late 2012 Imac.
So I also contemplating to not buy any new Mac this year. Since I am generally happy with my old computer, seeing the negligible increase in performance of the Macbook Pros 13 inch over the Macbook Air i5 model, why should I buy a new computer? Currently, I do not have a laptop. I was always in favor of desktop Macs and when the Imacs came along, the Imacs, of which I have had a lot during my rather long life by this time. I never owned a PC by the way. I went straight from Atari TT to Mac in the mid-eighties :-).
My old trusty Imac scores 817 on geekbench. The new Macbook Air actually only scores 1046 in single core performance.
So my fellow Rapidweavers, what would you do in my case?
Finding the right time to buy a new computer and picking the right model for your needs, is always a difficult decision. In general, I try to plan my investments so that I can use the new computer for a long time. My current 13" Macbook pro is a 2013 model and while the battery is a little weaker, it still performs well.
I have been keeping an eye on new 13" models, and the new pro model introduced a few weeks ago looks quite good. Maybe a little disappointing that the screen size had not been increased to 14". But other than that, the keyboard is better than the previous model, it is fast and battery life is good.
The new Macbook air is good too. But if I look 6-7 years ahead, I would worry that it might become a little weak for web development.
Rumor has it that Apple is planning to introduce ARM based laptops maybe as early as late this year or early next year. So one might speculate that a new 14" Macbook pro with a faster processor and better battery life is in the pipe line. If that is the case, maybe it is better to wait…?
Absolutely. Upgrade to an SSD if you don’t have one and upgrade to 16gb if you really have to have loads of other stuff open when working. I have a several MBP’s and Minis with nothing newer than 2013 but all have SSD’s and 16Gb ram.
RW doesn’t use multi cores, so using an 8 core processor will not help as you will still use just 1 core.
The biggest thing you can do to speed up RW Edit, Preview and Publish is to use a new fast framework such as Source, and use stacks that don’t use lots of settings. Think carefully about every stack you add to a page and avoid using old school stacks with loads or settings when you just need to do something simple. Also avoid layouts that demand many stacks inside stacks inside stacks, etc…
Old Macs are perfect and speed is not an issue when using a fast framework and following this new age Stacks speedy approach.
Yes I did think RW wasn’t optimised for multicore, so more cores wouldn’t help.
The rumour mill has been ramping up recently about ARM based Macs, will be interesting to see how it pans out but if you need something now why wait.
Agree with Gary’s other point that newer frameworks will preview faster, such as Foundation 6, UIKit 3, as well as Source. I’m not sure about Foundry 2 and Platform but as they are a bit newer they should be better on preview speed. Also stacks that are are lighter on settings will preview faster.
My daughter just bought the new 13" Macbook and it took me by surprise: it’s a really lovely little machine. I imagined from the website that it would be pretty much like my 2015 Macbook, or her even older one. But Apple have brought the weight and the thickness right down, so it is much lighter and more stylish than the somewhat box previous Macbook lineup. It’s not that it specs up in an amazing way. But it just feels great to use — now, I would definitely get one myself.
@Webdeersign - thats Interesting… My 2011 iMac (500GB) died a few months back, so I switched to a late 2012 Macmini. As it only has 250GB, I couldn’t transfer everything from the iMac’s backup so my files are divided in 2 places. I was thinking to get a new Mini later this year, to bring it all together but now Im wondering whether it makes more sense just to put in a bigger SSD and keep going?
My 2010 iMac, with SSD and max ram is far better for RW work than my 2017 iMac. It’s not that the new one contains a fusion drive but that its woefully underpowered in terms of graphics card, which I understand is a common complaint with retina Macs.
My 2010 17in Macbook is a total workhorse and leaves both for dust when it comes to RW.
Yes I am actually happy with my old trust Imac. It only worries me a bit that it seem to misbehave once in a while. Could be the harddrive. I have also decided not to buy a new mac right now. Maybe I will just buy a SSD like suggested.
Thank you for the inputs. Helped me decide that I do n ot buy another one. I will look at a SSD
Hey @Kent- it sounds like you’ve made up your mind, which is great. But, for anyone else who is considering the new 13" MacBook Pro, I highly recommend it. I just replaced my wife’s old 12" MacBook with the four-port version, and we both LOVE it.
I suppose it has a lot to do with the unbelievably bad keyboard both of us have had for far too long. My otherwise fantastic 15" MBP has a butterfly keyboard (as does 12" MB we just replaced) - typing on it is excruciating. However, typing on her new laptop is flat-out wonderful. Plus, her old MB only had one USB-C port (same with the current Air…and the base 13" only has two). With four, she can keep it charged, plug into my two external monitors, and she still has an open port (I use my 4th for my TimeMachine).
I haven’t been this pleased with a MacBook since my old 17" (still, my favorite machine of all time).
I have a MacBook Pro 15 from 2015. It had only 512GB, and I was able to upgrade to a 1GB SSD with a special adapter. I gained a SSD speed improvement of 4 times faster 🙂
Thank you Dave. I have been contemplating to buy a new Mac for a couple of years now. I have been waiting for the Macs to get a substantial speed upgrade, one that will make it unnecessary to upgrade for many years. Like the late 2012 Imac I am using now. That was a substantial upgrade from my older Imac, and I really had no need to upgrade for about 8 years now. But I did not have a Mac laptop for maybe 12 years now, so I was kind of getting a desire to get one. Since my Imac is getting kind of old, I also wanted it to be powerful enough to make it my main computer, with an external screen setup. But i do not feel the current Macbook pro 13 inch is powerful enough as it is now, taking into account that my old Imac is doing quite well still. The 2020 Macbook Air is more powerful in single core performance, which I always look at, as many of my apps run on one core only. I was really disappointed about the base Macbook Pro only have 8 gen processors. I also was disappointed that it did not get a 14 inch screen. The high end 13 inch is so expensive that it gives less sense to buy it when comparing it with the 16 inch Macbook. So I resist my urge to get a laptop. :-)
With a killer keyboard. Actually, though, I totally agree- if someone springs for a 2020 MBP 13", the upgraded version is the way to go. Current 10th gen processor, 16GB of faster RAM, 4 USB-C ports, better speakers, and two fans instead of one.
Yes this is going to be very interesting. We can expect some really significant performance increases. Just see how the Ipad Pro blasts all other tablet computers. Without a fan and with great battery life. I am wondering if Realmacsoftware is looking into this? I think they are working on a new version, version 10 maybe.
It’s not something I worry about. I’ve always bought technology based on my needs today - not what’s coming down the pike. My first inkjet printer cost $800.00- within a couple of years the price had dropped drastically. But, my small business certainly got its money’s worth. As for the processor - when Apple moved from PowerPC chips to Intel, it was six years before they shipped Lion, officially ending support for PowerPC processors.
No, on the contrary - this is actually quite exciting! The ARM processors is the reason why the iPad Pro stand head and shoulders above the competition with low power consumption and amazing performance. So it seems justified to expect that an ARM-based laptop will be quite impressive.
And seems that Apple has a long time goal of unifying the Mac and the iPad product lines. iPadOs now supports mouse, trackpads and external keyboards, and I have seen quite a few people declare the iPad as a worthy replacement for a laptop. We also know that Apple is making it much easier to port apps between the two platforms. Goodnotes was just introduced under MacOs and the Affinity product line is moving in the other direction.
So for me, with no immediate need to replace my Macs, I am considering getting an iPad Pro this summer to see what I can do with it. And the come back to the question of replacing a Mac next year.