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Newest MacBook Pro is the first MacBook not recommended by Consumer Reports

businessinsider.com

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Re: Newest MacBook Pro is the first MacBook not recommended by Consumer Reports

#301

Post by logicallee »

amluto wrote: post #241
0x09 wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've gotten myself into a stupid situation where I have purchased something like 4 adapters that don't accomplish what I thought they would when I bought them. USB-C to DisplayPort -> DisplayPort to HDMI -> Monitor - doesn't work USB-C to DisplayPort -> DisplayPort to DVI-D -> Monitor - doesn't work USB-C to Ethernet - doesn't work I'm actually planning to just go to Best Buy today and try to find anything that will…

Hah, you didn't get the specs quite right. That's: USB-C to DisplayPort -> DisplayPort++ to HDMI But a DP++ device in a non-++ port won't work, and I'm not sure how anyone is supposed to know this. Anyway, Google sells a bunch of high-quality adapters for about half the price of Apple's.

Googling displayport++ returns a bunch of confusing pages - can you summarize what the ++ signifies in your own words and with some examples?

Re: Newest MacBook Pro is the first MacBook not recommended by Consumer Reports

#302

Post by sctb »

mmjjaa wrote: post #62
mmjaa wrote: post #19

I've had mine for a week now, and have been able to use it alongside my late-2014 rMBP, which has been a solid workhorse. I'm starting to notice very subtle preferences for the 2017 model creeping in - after an hour of typing, for example, going back to the old keyboard feels really, really inefficient and antiquated, and my typing rate is lower than on the new rMBP. I also really enjoy the Touchbar - it hasn't been…

Why would you create a new HN account just to post this?

Please don't create new accounts just to post like this.

Re: Newest MacBook Pro is the first MacBook not recommended by Consumer Reports

#303

Post by pyrophane »

spilk wrote: post #278
0x09 wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've gotten myself into a stupid situation where I have purchased something like 4 adapters that don't accomplish what I thought they would when I bought them. USB-C to DisplayPort -> DisplayPort to HDMI -> Monitor - doesn't work USB-C to DisplayPort -> DisplayPort to DVI-D -> Monitor - doesn't work USB-C to Ethernet - doesn't work I'm actually planning to just go to Best Buy today and try to find anything that will…

I think the main source of the confusion is that the connector is called USB-C, but devices that use the connector may not be USB devices at all, since they can fully expect to only be used with devices that support a specific alternate mode (e.g. Thunderbolt). Yes, they all have to support USB at some level to negotiate the alternate mode (i'm not sure if for USB-C this is a passive signaling like sense resistors or…

Yea, it used to be generally true that "if you can connect them with a cable, they will be compatible." Ports were single-use, and if two ports weren't compatible, then they would be physically incompatible. If you could get a cable to connect two different ports, they would probably be compatible because who would make the cable otherwise, right?

Now we have something like your "omnibus" port in USB-C, so you have potential incompatibility at the port level and at the cable level, and no good way to tell what will work and what won't. The good news is you only have one port, but the bad news is you don't really only have one port.

Re: Newest MacBook Pro is the first MacBook not recommended by Consumer Reports

#304

Post by Tempest1981 »

en4bz wrote: post #220

For those looking for alternatives here's a short video [1] that looks at some Windows based competitors in the same class. List below. Dell XPS 15 - http://amzn.to/2hZjqpT Asus UX501 - http://amzn.to/2hLG9VW MSI GS63 - http://amzn.to/2ik00Zf Gigabyte Aero14 - http://amzn.to/2ijMxk6 Razer Blade - http://amzn.to/2hvyGHj [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLsDn59fxdQ

Bummer to see Razer and Dell go with the half-height arrow keys.

Re: Newest MacBook Pro is the first MacBook not recommended by Consumer Reports

#305

Post by datahack »

rememberlenny wrote: post #198

Do any MacBook Pro users like the ability to charge their machines with an external battery?

I would love it. Unfortunately, when I talked to Apple about it at the Apple Store they said "be careful, it can void your warranty and there are a lot of poorly made batteries out there."

Re: Newest MacBook Pro is the first MacBook not recommended by Consumer Reports

#306

Post by logicallee »

phil21 wrote: post #239
Bud wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't expect an off-brand USB-C adapter to be able to fully support DisplayPort. USB-C does not natively contain DisplayPort. Also, don't daisy-chain adapters when you don't have to. Use a USB-C to HDMI adapter. Such as this one: http://www.apple.com/shop/product/MJ1K2AM/A/usb-c-digital-av...

This is poor advice. I have that exact adapter, and it fails to work with >50% of the HDMI devices (monitors, TVs, projectors) in our office. This is kind of the point. I have to carry this, plus an offbrand HDMI adapter to hope to have greater than 50% chances of it working. As far as I'm aware there is no reliable USB-C -> HDMI adapter on the market that works with the MBP 2016. If there is another someone knows ab…

Quick question! If we step back from the thunderbolt/displayport/displayport++/usb-c, distinction, which you use on the left-hand side of your arrow... when you wrote:

>"As far as I'm aware there is no reliable USB-C -> HDMI adapter on the market that works with the MBP 2016"

, do you exactly mean the broader statement (I've reworded what I thought you mean) :

>"As far as I am aware there is nothing that plugs into a MBP 2016 that gives a reliable HDMI port that I can connect with a simple HDMI cable to any output device that takes HDMI (screens/projectors/TV's/etc)"?

Is that what you meant? In other words, there is nothing you can carry around, together with an HDMI cable, that let's you plug the MBP 2016 into anything from a TV to a screen to a projector etc (as long as they take an HDMI input) without a chance that it won't work?

Re: Newest MacBook Pro is the first MacBook not recommended by Consumer Reports

#307

Post by ubernostrum »

HalfwayToDice wrote: post #86
thought_alarm wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you deal with the arrow keys? I like the feel of the keyboard, but I found absolutely no way to orient my fingers over the arrow keys. There is no way tell whether I'm hitting the up arrow or the right shift. As someone who works with text, it's a deal breaker for me.

Yes I don't understand why more people aren't talking about this. The new left/right cursor layout is awful for me, I keep having to look down at the keyboard.

Yes I don't understand why more people aren't talking about this.

Because it's a subjective matter of personal opinion and not all people everywhere have identical opinions. Yet it is often presented, especially in places like HN, as an objective opinion that the new MBP is 100% completely, totally, permanently and irrevocably unusable for any person, for any use case, in any logically-possible universe.

Perhaps that is not the case, and instead it is the case that there are things you dislike which other people like.

Re: Newest MacBook Pro is the first MacBook not recommended by Consumer Reports

#308

Post by ArlenBales »

I just got my new Macbook Pro 15" a few days ago. Keyboard will take some time getting used to, but I'm still able to average 130 WPM on 10fastfingers.com.

The trackpad is probably going to take the longest for me to adapt to. Not the palm rejection, that works fine for me. Rather the tactile feedback of it is so different from my 2012 Macbook Pro. It's very shallow and I feel like it should be used more like a touchscreen click (single tap to left click) rather than placing my finger on it and pressing into it, as the shallowness is weird to me. I have it on medium-depth click right.

Battery life isn't too concerning to me since I'm mostly plugged in, but I will test it this weekend when I'm on the road and hope it's at least 6 hours.

Also, why are all media outlets reporting on what Consumer Reports has to say? Why is Consumer Reports regarded so highly? Media outlets don't report on what CNET or ArsTechnica have to say about the new MacBook Pro. It reminds me of media outlets reporting on what the BBB.org has to say.

Re: Newest MacBook Pro is the first MacBook not recommended by Consumer Reports

#309

Post by pyrophane »

el_benhameen wrote: post #280
duggan wrote: post #33

This is an article that (incompletely) summarizes the Consumer Reports article[1]. The reason for the wildly varying performance appears to be due to a bug (presumably) in Safari. They had consistent results with Chrome: > Once our official testing was done, we experimented by conducting the same battery tests using a Chrome browser, rather than Safari. For this exercise, we ran two trials on each of the laptops, and…

Wow, I decided to make the switch to Safari when I got my new mbp to optimize for battery life. I guess this is the end of that experiment. Safari devtools are terrible anyway.

While I use chrome for debugging most of the time, I've had a good experience with Safari as my "general use" browser, and found that battery life does tend to be better on MacOS compared to Chrome, this particular issue notwithstanding.

Also, I believe that by default Chrome now sends your browsing activity to Google for ad targeting (https://mobile.twitter.com/phlsa/status/754337623964053504/p...).

Re: Newest MacBook Pro is the first MacBook not recommended by Consumer Reports

#310

Post by macintux »

eropple wrote: post #265
stcredzero wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple has never gone with an open standard when a proprietary closed standard would do. False. USB 1.

Yup. Or...y'know...FireWire. Also known as IEEE 1394.

I remember overhearing a Best Buy employee describe the FireWire port on the back of an iMac as a Sony proprietary camera connector. Not sure why I didn't correct him.

Apple rarely goes proprietary with their ports. The original 30-pin iPod port. Lightning. ADB in the mists of time.

All of which were I believe better than what was available.

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