Live data from Hacker News

How Apple Alienated Mac Loyalists

bloomberg.com

451–460 of 587 posts

Re: How Apple Alienated Mac Loyalists

#451
post #410

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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". Bu…

The difference being that the touchscreen doesn't take away anything, while the touchbar replaces function keys. You could circumvent this by getting the smaller pro, though. I own an SP3 and the touchscreen is a blessing. Ironically, even more so because the touchpad on the sp3 is crap, but either way, I seem to know my fingers more than mouse pointers on the screen and prefer to touch the screen as often as possibl…

I find the trackpad to be quite good compared to most other Windows PCs, but it is on the small side. I haven't tried the SP4 keyboard yet where it is slightly larger.

The touch capability is interesting in that I've found that I've begun using it along with the pen more and more over time. The pen has really grown on me as I've discovered more ways to put it to use. For the first year that I owned my SP3 I rarely used the pen, but now I use it almost every day. Being able to switch from full on tablet and pen back to keyboard and mouse mode is pretty killer and I plan to continue using this form factor for the foreseeable future.

Re: How Apple Alienated Mac Loyalists

#452
post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really like the touchscreen on my Surface Pro and don't find it gimmicky. It's very useful, especially to scroll while reading an article, or to use it in "tablet mode," or just to hit buttons on command prompts. I don't use it for everything, but it is good at making small efficiency improvements in my overall life with my computer. Not accusing you of anything, but I suspect if Apple released a laptop with a touc…

You had me at scrolling. Apple is in denial. If nothing else it's the number of times I've witnessed someone try to manipulate the OS on a MacBook only to find themselves dumpfounded, "duh it's not a touchscreen". Well maybe it should be

Keyboard shortcuts help for scrolling and jumping to the beginning and end of a long page. Use the arrow keys in conjunction with the fn key.

Re: How Apple Alienated Mac Loyalists

#453
post #428

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also @beat forgot to say "matte display". MATTE. Mine is a 6 year old 17 inches MBP and I still use it for everything. It's still current. I can also rip CDs with it (it is handy children) :) I've even found a VERY simple way to dual boot Windows 10 on it after trying to get the instructions I found everywhere to work (after Apple made sure it was indeed difficult). I even play games on it. To me it was the reference…

what's a CD?

"What's a record?"

"It's like an old-fashioned CD."

"What's a CD?"

Re: How Apple Alienated Mac Loyalists

#454
post #442

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And more available memory, letting the OS cache more files in RAM.

The older machine as 32 GB of RAM and the newer has 64gb. This could potentially be an issue, but generally the build consumes no more than 6GB leaving a leaving amount unused. Memory bandwidth is more likely. But really I am building C++, all the parsing and re-parsing is stupidly CPU intensive. most 5400 rpm drives can feed the compiler fast enough to keep them saturated.

The remaining memory will be used as a crazy fast file cache. As far as 5400rpm drives that may be true if it was just a linear read, but the real problem is latency.

Re: How Apple Alienated Mac Loyalists

#455
post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is exactly the type of attitude that makes me dread the future. Why invest in technology at all? Wires are great, honestly. Easy to debug and use. The original zero config.

I can tell you never used token ring. :)

Ha! Even Ethernet used to be a lot fiddlier in the '90s, when you had to worry about crossover vs patch cables.

Re: How Apple Alienated Mac Loyalists

#456

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it will be nowhere near as fast as the ones in current MPBr unless you pay top dollar Even with top dollar you cannot squeeze more than ~550 MB/s out of SATA3, compared to the ostensibly 2+ GB/s in the new MBPrs with NVMe.

Heh I have recently upgraded to a SATA3 SSD in my 2012 MBP and was amazed at the speed. The NVMe ones seem insane. Anything is better than the 5200rpm Toshiba drive my MacBook came with, that's for sure!!

yes. totally.

i'm surprised Apple even offers mechanical hard drives in their Macs any more. they're soooooooo slow. they make the whole machine feel like a wet sponge.

Re: How Apple Alienated Mac Loyalists

#457
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…

Can I ask what your MacBook's current specs are? I love my 5-year-old 13" MBP, but IIRC $3000 was close to the cost of a fully-upgraded top-end 17" MBP in 2011. It's hard to imagine how a similarly-specced machine could cost the same five years later.

Re: How Apple Alienated Mac Loyalists

#458
post #440
post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 Compared to a five year old 17"? More like double the power. And unbelievably faster SSD (even if you have a…

I notice that you quoted this part: > I've upgraded it to the max and done repairs to maintain it. but didn't mention it in your retort to the rest of that paragraph. You can't upgrade the new macbooks. I am typing this from a 2015 Macbook Pro Retina, I bought it with the biggest hard drive they offered at the time, and am currently doing development off a thunderbolt hard drive. Do you know how much that sucks? I wo…

> I have have to go through a lot of trouble to do my work on it (I work at a .NET shop), and I'm strongly considering just getting a Windows 10 laptop instead of dealing with this mess.

If you work at a .NET shop, why would you NOT use Windows 10? Seems like you're swimming against the current.

Re: How Apple Alienated Mac Loyalists

#459

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do dislike them exiting the router business. As for losing customers, well, then we will look at the sales numbers. I wasn't "happy" with the new MacBook Pro lineup, but I personally love the direction they're going. The only bad thing is the price increase, but they will drop the price. But for your "I'm a customer I matter" comment. No you don't. Apple isn't going to let people who want a gigantic laptop with a m…

> The only bad thing is the price increase, but they will drop the price. Out of pure curiosity, when's the last time Apple lowered the price of an existing product?

Last time I bought a new Mac was five years ago, but at that time their website had a quiet corner where you could buy the remaining stock of the previous models at a substantially reduced price. They also sold refurbs of current and previous models with further discounts. I bought just after a new-model announcement, and got the machine I'd been looking at the previous week for ~25% off.

Re: How Apple Alienated Mac Loyalists

#460
post #410

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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". Bu…

The difference being that the touchscreen doesn't take away anything, while the touchbar replaces function keys. You could circumvent this by getting the smaller pro, though. I own an SP3 and the touchscreen is a blessing. Ironically, even more so because the touchpad on the sp3 is crap, but either way, I seem to know my fingers more than mouse pointers on the screen and prefer to touch the screen as often as possibl…

> The difference being that the touchscreen doesn't take away anything,

it takes away "thinness". I wanted a thinner screen and when the computer MUST have a touchscreen, then I lose the thinnness.

Post reply on HN