I've got a 2013 15" rMBP. I'm jonesing for an upgrade (I really want Force Touch and the new Butterfly keyboard), but there is literally nothing comparable on the market. The current rMBPs pack a lot into 4.5 lbs: almost 100 watt-hour battery, quad-core CPU, 15" high-DPI display. The Thinkpad T560 is a pound heavier with the extended battery. The Dell XPS 15 gets a lot lower battery life with the 4K display. The Surface Book is a lot smaller. HP's laptops tend to have unfathomably small batteries (~50 watt-hours) despite not being that much smaller.
So I can kinda see why Apple is taking its sweet time. Even with an almost 3-year old CPU, the rMBP is extremely competitive.
Honestly, depending on what your use is, even their older MBPs are still fantastic. I have a 5 year old pre-Retina that I've used and abused heavily during its entire life, maxed out the RAM and put in a massive SSD, and it's still running perfectly and works great for what I do. A newer, faster computer would honestly do nothing for me, so I stick with this. I've replaced a fan that died, the battery, and the keyboard, all for under $150 combined, and it's good as new.
Maybe that's why Apple decided to make their newer computers harder to repair…
2 people have given me original 2008 aluminum macbooks (the original brick). Maxxed RAM and added SSDs, and I really can't find a competitive reason to buy another computer. My 11 yo son bought an Asus flip simply because he didn't realize a 2008 Macbook was about to show up out of nowhere, and he uses the Flip, mainly because it's his and I think he likes that it's smaller, more his size.
But, yeah, I have the original rMBP and can't bear the thought of upgrading. Any new gear would be more painful than it's worth.
Huh. Have you spent any time typing on one of the new keyboards? I have, a bit, and I find it so awful that it's genuinely a complete dealbreaker as far as buying any laptop with it.
I have, and I like them. They're extremely crisp. You know exactly when they've been actuated, and they don't "roll" in the corners. I've got a very light touch so the lack of travel doesn't bother me.
>> Every considerable advancement we’ve seen in computing in the past year (and change) has passed Apple’s flagship laptops by.
Oh no, not an entire year. Someone who starts flailing their arms around due to no hardware updates after 390 days... what an impatient scrub.
Personally I'm hoping there is no hardware announcement for this fall's release of the next operating system either. If we're all lucky, Apple is busy working on a major overhaul of the hardware, with immense R&D to bring many new upgrades all at once. The typical upgrade brings one or two little new features at a time. We're due for one of the major overhauls that entices everyone with a 2013/2014 or older machine to upgrade.
My early 2013 rMBP has 16 GB of memory, and the CPU is more than powerful enough for my use. I have no reason to need to upgrade. I am however, waiting to see specs and new features that make me want to upgrade. Force touch and butterfly keyboard are nice... but not worth dropping a 3-year old machine. I suspect I will buy the next major overhaul that introduces plenty of modern stuff. Unless they're dumb enough to release the rMBP with only 1 USB-C port, in which case they won't see an upgrade from me until this machine dies.
So I can kinda see why Apple is taking its sweet time. Even with an almost 3-year old CPU, the rMBP is extremely competitive.