2016 Retina MacBook Pro Caveats • Hacker News Board

Re: 2016 Retina MacBook Pro Caveats

#61

Post by lnanek2 » Tue, Nov 22, 2016, 5:57 PM UTC

Siecje wrote: post #35

otterley wrote: post #9

We bought a 15" 2016 Macbook Pro ("Retina" is redundant; there are no 2016 MBPs that lack a Retina display.) We also bought a LG 27UD88-W monitor to go with it. (It's one of the few that has a USB-C input.) I have to say, I'm really impressed by the single-cable solution. The monitor charges the laptop (57W maximum, which is less than the Apple charger, but "good enough"), and the laptop sends both video and USB peri…

Why doesn't the Apple-supplied USB charging cable work?

It probably lacks data lines. It is common for USB cables used for charging to only have power lines and skip the data lines to save money. I believe the USB cable that came with my Chromecast is the same.

Re: 2016 Retina MacBook Pro Caveats

#62

Post by Alex3917 » Tue, Nov 22, 2016, 5:57 PM UTC

otterley wrote: post #9

We bought a 15" 2016 Macbook Pro ("Retina" is redundant; there are no 2016 MBPs that lack a Retina display.) We also bought a LG 27UD88-W monitor to go with it. (It's one of the few that has a USB-C input.) I have to say, I'm really impressed by the single-cable solution. The monitor charges the laptop (57W maximum, which is less than the Apple charger, but "good enough"), and the laptop sends both video and USB peri…

What happens if you accidentally plug in your charging cable when it's already being charged from the monitor?

Re: 2016 Retina MacBook Pro Caveats

#63

Post by kaizensoze » Tue, Nov 22, 2016, 5:57 PM UTC

Tom1971 wrote: post #8

While, over time, a lot of today's annoyances with the new Macabook's will fade away, the lack of ESC key is a deal breaker for me. I tried it at the Apple Store and it's pretty much unusable. (It had the seen issue as the writer, apparently relying on the physical click to know whether or not I had pressed it. In addition, I also mistyped it a lot. Maybe hack to replace the whole touch bar as one single ESC key will…

I've always found Ctrl-[ to be more intuitive instead of ESC for vim. Strangely enough I have no idea where I saw that Ctrl-[ works as an alternative and I don't see any reference to it in my vimrc so it should work out of the box. Having to move your left hand all the way over to esc is just slow and cumbersome, meanwhile [ is just right there.

Re: 2016 Retina MacBook Pro Caveats

#64

Post by nicky0 » Tue, Nov 22, 2016, 5:57 PM UTC

baus wrote: post #3

The lack of DisplayPort support is significant. This requires buying new monitors? Which monitors does the MBP support?

It supports DisplayPort but not with a Thunderbolt 2 adapter

Re: 2016 Retina MacBook Pro Caveats

#65

Post by MitjaBezensek » Tue, Nov 22, 2016, 5:57 PM UTC

A few other problems I came across:

1. Battery life is much lower than specified: http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/battery-life-for-13-and-...

2. Some users report graphic card problems: http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/pool-do-you-have-graphic...

Here is how it looks like: http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/graphic-card-freaks-out-...

3. TouchBar graphics sometimes display on the screen instead of on the TouchBar: https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/5eap94/someones_touc...

Re: 2016 Retina MacBook Pro Caveats

#66

Post by rz2k » Tue, Nov 22, 2016, 5:57 PM UTC

otterley wrote: post #9

We bought a 15" 2016 Macbook Pro ("Retina" is redundant; there are no 2016 MBPs that lack a Retina display.) We also bought a LG 27UD88-W monitor to go with it. (It's one of the few that has a USB-C input.) I have to say, I'm really impressed by the single-cable solution. The monitor charges the laptop (57W maximum, which is less than the Apple charger, but "good enough"), and the laptop sends both video and USB peri…

That looks like a good choice for a monitor.

I've been thinking two of the 4K LG monitors Apple offers next to each other in portrait orientation would be nice. However, the lower UHD resolution at 27" rather than 21" probably makes a lot more sense for me if I want to be able to sit further away from the display.

If my eyes are 3-4ft away, 160ppi probably doesn't even look like it has less definition than 220ppi.

Re: 2016 Retina MacBook Pro Caveats

#67

Post by illumin8 » Tue, Nov 22, 2016, 5:58 PM UTC

asragab wrote: post #22

I really appreciated the no nonsense, non-editorialized description of his experiences. Given the recent political climate, it is a nice change of pace. The external monitor and wifi issues seem egregious, could these be OS related issues?

From what I've heard, many USB3 interfaces have been causing Wifi and Bluetooth reception problems for a few years now. This is due to electromagnetic interference in the 2.4ghz. spectrum.

I wouldn't expect a high-end Apple product to have this issue though; this is the type of problem you expect from cheap beige box PCs.

Re: 2016 Retina MacBook Pro Caveats

#68

Post by revelation » Tue, Nov 22, 2016, 5:58 PM UTC

illumin8 wrote: post #56

Siecje wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why doesn't the Apple-supplied USB charging cable work?

It's for charging only. This seems to be a huge disadvantage to USB-c... you have to buy different cables for different purposes, even though they have the same physical connector. Can you imagine if AC power had the same plug for both 110V and 220V? And you just had to "guess" which one was the right one?

They do? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEC_60320

That's a common problem with power supplies that require setting a hard switch to choose between 110V and 220V.

Re: 2016 Retina MacBook Pro Caveats

#69

Post by Mister_Snuggles » Tue, Nov 22, 2016, 5:58 PM UTC

I had a similar problem with failing WiFi on my mid-2010 MacBook Pro.

When I used a third-party MiniDisplayPort to DVI adapter, wireless would not work. When I used the Apple adapter, it worked fine.

Interestingly enough, I found that under some circumstances the 3rd-party adapter will work fine. My working theory is that it doesn't have as much shielding as the Apple adapter and puts out just enough interference to clobber my WiFi signal when I'm far enough away from the access point.

Maybe this is the same issue?

Re: 2016 Retina MacBook Pro Caveats

#70

Post by lvh » Tue, Nov 22, 2016, 5:58 PM UTC

asd wrote: post #50

I have a fully loaded 15" arriving on Monday. If I cannot connect it to my beloved Dell P2715Q at 4K@60hz, I'm sending it back. This is clownstickery at its finest.

Hopefully I can save you some frustration. If you got the TB2 dongle, it won't work. Apple suggests you purchase a third party DisplayPort dongle. Make sure it's DisplayPort 1.2 (that's what lets you do 4k@60Hz). No advice on what to buy though; except check the reviews to make sure it works on the 2016 MBP! (_NOT_ the MacBook! Compatibility with the MacBook means nothing.)