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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

#501
post #445

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They didn't do that because it is not what most people want. > Better to focus on the 90% of customers who buy products So either you're wrong, or Apple's PR team is really bad positioning their product. From the Press Release itself in the first few paragraphs: ideal for manipulating large data sets, performing complex simulations, creating multi-track audio projects or doing advanced image processing or film edit…

> Aren't those all features described exactly for the "niche developer/macrumors posters"?! Yes, and, trust me, most developers I know who got newer MBPs are pretty happy with theirs. I know I am and I hope I get one of these newer ones next week. 6 cores and 32 gigs of DDR4 make a lot of a difference. The vi users make jokes about the Esc key, of course (but I'm into Emacs, so no problem for me). One company I know…

> I know I am and I hope I get one of these newer ones next week. 6 cores and 32 gigs of DDR4 make a lot of a difference.

Even if they provide 64 GB, it will never be enough RAM. OSX is dogshit at memory management, with massive memory leaks. On my work laptop (-1 generation), I have 16 GB. Normal workloads (i.e. not even developer workloads/compilation tasks) consume memory to the point where I’m constantly swapping. Until they fix their shit, I’m not going to buy a new one, nor will I ask my company (I am good friends with IT) to refresh.

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

#502

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The touchbar is awesome--you can immediately blow away all the worthless function keys and have a minimalist setup. I keep the escape key and the volume/brightness sliders, that's it. Keeps the entire setup feeling clean. People actually use the touchbar for context-dependent tasks?

Its great for scrubbing through video. Tap and hold for fast, fine grained control. My only complaint with the touchbar is its too easy to accidentally engage Siri. Other than that it’s a good idea IMO.

> Its great for scrubbing through video.

The touchpad is fine for that. No need for duplicating functionality.

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

#503

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a Dell 2n1 for both my work laptop and my personal laptop. I have no problem with either. For the last 20+ years I’ve been exclusively a Windows Developer. But lately as I’ve moved to cloud implementations, Docker and cross platform languages, the “Microsoft Tax” is starting to hit home in terms of costs and resources. My next personal computer will be a Mac. I’ve had a few in the past. But it will either be a…

Out of curiosity, have you had a chance to explore the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)? WSL allows you to run your favorite linux distro with access to most command-line tools, utilities, and so on[0]. I have been a .NET developer for about 5 years now and recently began working in Ruby. The WSL had allowed me to effortlessly set up my Ruby dev environment, while still maintaining Windows 10 as my main OS of choice…

It's not so much about development. Even if I did move over to Mac OS, I would still probably use the same or similar tool set - Visual Studio Code for everything except .Net Core. For .Net Core I would probably use JetBrain's Rider.

It's about deployment. Anytime you use Windows in a cloud hosted environment, you end up spending more on licensing and needing larger instances -- increasing the costs and startup time. I can easily development on Windows and auto deploy on Linux instances when I'm using either Python, C#, or NodeJS. But if I am going to be using Unix like environments anyway for deployment, why not use a Unix environment for development? MacOS gives you the best of both worlds -- a Unix environment for development and polish for everything else.

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

#504
post #36

> 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…

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.

I actually like the Touchbar MacBook Pros'. Including the keyboard. I love how small they are and how all the plugs are the "same" :)

I use it as my home-notebook and iOS development.

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

#505

> 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…

You are wording my exact thoughts. mid-2015 13" MBP was good balance.

They've played this thinness and flashy lights game too much too long. My new Lenovo T480S (24GB DDR4, is coming next week :) Sweet Linux with i3 tiled window manager. All the ports & productivity I can ask for.

I'm voting with my wallet and my vote doesn't go to Apple.

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

#506
They need to take a page from “G4 Cube” and kill this entire product design, not tweak it.

Touch Bar adds cost (both money and battery) for a net negative in functionality and has no external-keyboard equivalent. Wrong design, take it out.

Machine is thin enough to cause unwanted trade-offs in capacity and performance. Wrong design, take it out.

“Improved” keyboard means waiting more years to see if it breaks, whereas “reverted 100% to 2013 keyboard” might have created instant customers. Flaky keyboard frought with risk? Wrong design, take it out.

There is nothing about this design that deserves risking spending so much money on it. They haven’t truly fixed any of the requests (except maybe maximum RAM).

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

#507
post #36

> 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…

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 10% are the "word of mouthers" (evangelists) that influence the other 90%.

Apple isn't where it is today because of TV advertising. It's where it is because of brand advocates like the people who are now complaining about the new products.

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

#508
post #87

I’m glad to see that Apple has finally updated its MacBook Pro line, but it’s a little too late for me. After using Macs for nearly 12 years, I bought a Dell XPS 15 9570 a week after WWDC 2018 (I couldn’t put off a new computer purchase any longer), and I couldn’t be happier. It turns out that Windows 10 really shines on a computer with six processor cores, a 4K display, and a NVMe SSD, a dramatic improvement from th…

> and there are still some aspects of Windows 10 that annoy me (namely the prevelance of ads)

This is why I won't run Windows 10. It's spyware you pay for. No thanks!

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

#509
post #505

> 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…

You are wording my exact thoughts. mid-2015 13" MBP was good balance. They've played this thinness and flashy lights game too much too long. My new Lenovo T480S (24GB DDR4, is coming next week :) Sweet Linux with i3 tiled window manager. All the ports & productivity I can ask for. I'm voting with my wallet and my vote doesn't go to Apple.

Right now, I'm hoping my maxed out 2015 13" lasts forever.

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

#510
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.

I actually like the Touchbar MacBook Pros'. Including the keyboard. I love how small they are and how all the plugs are the "same" :) I use it as my home-notebook and iOS development.

You are funny. I like :D
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