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I'm new to this forum and I was wondering what Macbook Pro I should get. I currently have a late 2013 model with a 256GB SSD and 8GB of RAM. I am looking to upgrade it as one day I'm going to start working on my fan game of Abe's Exoddus and I need a powerful Macbook with a graphics card capable of playing 2.5D side scrolling games like Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty.
I will also need a Macbook Pro as I use it build my small audio games for Mac.
Laptops Direct are currently selling what I think is a late 2016 Macbook Pro with a 1TB SSD and an AMD Radeon 4GB Graphics Card. Are there any performance differences between that and a 2018 Macbook Pro? I could get a 2018 Macbook Pro with a 4GB AMD Graphics Card and a 512GB SSD.
https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/new...15.6-inch-with-touch-bar-mlh52b-a/version.asp
If you're willing to spend some $$$ I'd get the latest 15" MacBook Pro with i7, 16GB Ram, AMD RX Vega 20, 512GB SSD.
This will provide you with a nice performance boost. The 2018 models are 6-core CPUs as well.
I do video and audio editing on a Late 2013 15" Macbook Pro with i7 quad-core, 16GB Ram, 512GB SSD, and nVidia GeForce GT 750M and it gets laggy with 4K video at times.
I’m using a 2018 and the keyboard is quieter as a byproduct of the little plastic mesh guards on each key that provide a higher level of protection from contaminants.
My 2018 MacBook keyboard hasn’t failed (yet) and unlike my 2017 keyboard failure, the keys aren’t sticking or repeating which was a precursor to my 2017 fail.
But there are reports of some 2018s failing.
If you’re buying new and don’t have a 2014-1015 (haswell) MacBook, you might as well go for a 2018.
My suggestion normally would be to make a slickdeals account and set a deal alert for Macbooks and wait for the next round of sales but they don't cover the UK. That said you can at least get an idea of what prices are considered good by previous sales. Current gen MacBook 15"s are considered on sale near the $2k to $2,100 mark and 13"s under 1k if you are going with a pre-built which is what I would suggest. I would stay away from BTOs as Mac ownership should be though of more as a lease roll device rather than something I would keep long term, as in recent years all of them have some kind of critical failure that cripples them around year 3-4. The previous gen had issues with the anti-glare peeling, this one has defective keyboards and the next one will have something else.
Absolutely nothing you can do other than buy Apple care. I babied a 2016 and it got hit both with a failing keyboard and the stage light display failure a week before Apple Care expired. Sent it in for repair and immediately sold it and rolled into a 2018. I personally would not have purchased another one however other OEMs have different but just as bad QC issues than Apple does but unlike a Windows PC Macs have resale value that helps mitigate the problems they often have. You can argue whether Macs are built well or not but ultimately it doesn't matter if you need one and as long as people are willing to pay outrageous prices 2nd hand it can be worked around.
Originally purchased the 2016 for $2100, sold through Gazelle for $1100 net loss of $1k over a 3 year period which roughly equates to $28 a month. Your call whether that is a good investment or not but the wife needs it for work.
Fan noise really isn't a problem as the fan curves are identical for the most part between models, the issue is more of performance and throttling rather than noise. You're better off going with the least amount of heat producing devices possible and if you need a stronger GPU go the external route.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.
