IMO the touchbar model is the better buy. as others have mentioned, the faster processor would be useful for MS Office. Also, since you mentioned data transfer, perhaps having more than 1 free USB-C port (while charging) is very helpful. Remember to invest in a fast USB drive too.

RAM-wise, 8gb looks sufficient for your usage unless you are looking to run a VM.

i was in ur shoes.. Touchbar or non touchbar... took me 2 weeks decide..

touchbar is an awesome thing..but if u are used to muscle memory of just pressing the button without looking.. then touchbar is not for you.. you have to see the touchbar to see what and where to press.. to me.. that is sometime distracting

so i end up buying the non touch bar.. been using it for my office work..quite fast .... excel,word and some small programming.. fit with what i need..

with the extra cash i budget because initially wanted the touch bar ... i am now aiming to buy a thunderbolt 3 dock.. 1 cable solution for charging, ports and dual display(my office i have 2 monitors, so total 3 screens inclusive mac screen)... aiming to get either startech dock or belkin express tb3 dock.. but need to run some script to enable the dock on macos as apple block old tb3 controller..


currently i have my old usb c to hdmi/usb/charger from my old macbook 12 , and usb c to hdmi. still can get 2 working display/charging and usb ports.. but abit cluttered

This post has been edited by edthrax: Mar 7 2017, 10:35 AM

Last time when I was using my MacBook 12 with 8GB of RAM, actually did not really notice any slowdown even with many apps open. Mac OS memory management is quite stunning.

Now with my 2016 MBPtb 15", seems that less SSD-cache is used for memory, so everything kind of feels a tad snappier. (screenshot below)



This post has been edited by shockk: Mar 7 2017, 02:31 PM

Have you found any good USB-C docks locally in Malaysia?

was not really looking for usb-c dock.. so not really sure.

i'm leaning more towards thunderbolt 3 dock which is different from a usb c dock which only can have 10gbps throughput, while tb3 would have 40gbps, nice for dual display ,storage and other things using 1 single cable

Well most of the USB-C docks are designed for the MBP which has Thunderbolt 3.

The ones which I was eyeing.
http://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/201...underbolt-usb-c
http://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/201...-ethernet-ports


This post has been edited by Mavik: Mar 8 2017, 11:44 AM

Hi Bro,

From what you want your macbook to do, then 8gb of ram sufficient. I myself am using a rmbp/2.6/8/256/i5. I have been an apple convert since 2014. Having using this rmbp for the past 2.5 years, my concern was the SSD size. It is important for you to get the biggest size for your budget. 256Gb ssd is just 'cukup makan'. IMO 512gb or 1T better. It saves you alot of headache/heartache if you need to rely on external storage or personal cloud services. Apple memry management is outstanding. I have not experience any issues of running out of ram (ie apps freezing). I can still play hi resolution games/simulation however its best to leave it to the bigger brother 15" fare better.

Anyway all the best in your choices.

yes bro..most usb-c docks are compatible with MacBook pro ..but they're not thunderbolt 3 docks..

they use the same connection..but the cables are different in nature.. example of thunderbolt 3 docks..

Belkin Thunderbolt 3 express dock
OWB Thunderbolt 3 Docks
Startech Thunderbolt 3 Dock
HP Zbook TB3 dock

most tb3 docks can daisy chain.. so u can connect 1 tb3 dock to another tb3 dock directly.. so u have 2 tb3 dock but still using 1 cable to the MacBook pro..

they use the same type connector with usb-C..but the cable itself is different..u can't plug a usb-c cable to the dock..the MacBook wont recognize the dock..

Thunderbolt can deliver USB-C.. but USB-C cant deliver thunderbolt...

This post has been edited by edthrax: Mar 8 2017, 03:32 PM

Yes I know, if you looked at the links I shared it is indeed Thunderbolt 3 transfer rates but with a USB-C connector. You don't have to tell me about TB3 as I have 3 external drives in daisy chain for my video editing work.

Thanks bro. I think I'm only doing a simple copy paste and just transfer data from Mac to pendrive..

Nice review bro. Appreciated that so much.

You bought 13-inch base model without any upgrade? 512 SSD or 16GB RAM?

RAM speed is minor improvement, you will be noticed if you doing BENCHMARK. Larger RAM capacity can give you more room to doing multitasking and open more apps at same time, as well smoothness as well! if your pc/laptop run out of RAM, you apps will close without warning and you will lose your important task without time to doing a "save".



You don't want this happen to your pc when you were doing critical task without give you a single chance to save your work safely.

Mac memory management quite okay, 8GB RAM should be enough for your demands. I think base model with 2.0 GHz should be fine, and if can afford, upgrade to bigger SSD like 512 GB should be flawlessly.

i bought base model without any upgrade.. so far so good.. i use alot of cloud storage and apple music streaming..so not much storage issue for me..

as for ram and cpu..so far havent face any slowdowns or issue.. even tried gaming CS:GO and left 4 dead..suprisingly smooth gameplay..lol..

Cloud Storage for the win!

Nothing better than persistent-backup for a worry-free life.

Also, these days with Apple Music and Spotify, streaming is indeed the way to go.

Though I would say that increased SSD storage is quite useful for professional video editors, but is surely not a must as a Thunderbolt or USB 3.0 external hard drive offers speeds fast enough to work off from.

Even when I was multi-tasking considerably heavy on my MacBook 12-inch Retina with 8GB RAM (before I upgraded to the 2016 MBPtb with 16GB RAM), never once did a similar error as you mention pop up.

Thus, this is one of the many reasons why I love the MacOS over Windows, though I would say that Windows 10 has been quite good to me too (on my Windows laptop).

This post has been edited by shockk: Mar 13 2017, 01:36 AM

Oh yes! Definitely agree on that.

I recently purchased the unlimited storage on Amazon's Cloud Drive and in the midst of transferring all of my old photo files onto the cloud!

yeap..cloud is the way.. save everything on the cloud..access anywhere .. so thats why for me 256 is enuff.. i'm not in the content creation industry so dont really have big files to store.. all of my pictures also are saved in my unlimited google drive..

Hi guys.

Thanks to everyone's review and suggestion.

I just ordered 13-inch MacBook Pro 2016 Non-Touchbar with upgrade RAM to 16GB.

For storage I plan to get 512GB WD Passport SSD or others 2TB WD Passport.

Actually Intel Core m series is design for Ultrabook and tablet , Intel core m is energy efficient which operate at 4.5W,and Intel Core M have really low base clock but high turbo boost clock for example you have ultrabook that use Intel Core m7-6Y75 Processor then your ultrabook is cold/not hot it will run at turbo boost clock which at 3.10 GHz but then your ultrabook is overheat it will downclock and run at it base clock which is 1.20GHz, so that means performance of your Ultrabook/Tablet is depends on how hot you ultrabook/tablet your is, so is you want gaming on your ultrabook make sure you have intel core m that have high turbo boost clock and Portable laptop fans and