MacBooks are outdated, underpowered and overpriced • Hacker News Board

Re: MacBooks are outdated, underpowered and overpriced

#31

Post by fernandosoteras » Thu, Mar 31, 2016, 3:36 PM UTC

joshstrange wrote: post #23

TheAndruu wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a touchscreen Toshiba Radius and by far use the touchscreen more than I ever expected to. In fact, it's rare that I use the trackpad any more. I'm writing this comment on my 8-month-old MacBookPro11,5 with 16 gigs of ram and 1TB SSD drive. I've had 3 brand new MacBook Pros from 2011, 2013, and 2015. The lack of continued innovation on this platform is really starting to show its age.

Interesting, I really don't see myself reaching up 6-8 inches to touch the screen when I can do it faster (and with less finger smudges) from the trackpad but maybe I'm wrong, I love my iPad but I still just don't feel like I would like it on a laptop.

I am a developer, I use the touchscreen sparcely. I use mainly for zooming in and out pdf documents. IMHO tochscreen are a valuable adition to the set of interfaces , to be used for determined gestures in some apps. Also , if you are into mobile dev , you can test the touch functionality on the device emulator.

Re: MacBooks are outdated, underpowered and overpriced

#32

Post by Doctor_Fegg » Thu, Mar 31, 2016, 3:49 PM UTC

It seems a little pointless posting this just two months before WWDC, the event Apple used for its major laptop launches in 2012 and 2013.

Re: MacBooks are outdated, underpowered and overpriced

#33

Post by codemod » Thu, Mar 31, 2016, 3:55 PM UTC

akeck wrote: post #18

My 2004 Corolla is outdated, underpowered, and was "overpriced". It has 250,000 miles, and we use it every day without worrying about breakdowns. Likewise, I use my 2009 MacBook Pro every day without worrying about breakdowns [1]. Quality comes with a steep up-front price that pays you back with a long tail of value. [1] The native Apple hardware has failed exactly once in the MacBook's lifetime (SATA cable)

I agree.. My original 2007 iPhone still runs.. my old Macbook ran superbly for 7 years before I replaced it.

Re: MacBooks are outdated, underpowered and overpriced

#34

Post by dctoedt » Thu, Mar 31, 2016, 4:44 PM UTC

For more than three years I've been using my mid-2012 Macbook Air 11" (8GB RAM, 512GB SSD upgrade, my first Mac ever, with external monitor) as my only machine. Never had a problem. The size is perfect for an airline seat-back tray. The keyboard and trackpad Just Work. I very much prefer the Mac OS after decades of Windows experience. These days I grumble when I have to do tech support for my wife on her Windows 10 state-of-the-art ultrabook.

Re: MacBooks are outdated, underpowered and overpriced

#35

Post by endemic » Thu, Mar 31, 2016, 4:49 PM UTC

I tend to dismiss these sorts of overtly negative articles out of hand. While it's true that Apple could probably follow Intel's roadmap more closely, it's been years since they have promoted their platform using "speeds and feeds." Windows OEMs have no choice but to differentiate that way.

As a user, I care less about having the most recent hardware (which will be outdated in 6 months anyway); my focus is on purchasing something reliable, and as many others have mentioned, these days most laptops are "fast enough."

Re: MacBooks are outdated, underpowered and overpriced

#36

Post by pbhowmic » Thu, Mar 31, 2016, 4:54 PM UTC

akeck wrote: post #18

My 2004 Corolla is outdated, underpowered, and was "overpriced". It has 250,000 miles, and we use it every day without worrying about breakdowns. Likewise, I use my 2009 MacBook Pro every day without worrying about breakdowns [1]. Quality comes with a steep up-front price that pays you back with a long tail of value. [1] The native Apple hardware has failed exactly once in the MacBook's lifetime (SATA cable)

I can second that. One thing about every PC of say a comparable price to a MacBook Pro out there I notice is shoddy workmanship, the cut-corners approach they take. Say you went for a $1500 price point. For that, a PC will get you a bigger screen, more memory, more storage but w/o fail, poor quality in every instance. Take battery life, my biggest issue with any Windows laptop. My 2012 MacBook Pro's battery is still going strong. My 2014 Zbook's battery life is less than that of my Macbook. Earlier I had a Dell whose battery fizzled out in 6 months. Ditto the replacement battery. Then there is the Magsafe adapter. The Zbook's adapter's insulation frayed and I discarded it as unsafe. I honestly still see my Macbook in operation for at leats 2 years, I may replace the hard drive with a solidstate to improve performance but that is it.

Re: MacBooks are outdated, underpowered and overpriced

#37

Post by endemic » Thu, Mar 31, 2016, 5:01 PM UTC

andronikea wrote: post #11

I can totally agree on this. About a month ago, I was buying a new ultrabook, and MacBook Air was an obvious choice. Obvious, until I saw it's price. It's way too overpriced for what it offers. The battery life is fine, but other than that, nothing. I mean, c'mon, 4gb of RAM and an Intel Core i5 processor is sufficient for a modern day laptop? MacBook Pro is not better in any aspect, as well. Finally, I ended up with…

Half as much for the Latitude? I checked the Apple/Dell stores, and while the MBA i7 upgrade has a slower clock speed and is limited to 8GB RAM, it's also less expensive ($1750 vs. ~$2000; http://imgur.com/a/ELQm6).

Re: MacBooks are outdated, underpowered and overpriced

#38

Post by matt_wulfeck » Thu, Mar 31, 2016, 5:10 PM UTC

endemic wrote: post #35

I tend to dismiss these sorts of overtly negative articles out of hand. While it's true that Apple could probably follow Intel's roadmap more closely, it's been years since they have promoted their platform using "speeds and feeds." Windows OEMs have no choice but to differentiate that way. As a user, I care less about having the most recent hardware (which will be outdated in 6 months anyway); my focus is on purchas…

Indeed I think specs are one of the most poor ways to differentiate yourself right now in the laptop space.

The way to differentiate yourself is to get your users to stop thinking about their laptops at all. Make it work the right way. Make using it intuitive and easy. Make it reliable and secure.

The less people notice it the happier they will be.

Re: MacBooks are outdated, underpowered and overpriced

#39

Post by jerf » Thu, Mar 31, 2016, 5:10 PM UTC

akeck wrote: post #18

My 2004 Corolla is outdated, underpowered, and was "overpriced". It has 250,000 miles, and we use it every day without worrying about breakdowns. Likewise, I use my 2009 MacBook Pro every day without worrying about breakdowns [1]. Quality comes with a steep up-front price that pays you back with a long tail of value. [1] The native Apple hardware has failed exactly once in the MacBook's lifetime (SATA cable)

My ~$1000 Dell Studio 17 that I'm typing this on is now 6 years old. A hard drive failed and I once had to open it up to clean out the rather substantial dust bunny that had collected in front of the fan exhaust. I've lost one of the screws for the bottom plate.

That... pretty much runs the damage gamut, knock on wood. Also I have to admit the numeric keypad is pretty dusty. None of the keycaps are even rubbed off. All the ports work. (Or so I assume. I've never tested the firewire or eSATA port.)

(Of course, a true Apple fan wouldn't be caught dead with this brick, but, I'm a pretty big guy. In relative terms it is to me like a 15" is for most people.)

Yes, you can't get quality without paying for it, but... Apple prices have come in above that.

Also just let me point out that I'm on a 6-year-old laptop and while I periodically pop open some shopping websites and browse, I'm almost shocked at how little improvement spending $1000 again would buy me. "A much nicer graphics card" is pretty big, yeah, but that's about it. (I already put an SSD in this thing.) I remember when I could do things like jump from a 486 to a Pentium Pro with 8 times the RAM and 20 times the hard drive etc etc in the same time frame.

Re: MacBooks are outdated, underpowered and overpriced

#40

Post by joshuata » Thu, Mar 31, 2016, 5:17 PM UTC

konart wrote: post #2

>underpowered I still don't get this. Underpowered compared to what? The lastest CPU model? Well, that's to be expected every 6 mounths or so. But from a user's point of view? No so much to be honest. I can see how latest CPU might give some advantages to those who are dependent on computations, but other than this... no. RAM is the the only thing I've updated in the last 2 year (need all these VMs, IDEs, browser etc…

I agree. I use a 13" 2013 rmBP with the base processor and 8 gb of RAM. There have been several times where I was running 2 external monitors (1080p), watching HD video, running 2-4 virtualbox vms, running a big compile job, and surfing the web with 10+ tabs open. Even under that load the computer felt responsive, and that is all I really care about.