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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

#151

Post by spronkey »

tlrobinson wrote: post #80

Tangential rant ahead: I've been pretty disappointed in the latest MacBooks as well (mostly just the keyboard and mediocre performance improvements over previous generations), so as a hedge I thought I should give Linux another try, hoping in the ~5 years since I last attempted it one of the more user-friendly distributions would have figured out how to make installation painless. Nope. It's easy enough to get a basi…

I think there's definitely some blame on laptop manufacturers here for their ridiculous ever-changing collection of SKUs.

Even Lenovo Thinkpads are incredibly diverse in terms of the hardware you can find in them compared to any generation of MacBook Pro.

I'm constantly amazed by the lack of product leadership at some of these companies. I guess the fact that they all focus on pleasing enterprises instead of actually making a decent product line-up and selling it hard is to blame.

Isn't it about time someone stepped up to fight Apple at their own game? Instead of shitting out SKUs like they have diarrhoea, have some restraint and release only a single model per machine, with SKUs modifying only inconsequential things like CPU speed, RAM quantity, and storage. Get rid of the myriad of awful Wifi and WLAN cards (that often cause issues in Windows as well).

Do this for several generations so that the basic hardware and drivers are the same for every machine in the line-up. Focus on getting the basics right - no sleep/wake issues, no finicky nonstandard hardware, no coil whine, no excessive fan noise etc.

Microsoft are trying this with the Surface range, but they're only just starting to actually position products in competition with Apple's.

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

#152

Post by spronkey »

fains_rains_00 wrote: post #43

Ah, a MBP complaint thread. Here are mine (Maxed out 15): 1. New keyboard is painful to type on. I use it 99% of the time with external trackpad / keyboard / monitors but that other 1% pisses me off. 2. Battery life is mediocre. I don't keep track but I'm always surprised how quickly it goes when I'm unplugged. How about stop trying to make them thinner? 3. The touchbar is f*cking horrible. It's a bad solution to a n…

Ugh Xcode. What an awfully heavy piece of software. Makes Eclipse feel lightweight.

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

#153

Post by spronkey »

marcus_holmes wrote: post #77
ballenf wrote: post #22

Louis Rossmann has examined these issues in detail on his electronics repair YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KuVvb9DTaU (I disagree with the level of his vitriol against Apple, but I appreciate his deep teardowns and clear explanations. He just doesn't seem to understand how valuable the Apple software is vs. Windows to those who need or appreciate osx.)

It's not Apple's great software. Most of Apple's software is shit (as opposed to 3rd parties who write OSX apps). It's the fact that it's mostly-decent hardware running a mostly-compliant POSIX OS that looks enough like GNU to make it usable (and compatible with web servers). If someone, ffs anyone, made a decent, reliable Linux laptop, Apple would lose the dev market in a month.

The latter point is not really true. There are plenty in web dev that need Adobe tools to open files. There are plenty in corporate environments that need Office to edit docs (Open/Libre doesn't really cut it for heavier stuff).

I share the frustration, mainly because both OS X and Windows are getting progressively worse over time as opposed to better, and the lack of a decent alternative is hugely frustrating.

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

#154

Post by spronkey »

vinceguidry wrote: post #47

I can't recommend Apple anymore. With the recent trend of tech companies towards walled gardens, the things that made Apple's walled garden great are getting eroded by other companies. Their hardware really is subpar, they're spending all this money on design and virtually none on maintenance, because repair is a profit center for them rather than a cost center. Apple software looks and feels great, and I used to bel…

The first Unibody Mac was still a very nice machine, even if the display wasn't actually a unibody. The chassis felt like nothing before it, and it was so nicely machined with a super rigid keyboard. MagSafe with separate board. Extremely easy to access battery and HDD (with a really nicely designed little lever system). Unscrew the bottom cover and easy access to RAM. Rigidity of the chassis helped keep ports in good condition.

It's only real flaw IMO was the superglossy glass screen. Fragile and extremely annoying under fluorescent lights. Plenty of the machines lasted a long time despite the glue deteriorating from heat.

You're right about them spending no money on maintenance because repair is a profit centre for them. Rossman is right about Apple's durability issues, too - almost every generation of MacBook has had at least one significant design flaw (from the 8600GT to delaminating screen coatings).

They're only getting worse as they go over the top with proprietary connectors and interfaces, and iDevice levels of integration. I mean, Apple have reimplemented M.2 and NVMe in their stupid proprietary SSDs at least 4 times now. It's utterly ridiculous. If your custom blade SSD dies, which it inevitably will at some stage, your only options are Apple support or OWC (or gamble with second hand parts).

At least in the past they used to get the human stuff right (mostly). No Apple MacBook has ever shipped with a low quality LCD panel, for example. I've never heard significant coil whine from any Mac. I've never heard any Mac that has loud fans at idle (except under an error condition). I've never had a Mac that burnt me. I've never had a Mac with poor speakers. The trackpads have always been best-in-class. The keyboards have always been very good.

Until 2016.

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

#155

Post by FullyFunctional »

silman wrote: post #150

Been using a 2010 15" Macbook Pro since i found it in the dumpster in 2014 (yup...), it was my first ever time owning a macbook and using OSX (outside of some time on friends computers, etc) and i love that thing. I used linux before but wasn't so hot on the grueling labor of repairing simple stuff, and so i was stuck on windows coming from a windows-fanboy past - now i am a huge OSX fan for its combination of ease o…

Funny I have an identical situation with my 17" 2006 MBP which has been repaired, and upgraded countless time. It has passed to many family members but it's back with me and I love it everytime I use it. Unfortunately, High Sierra doesn't support it so I don't know what it's future holds. My MBP 2016 is a disappointment; TB 3 is cool but I hate the touchbar and keyboard.

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

#156

Post by ToniCipriani »

lozf wrote: post #136
Steltek wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you still recommend a Thinkpad? Thinkpad screen resolutions stink across the board. X-series RAM caps out at 16GB where my XPS15 gets 32. I understand TPs work well with Linux but it's 2018, a lot of things work pretty darn well with Linux.

Comparing the X1 carbon or other ultra-portables in the X series with an XPS15 isn't really fair - and the 16GB is a limitation of Intels mobile ('U' series) processors, hence the same issue with Apple. A fairer comparison to the 15" machine would be either the T580 or P51 series which has a similar choice of up to 32GB RAM and up to even Xeon processors if that's your bag - perhaps not quite as sleek as the Dell, bu…

T580 also uses a "U" processor though. At least until the T580p is out.
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