In need of advices regarding the last MacBook Pro 16''

Steinberg Lounge
1

Hi everyone,

I’m about buying a new laptop as, because of the virus situation, I won’t be home near my main computer (an iMac) for a good while and I need to work on some project (the only computer I took with me is a MBP end of 2013, only 8 Go of RAM).

Knowing for the last 10 years I have been used to Mac and don’t see myself going back to PC world, despite all the good reasons for it (mainly the price)-besides I wouldn’t know what to choose, and I can not go in shops to ask as they are closed, etc.

The point is when I look on the Internet, they are many warnings regarding recent Mac products.

It goes from problem of heating (and of keyboard) on the MacBook Pro 15’’, which was released middle of last year or so, to the T2 chipset which is on Mac computer since 2018 if I’m right and would cause issues in audio, not to mention a security upgrade which seems to have made one of the Thunderbolt ports unusable, and not to mention also many report of issues with Catalina and the e-licenser.

I wanted to know if some of you guys have tried the last MacBook Pro 16’’. It seems better than the 15’’ (better keyboard, heating issue seemingly fixed), but remains the fact it is Thunderbolt I/O only, that the T2 chipset is still in it, and the Catalina system (apparently impossible to downgrade to another OS).

I’m ready to buy a MBP 16’’ with Intel Core i9, 8 cores @ 2,4 GHz, 64 Go RAM, AMD Raderon Pro 5500 M (8 Go Ram), SSD 1 To.

So my questions are:

Have you experiences any problems with this machine or an equivalent (A Mac created after the introduction of the T2 with 8 cores and Catalina OS) with Cubase, Dorico, or 3rd party plug-ins (I use VSL and Kontakt products)?

How have you managed with the Thunderbolt I/O? Which kind of adaptators or hubs to USB work (for the elicenser, the soundcard, the midi keyboard, etc.)? Would you recommend some products, some brands?

Once connected, was there any issue with the elicenser?

Or do you advise me not to make this choice (but, with confinement etc., I don’t know where I could easily get a product I more or less know to be delivered in my temporary home).

Hope some of you can help,

Thanks,

Benjamin

2

Hi again,

I made a try with the MacBook Pro 16 inches (late 2019), here are my impressions and the issues I’m going through.

The dongle problem seems to be fixed on Catalina, that’s a first thing.

Now there’s the audio problem, which in my own experience only happens with Cubase or Dorico when played on the internal speakers (crackling and pops). Don’t have these problems when on headphones. Talked to Apple, who says they’re aware of this problem, which for them is a software (OS) problem, not a hardware one, so it should be fixed on a future update of their system.

But does somebody at Steinberg know about an incompatibility between these recent MacBook Pro and the Steinberg softwares? I do not have any issue playing a Youtube video or an mp3 song… I also wonder if the problem will be here when I will connect my external sound card - due to lockdown I can not access my studio for a while, and won’t be able to run some tests…

Thanks for you help, I’m still under my 14 days return and would like to know if it’s an issue to be fixed…

Benjamin

3

I would not buy the 16. i was ready to spend 4k on it before doing some research… its more of a prototype than a finished product. here are the issues. if they dont bother you go ahead:

  • loud coil whine
  • ghosting on the screen
  • random crashes all over the place
  • when connected to an external monitor with he lid open it goes nuts. fans spin on max and the cpu gets throttled massively
  • the fans are so loud in general, that everyone doing music production run their 16 with turbo switched off. crippling their cpu but getting back some headroom.

So basically the unit is a desaster. Im looking at windows laptops now. Why pay premium for a completely buggy unit when apple has not even acknowledged these issues.