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Ask HN: Is the new MacBook Pro worth its value for a developer?

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Re: Ask HN: Is the new MacBook Pro worth its value for a developer?

#141

Post by graystevens »

iDemonix wrote: post #126

I use a MacBook Pro Retina 13" Early 2015, and it's amazing. I hope it lasts forever. I've tried a friends new MBP and I can't stand the keyboard, or the dongles. When I sit at my work desk, I have 2x DisplayPorts to my monitors, a USB 3.0 hub, and often a USB thumb drive. Swapping to USB-C would be a pain. My biggest gripe with Apple's current MBP line up is the insulting specs you get for the price. I can buy a 128…

I’ve got the same machine and will be looking to upgrade the SSD shortly with a lovely nvme m.2 ssd thanks to an adapter. The thought of going from 128GB to 1TB for ~£280, plus the performance upgrade, almost certainly means I’ll be holding onto this one for a while. (Shame it’s only got 8gb of RAM...)

Re: Ask HN: Is the new MacBook Pro worth its value for a developer?

#142

Post by Rjevski »

jsjohnst wrote: post #132
Rjevski wrote: post #97

Do you really need 16GB of RAM, more storage and a beefy CPU? For reference, I'm using a 12-inch MacBook with a dual-core M3 processor and 8 GB of RAM as my daily driver and it's more than enough; this thing somehow runs IntelliJ and around 5 Docker containers in the background (including Javascript stuff with 1000+ dependencies) and has plenty of resources to spare. Now I do agree the new MacBooks have a lot of draw…

> Do you really need 16GB of RAM, more storage and a beefy CPU? Why be so presumptuous? My main computer is a 12 Core Xeon Mac Pro with 128gb RAM and dual high end video cards and I still run into issues needing more horse power (which admittedly AWS/GCP makes mostly easy to consume).

I'm just basing this on my own experience where I used to always demand more power (and completely dismissing the new MacBooks and basically anything below 32 GB of RAM) until I realised that actually a low-power machine was perfectly usable for most development work.

Re: Ask HN: Is the new MacBook Pro worth its value for a developer?

#143

Post by jason_slack »

some_account wrote: post #139
jason_slack wrote: post #135

I have a 2018 15" MBP with 32gb of RAM. So far, knock on wood, it is acting fine. I am going to buy AppleCare+ immediately now after reading these comments. I feel even more ripped off though. This doesn't include the $300 I had to spend on an OWC TB3 dock to be able to connect my other drives, wired ethernet, etc. I bought this machine because my entire workflow has been Apple for 25 years and the thought of switchi…

Windows is by far the most annoying operating system out there. You want Linux. It's really easy to use these days and works pretty good. It's not perfect and you will have some trouble shooting but it's a lot better than sitting and waiting for Apple or Microsoft. You become totally dependant on them. No developer should ever be dependent like that.

I’m using Ubuntu in VMs now and for servers.

Re: Ask HN: Is the new MacBook Pro worth its value for a developer?

#144

Post by tim333 »

saurik wrote: post #119
georgebarnett wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you feel your laptop has made you a permanently angry person, why not sell it and cut your loses?

After spending a decade optimizing your workflow to work with Apple's operating system, and after investing tons of money into software and peripherals designed for this ecosystem, it isn't so easy to just give up on it all, even if it is pissing you off and making your life miserable: you essentially just sit around having regrets and building up anger at the idiots who screwed it all up.

You could always get a second hand one from before the recent 'improvements'. (Typed from a well functioning second hand macbook)

Re: Ask HN: Is the new MacBook Pro worth its value for a developer?

#145

Post by sieabahlpark »

some_account wrote: post #137
saurik wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After spending a decade optimizing your workflow to work with Apple's operating system, and after investing tons of money into software and peripherals designed for this ecosystem, it isn't so easy to just give up on it all, even if it is pissing you off and making your life miserable: you essentially just sit around having regrets and building up anger at the idiots who screwed it all up.

No, really, you have to leave. If you don't switch, are you going to use only Apple products your entire life from now? Seriously? There are many, many devs right now who is switching from MacBooks to Linux machines because Linux on the desktop is really nice (just not perfect), and you suddenly feel very much alive again when you don't sit and wait for Apple to fix your problems. You fix them yourself, and you no lo…

I don't want to spend the time to fix them myself.

Re: Ask HN: Is the new MacBook Pro worth its value for a developer?

#146

Post by rhinoceraptor »

Boulth wrote: post #122
rhinoceraptor wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have the 9560, and I love it. I got it as an open box unit from Microcenter right when the 9570s were coming out, so it was a great deal. I use it for side projects and as a personal laptop, I would love to use it instead of my T470 work laptop. It took a lot of fiddling to get Linux running on it, but it all works now. I have it set up with 18.04 with the root on ZFS.

Glad to hear it works well for you! > I have it set up with 18.04 with the root on ZFS. I was thinking about using ZFS too. Unfortunately it's not so easy to setup correctly (full disk encryption etc.) on Arch as it is on Ubuntu...

Yeah, my desktop is root on ZFS with arch as well, even with the LTS kernel I was always running into issues with mismatched SPL/ZFS and the kernel, I'm trying the DKMS package atm. That took me an entire day to get running.

Re: Ask HN: Is the new MacBook Pro worth its value for a developer?

#147

Post by akulbe »

georgebarnett wrote: post #89
drcongo wrote: post #79

Absolutely not. I have the top of the range 15" MacBook Pro and I despise it, it's without question the worst computer I've ever owned. 1. The Touch Bar is appalling if you're at all a touch typist. It puts destructive actions just an accidental brush of the finger tip away. 2. The keyboard is failing all over the place. My left command key has fallen off, and three keys occasionally stick resulting in double entries…

If you feel your laptop has made you a permanently angry person, why not sell it and cut your loses?

I would also say no, absolutely not. It's not worth it in the least.

I have been a Mac user for less time (~16 years for me) than the previous commenter. I have lost confidence in Apple's ability to deliver:

a. a quality laptop that can get the job done, and

b. a quality OS that I can trust to just work.

I am typing this to you from a Dell XPS 9560 because the 2016 MBP w/Touch Bar has been such a shitshow.

It's been in for repairs THREE TIMES. Between the 2nd and 3rd trip, I switched back to Windows and installed WSL (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-win10)

Windows, VERY ironically, has proven WAY more stable and reliable than macOS. I HAVE tried to sell my MBP even at a significant discount over the purchase price. (bought for $4300, I'm asking $3000 and even lowered to $2500) NO BITES. The machine is in immaculate condition, too.

I would be surprised if the other commenter has not had a similar experience.

If Apple is going to be as mediocre as everyone else, then there's absolutely NO POINT to the price premium, and they won't hold their value like they used to.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Re: Ask HN: Is the new MacBook Pro worth its value for a developer?

#148

Post by krob »

jsjohnst wrote: post #134
FabHK wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The MB Pro the OP is asking about doesn’t even have crazy long battery life though. Its battery stores less energy than the MB Air IIRC. My 2016 MBP ‘Escape’ gives up after about 4 hours with not much more than Safari browser and an editor running.

Check energy consumption tab in activity viewer. Something is likely vampiring power without you realizing.

Yes, did that. Nothing showed up :/

Re: Ask HN: Is the new MacBook Pro worth its value for a developer?

#149

Post by indymike »

Boulth wrote: post #96
indymike wrote: post #23

I just bought a Dell XPS after eight years of Mac use. Zero productivity loss, now I can test pen and touch GUI on the laptop. Can run Linux, can run windows. Honestly, the 4k display is even better than my last Macbook's retina display. Oh, and the Dell's keyboard is much better. The big win: function keys.

Which version did you buy? I bought 9350 (Skylake) when that came out and this really scared me away from XPSes (multiple issues, motherboards replaced, the worst thing being Thunderbolt integration with the TB16 dock). I generally like quick and nice Dell support service but would rather not have to use it.

9575 w/4k display, SSD, i7, 16G RAM. So far so good.

Re: Ask HN: Is the new MacBook Pro worth its value for a developer?

#150

Post by Boulth »

rhinoceraptor wrote: post #146
Boulth wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Glad to hear it works well for you! > I have it set up with 18.04 with the root on ZFS. I was thinking about using ZFS too. Unfortunately it's not so easy to setup correctly (full disk encryption etc.) on Arch as it is on Ubuntu...

Yeah, my desktop is root on ZFS with arch as well, even with the LTS kernel I was always running into issues with mismatched SPL/ZFS and the kernel, I'm trying the DKMS package atm. That took me an entire day to get running.

Do you get that many benefits from ZFS? I was thinking of using it for backup via zfs send/receive and snapshotting before pacman updates but the sheer amount of work made me stay with ext4 and luks setup. Too bad as I'd really want Tor give ZFS a try :(
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