Wed Nov 14, 2018 9:46 pm
I think you'll have to weigh up:
Pros:
* How much you like OSX
* How much of your workflow and productivity is tied into the OSX environment, including programs and services (for instance, if you develop for iOS, you're stuck with Macs)
* How much you're tied into the wider Apple ecosystem
* Security. Apple sells the T2 encryption as the most secure consumer system out there, and while you can get business Windows notebooks with hardware TPM chips, they're probably not as well integrated into the system as Apple's, for better and for worse.
Cons:
* New butterfly keyboard. You should really test one before you buy a current macbook as your main computing device
* New T2 DRM lockout of third party repairers. This means that only Apple-approved repairers, and more importantly, only Apple-approved repairs will be available to you moving forwards. If you experience a simple component failure, such as, say, a connector controller out failure, but Apple says that only logic board replacements are approved for that failure, then you are looking at a much more expensive repair bill than if you could take it to a 3rd party and simply have them fix that faulty component.
* Lack of ports. TB3 hubs exist, but dongle life has been part of Apple's world view for a while now. I doubt they will change that.
* Cost.
* Longevity. It's going to be harder to maintain the current MB and MBP for a decade, especially if Apple extends its DRM scheme to battery replacement. If you can find OEM or third party battery packs. Modern macbooks will also refuse to boot if the internal battery is dead, even if connected to A/C, so at some point, that macbook will become a paperweight.
* Lack of upgradability. SSD, RAM, CPU, GPU, T2 are all soldered in.
* Performance. Apple's insistence on thin means that macbook pros hit thermal limits sooner than comparable high end windows laptops. Even after the VRM firmware fix, MBPs with the i9 8950HQ processor can be 30% slower than a Dell XPS with an i7 8750H CPU, a model that's two tiers down intel's product stack, in Cinebench R15. But if you don't need sustained performance, then a modern MBP would still be much faster than your current machine.
* Flexibility. You're at the mercy of Apple recognizing security certificates for 3rd party OSes. Right now, only Windows and OSX have valid certificates that Apple recognizes for Secure Boot, so if you're wanting to install Linux, there are a lot of hoops to jump through even after disabling SecureBoot (I believe you will have to carve out an unencrypted partition on the (non-expandable) SSD).
* Portability. OSX used to be a great platform for cross-platform development, but with Apple deprecating OpenGL and OpenCL in favor of its proprietary Metal API, there are going to be limits on how much of what you code will fit into a "write once, export multiple times" philosophy.
Lastly, if you're looking for alternatives, then you should check to see if any windows laptops meet your specific needs before jumping ship. There might not be anything that exactly fits your needs, although with how many and how varied the windows space is, chances are there is at least something, or several somethings.
Phew. That's a lot of negatives, I admit. I'll leave it to you whether you think the pros outweigh the cons.
Wind, Sand and Stars.
