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The Surface Book 2 is everything the MacBook Pro should be

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Re: The Surface Book 2 is everything the MacBook Pro should be

#361

Post by brazzledazzle »

makecheck wrote: post #103

It’s 2018 and I still see people walking around with Windows laptop lids open because they presumably have no confidence in Windows’ ability to sensibly preserve state after closing the lid. Software matters, and how it integrates with hardware. And I keep waiting for them to fix just the basics in Windows 10. Not utterly losing both the sizes and positions of all windows just because the laptop was undocked. Not fai…

People do that with both operating systems where I work and they’re both hit or miss which is why people do that. Am I exchanging messages from HN users through some kind of time portal to the Snow Leopard era? Apple has been dropping the ball big time with macOS for a while now and if you haven’t run into window rearranging, bizarre monitor connecting issues or kernel panics from docking I am insanely jealous.

Re: The Surface Book 2 is everything the MacBook Pro should be

#363

Post by brazzledazzle »

KirinDave wrote: post #355
millstone wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple deserves the same scrutiny, but Spotlight Suggestions is designed for privacy. It uses randomly generated frequently rotated IDs and is easy to disable. Disabling Windows 10 telemetry is difficult and cannot be done via user settings. Microsoft has also been adding telemetry to other products such as VSCode and .NET Core.

The only assurance you have that Apple isn't producing a profile is their honest promise. Nothing stops them as it stands other than some hand waving. And you cannot disable application telemetry in the App store which everyone has, including Apple's apps. Apple's approach doesn't stop anyone from turning their apps into a privacy disaster. But sure. Windows telemetry is unique. Right.

I would prefer if they’d formalize their promises into some kind of gaurantee that was enforceable. I believe them today, but what about tomorrow? We’ve all seen companies change dramatically (for both better and worse) and do things that were extremely unethical and/or illegal. Companies are run by people after all.

Re: The Surface Book 2 is everything the MacBook Pro should be

#364

Post by zouhair »

vancan1ty wrote: post #91
throwawayqdhd wrote: post #14

The Surface Book also runs something I never want to deal with again: Windows 10. I can't deal with a software that constantly gets in the way of my work. I gave Windows a lot of tries, but the latest edition was the last straw for me. Never going back.

I feel that Windows 10 has an improved file explorer and file copying dialogs over Windows 7. In every other way I feel that I still prefer Windows 7 -- system stability, lack of apparent bugs, much more coherent settings functionality, lack of resource-consuming microsoft spyware (cortana), better built-in themes, messages from system are less annoying/"cutesy", ability to fully control updates, lighter and better b…

Forced telemetry and forced updates at random times are both deal breakers for a lot of people.

Re: The Surface Book 2 is everything the MacBook Pro should be

#365

Post by cpeth »

Most posts here are going to mention MacOS as the key feature that will always keep them on Mac hardware. That is understandable, people are comfortable with it.

I currently use it for work and am not impressed(just as I was last time in 2014), having always used Linux and sometimes Windows. The only reason I haven't bootcamped Ubuntu is that all of our conference rooms are set up to display via AirPlay(proprietary). I don't want to be the one always hunting for the HDMI dongle (yes it's a mid-2015 MacBook Pro that still has that).

-Why is there a global menu bar? With multiple monitors we have 10+ application visible at one time. Why do I need to select one first to then use a menu action instead of just clicking on it like GNOME / Windows

-Why are there command/option keys instead of ctrl/alt? This seems like pointless we-are-different-and-special stuff

-Why does clicking X (close on an application) just minimize it instead of killing it? But yet minimizing it just puts it in a separate area of the dock?

-Why does trying to snap windows to the sides of the monitor throw it into full-screen mode and create a new workspace that then fucks with my ability to overlap windows or alt-tab?

-Why does spotlight (CMD + Space) only find one option? Why isn't it part of launchpad?

-brew sucks compared to apt and snap but it is better than choclatey

-you still need a VM to run docker

-you need non-apple hardware to have a back button on the mouse (I loathe the magic mouse 2)

For all the devotion it gets for being a modern *NIX development platform, it's solid but not overwhelmingly great.

Give Linux and Win10 a try, I am finding them equal these days.

Hardware wise, a laptop without a Thunderbolt port these days is just a deal-breaker. There is no excuse for Surface Book 2 to not have one. It's the reason I chose the Dell XPS 15 2-in-1 over it (and saved $400 in doing so).

I was a fan of Surface Book 1 and bought one, it served me well. MS is doing good stuff.

Re: The Surface Book 2 is everything the MacBook Pro should be

#366

Post by derefr »

YeGoblynQueenne wrote: post #265
vetinari wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Not failing to recognize the external display upon docking, despite the display working a few minutes earlier. Now that you mention it... I have exactly the same problem with rMBP since upgrading to 10.13.5. Just this monday morning I've spent 20 minutes checking all the cables and why it doesn't work, until I rebooted the machine and then it suddenly worked.

>> Just this monday morning I've spent 20 minutes checking all the cables and why it doesn't work, until I rebooted the machine and then it suddenly worked. Mnyeah. The fabled Mac-Windows convergence, as foretold in the days of yore. MS hardware gets sleek commercial blogposts from evangelists, like Macs; and Apple's OS needs to be rebooted every once in a while to work right, like Windows.

Given the recent updates in 10.13.x for external GPUs, it might not have been a reboot that fixed the problem, so much as a deferred update to a point-release that fixed a problem created in the previous point-release.

Re: The Surface Book 2 is everything the MacBook Pro should be

#367

Post by justanothernerd »

blt wrote: post #267
e40 wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I saw a dude in the elevator (this year) because his Windows 10 started installing updates when he shut it down, but he needed to leave the office. I get so much crap when I say this online, but Windows is a complete shit show. Yeah, there are issues with macOS, but it is lightyears better. Yeah, I know Apple has dropped the ball on hardware, but my 5 year old MBP is just fine.

My 5 year old MBP is more than fine, it's great, but I am worried about what I will be able to buy to replace it. Eventually it will break; if not then someday I'll want something with more computing power.

My mid-2012 MBP was one of the best laptops I've ever owned. Unfortunately I eventually broke the screen and it was going to be $800 to replace it. This happened about the time the MBP line got refreshed in 2016 so I got one of the new ones.

My 2016 MBP has been the worst laptop I've ever owned... fails to sleep, fails to wake, physical keys keep dying, touchbar freezes and won't unlock the machine, it can't keep external monitors straight (to be fair, that might be more of an OS issue than hardware?)

Keep that old one as long as you can! I wish I hadn't "upgraded".

Re: The Surface Book 2 is everything the MacBook Pro should be

#368

Post by PhasmaFelis »

e40 wrote: post #262
makecheck wrote: post #103

It’s 2018 and I still see people walking around with Windows laptop lids open because they presumably have no confidence in Windows’ ability to sensibly preserve state after closing the lid. Software matters, and how it integrates with hardware. And I keep waiting for them to fix just the basics in Windows 10. Not utterly losing both the sizes and positions of all windows just because the laptop was undocked. Not fai…

Yeah, I saw a dude in the elevator (this year) because his Windows 10 started installing updates when he shut it down, but he needed to leave the office. I get so much crap when I say this online, but Windows is a complete shit show. Yeah, there are issues with macOS, but it is lightyears better. Yeah, I know Apple has dropped the ball on hardware, but my 5 year old MBP is just fine.

A few years ago I'd have agreed with you. Do you know a way to make OSX not force every fullscreen window into a separate desktop for no reason? It started doing that a few versions back.

Re: The Surface Book 2 is everything the MacBook Pro should be

#369

Post by ztjio »

soyiuz wrote: post #358
ztjio wrote: post #347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t know of any stock dealers using kubernetes, but, maybe I’m just out of the loop. No, I’m a developer, I work in, I dunno what you want to call it, Machine Learning Data Engineering? Stuff like that. I use seven displays because I like spatially organized workspaces. Four of them are only 10”, effectively 1280x800 displays, two of which are always showing terminals. I have a particular way I like to work that…

You are a prime candidate for a tiling window manger such as i3, designed specifically with fixed windows at fixed locations in mind.

I used a tiling window manager years ago when I ran Linux as my main OS. I’ve used similar third party tools to try to get... a similar effect on macOS but it always falls apart.

In the long run, I more greatly value the software I get to use on macOS (not to mention things like first party hardware and software support) over the window managers and that type of thing available elsewhere, and frankly, as a geek, it feels cool having a matrix-operator-like setup as my workstation so I’m happy.

Re: The Surface Book 2 is everything the MacBook Pro should be

#370

Post by PretzelPirate »

tfehring wrote: post #323
bradford wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

disclaimer: MS employee, this is solely my opinion Does the GDPR do anything to put your concerns on this issue to rest? (By those regulations, MS is required, under penalty of very large fines, to not do what you are accusing them of doing.)

It's my understanding that companies only need to comply with GDPR when providing services to end users in the EU and that companies that comply with GDPR globally are only doing so due to resource constraints that Microsoft doesn't face. However, I'm probably less informed on GDPR than the average HN user, so it's very possible that my understanding is off-base or incomplete.

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/microsoft-extending-gdp...
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