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MacBook Pro with faster performance and new features for pros

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Re: MacBook Pro with faster performance and new features for pros

#151
post #47

It's not possible to buy it without the TouchBar any more :( I really wanted to like it, and the concept could perhaps eventually be good, but the current implementation is infuriatingly bad: • I need more than one tap to change the brightness, volume or skip to the next song. • The buttons are in different locations depending on context, so it's not possible to use it by muscle memory. • TouchBar automatically goes…

> It's not possible to buy it without the TouchBar any more :(

It is, but they didn't update the model at all.

Re: MacBook Pro with faster performance and new features for pros

#152
post #73

“Hey Siri” is available because a T2 chip is included. We’re slowly crawling towards Voice as a User Interface on the personal computer. Hope this happens in my lifetime. I’ve been waiting several decades.

> We’re slowly crawling towards Voice as a User Interface on the personal computer.

> Hope this happens in my lifetime. I’ve been waiting several decades.

Can I ask why? I find voice interfaces basically useless. They're too awkward to use in public, too unreliable to use in general, and almost never quicker than just typing or mousing anyway.

I can see how it's great for accessibility (e.g. for blind people), but that's about it

Re: MacBook Pro with faster performance and new features for pros

#154
post #117
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Second comment about buying experience. I got a Dell XPS which is great, though I would never buy anything again from Dell due to their horrible customer service. By which I mean pathetically rude and unprofessional (German store). Desktop experience of clean uninterrupted GNOME is great for me. Move from Ubuntu to fedora. Ubuntu really messes up GNOME with their BS ideas of usability. I.e horrible terrible ugly Unit…

Recent releases of Ubuntu use regular GNOME 3 with the Dash to Dock extension installed by default.

As far as I remember (before I switched) they’re messing up nautilus and keeping older versions. Also installation, software management and other little things. This mishmash of ideas and concepts of two separate projects is bad.

Ubuntu does not understand usability and they should really allow GNOME’s vision to come through. GNOME is probably not perfect, but it is consistent.

Re: MacBook Pro with faster performance and new features for pros

#155
post #47

It's not possible to buy it without the TouchBar any more :( I really wanted to like it, and the concept could perhaps eventually be good, but the current implementation is infuriatingly bad: • I need more than one tap to change the brightness, volume or skip to the next song. • The buttons are in different locations depending on context, so it's not possible to use it by muscle memory. • TouchBar automatically goes…

My favorite is when my hands naturally come to rest near the top of the keyboard at least once a day they land on the brightness control in the touchbar and dim my screen to black.

Re: MacBook Pro with faster performance and new features for pros

#156

> The new keyboard has the same dimensions and look as its two predecessors, but the keys feel just a little bit different. They're quieter, for one thing. They have a softer, less click-y feel that is a little closer to the pre-2016 models' chiclet keys. We found the new keyboard to be a little nicer to type on, but it's not a radical difference. It's unlikely to convert the detractors, but it's a welcome iteration…

Better yet, why don't they go back and grab the 2006 17" form factor? That was the best developer laptop I had. The missing 2" on the 15" just makes the IDE too narrow.

I wouldn't mind that either, but OTOH, I don't work on a laptop screen all day as a rule. I'd rather have a compact machine that I can just plug into a screen. I wouldn't mind a Mac Mini style machine with magsafe power and/or an easily detachable docking station.

Re: MacBook Pro with faster performance and new features for pros

#157
post #89
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They didn't do that because it is not what most people want. Apple has to make changes that will sell more laptops to the masses to maximize shareholder value. The niche developer/macrumors posters will never be happy regardless of what Apple does. Better to focus on the 90% of customers who buy products and make up 10% of the complaints then to focus on the 10% of customers who make up 90% of the complaints.

The Macbook Pro has been the go-to software developer machine for years now, and that segment is seeing a massive exodus after the touch bar launch. I don't know how big a percentage that is of total sales, but it can't just be a trivial niche.

With all of the (deserved) internet outrage about the MacBook Pro, Apple’s sales of Macs aren’t showing thier direction is the wrong one.

That being said, for a personal development machine, I would much rather have a 27 inch 5K iMac with the same specs. Work provides me a decent laptop.

Re: MacBook Pro with faster performance and new features for pros

#158
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They didn't do that because it is not what most people want. Apple has to make changes that will sell more laptops to the masses to maximize shareholder value. The niche developer/macrumors posters will never be happy regardless of what Apple does. Better to focus on the 90% of customers who buy products and make up 10% of the complaints then to focus on the 10% of customers who make up 90% of the complaints.

You say that but it's the vocal but happy 10% that can sway the 90% to buy it. Mac wouldn't have been as big as it is today without its fans. The ones that complain are your best customers, because the ones that don't just walk away without giving you feedback as to why they walk away. The 90% is too indifferent to speak up.

You're greatly overestimating the tech community's importance. The average person doesn't need any swaying to buy Apple products.

Re: MacBook Pro with faster performance and new features for pros

#159
post #6

If only they might restore the escape key in the 15 inch model...

This complaint always strikes me as trolling of the highest order. As though a 2018 laptop should definitely be designed to accommodate software structured for the limitations of 1970. In 2050, when the world has moved to direct neural interfaces, vi trolls on HN will still be saying "but my escape key!" I've never failed to hit the software escape key on my 15. Not one time since the past rev was released. What is t…

I really think that dismissing this complaint as "trolling" is odd. The escape key is used in a lot of applications, not just vim. It's used to cancel out of actions, it's used to often dismiss modals, it's used across a lot of software for a lot of purposes. And I'm personally someone that misses the key often enough that I wish it was still there. And the escape button on the touchbar is actually not at the same place as it is on other keyboards, which makes me think you've maybe not used one of these new touchbars and are arguing just for the sake of it.

Re: MacBook Pro with faster performance and new features for pros

#160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

32 GB available on the 15" touchbar model. Personally holding out for a 32GB 13", if my 2012 makes it that long.

Do you have a link? Haven't spotted that yet.

You can upgrade to 32 on the 15" models: https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro?product=MR932...
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