Do You Really Need MacBook Pro 2018, Here Is Why You Won't?

The new MacBook Pro are very powerful but cost very expensive. For whom were they thought? Who are really "pro" users who can spend 496,475.68 Philippine Piso for a laptop?

Who is a pro user for Apple? The update of the MacBook Pro line, Cupertino "professional" laptops, ticks this question. The two versions, from 13 and 15 inches , are more than a simple processor upgrade: they have power, flexibility but also capital costs. In the face of eighth-generation Intel processors (up to four and six cores), up to 4 Terabytes of SSD , 32 GB of Retina RAM display memory enhanced to adapt to the type of ambient light and new T2 chip for security (in addition to the third version of the ultra-flat keyboard, now quieter and perhaps more resistant to dirt ), it also changes the price.

The basic version of the MacBook Pro 13 costs 124.12 Philippine Piso and reaches 248.24 Philippine Piso, the 15 inches version starts at 186.18 Philippine Piso and even reaches 496.56 Philippine Piso with 4GB of SSD (only those costing 248.28 Philippine Piso). It is clear that with these prices we need to be clear about what the definition of professional user is, the "pro users" that we always talk about.

Because the simple fact of working with a computer and earning a living using software - perhaps Microsoft Office and email plus a managerial - does not make "pro users" from the point of view of hardware choice. In this case, in fact, the reasoning changes completely. When I say "pro" in the context of hardware choices, I'm not just referring to someone who uses technology for work. What I really mean is someone who needs to maximize the skills of technology to do his job.

Who is a pro user for Apple? The update of the MacBook Pro line, Cupertino "professional" laptops, ticks this question. The two versions, from 13 and 15 inches , are more than a simple processor upgrade: they have power, flexibility but also capital costs. In the face of eighth-generation Intel processors (up to four and six cores), up to 4 Terabytes of SSD , 32 GB of Retina RAM display memory enhanced to adapt to the type of ambient light and new T2 chip for security (in addition to the third version of the ultra-flat keyboard, now quieter and perhaps more resistant to dirt ), it also changes the price.

Because the simple fact of working with a computer and earning a living using software - perhaps Microsoft Office and email plus a managerial - does not make "pro users" from the point of view of hardware choice. In this case, in fact, the reasoning changes completely. When I say "pro" in the context of hardware choices, I'm not just referring to someone who uses technology for work. What I really mean is someone who needs to maximize the skills of technology to do his job.

I went to Amsterdam to try and clarify this distinction and I met some "pro" users of Apple's computers. Nimi Attanayake, young architect and partner of the London studio Nimtim , a very young author and programmer (Spruce Campbell, only 13 years old!) Of the CyberJump videogame and a successful app programmer ( Things of CulturedCode , one of my favorites as a utility) , Peter Eszenyi of the London-based Territory Studio who make special effects for film and television, photographer Jason Hawkesspecializing in aerial photography, which with his Nikon D850 creates images only in flight on the helicopter, David Mayer who develops software for people with disabilities, Byron Wijayawardena of Hangman.film who deals with color calibration for video 4k and 8K of film and documentaries on Rolling Stones and AC / DC, or Gareth Cousins, a sound engineer who produces the final mix of film and television audio after years spent at Abbey Road, the most famous studios in London ( the Beatles studios , to be understood ). A rundown of incredible characters united by two things: they pull the hardware to the maximum because they do "heavy" things but above all they require faster and faster realization times, and they use all Macs. Indeed, in some cases exclusively MacBook Pro.

There are few things to note among the many views and said in a day spent talking about their work and how it takes place. The first is that this type of users is what Apple has heardto realize the current generation of MacBook Pro. Users who do not have budget problems in buying the computer and who, on the contrary, repay it quickly enough. As Hawkes told me, the possibility of having the whole Raw image archive (more than 100 thousand files) on Lightroom on his MacBook Pro with 4 TB of SSD and be able to search them in real time (previous generations could not), the allow customers to respond to the flight and also send while traveling the "right" images that seek instead of having to wait to return to the office and use the desktop maybe the week after, risking meanwhile losing the customer. "You do it a couple of times and you've already paid off the MacBook," he told me.

Others also agree. Werner Jainek, CEO and co-founder of CulturedCode, explains: "We are a small German company, MacBook Pro only: all eight of us work only on Apple laptops". Time is money and efficiency is also monetizable. It must be said that the software development sector is very important in defining a pro user for Apple. The vast majority of pro users are indeed more than creative software developers in the traditional sense: video, image, audio, text. And there's a reason: software developers in the age of apps are an army, they are creative as well as technical and they need power to compile, view, use simulators and virtual machines. Since you need to use Xcode to develop an iOS app, the integrated development environment created by Apple that runs only on Mac, this market for Apple is relatively large. Indeed, proportionally, it is gigantic (and one of the reasons why Microsoft has started to woo the developers ). The app on the Apple store in March 2018 were 2,100,000 (almost half for iPad, plus 10,000 for Apple Watch and 8,000 for Apple TV registered in previous months) and this makes the idea of ​​how big the market who needs an Apple computer to write code.

Developers love the power but also the portability : working in different environments, at customers, around (maybe on holiday or at a table from Starbucks) for a profession that has a high profitability at least in the United States and in northern Europe , is very common. But the same can be said of those dealing with special effects, video color correction, audio mix, aerophotograph. Working in the field , be it the helicopter hangar or the backstage of a concert, the minivan of a television production on the road or a corner of a science fiction movie set, requires power and portability. What kind of power? As much as possible. Better still if with a second external graphics card, an eGPU, connectable via the Thunderbolt 3 socket. Apple is also investing heavily in this solution.

An example is audio: the largest audio mixer in the world has 82 channels, most 72. On the virtual mixer on MacBook Pro you can create up to 404 in parallel and load 13 GB of audio in RAM memory to mix in real time a classical music orchestra that is recording the soundtrack of a blockbuster. All from a MacBook Pro connected to the sound system of the room. Making an entire orchestra play in an ad hoc recording room can cost tens of thousands of pesos per hour: the price of the MacBook Pro is a pudgy comparison. This explains to me very well who are pro users for Apple. And, unfortunately for me, it completely excludes me: for us ordinary mortalsthat they try to live using the "normal" apps, a "normal" laptop is enough and goes. What actually poses a final and interesting question: what does Apple offer for the rest of us?

Unfortunately, very little (and starting prices are almost always increased to add Ram or SSD). The twelve-inch- sized MacBooks (the computer I purchased six months ago) make great compromises on portability and cost from 96,144.33 Philippine Piso. The 13-inch MacBook Pro of 2017 dubbed "Escape" because it does not have the TouchBar, costs him too starting from 96,146.06 Philippine Piso. Finally, the MacBook Air 13 inches last updated in 2015 , a machine that as a new purchase is no longer current in many ways from the screen not Retina but with 12 hours of real battery, starts at 70,075.50 Philippine Piso.

In the fall there may be news (rumors speak of upgrades of iMac, Mac mini and even laptops not "Pro") but in general for those who want an Apple laptop to work comfortably and stay under 80,000 pesos is not a good moment.

If you are a student, you dont really need the MacBook Pro 2018.