Live data from Hacker News

2018 MacBook Pro Review

hrtapps.com

231–240 of 528 posts

Re: 2018 MacBook Pro Review

#231
post #91

It's become comedy at this point. Many, many developers: "We hate this keyboard. It is atrocious! Give us back the old one please!" Apple: "We have listened to your needs. The keyboard is now 8% quieter, and the touchbar is mandatory!"

The noise may well have been the bigger complaint among buyers than the key travel.

Re: 2018 MacBook Pro Review

#232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's almost as if Apple aren't even basing their hardware strategy on what developers are complaining about on Hacker News. I’m imagining someone who went into a fallout shelter about 10 years ago, somehow only had HN as a source of news, and suddenly re-entered the world. What would such a person be suprised to learn? I suspect Apple still being a successful company would come as a huge shock to such a person. So…

Who doubted Apple would be successful in ~2008? The iPhone and the MacBook Air were phenomenal products.

In 2008 the iPhone was a $500 subsidised device (at a time when other phones were "free" or up to $200) which really didn't do anything. It didn't do MMS, third party apps didn't exist, google maps didn't have turn-by-turn. I'm sure the user experience of a reasonable sized capacitive touch screen was great compared to the alternatives - but I never even saw one in real life and on paper it was very expensive and didn't have anything to sell me on it.

Once the iPhone 3G came it out was clear the device was a phenomenon and not a rich people toy, but initially the market was pretty confused, from what I remember.

Re: 2018 MacBook Pro Review

#233
post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's almost as if Apple aren't even basing their hardware strategy on what developers are complaining about on Hacker News.

I'd go further and say that Apple isn't basing their hardware strategy on the needs of any real person. It's a laptop with only USB-C ports (and the 13-inch only has two of them). You can't even plug a USB stick into it. The only people who asked for a laptop like that are working at Apple.

I recently used a USB stick for something other than reinstalling the OS for the first time in probably a decade.

Re: 2018 MacBook Pro Review

#234
post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love the keyboard, and I code all day. It's actually my favorite keyboard of any I've used with the exception of the current-gen external Apple keyboards. I enjoy the light-touch and low key travel required to type. I find the typing more pleasant and kinder on my hands.

I bought a 2017 model in February. It’s already had one keyboard replacement. The . Key stopped working. Can’t wait to have this thing replaced because the keyboard breaks regularly enough before the three years of AppleCare runs out.

Getting the keyboard fixed isn't dependant on Apple Care. They have a 4 year program to fix any issues, outside of warranty.

Re: 2018 MacBook Pro Review

#235
post #4

So they’ve caught up to Windows laptops on specs but still have that abomination of a keyboard. After all the complaints.

The report is that the keyboard is not the same. Quieter, but not necessarily more reliable. Reliability remains to be seen. Keep in mind that the uproar over keyboard problems started far too recently to have affected the design of the 2018 version.

> the uproar over keyboard problems started far too recently to have affected the design of the 2018 version.

The lawsuits were more recent, but Apple has known about the issue long before designing the 2018 MBP. This keyboard was on the 2015 MacBook and people have been complaining since early 2017 about the MBP.

Re: 2018 MacBook Pro Review

#236
post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lately I've been working at a company that uses YubiKeys for 2FA. You can use a traditional YubiKey, but the YubiKey Nano is especially popular because you can put it in your laptop and leave it there. It barely sticks out at all, just enough that you can touch it and activate the touch sensor. [1] I started noticing people in meetings with their new MacBook Pros and six inch cords sticking out the side, and on close…

That's even more funny, because the MBP's touch-bar is essentially the same type of device as the YubiKey—an isolated offboard CPU with its own TPM that can be unlocked with a fingerprint and then asked to encrypt secrets for the host/parent PC. The touch-bar just has more screen. I'm surprised nobody's hacked the YubiKey app into making use of the touch-bar as the YubiKey "device."

Doesn't that kind of defeat the point of the Yubikey? I would think you would want to separate the key and the computer when you yourself are separated from your computer.

Re: 2018 MacBook Pro Review

#237
post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd go further and say that Apple isn't basing their hardware strategy on the needs of any real person. It's a laptop with only USB-C ports (and the 13-inch only has two of them). You can't even plug a USB stick into it. The only people who asked for a laptop like that are working at Apple.

Honestly, I've been working with the USB-C only MBP as my only development machine for a year now, and I haven't once wished it had a classic USB port on it. At my desk it's plugged into monitors which have ports on them. Having a single cable for all my peripherals is quite nice.

Your monitor supports usb c and has ports on them?

Do you feel this is a standard setup that more than 10% of the market have?

Re: 2018 MacBook Pro Review

#238
post #91

It's become comedy at this point. Many, many developers: "We hate this keyboard. It is atrocious! Give us back the old one please!" Apple: "We have listened to your needs. The keyboard is now 8% quieter, and the touchbar is mandatory!"

When I first started using, I hated it. Now after using the old one, I wouldn't want to go back.

It just takes a little while to get used to it.

Re: 2018 MacBook Pro Review

#239
$2,400 for a laptop, unbelievable.

I guess it's the equivalent of women paying $1,200 for Manolo Blahnik shoes, or rednecks buying $60,000 pickup trucks, they sure are purty, but they just aren't worth the money, no matter how much you've bought into the hype.

Re: 2018 MacBook Pro Review

#240
post #91

It's become comedy at this point. Many, many developers: "We hate this keyboard. It is atrocious! Give us back the old one please!" Apple: "We have listened to your needs. The keyboard is now 8% quieter, and the touchbar is mandatory!"

Unfortunately for us, Apple bases its decisions on expected sales numbers more than our feelings. That said, does anyone know if the sales numbers are stronger after these mean keyboard and touchbar (and dongly) redesigns?

[deleted]
Post reply on HN