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Damn you TSA – the 16gig NewMacbook Pro limit is about battery capacity?
Just read that the main reason the new Mac Laptops are limited to 16 gigs is because beyond that, the battery capacities needed to run them for modern uptime requirements run afoul of the battery capacity limits on commercial flights.
Seems Apples new laptop batteries are designed to come in .5 Milliamps UNDER the FAA/TSA limit.
More RAM, more draw, and the battery system risks sucking for everyone.
Clearly, my Apple laptop putting me in a similar situation to what the unfortunate Samsung Galaxy users currently are in, is unacceptable.
Oh well. Nothing’s perfect.
Creator of XinTwo – https://www.xintwo.com
The shortest path to FCP X mastery. -
32 Replies
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From what I’ve read the legal limit is a battery with no more than a capacity of 100 watt hours. The 2015 15″ MBP’s battery was 99.5 watt hours. The 2016 15″ MBP’s battery is 76 watt hours.
https://www.cnet.com/news/macbook-pro-october-2016-battery-life/
Apple went with their usual MO of wanting to make things thinner and working backwards from there. Best way to make it thinner? Make the battery smaller. Best way to maintain battery life even though you are using a smaller battery? Use less power hungry components. As battery tech improves I’m sure Apple will be able to keep the battery the same physical size it is now and get back to the 99.5 watt hours of the older MBPs and then we’ll get more RAM, better GPU, better CPU, etc.,.
If Apple kept the laptop size the same they could have kept the battery size the same and launched the 2016 MBP with max 32gig of RAM, a better GPU, etc.,.
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Perhaps you are correct and Apple just dismisses pros as being fine with weak tea hardware that won’t actually serve us very well.
Then again, when I got to actually edit on one of the the new MacBook Pros in Cupertino last week – it felt like they really, really did consider those of us who make out livings creating content – and had worked hard to build a stronger mobile (and perhaps even desktop editing on a portable) NLE system that could work really, really well for even high requirements editing.
I’m so confused.
You tell me they DON’T care about folks like me – because their machine stats track below what’s possible – and they tell me they do care – and that the numbers they are delivering will properly let me do precisely what I want to do – edit on the road and in my studio with little or no compromises.
Now I guess I’ll have to UPGRADE my laptop to see whose truth is the more compelling.
I’m mindful of the fact that the last time I got a new FCP X rig – the change in editing fluidity was literally IMMENSE.
I guess Editors in general will have to wait another three weeks to see what it’s like this time.
And so it goes.
Creator of XinTwo – https://www.xintwo.com
The shortest path to FCP X mastery. -
Or they could have used a comparable battery and you’d have less runtime when running only on battery. I think users would have been willing to make that choice as a purchase option.
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
[Bill Davis] “You tell me they DON’T care about folks like me”
No I didn’t. I just told you how Apple achieved the form factor and battery life of the 2016 15″ MBP. What you think works for you, or doesn’t work for you, is up to you.
As you were fond of saying, YMMV.
I was literally watching the Apple presser with my credit card out and ready to buy because my 2011 MBP is getting a bit long in the tooth for what I need to do. The 2016 model I’m interested in came around $3500 which is about $1000 more than what I paid for my 2011. At that price the 2016 MBP just falls short on too many fronts for me. 10hr battery life isn’t really a big deal to me because I’m usually hooked into power since I’m using my NLE, AE, external drives, etc.,. Being plugged takes up one USB-C port, my external drive takes up another which means in a typical use scenario I’ve only got two free ports to handle whatever else I might need such as monitor out, my G13 controller, ethernet, ingest from SD card or another drive, etc., (and I’m not even going to talk about the bag of dongles the 2016’s will need until USB-C becomes more universal).
I’m now in the market for a 2015 MBP.
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Maybe this is applicable:
https://www.cnet.com/news/new-macbook-pro-should-have-been-named-air/
?
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
And from the rumor mill:
That would really burn your toast if you just shelled out $4600 by the end of this year. Wouldn’t it? ?
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
[Bill Davis] “Just read that the main reason the new Mac Laptops are limited to 16 gigs is because beyond that, the battery capacities needed to run them for modern uptime requirements run afoul of the battery capacity limits on commercial flights.”
While that may contribute, the reason that MBPs are limited in their RAM is because Apple is favoring portable design + battery life over raw power.
There are processors that allow 32GBs of RAM, but Apple does not want to use them because the laptop wouldn’t be thin and/or light enough. The new processors that would fit in to Apple’s design ethos aren’t ready yet.
SO while it’s easy to point fingers, I think we can point fingers at Apple design, and Intel’s tardy technology.
John Gruber thinks that Apple now HAS to design their own processors moving forward, in order to deliver the products they want to deliver: https://daringfireball.net/linked/2016/10/31/intel-mbp-ram
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[Jeremy Garchow] “SO while it’s easy to point fingers, I think we can point fingers at Apple design, and Intel’s tardy technology.
John Gruber thinks that Apple now HAS to design their own processors moving forward, in order to deliver the products they want to deliver: https://daringfireball.net/linked/2016/10/31/intel-mbp-ram“
Point taken.
Link saved – I hope I can find the time to read it this month. ; )
Creator of XinTwo – https://www.xintwo.com
The shortest path to FCP X mastery. -
As the article mentions, the Dell XPS 15 supports up to 32GB RAM. The tradeoff is lower battery life.
That’s what options are about. Make YOUR choice, based on YOUR priorities. I typically only REALLY need a couple of hours on battery, since I’m rarely far from a plug….but this is also reflective of Apple’s tendency over time, to reduce choices.
That’s fine as a business model, but it’s important to understand that, typically, almost nothing HAS to be one way or the other. Once again, other people are getting this figured out just fine, and customers are choosing options as they see fit.
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Schiller quoted from AppleInsider:
When asked about the lack of an SD card slot, Schiller noted that while Apple would have preferred a more universal solution, the company picked the one card format because most of the users had it, and that early Apple implementations of the slot as being “cumbersome” and a “trade-off.” The card was excised because of the “path forward” with more generic physical card readers, or the growing implementation of wireless transfer.
Regardless of complaints by users alleging that the new MacBook Pro isn’t “pro” enough, Schiller says that the 3.5mm headphone jack was retained for professionals with audio gear that do not have wireless solutions, and still need the jack for macOS.
Funny. An SD slot wasn’t cumbersome in the last version of the MBP. The truth is that Apple sees photography as only the iPhone, therefore no need for an SD slot. It’s also nice to know that the 3.5mm headphone jack defines professionals. ?
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com
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