2018 i9 MacBook Pro Review

Reading Time: 15 minutes.

 

I have repeatedly complained about the MacBook Pro since Apple released their updated version with TouchBar and USB-C only design in 2016. The TouchBar seemed to be nothing more than a gimmick, and USB-C is not enough to sufficiently support your average computer user, let alone a “pro.”

However, I’m a software developer. I occasionally play games, and my friends have been trying to get me into it more. I edit photos and videos as well. It was clear I’d need a powerful computer, and I wanted the ability to take it on the go. I wanted to be able to visit friends or family, and take it along with me. That’s why I went with a MacBook Pro, despite my initial concerns.

But was I right to be concerned? Is the performance underwhelming? Is the TouchBar a gimmick? What about the fact that it only has USB-C ports, is it too much of a hassle?

I’ll cover that and more.

Spoiler: Yes, USB-C only was a terrible idea.

Performance

The 2018 MacBook Pro is the first Mac to feature Intel’s new i9 processors. The i9 is a fast and capable 6 core processor from Intel, well known for short bursts of incredible speed. While the base clock speed for the i9 is 2.9GHz, it has single core bursts up to 4.8GHz. However, some testers have observed that the i9 cannot maintain its speed. In fact, we know the i9, and specifically the i9 in the MacBook Pro, can overheat, throttle, and come in slower than the latest i7!

i9: Too Hot to Handle?

 

I waited until after Apple issued its patch to buy the MacBook Pro. The same testers who saw the i9 dip in performance below the i7 saw it had dramatically improved. Now the i9 was faster than the i7 in most tasks, lagging behind only slightly on longer tasks. This is thermal throttling, with the i9 getting too hot and needing to slow down, however, it’s still optimal. In regular use, like launching applications, it’ll fly past the i7. Furthermore, in short bursts of computing, like photo editing or building an app, it’s perfect. As I’m more likely to do these tasks than long hours of video editing (though I do this occasionally as well), I went with the i9.

Comparing i9 MacBook Pro Performance to Other Machines

I don’t have an i7 MacBook Pro for comparison. However, I can compare the i9 MacBook Pro to other machines. For example, building my company’s Android app is about a minute faster than last year’s MacBook Pro with an i7, and three minutes faster than a 2015 MacBook Pro with an i7. Those are truly impressive build time improvements that make a real difference to a developer. Every bit of time I’m not wasting by waiting for a build to finish keeps me in “the zone,” that magical place where code is as easy to write as the words in this post.

Benchmarks

Furthermore, I ran Cinebench tests. When I’d run it from a cool state, that is, after the processor has had time to reach about 50ºC, it performed much better than a warmer start. By continually running the benchmark, I was able to consistently lower the performance. However, it eventually hit a baseline, and, surprisingly, I found the speed rarely dropped close to the base clock speed.

 

You can see my results above. The first one is the first test, which showed the highest score. The next image is a screenshot from the Intel Power Gadget. This is an app that lets us see the clock speed, temperature, utilization, and power consumption of the CPU. Spikes on this graph in the “Frequency” section show times when performance was boosted. The third image is of the worst result, and you can see from its associated Intel Power Gadget graphs that the performance spikes shrunk. Speeds never dropped below the 2.90 base clock speed though, which was impressive.

The 2016 MacBook Pro, as tested by Ars Technica, got a Cinebench score of 696. This 2018 i9 MacBook Pro scored a 985, and at its absolute slowest, an 854. That’s a significant speed increase in just two years. This is thanks to the new Intel chips using 6 processing cores with up to 12 simultaneous threads, as well as faster clock speeds.

English, Please

It’s fast as promised. It never dropped below the clock speed of the i9 while under load (only doing it for power saving between runs), which means it was running a slight turbo during heavy loads. Although, this is how Intel defines their “base clock speeds.” It’s supposed to be the minimum clock speed under load.

Basically put, the i9 is fast, but gets hot. If you perform tasks that need bursts of power, it’s worth the upgrade. Otherwise, you’ll barely a notice a difference from the i7. As an app developer and photo editor, it’s worth it for me. However, if you only browse the internet, play the occasional game, or do intensive and long video editing sessions, it might not be worth the upgrade for you.

Surprising Graphics

About a month ago, I was hanging out with a girl at my place. She saw I had a PS3 and Portal 2, so we played some co-op. We didn’t finish the campaign, and I had the itch to keep playing. I had Portal 2 on Steam as well, which still features online co-op, so I tried it out. That 2011 game ran so poorly on my 2010 MacBook Pro. I lowered all the settings to their lowest, and still got some lag. It was playable, but barely.

 

Even incredibly realistic physics simulations run smoothly!

Then I got the 2018 MacBook Pro with the AMD Radeon Pro 560X and 4GB of memory. I wasn’t expecting much. AMD’s graphics are more for workstations, and it was a mobile processor. Still, I was able to run Portal 2 at full resolution with maxed out graphical settings, all while powering two other monitors. The game looked magnificent. I checked out some of my other games, like Polybridge, which also ran spectacularly. Then, I decided to give it a more demanding test: Fortnite. Once again, the MacBook Pro shocked me. I was able to set draw distance to its extreme, play at full resolution on my ultra-widescreen monitor, and didn’t have to sacrifice textures, shadows, or post-processing completely. All of this while maintaining a solid 30FPS floor. This was also while running the game in macOS, not Windows.

I am still considering buying a Razer Core external GPU enclosure down the road and putting in a newer AMD or Nvidia graphics card in it (depending on macOS and Windows driver support), but for those looking to play less intensive games like Fortnite, you might actually be comfortable using the i9 MacBook Pro for gaming.

I’m as surprised as you are.

Screen

Despite looking at it, the screen can be something that’s easy to forget. That’s the sign of a good screen though. If you’re not thinking about it, it’s doing its job. The 2018 MacBook Pro is the first to feature Apple’s True Tone display. This uses light sensors to ensure the screen matches the white balance of your space. The end result is a screen that feels natural to look at, less like a digital screen and more like a piece of paper. You can toggle True Tone, if you need 100% color accuracy, but for most people, doing most tasks, this is a wonderful feature that makes your screen more pleasant to look at.

Furthermore, the screen’s resolution is incredible. It has a native resolution of 2880-by-1800, scaled lower so text is readable. The end result is incredibly crisp images. At normal viewing distances, it can be next to impossible to see the pixels on the display. It’s bright for a screen this size, coming in at 500 nits, and has a wide (P3) color gamut. This translates to a display that is a joy to use, but also perfect for professionals who need high levels of color accuracy and resolution.

Battery Life

I was first surprised by the battery life on this computer at a tech conference. I brought it to take notes in sessions and to keep me connected to those still working at the office. Laptop battery life hasn’t been something I’ve thought much about. For the most part, I’m not using my laptop without a charger. This conference gave me the ability to really test out the MacBook’s battery life.

Battery life changes dramatically, depending on what you’re doing and how you’re using your machine. Is the brightness all the way up? Are you allowing graphics switching between the power hungry dedicated graphics card and the integrated graphics? Do you have 20 applications open, each hungry for CPU time? Usually, I’m breaking every rule. In fact, at the tech conference, I was using the dedicated graphics card. I was also working while taking notes. Doing this caused my battery life to drop rapidly. The entire battery would have been depleted in just under 5 hours. That’s still not terrible, considering what I was doing, but I’d expect more for regular use. So, I set out to use it “regularly.”

I found that, when I did set out to preserve battery life, using my computer only for note taking, email, and light web browsing it took a shocking 45 minutes to drop from 100% to 99%. Obviously this was just a calibration concern, and I likely have to run the battery through numerous cycles before it’s more accurate, but throughout the conference, it didn’t drop rapidly.

Despite graduating years ago, I still measure laptop battery performance in the same way: could this last me through a full day of college classes? There were days I’d go six to eight hours without a charger for my 2006 MacBook, and it would still pull me through the day. Could the 2018 i9 MacBook Pro do that? Absolutely. Apple says this can last up to 10 hours under normal note taking and web browsing conditions, and, after testing it for a few weeks, I’m inclined to believe them.

Dongles

There are dongles. So many dongles. You’ll end up buying about $200 in adapters or hubs. Even if you did have all USB-C devices, you’d still use up the 4 USB-C ports quickly, and then you’ll need a hub. I’ve been happy with the HyperDrive Pro, though you may need a hub more like OWC’s Thunderbolt Dock. If you have old firewire or USB-A drives, you may want to get new drive enclosures, driving the price of your upgrade up further.

I’d add a single USB-A port, an SD Card slot, and an HDMI port to the MacBook Pro. Apple may have had to make the machine thicker to do this, but, since it’s already so thin, and this would have improved the cooling on the Intel Core i9 processor. I’d accept this sacrifice.

After you buy your dongles, the port situation isn’t so bad. In fact, disconnecting everything from my MacBook Pro usually involves disconnecting the HyperDrive and a power cable. It’s almost convenient.

Touch

Apple refuses to redesign their Mac lineup and feature touch screens. It’s absurd. Windows PCs have done it to great effect, as has Microsoft with its Surface Studio and Surface Book computers. Apple says they don’t think holding your arm out would be ergonomic, but this feels like “in the box” thinking. If you redesign the laptop, you don’t have to reach as far.

Still, the 2018 MacBook Pro is the most touch-friendly Mac ever. Apple did this by replacing the function keys with a slim touch screen they call the Touch Bar and a gigantic trackpad that takes up nearly half of the area below the keyboard. The result is Apple’s most tough-friendly Mac, but it still feels incomplete.

Touch Bar

The Touch Bar has been a source of controversy since it was introduced. A gimmick, reviewers called it. I saw little use in it. The actual truth of the matter is, the Touch Bar is a complicated tool, one that will require months of use before I can be sure if it’s useful or a gimmick.

Custom Actions

What I like about the Touch Bar is that I can use BetterTouchTool to add my own buttons. I’ve got a button to open the emoji picker, another to launch Terminal, and one that kicks off a custom AppleScript I wrote. The AppleScript checks to see if I have Firefox open. If I do, it opens a new windows in the space I’m in, preventing jumping back and forth, as clicking on the dock icon would do. If it’s not open, it simply launches my browser. I have other customizations specific to the application I have open. In Android Studio, it makes debugging easier. Firefox has tab navigation, as well as buttons to make copying URL links easier. In Mail and my RSS reader, there are shortcuts for marking items as read.

Predefined Actions

Applications that have made use of the Touch Bar are great as well. Pixelmator, for example, puts its toolbar and tool options on the Touch Bar. This is fantastic, because Pixelmator’s strange window management often makes finding these tools and controls difficult. I’ve already reached over my desk to tap something on the Touch Bar while using my MacBook like a desktop computer, solely because it was easier than finding the item on the screen.

The Downsides

Despite these cool features, there are huge downsides. You can’t rely on muscle memory. Since the Touch Bar changes in every app, you can’t be sure of where something will be without a glance. I’ve color coded buttons, but this isn’t a perfect solution. I still need to look down and search before I can tap on something. After that, it’s useful, but before that, the keyboard shortcut is faster and easier, especially since it’s likely closer to where your fingers already are.

There’s no tactility in the Touch Bar. Unlike the trackpad, tapping it doesn’t feel like tapping a button. It just feels like tapping a piece of textured glass. BetterTouchTool allows you to click the trackpad impeller when you tap on an action, but this doesn’t feel right either. It seems like such an oversight for Apple.

Terrible Accessibility

It’s also not an accessible solution. Apple’s normally better about providing blind and vision impaired users a way to interact with their devices that is close to what those with vision can do. Stevie Wonder famously thanked Steve Jobs for making the iPhone a fantastic phone for people who are blind. But Apple products are increasingly becoming less accessible. Buttons, like the home button, are easier to use without looking, but Apple removed it. Face ID requires “attention,” that is, looking at the screen with your eyes, to improve security (otherwise anyone could unlock your device by pointing it at you). iPhones are becoming larger and harder to hold with one hand, an issue when your “view” of the screen is limited by your fingers’ reach. Apple’s getting worse at making accessible products, and the Touch Bar is another symptom of that.

Useful?

Not everyone is going to crack open a script editor and customize their Touch Bar to make it more useful. Most of the engineers I know haven’t tried this. Most just use it for the permanent controls on the right side, brightness, volume, and perhaps a search button. People miss tactile buttons, they miss being able to trust their muscle memory. Yes, I got some cool shortcuts out of it, and I love that, but because it’s tricky to use those shortcuts, I haven’t used them as much as I’ve used their keyboard equivalents (where those exist). That’s why I’m not sure if it’ll be useful yet. I’ll keep using it and report back.

Trackpad

Every generation of the MacBook Pro has featured a larger trackpad. When I went from my 2006 MacBook to my 2010 MacBook Pro, I was so happy about the larger area. The 2012 MacBook Pro increased that area a bit more. Then, Apple introduced the 2016 MacBook Pro. The trackpad takes up almost half of the area below the keyboard. It’s huge. You will rest part of your hands on it as you type, and that’s going to feel very strange. However, Apple has improved their palm rejection over the years, and, with the latest MacBook Pro, it’s not really a problem. Only once have I had the cursor randomly jump on me because my MacBook Pro thought I clicked somewhere in a wall of text. As you learn to trust the trackpad, you will have it happen less often.

The trackpad itself doesn’t move much at all. It’s a piece of glass, like the iPhone, and, like the iPhone, it has 3D Touch as well as haptic feedback. Thanks to this, tapping on this trackpad actually feels like you’re clicking something. That means you can click it anywhere. I have found it’s harder to click on the edges thanks to the palm rejection, but it’s usually not a problem.

It’s a nice trackpad, it’s great to have all that additional space. Once you get used to the fact that it’s a solid surface that you can rest your palms on without worry, it’s a lot more enjoyable. The trackpad has surprised me. This was something I thought I wouldn’t like, and it’s actually useful. You end up not thinking about it at all, the trackpad is just there when you need it.

Keyboard

I’m a keyboard snob. Mushy membrane keyboards? Disgusting. Mechanical keyboards made for the optimal typing experience? Perfect. I’ve used keyboads with a variety of switches, from Cherry MX to Topre to Kailh. Metal, plastic, and ergonomic enclosures, and a variety of sizes, from full down to 60%. I love mechanical keyboards. So, when it came to testing this keyboard, I was perhaps more critical than the average person would be.

I’ve had ample opportunities to use this MacBook Pro keyboard. When I first tried Apple’s redesigned keyboard in an Apple Store, I loved it. I felt as though it would simply take some time to get used to. I wasn’t entirely correct.

Key Feel

The keys are steady and firm. Each tap drives a vibration through the keyboard. There’s a clicky, almost mechanical tactile feedback to every key. This is the part of the keyboard that feels delightful. However, it’s short lived. Literally. The key travel is shockingly small. It feels only slightly better than mashing your fingers against a hard surface. The clicky nature may help disguise this, making the keys feel as though they’re traveling further, but it does not prevent repetitive stress injuries. If you have to use one of these keyboards for an extended period of time, I recommend taking breaks and stretching your fingers back, then balling them up into tight fists. Just as you should give your eyes a rest with the 20-20-20 rule or blue filtered glasses, so too should you stretch out your fingers.

I often find that I get the same feeling when I remember I can’t move. Like on a long road trip when I realize it’s at least an hour before the next rest stop. Or when I’m on a plane, and the seat belt light shows no sign of turning off. It’s an uneasiness I get when I have to be still. I feel that with this keyboard, as though my fingers are trapped with no room to go.

I’m certainly no hunt-and-peck typist, but I often have trouble with the arrow keys. Because Apple made the up and down arrows half sized, but didn’t make the left and right arrows half sized, it can be tricky to find your bearings on these keys. I’ll often find myself tapping the shift key instead of the up key.

Improvements Over Previous Versions

This is Apple’s third generation of their butterfly switch MacBook Pro keyboard. It’s telling that they still haven’t perfected it. Still, it’s the best Apple’s done thus far. It retains the snappiness of each keypress, but now has a thin membrane. That membrane should prevent debris from getting under the keys, which can become trapped and damage the delicate switch. This keyboard should last longer than the previous models, but we won’t know for at least another year.

Typos

We need to talk about typos. Each keycap is only slightly dished. You may have a hard time finding the center of these keys. With the new butterfly switches, you can type on any part of the key, and it’ll work just the same as the center. Apple sells this as a benefit, but you might see the issue. With the keys so close together, and with only subtle shaping, you will often touch the border between keys. Doing this will type both characters, without fail. Apple’s firmware seems to try to ignore triple-typos, but you’ll often just end up adding two characters when you only intended to add one.

Declining Keyboards

Overall, I can’t say I hate the keyboard. I tolerate it. Sometimes it feels nice to type on, but for any significant length of time (like the time spent writing this review), it becomes a chore. When I type on older MacBook keyboards, I realize Apple’s keyboards have felt worse over the years. The 2006 MacBook had the best feeling keyboard out of the 2010 and 2018 models, in that order. It’s a shame, it seems Apple has been moving backwards.

Speakers

I almost didn’t think of covering this. I have AirPods and often just use them when I’m listening to anything. However, I opened up iTunes and started playing some music on my computer. I was surprised. These speakers have presence. You can feel the vibrations throughout the chassis, you can hear good detail and left-right separation, and bass is surprisingly represented. With it cranked, I worry that I’d bother my neighbors. These are excellent speakers, really surprising for a laptop computer. I’d put them on par with decent (but not fantastic) portable bluetooth speakers. No one’s going to buy a computer for the speakers, but these are some of the best.

Odds and Ends

Power Cable

Your MacBook Pro will come with a power brick, no extension cord, and a USB-C cable that can only be used for charging and slow (USB 2.0) data transfer. You can’t use it for video. I’m glad I still have the extension cable from when Apple cared about making every experience the best it could be, rather than maximizing profits and disappointing customers. The USB-C cable is likely limited to help ensure power delivery over time. Or Apple could have cut corners again.

The Logo

Remember when Apple computers had cool glowing logos? They don’t have them anymore. It’s so depressing, I covered mine with a colorful sticker.

You might not get a single useful cable with the MacBook Pro, but you will get two white Apple logo stickers, so that’s, uh, something, I guess?

Graphics Glitch

I haven’t been able to nail this down yet. Is it a macOS Mojave bug? Is it a firmware issue? Has anyone else noticed it? Basically, the color black will sometimes appear as red when the Intel graphics card is activated. I can sometimes see it in the background of windows along the border as well. Very odd, impossible to reproduce so far.

Touch ID

Touch ID is an awesome way to unlock your MacBook Pro. I absolutely love it. However, it’s weird that I can only use three fingers for it. My iPhone can store more than that. Or, rather, it could back when iPhones had nice and easy to use fingerprint sensors.

MagSafe

With the first MacBook Pro, Apple introduced MagSafe. This was a power cable that had a magnetic attachment to your computer. It meant you couldn’t trip over your MacBook’s charging cable and break your laptop. You couldn’t try to adjust your MacBook and accidentally break the power port by tugging on it. It saved my laptop countless times. Seeing as the USB-C cable is already limited in functionality, they could have given it magnetic ends and made it only for power delivery. Instead, it’s just another cool feature Macs have lost under Apple’s new profit margin focused guidance.

Overall

I purchased this MacBook Pro with my own hard-earned… well, credit. That pushes me towards a sunk cost bias, as I went (further) into debt for this computer. Knowing that going in to this review, I decided to review the machine in parts, rather than thinking of it like a sum of a whole until the end of my review. My hope is that this will keep me honest.

Apple’s MacBook Pro is the best powerful and portable Mac you can buy. If you want a portable powerhouse that runs macOS, you have one choice: this one. Apple knows that. This is why they’ve skimped on what they include in the box, why they continue to engineer products to be less useful and less ergonomic. Apple knows you’re stuck with them, and doesn’t care about your complaints.

However, the MacBook Pro is actually a very good computer. Despite the glaring flaws, the dongles, the keyboard, and the little quirks, it’s definitely a very nice machine to use every day. I intentionally use it instead of my iPad, and use it around my house. I play games on my computer again, and love powering three monitors from it. The Touch Bar is occasionally useful, the big trackpad is fun, and wow, this thing is fast. It’s crazy fast. I still wonder if I’ve come near to pushing it to its limits. I hope I don’t for many more years, and, really, I likely won’t. This computer will last me many years, and easily pay for itself.

I love this computer. I just wonder how much of that love can be attributed to sunk cost and being trapped in Apple’s ecosystem while suffering from Stockholm Syndrome.

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Should You Buy it?

If you need a powerful Mac, and want to take it with you, the answer is yes. You really don’t have a choice anyway. However, it’s fortunately still a fantastic, speedy, and lovely computer, despite Apple’s flaws.

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External References:

• Kenny Yeo, Singapore Hardware Zone