Say Goodbye to the Butterfly Keyboard, Hello Magic Keyboard →

I’m was “fortunate” to wait and wait for a newly designed MacBook Pro since I was going to spend an exorbitant amount and I am more than happy that I did. Consequently, I skipped the entire butterfly keyboard in its entirety and with it, much of it’s many defects and highly publicized issues! Apple debuted the 16” MacBook Pro last November and has since released the new Magic Keyboard along its entire lineup concluding today with the new 13” MacBook Pro. From 2020 on, you won’t be using that butterfly keyboard on any of Apple’s new devices including the new iPad Pro Magic Keyboard which debuted just two weeks ago! I’m contemplating buying it for my 11” iPad Pro but I’m still unsure and disappointed in the price.

Apple today updated the 13-inch MacBook Pro with the new Magic Keyboard for the best typing experience ever on a Mac notebook and doubled the storage across all standard configurations, delivering even more value to the most popular MacBook Pro. The new lineup also offers 10th-generation processors for up to 80 percent faster graphics performance1 and makes 16GB of faster 3733MHz memory standard on select configurations. With powerful quad-core processors, the brilliant 13-inch Retina display, Touch Bar and Touch ID, immersive stereo speakers, all-day battery life, and the power of macOS, all in an incredibly portable design, the new 13-inch MacBook Pro is available to order today, starting at $1,299, and $1,199 for education.

If you want to know which configuration of the 13” I would opt for, specifically, I’m surprised that Apple didn’t debut the long-rumored 14” bezel-less MacBook Pro. But I digress. Obviously, the first option, since you can’t upgrade most of these machines after the fact, is to max out the RAM. While the base model starts at $1,299, it only comes with 8GB RAM and I know that macOS Catalina along with Google Chrome or Apple’s Safari web browsers will eat it all up. While the $1,299 and $1,499 only max out at 16GB RAM, the higher model with the Intel 10th Generation CPU starts at 16GB 3733MHz LPDDR4X and can be maxed out at 32GB RAM which is also faster than 2133MHz LPDDR3 found in the lower two models.

So with that, I start at $1,799 base setup then upgrade the RAM, for $400, then upgrade the hard drive to 1TB for $200. If you have anything left over, going from the Intel i5 to the i7 for $200 is a logical upgrade too in my book. You can always add hard drive space with external drives or USB sticks but the RAM and CPU are nonupgradable components. So with all that added up, we’re back at $2,399 or $2,599 with the i7 CPU. Still an amazing little computer and also near the same price as the outgoing model.

Apple iPhone 7 Benchmarks vs Android

This iPhone 7 Single Core Geekbench testings shows an amazing lead compared to rest. Even dating back to the previous model at one year old, the Apple's Single Core optimization beats the rest. But when it comes to Multi-Core, Samsung does indeed come very close.

Device                    Single Core           Multi-Core
iPhone 7 / 7 Plus         3285 / 3211           5285 / 5191
iPhone SE                    2409                 4051
iPhone 6s / 6s Plus       2375 / 2400           3991 / 4027
Samsung Galaxy S7            1806                 5228
Samsung Galaxy Note 7        1786                 5213
Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge       1744                 5203
Huawei P9                    1729                 4735
OnePlus 3                    1698                 4015
LG G5                        1658                 3745
iPhone 6 / 6 Plus            1463 / 1471        2457 / 2470

One VERY interesting feat is the fact that today's iPhone 7 / 7 Plus beats out the MacBook Pro 15" (Late 2011) and even the Mac Pro (Late 2013) in single core benchmarks. Intel better be watching. As The Verge clearly put it,

Now, before you accuse me of being high on my own metaphorical supply, I’m not saying that Intel will be crippled or surpassed anytime soon. But I am arguing that the chip giant is under a substantial threat, the likes of which it hasn’t faced for a long time, maybe ever. A quick look at the Geekbench scores attained by the iPhone 7 quantifies a staggering achievement: the single-core performance of Apple’s latest generation of smartphone processors has basically caught up with Intel’s laptops CPUs. The A10 chip inside the iPhone 7 comfortably outpaces its predecessors and Android rivals, and even outdoes a wide catalog of relatively recent Mac computers (including the not-so-recent Mac Pro). The iPhone’s notoriously hard to benchmark against anything else and this is just one metric, but it’s illustrative of Apple’s accelerating momentum and mobile focus.Now, before you accuse me of being high on my own metaphorical supply, I’m not saying that Intel will be crippled or surpassed anytime soon. But I am arguing that the chip giant is under a substantial threat, the likes of which it hasn’t faced for a long time, maybe ever. A quick look at the Geekbench scores attained by the iPhone 7 quantifies a staggering achievement: the single-core performance of Apple’s latest generation of smartphone processors has basically caught up with Intel’s laptops CPUs. The A10 chip inside the iPhone 7 comfortably outpaces its predecessors and Android rivals, and even outdoes a wide catalog of relatively recent Mac computers (including the not-so-recent Mac Pro). The iPhone’s notoriously hard to benchmark against anything else and this is just one metric, but it’s illustrative of Apple’s accelerating momentum and mobile focus.

This is one POWERFUL A10 Fusion chip and Apple I'm sure is proud. Congrats on the optimizations!

PCWorld Goes Hands-on with Intel's Skull Canyon NUC →

How much performance does that add up to? On one Skull Canyon NUC we played the new game Just Cause 3 at 1920x1080 resolution, with frame rates in the low- to mid-30s. For PC gamers that’s, well, not great, but for integrated graphics, that’s actually pretty impressive.

If you really want more power, you can hook up external graphics cabinets such as this Razer Core with a Radeon GPU inside of it using the Thunderbolt 3.0 port.

This might just be the PC that I've been waiting for. FYI: I haven't owned a Windows based PC since 2005 and at that time, I was already running concurrently with my Powerbook Titanium followed by a MacBook Pro in 2008 virtually dropping all PC/Windows related computing.  The biggest problem I have is that I am well divested into the Mac / OS X ecosystem but then again, the PC would be primarily for gaming. 

Paired with Razer's new Core Graphics external add-on for $500 (graphics card NOT included), this could shape up to be a lean, mean, portable gaming machine which is also less expensive than the Razer Blade Core combo. 

Sidenote: When the heck is the new Apple MacBook Pro going to be released? I've been stuck on a 2010 MacBook Air Core 2 Duo and it's becoming a drag! (this post written on that 2010 MBA) 

GORDON MAH UNG via PCWorld

Apple's iPad Pro Beats Last Year's MacBook Pro →

The benchmarks speak for themselves. Apple is out pacing Intel's x86 architecture with their own in-house ARM A series build out and it’s really impressive. See for yourself.

After a very short conversation with my wife, looks like the iPad Pro might be her next machine while I’m still reserving myself for the SkyLake Retina MacBook Pro for gaming and heavy photography processing. Maybe some video intertwined here and there.

The iPad Pro →

The iPad Pro is without question faster than the new one-port MacBook or the latest MacBook Airs. I’ve looked at several of my favorite benchmarks — Geekbench 3, Mozilla’s Kraken, and Google’s Octane 2 — and the iPad Pro is a race car. It’s only a hair slower than my year-old 13-inch MacBook Pro in single-core measurements. Graphics-wise, testing with GFXBench, it blows my MacBook Pro away. A one-year-old maxed-out MacBook Pro, rivaled by an iPad in performance benchmarks. Just think about that. According to Geekbench’s online results, the iPad Pro is faster in single-core testing than Microsoft’s new Surface Pro 4 with a Core-i5 processor. The Core-i7 version of the Surface Pro 4 isn’t shipping until December — that model will almost certainly test faster than the iPad Pro. But that’s a $1599 machine with an Intel x86 CPU. The iPad Pro starts at $799 and runs an ARM CPU — Apple’s A9X. There is no more trade-off. You don’t have to choose between the performance of x86 and the battery life of ARM.

It's getting to the point that Apple is indeed paving the way for a faster and better experience. If they up the game with iOS X (or whatever they are going to call it) and make it a more viable operating system for the notebook replacement, I can see them conquering the $1200 and lower market segment.

The only thing that sets me back on making this a replacement laptop is that sometimes, Mac OS X has more to offer in terms of shortcuts and various other apps that are NOT for mobile. Jon Gruber also points out a few short comings on using a keyboard without a trackpad. Funny though, I see my daughter (3 years old) try and manipulate my laptop and her little fingerprints are all over my screen. After some frustrations has set, she turns to me confused. 

The Proliferation Of USB 3.0

During the last decade, Apple has led the way in optimizing the personal computer being the first to delete legacy equipment and replace them with new technologies or simply minimalize.  On some occasions, their choice to adopt was either strategically delayed waiting for broad acceptance or in some cases never implemented e.g. Blu-ray.  On the opposite extreme, they have also led the way in the proliferation of FireWire; Apple's own design and technology implemented in 1999 and found in Apple Computers since.

With the inclusion of the latest USB 3.0 ports, we can finally celebrate the new dawn of faster data transfers.  Rumored to also be is a new Dock Connector that I'm guessing will take full advantage of these blazing new bus speeds.  Introduced back in 2008 and the first consumer products released in 2009, it's been a long time coming with Intel releasing their first integrated chipsets earlier this year.  I truly believe that we will look back and thank Apple for this as the adoption rate and proliferation of USB 3.0 peripherals will most likely sky rocket.  This in part being that it costs less than the Thunderbolt equivalent and is backward compatible with USB 2.0.  Consumers love the term "backwards" compatibility.  Where the PC world has failed in the introduction of USB 3.0, Apple will be heralded as the usurpuer.  From those million iOS users stuck syncing for hours, thank you and finally!  Yes, we can say that wireless syncing is where it's at, but only because we don't have access to quick syncs and backups.  The cloud is great nonetheless, but USB 3.0 will be where it's at.

The success of WWDC '12 and not to mention the intro of the MacBook Pro with Retina display, the yet-to-be-announced Fall '12 iPod / iPhone / iPad maybe iMac event couldn't come fast enough.  I love Thunderbolt technology but how many hard drives and peripherals do you see out there support it compared to USB 3.0?

'And there's a lot more to it than hardware'

One of the most comprehensive reviews EVER of the next-generation MacBook Pro with Retina display by a trusted source we have all come to know and love since the early 90s. I actually like the abbreviation rMBP too!

After using it for the past two weeks I can honestly say it’s the best Mac Apple has ever built. And there’s a lot more to it than hardware.

The next-gen MacBook Pro with Retina Display Review by Anand Lal Shimpi

And today, after it's debut almost two weeks ago, shipping times at apple.com are still showing 3-4 weeks out!