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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

#321

Post by eropple »

slantyyz wrote: post #204
rayiner wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The really disconcerting thing here is that this is the first macbook in 10 years to be a major regression on key points. Since the first Intel macbook, Apple has focused on core competencies: good touchpad, good screen, good battery life. Every generation got consistently better on those dimensions. PC vendors will do stuff like ship a great touchpad one generation and a shit one the next, but you could generally co…

The problem is that reducing thickness is a selling point/feature for a lot of people on Apple products, but the compromises made in exchange for thinness cause problems for people who don't value thinness over other things. Having said that, it's important to note that CR did not give the Macbook Pro a Recommended badge (think of it as the equivalent to "Editor's Choice"), it doesn't mean they're telling people not…

> The problem is that reducing thickness is a selling point/feature for a lot of people on Apple products

Is this actually true? Like...is there a material population of customers who really care about this? Not joking. I know zero people who care about that, at least for laptops. (I don't use an iPhone, so I don't pay attention to that side of things.)

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

#322

Post by en4bz »

rayiner wrote: post #287
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

None of which, ironically, can match the new MBP in battery life.

True, but you can get double the performance for half the price of the 2016 MBPro, a 4x perf/dollar improvement. Obviously you pay for this increase with half the battery life.

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

#323

Post by JoshTriplett »

logicallee wrote: post #301
amluto wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

DisplayPort++ means a DisplayPort port that can also use a passive DP-to-HDMI or DP-to-DVI adapter, such as a DP-to-HDMI cable. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DisplayPort#DisplayPort.2B.2B

The graphics chipset will actually detect this and handle it as though you hooked up an HDMI cable.

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

#324

Post by Osiris »

gumby wrote: post #249
grandalf wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So the alternate modes are required for proper operation? Or will it fall back to a standard mode and still work?

That's not how alternate modes work -- there isn't really a "standard" mode. When you plug in a Type C cable the two devices negotiate (via a combination of passives and some active negotiation) what protocols you want to use. Yes protocols with an "s." Power and, say USB 3.1 v2, or power and TB3 or HDMI or whatever. Among the problems is you can have a cable that can't support a particular alternate modes, or can't…

I read that the 2 ports on the left and right are actually slightly different. I don't recall exactly what it was but I think it was something about Thunderbolt 3 because of a lack of sufficient PCI-E lanes for all four ports.

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

#325

Post by slantyyz »

010a wrote: post #296
slantyyz wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing that bugs me about the argument for USB-C only on the new MBPs is that the early 2011 MBPs came out while Steve Jobs was alive. That year was the first appearance of the Thunderbolt port on a Macbook Pro. You could have theoretically removed every legacy port outside of the MagSafe port and only had a bunch of TB ports to handle the I/O of peripherals. Yet Apple left the USB, FW800 (on the 15/17, maybe the…

There wouldn't have been any auxiliary advantages to switching to full TB2. TB2/mDP can't carry power. It was physically a much larger port, which means they couldn't scale down the size of the machine. And, ultimately, mDP is a much less useful port than the universally standard USB-C.

For the sake of argument, in 2011 we'd be talking about TB1.

TB1/mdp is larger than USB-C - in 2011 terms though, it'd be considered small. The mdp port is smaller than regular USB, ethernet and FW800 - all ports available on early 2011 MBPs.

TB1 should carry some power. I don't have my 2011 MBP any more, but I'm near certain that I was able to run a thunderbolt capable seagate external 2.5" hard drive without providing additional power. I also had a Kanex TB-> USB3.0 adapter, and I could swear it was able to power a USB 2.5" external also.

http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/124485/can-a-thunde...

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

#326

Post by FireBeyond »

Bud wrote: post #194
otalp wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the chips aren't optimised for that much RAM they sacrifice a lot of battery life. Apple could theoretically ship these MacBook Pros with 32 gigs, but their battery life would probably be halved.

More like quartered, from what I've read, i.e., reduced by 3/4. Those gaming laptops which use full-power desktop RAM also weigh 8-10 lb and they STILL have terrible battery life. They are effectively unusable without being plugged in.

The Razer Blade weighs 4.6lb, and the XPS 4.4.

Not "eight to ten pounds".

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

#327

Post by [deleted] »

en4bz wrote: post #322
rayiner wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

None of which, ironically, can match the new MBP in battery life.

True, but you can get double the performance for half the price of the 2016 MBPro, a 4x perf/dollar improvement. Obviously you pay for this increase with half the battery life.

[deleted]

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

#328

Post by skizm »

otalp wrote: post #181
skizm wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does the Dell XPS 15in or the Razer Blade laptops have 32gb of ram if Intel doesn't support that much? Do they use different chips in their laptops?

Because the chips aren't optimised for that much RAM they sacrifice a lot of battery life. Apple could theoretically ship these MacBook Pros with 32 gigs, but their battery life would probably be halved.

Oh wow, thanks for that info. Really good to know as I am in the market for a high end laptop and the 32gb xps was on my short list. I guess I'll be sticking with the 16gb version unless the kaby lake processors in the new xps 15s solve this issue.

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

#329

Post by skizm »

Bud wrote: post #194
otalp wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the chips aren't optimised for that much RAM they sacrifice a lot of battery life. Apple could theoretically ship these MacBook Pros with 32 gigs, but their battery life would probably be halved.

More like quartered, from what I've read, i.e., reduced by 3/4. Those gaming laptops which use full-power desktop RAM also weigh 8-10 lb and they STILL have terrible battery life. They are effectively unusable without being plugged in.

The battery life on the 14 inch model is 6+ hours of streaming video out of the box which isn't bad at all I think. The real question is how well it holds up over time. Also, it is one of the few laptops available with the new 10X0 video cards. I'm honestly probably going to hold out for the newer XPS 15s with kaby lake and the 1060 cards, which are supposedly out in January sometime.

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

#330

Post by WildUtah »

adtac wrote: post #142
RandomOpinion wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> binding ESCAPE to Caps Lock has been an acceptable re-configuration for me as a vim user I've seen a lot of people say this but I dunno. I'm kind of leery of doing something that would cause me to develop problematic muscle memory when typing on normal keyboards, e.g. on other people's machines. I have enough trouble flipping between Mac and Windows keyboard shortcuts already.

`Ctrl + [` is the best way IMO.

:ino kj

'kj' is the ideal key combination for changing out of insert mode. Keep your fingers on their home row. Try it and you'll never go back. (Some people like 'jj' or 'jk' and they're fine people, too.)

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