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Don’t buy the MacBook Pros even on sale, in my opinion

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Re: Don’t buy the MacBook Pros even on sale, in my opinion

#31

I have my MacBook Pro on a stand then use a bluetooth keyboard and external monitor. Rarely do I use the actual keyboard. If Apple created something similar to a Mac mini with a laptop battery I would buy it immediately. I know it wouldn't work for everyone, but it would suit my needs.

what's the battery for then? Just so you can move it from one place to another without shutting it down? And if so then it would only have to be enough of a battery to power the suspend right?

Re: Don’t buy the MacBook Pros even on sale, in my opinion

#32
And the worst part about it is that it's incredibly hard to replace the keyboard on the MBP. For most other laptops it's just a screw or two, a few plastic clips, and a ribbon cable to replace it. They're also super cheap for just about every manufacturer out there other than Apple and you can get a new keyboard delivery included for ~$15-$25. For the MBP you pretty much need to get the whole top case as one assembly because instead of just a few clips Apple rivets the keyboard to the case! And it's not just a couple of rivets either, try a couple dozen.

Absolutely insane how not only does Apple make the keyboard just about impossible to replace, but they also make a keyboard that's simultaneously much much more failure prone than any other keyboard that I know of. Here's a great video of a madman actually replacing the keyboard instead of just replacing the whole assembly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMueATtTcQg

Re: Don’t buy the MacBook Pros even on sale, in my opinion

#33
I just switched back to Thinkpad X1 w/ Windows. With Linux Subsystem for Windows, it's been roughly working out. though I am currently maintaining two copies of things - one for Linux and one for Windows for lots of tooling. Not sure how to optimize here. Only been a few days. Re-learning keyboard shortcuts.

Only pain: not having iMessage on laptop.

Re: Don’t buy the MacBook Pros even on sale, in my opinion

#34
post #8

Any suggestions for good non-Windows laptops in the $1000 price range? I'm seriously considering just buying a refurbished MacBook Pro from 2013 at this point.

I use one of dells XPS 13 developer edition with Ubuntu on it. It works fine, there are some quirks (sometimes noisy whine when not doing a lot of CPU intensive tasks) and the camera is in a weird location. Outside of that it's worked well for my needs.

Re: Don’t buy the MacBook Pros even on sale, in my opinion

#35
The Board Of Directors has structured Tim Cook's pay so his pay is dependent on shipping specific amounts of iPhones. This would be a good plan if the goal was to boost the stock price for the few years that iPhone seems innovative, compared to anything that Samsung can come up with. This strategy did work for several years, look at 2013 and 2014 and 2015 and 2016. But the same strategy amounts to a plan for allowing the company to collapse in the long-term. Where are the new products? Where are the new ideas? Some people point to the vast cash reserve that Apple has and they view this as a source of strength: "Apple must be doing something right to have that much cash on hand!" But a large pile of cash can also be read as a weakness; in particular, it can be seen as a lack of ideas. For comparison, consider the last time Apple had super fat margins and a product that was light-years ahead of the competition: the 1980s. Apple did not pile up cash at that time, because it was still investing in the future. Profits were reinvested in new products. The leadership could see where the future was going, and they chased after it aggressively. The difference between then and now is obvious. Apple has a huge amount of cash, but they have no ideas about how to invest it. Tim Cook is a good operations guy, he has some talent for optimizing the supply lines between China and the West. But he has no ideas. And nowadays, given the growing number of problems, I think we have to wonder if he fully deserves his reputation for being a good operations guy.

Re: Don’t buy the MacBook Pros even on sale, in my opinion

#36

I have my MacBook Pro on a stand then use a bluetooth keyboard and external monitor. Rarely do I use the actual keyboard. If Apple created something similar to a Mac mini with a laptop battery I would buy it immediately. I know it wouldn't work for everyone, but it would suit my needs.

What do you need the battery for? No power at your desk, or just something a basic UPS could handle?

You're absolutely right, a simple UPS would be sufficient for my needs. I'm beginning to wonder if that is all I'm missing from my setup.

Re: Don’t buy the MacBook Pros even on sale, in my opinion

#37
I have one of these provided by my employer - spacebar broke within a couple of months.

Also, I kid you not, the 'H' key was not functioning on one in the Regent Street Apple store I was using while waiting for an iPhone battery replacement.

Essentially, you have to avoid getting any detritus on the keyboard of any kind. I no longer eat any snacks or sandwiches at the computer, which is probably a good thing anyway.

Re: Don’t buy the MacBook Pros even on sale, in my opinion

#38

Posting this from my six month old Macbook Pro 15" on which the spacebar has just started doing double spaces. Going to try and clean it with compressed air, but even if that works, it's unacceptable in my opinion that such a key piece of hardware on such an expensive machine should be so fragile. The fact that at some point I'll have to take it back to Apple and probably be without it for several days due to the com…

It's unlikely to take days. A few months ago they replaced a broken key cap for me in about 20 minutes.

Re: Don’t buy the MacBook Pros even on sale, in my opinion

#39
This isn't a "build quality" problem, it's a design quality problem. The quest for thinness has taken precedence over reliable functioning. If they added a millimeter or two they could put in a proper keyboard, but I fear they never will. We see a similar problem with the "trashcan" Mac Pro, where they backed themselves into a corner with a design that could not be upgraded. This is just bad engineering. Form follows function, not vice versa.
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