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The best laptop ever made

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Re: The best laptop ever made

#61

Post by Danihan »

mrtksn wrote: post #44

I don't know, I kind of think that the best ever is Macbook Air 2015. I would also argue that Macbook Air was the first laptop ever since it was the first truly portable - not just transportable personal computer ever. For the first time a notebook was light, performant and run long enough on battery to be actually usable out of your office or home. Yep, the screen is not retina but it's also significantly lighter, t…

Completely agree. Just bought my third one, just a perfect product in my mind.

Re: The best laptop ever made

#62

Post by thijsvandien »

I got myself the 2012 model shortly after it was introduced. Despite the obvious risk, I made an exception to the rule of never buying a 1st gen. It was simply everything I (until then) didn't know I wanted. A machine truly worthy of the Pro label, pushing the state of the art at a fair price. I was happy to spend my money.

Meanwhile we lost both the quality and the fair price. It really makes me feel sour, to the point that I just bought a new 2015 model only to have the warranty that I'll have a proper MBP for three years to come. It was no more than a contingency plan; a rational decision made out of a lack of options, involving no enthusiasm at all. During that period I'll either have to find a good alternative to switch away to, or – hopefully – Apple will introduce something new that will make me want to be their customer again. Honestly, I can't say I'm optimistic about either.

Re: The best laptop ever made

#63

Post by petercooper »

I feel like the odd one out. I buy a new MBP every 12-18 months (have owned all Intel generations), use my MBP for hours every day, and think the latest is by far the best.

Being able to charge on either side is a big deal for me as I move around a lot, plus being able to use 30W USB-C power packs and third party chargers (e.g. Anker) without fear of fire.. a massive boon for me, especially as my phone and Nintendo Switch work on the same cables. USB-C cables fall out with little tension so have had no pre-MagSafe style accidents so far.

The touchpad is better than my 2016, the touchbar is almost pointless to me but no worse in operation, and it runs way cooler and quieter - the past two generations used to burn my legs and were noisy. The only downsides are reduced battery life (not a big issue to me) and the keyboard. I like the reduced travel, but it can "clog".. if they fix that, I prefer its design overall.

Re: The best laptop ever made

#64

Post by graeme »

I bought this in 2016 for an urgent project, just before the update. I had planned to buy the new MBP when it came out, figuring it would result in the same great form factor, but faster.

When the new Macbook pro came out, I just kept my old one. Apple lost a guaranteed $4000 sale.

Why didn't I upgrade? I needed the ports for audio/video work, I didn't need the touch bar. I needed an SD card and HDMI. I would have had to buy an awful amount of dongles just to use the laptop.

I'm going to hang on the the 2015 version until it is obsolete, or until something better comes out.

Re: The best laptop ever made

#65

Post by ScottBurson »

lj3 wrote: post #49
megaman22 wrote: post #34

If I could get one of the late 2000s 17" MacBook Pros, but with updated internals, that would definitely be my next laptop. I know several people that bought them for college and are still chugging away with them a decade later.

They made them as recently as 2011. Unibody aluminum. Matte or glossy screen. 1920x1200. IPS. 2.5ghz quad core i7. Ram's a little slow at PC3-1333. Those don't have replaceable batteries, but you can replace them yourself fairly easily. You can pick them up for about $1k. It's sobering, really. The only substantial improvement made to laptops in the past 6 years is battery life.

Yes, I'm still using my 2011 17-incher. Will be very sad when it dies.

Re: The best laptop ever made

#66

Post by GolDDranks »

I just bought a lightly used 2012 model to use as my home laptop. I have been using the 2016 model at work for a little over half a year now.

I prefer the older one. I might prefer a 2015 model even more, but the 2012 is almost as good; close enough to perfect.

Re: The best laptop ever made

#67

Post by O1111OOO »

yoodenvranx wrote: post #56

For me it's the Lenovo T61 with a 14.4" 4:3 display (or any of the older 4:3 IBMs). Yes, compared to modern laptops it is heavy, slow, bulky and has a shitty display but: i) I can replace every single piece of it with a simple screwdriver and ii) 4:3 is still the best aspect ratio for reading and developing. If I am doing the latter I prefer a screen with a lot of height. A 4:3 aspect ratio gives me a tall screen whi…

> For me it's the Lenovo T61 with a 14.4" 4:3 display (or any of the older 4:3 IBMs).

Which is why I thought it was odd that he didn't even mention aspect ratio. 16:9, for example, is a deal-breaker for me personally. This limits the kind of devices I have available (and sadly, increases the price point) but I simply can't do 16:9 as I find it too constraining.

My options today are 16:10 and 3:2. From a hardware standpoint, Apple's document-friendly screens on both their laptops and tablets have always been a strong selling point. Currently on a 16:10 but shopping around for a more modern 3:2/16:10 that's Linux-friendly.

Re: The best laptop ever made

#68

Post by thijsvandien »

bahmboo wrote: post #27

Only downsides: I have had 2 screens replaced due to delamination and this 3rd one has developed a purple line down the middle. Also picking it up with one hand on the corner can register a false touchpad click. Magsafe2 was a totally unnecessary change. Bizarre really. But all that aside it's a champ and the only reason I would replace is because of the stuck purple line.

Yes, the coating coming off was a pity. After having my screen replaced, I thought I'd have one that didn't have the same production error anymore and yet it came back. Found out too late about the extended warranty program to have it replaced a second time. All I can hope for is that my new 2015 model does have a screen that will last, but I can't find any confirmation anywhere that the issue was ever resolved...

Re: The best laptop ever made

#69

Post by s73ver_ »

slantyyz wrote: post #21
rocky1138 wrote: post #15

It's pretty good, yeah. I really would have loved it if they simply doubled the USB ports and re-included an Ethernet jack for the newest one instead of doing what they did.

That almost sounds like a unibody Macbook Pro. I'm probably in the minority here, but to me, the best laptop ever made was the 15" unibody Macbook Pro, the predecessor to the Retina (so long as we forget the gpu dumpster fire that was the early 2011 models). It had plenty of ports and had the perfect balance of portability and components that were easily upgraded by end users.

Except the new ones have USB-C, which can literally become any other port. Any one of them can become the Ethernet jack. Any one of them can become the video out. Any one of them can become the charging port.

Re: The best laptop ever made

#70

Post by abledon »

simonmales wrote: post #50
synicalx wrote: post #32

Do we maybe need some kind of Mac-Reformation? Maybe Johnny could print this out and nail it to the front door of the new Apple HQ? (assuming it even has a front door, of course)

I mention to colleagues that I hope produce a MacBook Pro 'classic' line. I totally agree with the author: it is a professional machine.

hopefully, a few people at APPLE read hacker news, and relay this information to more and more people in the company.... hope they realize this in 2018.

- macbookpro 13" 2011 user

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