Apple’s 2016 in review • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple’s 2016 in review

#371

Post by Joeri » Tue, Jan 03, 2017, 8:11 PM UTC

pier25 wrote: post #305

72deluxe wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Move on to what though? Windows 10 is never up to date for me. Linux decides to reinvent the UI paradigm every couple of years or are still running X for maximum battery usage

I tried Windows 10 for a couple of weeks and while it was better than I expected it's still a mess. The short version is that the Windows ecosystem is plagued by legacy software (even Windows itself).

As a daily windows user I'd say the main problem is hidpi support. It can't do mixed dpi environments properly, which is the typical experience when you use a (hidpi) laptop combined with an external monitor. Microsoft blames this on legacy software, but even office doesn't work properly.

A secondary issue are forced updates breaking things, which i've had on two of my 4 windows laptops so far. Finally, the mess of legacy and new settings screens is annoying, but once setup it doesn't matter much, so it only affects the first-run experience.

Aside from those i think w10 is nice. I wouldn't mind replacing my mini with a windows machine, and if apple doesn't update it soon i probably will.

Re: Apple’s 2016 in review

#372

Post by xigency » Tue, Jan 03, 2017, 8:11 PM UTC

sdegutis wrote: post #291

chaostheory wrote: post #286

> Defining products by the spreadsheet: A big percentage of complaints over the new MacBook Pro devices is that they ignore the needs of the “power” user. The problem? This group is fairly small and have needs living well towards the end of the bell curve. The problem with ignoring this niche is because these users are either developers or big influencers. They help with the ongoing success of the App Store as well a…

Yep. They probably don't realize how big of a part "Word of Mouth" marketing plays in their sales. At every small business I've ever worked at, everyone praised the MBP highly, and if you didn't have one, you felt like you wanted and needed one. Especially because it Just Worked™, it was kind of this sleek and powerful tool that only people who know the value of their time had, because they weren't going to waste the…

There are plenty of online trading platforms. Just look for one with cheap ($5?) commissions and you can probably get your first trades for free.

There are some brokers that are free with some stipulations: https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/investing/free-stock-trading

Re: Apple’s 2016 in review

#373

Post by FireBeyond » Tue, Jan 03, 2017, 8:13 PM UTC

simonh wrote: post #253

yoz-y wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing I would like to know is how we got here - that some NEED 32GB of RAM in a laptop. Scouring the web for some time shows me that in 2015 it was quite hard to get a non-gaming laptop with 32GB of ram. Now, there are quite a lot of voices that cry that it is some bare minimum. To me it seems that more people now prefer laptops to desktops and it is annoying to sacrifice performance for portability. The lack of…

Actually replying to lsadam0 but can't for some reason > If the 2016 kept the same thickness but offered 32gb, I would have been happy. That's not possible with the current chip offerings from Intel though. The Intel CPUs that fit the MBP form factor and other features APple needs only go up to 16 GB RAM. If you doubt this is a pain point for Apple, note that Apple standardized on 16GB RAM out of the box. I'm sure th…

"That's not possible with the current chip offerings from Intel though. The Intel CPUs that fit the MBP form factor and other features APple needs only go up to 16 GB RAM."

That's entirely reversed. Your statement should read:

"That's entirely possible with the current chip offerings from Intel. However, it's not possible with Apple's requirements for form factor and power."

Re: Apple’s 2016 in review

#374

Post by AnthonyMouse » Tue, Jan 03, 2017, 8:13 PM UTC

dragonwriter wrote: post #353

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The key take out here is "faster" Even that part is mostly wrong. A fast horse can run more than 40MPH which about all you can expect from a car in a city. The main reason most people don't own a horse isn't that a car is faster. Users ask for things that are obvious. No kidding faster is better. Can we have it cheaper and more reliable too? If you ask most people in 1870 how to improve those aspects of a horse the…

> A fast horse can run more than 40MPH which about all you can expect from a car in a city A slow car can go much more than 40 mph. Both cars and horses may be practically limited by traffic most of the time in crowded urban environments, but cars are still faster, even in most cities, on both peak and practically-attained-average speeds.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Model_T

"The Model T had a front-mounted 177-cubic-inch (2.9 L) inline four-cylinder engine, producing 20 hp (15 kW), for a top speed of 40–45 mph (64–72 km/h)."

Being faster than horses isn't why cars won. Given the choice between a modern car and a hypothetical horse with the same or higher top speed, most people are still not going to choose the horse.

Re: Apple’s 2016 in review

#375

Post by DoodleBuggy » Tue, Jan 03, 2017, 8:28 PM UTC

At this point my expectations for Apple are set so low that I'd be thrilled if 2017 brought us options for a physical escape key and 32GB RAM on a spec-bumped MacBook Pro. But I suspect even that is too much to ask.

Re: Apple’s 2016 in review

#376

Post by realityking » Tue, Jan 03, 2017, 8:32 PM UTC

gog wrote: post #197

Razengan wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Conversely, this could also mean that the "press" and the vocal majority on a few online forums have no bearing on what people out there really want. In almost every discussion about this, you will see some people who have actually purchased — unlike the detractors — these machines and are happy with them. I personally don't see anything bad about the new MacBooks either, except the lack of out-of-the-box compatibili…

It is all great if you do not have existing hardware you want to use. I have a Logitech mouse I love, it has a USB connector receiver that sticks 3 mm out of my laptop so I keep it plugged in all the time. The idea of it hanging of some cable adapter is just silly, not even mentioning the fact that you have to buy it. Or my fancy 27" Apple Thunderbolt display. I had no issue paying the Apple tax because I loved the d…

There's an adapter for your Thunderbolt Display. You will however miss out on the power provided by the display.

Re: Apple’s 2016 in review

#377

Post by vaishaksuresh » Tue, Jan 03, 2017, 9:37 PM UTC

x0x0 wrote: post #144

simonh wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> needs a dongle to connect to iPhone What's wrong with the USB-C to Lightning cable? http://www.apple.com/uk/shop/product/MK0X2ZM/A/usb-c-to-ligh...

Does it come in the box? No. So you just bought a $900 phone, and a couple months later you bought a $2.5k+ computer, and oh, HAHAHAHAHA, the fucking cable you need isn't included. What type of user experience is that? As a side note: there's nothing wrong with usb-c. I can see why it's an improvement! But the reason apple are pricks is they didn't also throw in a single usb-a port so we can keep using the dozen devi…

I don't get this argument. How long does a manufacturer keep supporting an old port because users have older devices?

The current phone does not come with a usb-c cable because it is older than the MacBook Pros and the Laptops don't come with a lightning cable because not everyone that has the laptop has an iPhone. I'm sure the next iPhone will come with a usb-c cable and then people will complain that they can't charge it with their old laptops.

Re: Apple’s 2016 in review

#378

Post by vaishaksuresh » Tue, Jan 03, 2017, 9:45 PM UTC

nicolas_t wrote: post #114

I went from almost never needing to restart my mac (with Snow Leopard) to having to restart it a couple of times a week with Sierra. The UI just becomes totally unresponsive (the cursor stops moving, the time in the menu bar stops ticking and the spinning wheel stops spinning) and needs a restart. And I don't even have things like SIMBL installed (I used to with snow leopard, not anymore). I just have Karabiner eleme…

I am not sure what you're doing different, but the exact opposite is true for me. I don't reboot my computer unless some update from work forces me to. I run a bunch of programs all the time. Here is my laptop currently and this isn't even the highest, I've gone much longer than this on both my work and personal laptops. Both are regularly connected/disconnected to big displays too.

$ uptime 13:41 up 38 days, 17:01, 6 users, load averages: 2.21 2.01 2.01

Re: Apple’s 2016 in review

#379

Post by makecheck » Tue, Jan 03, 2017, 10:00 PM UTC

nicolas_t wrote: post #114

I went from almost never needing to restart my mac (with Snow Leopard) to having to restart it a couple of times a week with Sierra. The UI just becomes totally unresponsive (the cursor stops moving, the time in the menu bar stops ticking and the spinning wheel stops spinning) and needs a restart. And I don't even have things like SIMBL installed (I used to with snow leopard, not anymore). I just have Karabiner eleme…

And the “modern” incarnation of Exposé is an example of the lack of polish that many people now see from Apple. Since the beginning of the Mac, the menu bar was the “safe spot” for dragging (if you started a drag by mistake, you could always throw the mouse at the top of the screen and drop safely — nothing would happen). The modified Mission Control breaks this now; if you drag just a bit further than you intended, the whole desktop goes away and now you have an even bigger problem: not only is there no “safe” spot to drop, your accidental drag can now create even more chaos by moving objects onto entirely different screens!

Smart user interfaces are practically invisible, created by dozens of tiny accommodations for each situation. The Mac is starting to lose that fit and finish.

Re: Apple’s 2016 in review

#380

Post by pdimitar » Tue, Jan 03, 2017, 10:44 PM UTC

DoofusOfDeath wrote: post #338

caconym_ wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you figure "pure neglect"? What are the features you're missing in the current Mac lineup? Which products from other manufacturers make a meaningful improvement on Apple's offering for "devs"?

Here's one piece of anecdata, not for a "dev" but for another high-end use case: professional photography. My wife is a professional photographer. Her current photo-editing computer is a Windows 7 desktop with 16 GB of RAM. We know Windows 7's days are numbered, so we're starting to think about her next editing computer. The two most obvious options are (a) some Apple product, or (b) a computer running Windows 10. He…

The "immediate forced reboots" on Windows 10 are vastly overhyped and received much more negative press than they should have. I am yet to experience a reboot when I didn't want it. Anecdotal for sure but I've set my inactive hours inside Win10's settings and never had a problem.

Windows 10 is your best answer. It's gonna be supported very long and it's a 99.9% painless upgrade from Windows 7.

Definitely invest in a mid-to-high range PC would be my advice. I have 5-year old i7 3770 CPU and I am yet to find something that makes it choke. Only refreshment I did to my now 5-year old PC was to increase RAM from 16 to 32GB and to get GTX 980 (was 650 before). The PC is flying whatever I do -- and I'm a programmer, trust me I do a lot.