2018 MacBook Pro Review • Hacker News Board

Re: 2018 MacBook Pro Review

#331

Post by inamberclad » Mon, Jul 16, 2018, 4:06 AM UTC

JBorrow wrote: post #85

inamberclad wrote: post #76

That automatic display makes me think about the bad experiences I have with the hardcoded adaptive contrast on my XPS-13 9350. It makes it unusable for pro grade photo editing since the features can't be turned off and the monitor therefore can't be calibrated. In addition, when trying to use the nightlight feature of the new gnome stack, the color temperature swings wildly with subtle color changes on the page cause…

You can turn true tone off in the settings.

I don't think that's the case on the XPS-13 9350 with the FHD (1080p) display.

Re: 2018 MacBook Pro Review

#332

Post by not_kurt_godel » Mon, Jul 16, 2018, 4:08 AM UTC

arvinsim wrote: post #223

not_kurt_godel wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed, development on a single monitor is grossly inefficient for me if I'm doing any sort of serious work. It drives me nuts when I have to pair program with someone who doesn't use multiple monitors, or doesn't utilize multiple monitors effectively. Every time you switch a screen from one app to the other adds friction to your workflow in the form of keypresses and mentally keeping track of context. The more of yo…

I used to love multiple monitors. But I discovered I got work done better on a single, big monitor. A big screen real estate is really what I need.

Personally I prefer multiple big monitors over a single massive monitor because it lets me divide organize things a bit better. But to each their own.

Re: 2018 MacBook Pro Review

#333

Post by sundvor » Mon, Jul 16, 2018, 4:09 AM UTC

slow_donkey wrote: post #286

manigandham wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> An extra pound of weight makes a huge difference to me walking home. That's hard to believe. Are you walking 50 miles? How would you notice an extra pound? What about the rest of the stuff you carry, your clothes, your shoes? Is everything else already optimized? Why does the (likely) most expensive full-size computing device need to lose weight vs everything else, especially when it's infringing on the actual user…

Is it really that hard to believe that some people prefer to have a lighter laptop. My daily driver is thinkpad but I really appreciate my mbp when traveling or for conferences because it's much more portable and I can carry it with ease

When I want to walk somewhere with my X1 Carbon in my backpack I typically have to open it to check whether I actually packed it.

Still has a great keyboard and milspec dust resistant design.

Re: 2018 MacBook Pro Review

#334

Post by sundvor » Mon, Jul 16, 2018, 4:11 AM UTC

chx wrote: post #176

drewg123 wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or even a lot of other people, like professors. My wife, the professor, is finally going to replace her 2011 Macbook Air. She was excited to check out the new 13" MBP. Then she saw the touch bar (without a real escape), hated the keyboard after typing on it in the Apple Store, and realized she'd have to replace the dongles she uses to present to her classes (VGA and HDMI). What really killed it was when she realized…

X1C6 is a wonderful machine, go for it.

Aye. My X1C1 is still going strong; buying highest spec has always worked well for me. When it says bye, it'll be another one (top model/current gen).

Re: 2018 MacBook Pro Review

#335

Post by sumedh » Mon, Jul 16, 2018, 4:11 AM UTC

mirimir wrote: post #258

sumedh wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I use USB sticks semi regularly What do you use it for, is it something dropbox or others cannot do?

Bandwidth is much greater.

Yes but I am pretty sure there very few people who need so much bandwidth and you can always buy a usb c flash drive.

Re: 2018 MacBook Pro Review

#336

Post by throw_away2 » Mon, Jul 16, 2018, 4:12 AM UTC

copperx wrote: post #323

ntSean wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also remap caps lock to escape; for a button used so regularly, it just makes sense. Heck, who in their right mind is using caps lock more frequently than Escape!

Control is used even more than Escape. Control should replace caps lock, and escape should replace the control key.

With karabiner, you can make it so that tapping capslock is escape and hold is control. You can make shift-caps be toggle caps if you need it for some reason. You can make hold-enter another control (nifty, but adds a nearly perceptible lag to regular tap enter).

I don't have a good use for the old control key. Maybe another fn? Maybe a super (or hyper) key?

Re: 2018 MacBook Pro Review

#337

Post by pfranz » Mon, Jul 16, 2018, 4:17 AM UTC

robto wrote: post #236

derefr wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The copy on the Yubikey Nano's website says, "designed to remain in port." Removing it is still an option, but it doesn't sound like it's the point of having it.

Re: 2018 MacBook Pro Review

#338

Post by slantyyz » Mon, Jul 16, 2018, 4:21 AM UTC

basica wrote: post #298

sbenj wrote: post #279

Am I the only person on here who is bothered by the specs of the base models? For $2400 you get a 2.2 Ghz machine with a 256 GB ssd and 16 GB of Ram. That was seriously overpriced and it hasn't budged in this new release. Seems like you've got to spend well north of 3K to get a reasonable machine. That is way over the market. The model in the review is fully loaded. Apple will charge you a cool $3200 to upgrade to th…

In 2014 I bought the top of the line MBP for $2700AUD. To get a top of the line model now it's $4100AUD. As someone who loves macOS, I'm still not gonna buy a new MBP until the price reaches some level of reasonableness. I've been seriously considering of getting a Dell and using Linux instead and I may just do so if there's no budging of the prices in the next 2-3 years.

>> To get a top of the line model now it's $4100AUD.

Is that right? The Verge article I saw said a maxed out 2018 MBP was $6700 USD, which should be significantly more than $4100 AUD.

Source:

https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2018/7/12/17563840/a...

Re: 2018 MacBook Pro Review

#339

Post by copperx » Mon, Jul 16, 2018, 4:24 AM UTC

bluedino wrote: post #11

knolan wrote: post #5

It’s shocking how expensive Macs have gotten. I paid around €2300 for my 2014 15” and today’s equivalent tier is over €3k. For this I get a faster thinner machine without MagSafe and a variety of ports. It seems that the only viable upgrade path is to convince your employer to stump up the cash.

Macs have never been cheap. There was a period where the Air (at Let’s go back in time to when the choices were the $1799 12” PowerBook, $2199 15” PowerBook, or the $1299 iBook

When I bought my 2012 MBP just after it was announced, it was a screaming deal. Retina screen (no other laptop had such hi-res screens), 256GB SSD base, 8GB RAM. That was the lowest configuration and it was $2400. Six years later, the $2400 model buys you basically the same laptop, same 256GB storage, except with a faster processor and faster 16GB RAM.

Re: 2018 MacBook Pro Review

#340

Post by zmix » Mon, Jul 16, 2018, 4:30 AM UTC

So, Apple has send him a high-end model (32GB of RAM!, dedicated GfX chip) and the verdict is, that this is worthy of the "Pro" in the name.

Interestingly, he left out the price.