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How Apple Alienated Mac Loyalists

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Re: How Apple Alienated Mac Loyalists

#351

Post by cocktailpeanuts »

lmm wrote: post #200
electic wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did take a close look at the Surface Pro. Sorry, the build quality is nowhere near a MacBook Pro. Secondly, I found the touch screen very gimmicky. I tried using it for a week and found that my hand just hurt lifting it up repeatedly and also hated switching context from the keyboard to the screen. Not to mention, the screen was full of smudge marks after awhile. To be honest, I really found myself using the keyboa…

> I did take a close look at the Surface Pro. Sorry, the build quality is nowhere near a MacBook Pro. Shrug, not my experience. > Secondly, I found the touch screen very gimmicky. I tried using it for a week and found that my hand just hurt lifting it up repeatedly and also hated switching context from the keyboard to the screen. Don't force the touchscreen. Just use it when it makes sense. I've found it's a very nat…

> Don't force the touchscreen. Just use it when it makes sense.

This is like saying "Don't force the new touch bar on macbook pro. Just use it when it makes sense.". A lot of people are pissed about how useless the touch bar is. You can make the same argument about this but the thing is, they could have done better. There's nothing wrong with people criticizing something that's bad. Sure you can just "NOT use it". But these are features designed to be used, and when it doesn't make sense in many cases, it probably means it's badly thought out.

>That seems like something that shouldn't be happening, assuming your hands were clean? It doesn't happen on mine.

Good for you for having the most sanitary hand in the world. For the rest of actual human beings, everyone knows that touching any glass surface leaves smudge, not just computers. I'm fine with logical arguments but please don't deny what everyone knows as fact, because that doesn't fly, and brings credibility of the rest of your arguments down to zero.

Re: How Apple Alienated Mac Loyalists

#352

Post by dkonofalski »

dkonofalski wrote: post #294
beat wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not just hardware. Apple has officially abandoned Firewire protocol maintenance. We're okay at the moment, but how many more MacOS upgrades will we have where Firewire still works? And I'm not an outlier case. There are a lot of audio professionals and semi-pros that depend on old Firewire interfaces. These were Apple's market for selling high-end laptops! This is basically just disregard for your oldest and fra…

They clearly are not Apple's most profitable customers if they're abandoning the tech. If they were Apple's most profitable customers, you'd see Firewire on everything .

I should clarify that I meant that Apple is abandoning the tech, not the customers.

Re: How Apple Alienated Mac Loyalists

#353

Post by jen729w »

Recurecur wrote: post #32
deedubaya wrote: post #13

I still think macOS/OSX provides the best user experience for personal computing. It's the lack of substantial hardware updates which is driving users away. If creatives are going to pay a premium for a Mac, there should be something to differentiate it between the competition besides the privilege to run macOS. Heck, it should have something to differentiate it from the last model! I'll still recommend Macs for my f…

Not just lack of hardware updates, but the lack of complete system categories. It's the height of hypocrisy to tout a green approach to things, while not even offering an upgradable machine, e.g. a tower. All-in-ones like the iMac are usually discarded if either the motherboard or the display goes south, whereas a tower is easily fixed. Also, power users are left out in the cold, with the Mac Pro the only system fitt…

> Apple should bite the bullet and license macOS for third-party hardware

Please, please, no. Presumably you've never gone through this particular form of hell:

1. You have a [Toshiba|Dell|HP] laptop. You've upgraded something. You need [graphics|sound|network] drivers.

2. You go to [Toshiba|Dell|HP].com to get those drivers. You navigate to the "Support" page for your laptop model.

3. You - you, the user - are presented with options. Do you want the AMD network drivers, or the Intel? Err. What? Why should I know? I typed in the model number of my machine. You, the vendor, should know what's in it! But you don't.

This is infuriating madness. It's one of the many things I hate about the Wintel ecosystem. Opening up the Mac leads us down that path. Please no.

Re: How Apple Alienated Mac Loyalists

#354

Post by bshep »

vlod wrote: post #328
xenihn wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just built a Mini-ITX Hackintosh (dual-booting Windows 10 and Sierra) that is running great if you have any questions or interest concerning the parts I used. They're way better now than they were a few years ago thanks to UEFI installations. No more having to do a complete backup prior to updates and having to fix all your kexts/drivers, or a complete reinstall for upgrading to the next OSX/MacOS major release. Th…

Would you mind adding a pcpartpicker list. I think I might go down this route. Thanks!

Not the original poster, but I also built a hackintosh in the last 2 months and its working great, here's the PCpartpicker list ($1350 without monitor): https://pcpartpicker.com/user/bshep/saved/xgn7P6

The only issue was getting the video card to work correctly and that was pretty easy after finding a tutorial on tonymac.

Re: How Apple Alienated Mac Loyalists

#355

Post by quicklyfrozen »

module0000 wrote: post #184
electic wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but you have to lift your arm up. It is far far faster to scroll through a web page with the touchpad.

> It is far far faster to scroll through a web page with the touchpad. This is true if you are the only one using it. If people are standing around you or over your shoulder, and you are all interacting with the screen - then a touchable screen is more quickly usable than shuffling who-has-the-keyboard-mouse. Not saying you are wrong, but there are scenarios where a touch screen is the "best" of the available IO opti…

So now I have to let other people touch my screen? Best argument against a touchscreen ever :-).

Seriously though, I'd probably prefer a touchscreen and normal keyboard to the touch bar -- at least I'm already looking at the screen.

Re: How Apple Alienated Mac Loyalists

#356

Post by jjoonathan »

bsder wrote: post #314
stuckagain wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does a USB-C to FireWire exist?

If only there were a wired protocol that is high-speed, has a standard connector, can deliver power, and has both bandwidth and latency controls ... wouldn't that be wonderful? Then we wouldn't have to reinvent all of these wires. (Yes, sarcasm. That protocol is called Ethernet. And basically every high-speed interface we currently have is a bad reimplementation of it for political reasons.)

How I long for the day when I can configure the subnet mask of my mouse, the mDNS settings of my graphics card, and the routing table of my PCH!

(Yes, sarcasm. Two can play.)

Re: How Apple Alienated Mac Loyalists

#357

Post by yuethomas »

dkonofalski wrote: post #281
cookiecaper wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Surface's touch screen is not meant for full-time use. It's a hybrid device. If you need a pure tablet, get a pure tablet. I really like my ThinkPad Yoga's hybrid featureset. I hate to say it, but this post definitely has the ring of fanboyism. The build quality of the Surface is "nowhere near a MacBook Pro" ... without specifying anything that's actually worse. The point of the MBP is "always to be leap years ah…

While I agree with you on a few points, I think it gets drowned out by the ring of anti-fanboyism too. The build quality on MacBooks is well-known in the industry and, if you go to a Microsoft Store (or own one), it's readily visible that the build quality isn't on par. Don't get me wrong, it's really good, but it's not MacBook good. This isn't the greatest example because I don't own one, but look at this shot ( htt…

Not to suggest you're wrong, but the picture you linked is one of Surface Studio. (There are other things wrong with that machine that I won't get into.)

Do you have any evidence regarding the fit and finish of the Surface Pro (which was what the original question was about) wrt Macbook Pros?

Again, not saying you're wrong, just the picture you linked doesn't say that.

Edit: changed Surface Book to Surface Pro

Re: How Apple Alienated Mac Loyalists

#358

Post by [deleted] »

dkonofalski wrote: post #350
elliotec wrote: post #347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is completely absurd and user hostile that you need to buy an adapter to plug it in. I charge my phone in my laptop often.

The phone comes with everything you need to charge it. It is neither absurd nor user-hostile. Inconvenient, maybe. Annoying, yes. Anything else is an exaggeration.

[deleted]

Re: How Apple Alienated Mac Loyalists

#359

Post by rikkus »

equalarrow wrote: post #11
stanislavb wrote: post #3

And that could be the beginning of the end. Yes, it might be slow; however, once devs start migrating to other platforms, it could become a serious hit on Apple.

Most of the people I work with use Python, Swift/Obj-C, Sketch, and Ruby. Every single one has a Mac laptop. I don't see any of these people switching soon. I've played around with Linux (Elementary and Fedora) and it's usable for most of the Ruby and Python guys, but it's just not the same. Not the same attention to detail (even with macOS shortcomings) and not the same apps. Windows 10, similar thing. It's getting…

I am a developer(-ish) who used a Macbook for a while because Windows used to be awful and 'PC' laptops used to be dreadful.

Thanks must go to Apple for taking the lead and showing how laptops could be really good.

- They work hard on optimising for power use, so you can leave the power adapter behind (sometimes)

- They showed that it's possible for your machine to be ready to use the second you open the lid

- They proved touchpads can be a joy to use

- They saw that high res screens were something people actually want

- They popularised a new style of keyboard which seems to be generally well-liked (writing this on a ThinkPad T450s... with a chiclet-ish keyboard, and liking it!)

I fear that if they turn away from their 'Pro' laptops, the industry will stagnate again and we'll all be cursing the cheap creaking plastic and terrible pointing devices on our Toshibas or Fujitsus. Just as we notice there's no battery left.

I'm liking Windows 10 on a ThinkPad, but I'm using the TrackPoint / a mouse, because, while the trackpad is improved, if it's not 99% as good as a Macbook's, they might as well not bother (I've switched it off).

Also, 3.5 hours remaining after 30 minutes of use, most of it typing this comment. I carry a power adapter.

Re: How Apple Alienated Mac Loyalists

#360

Post by strictnein »

olegkikin wrote: post #121
beat wrote: post #16

My main computer is a five year old 17" MBP. I've upgraded it to the max and done repairs to maintain it. I need the computational power - I use it for programming, photo editing at scale, and recording/mixing music. It would cost me $3000 to replace it with a computer that is not significantly more powerful, has a smaller screen and less I/O functionality, and would be incompatible with my audio interface unless I d…

Why not get a cheap powerful desktop for heavyweight processing, and a cheap lightweight laptop for mobility? $3K is a ridiculous amount of money considering modern options. Examples: Dual Xeon E5-2690 + 64GB RAM + 1TB HDD = $1250 http://www.ebay.com/itm/391654102568 Dual Xeon X5670 + 128GB RAM + 2TB HDD = $1600 http://www.ebay.com/itm/361745717969 Dual Xeon E5-2670 + 128GB RAM + 8TB HDD = $1900 http://www.ebay.com/i…

Those are some really interesting options. I recently picked up a new Asus Zenbook ux330ua (basically Macbook Air, but significantly better specs and ~$500 less) for mobile use and was going to start looking for a new desktop option.

I really like building my own systems, so buying one prebuilt would be strange, but that's some serious hardware for pretty nice prices.

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