Alternatively, I headed to System76 and configured its 15-inch Oryx Pro. I closely matched the MacBook Pro specs, with a Quad-core Sklyake i7 and NVMe 256GB SSD. Instead of 16GB of RAM as found on the Apple, I configured with 32GB (you can go up to 64GB if needed). By default, it comes with a 6GB Nvidia GTX 1060. The price? Less than $2,000! In other words, the System76 machine with much better specs is less expensive than Apple's.
Of course, this is quite disingenuous, because it elides a lot of other aspects:
* The Oryx Pro is 0.7kg heavier (it's almost a MacBook 12" heavier).
* Depending on the model 0.9 to 1.3cm thicker. It's also wider and deeper.
* The new MacBook Pro has a wide gamut display. The Oryx Pro doesn't. Moreover the Oryx Pro does not have a retina display (but 1920 × 1080).
* Apparently, the battery life of an Oryx Pro is about 2 hours [1]. The MacBook Pro lasts 10 hour during active use. I expect that for most laptop users a two hour battery life is a deal-breaker.
* The new MacBook Pro has the Touch Bar, which may be a nice feature (it's too early to tell) and definitely adds a lot of cost to the BOM.
Hardware is not only about the CPU/GPU/Memory. We could produce 5kg laptops with nVidia Teslas and server-grade Xeon CPUs. It could possibly be done cheaper than the highest spec'ed MacBook Pro. But as a laptop it would be pretty useless to almost anyone.
Moreover, for the regular MacBook user (as opposed to the tech crowd) I expect that good Chromebooks are a far more serious threat than Ubuntu or System 76.
Of course, this is quite disingenuous, because it elides a lot of other aspects:
* The Oryx Pro is 0.7kg heavier (it's almost a MacBook 12" heavier).
* Depending on the model 0.9 to 1.3cm thicker. It's also wider and deeper.
* The new MacBook Pro has a wide gamut display. The Oryx Pro doesn't. Moreover the Oryx Pro does not have a retina display (but 1920 × 1080).
* Apparently, the battery life of an Oryx Pro is about 2 hours [1]. The MacBook Pro lasts 10 hour during active use. I expect that for most laptop users a two hour battery life is a deal-breaker.
* The new MacBook Pro has the Touch Bar, which may be a nice feature (it's too early to tell) and definitely adds a lot of cost to the BOM.
Hardware is not only about the CPU/GPU/Memory. We could produce 5kg laptops with nVidia Teslas and server-grade Xeon CPUs. It could possibly be done cheaper than the highest spec'ed MacBook Pro. But as a laptop it would be pretty useless to almost anyone.
Moreover, for the regular MacBook user (as opposed to the tech crowd) I expect that good Chromebooks are a far more serious threat than Ubuntu or System 76.
[1] http://betanews.com/2015/12/29/system76-oryx-pro-ubuntu-linu...