Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Is the new MacBook Pro worth its value for a developer?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 179 posts

Re: Ask HN: Is the new MacBook Pro worth its value for a developer?

#91

Post by [deleted] »

DennisAleynikov wrote: post #43
tomcam wrote: post #7

No. I bought the $3,500 version on the advice of my partner and feel cruelly ripped off. The keyboard, which I dislike, has already been replaced. The Apple Store guy tried to accuse me of getting water on the keyboard, but that is incorrect. My partner’s identical machine also needed the keyboard and motherboard replaced. He got a loaner (I didn’t) and they tried to accuse him of the same thing. I would much rather…

you "should have" gotten the macbook air but apple isn't planning on updating them so its a stale buy. really the lineup of apple is quite confusing. What you're getting other than a mainstream Unix OS is a few hw bells and whistles.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Is the new MacBook Pro worth its value for a developer?

#92

Post by universenz »

drcongo wrote: post #79

Absolutely not. I have the top of the range 15" MacBook Pro and I despise it, it's without question the worst computer I've ever owned. 1. The Touch Bar is appalling if you're at all a touch typist. It puts destructive actions just an accidental brush of the finger tip away. 2. The keyboard is failing all over the place. My left command key has fallen off, and three keys occasionally stick resulting in double entries…

Bruv, look into BetterTouchTool to only enable the touchbar input by using a modification key like fn being pressed first. Still displays info but doesn’t respond without the modifier. It’ll remove at least some if your frustration.

Re: Ask HN: Is the new MacBook Pro worth its value for a developer?

#93

Post by ajeet_dhaliwal »

universenz wrote: post #92
drcongo wrote: post #79

Absolutely not. I have the top of the range 15" MacBook Pro and I despise it, it's without question the worst computer I've ever owned. 1. The Touch Bar is appalling if you're at all a touch typist. It puts destructive actions just an accidental brush of the finger tip away. 2. The keyboard is failing all over the place. My left command key has fallen off, and three keys occasionally stick resulting in double entries…

Bruv, look into BetterTouchTool to only enable the touchbar input by using a modification key like fn being pressed first. Still displays info but doesn’t respond without the modifier. It’ll remove at least some if your frustration.

I wonder how many people in the world outside the London UK area know what Bruv means.

Re: Ask HN: Is the new MacBook Pro worth its value for a developer?

#94

Post by xfer »

joefarish wrote: post #87
MaxLeiter wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you’re crashing once a week you’re definitely doing something incorrect on your end. Apple may have poor QA, but there’s no way it’s _that_ poor.

I don't see how you can blame a user for repeated kernel panic issues.

Apple fan logic in a nut-shell.

Re: Ask HN: Is the new MacBook Pro worth its value for a developer?

#95

Post by Boulth »

ObsoleteNerd wrote: post #51
sudders wrote: post #10

I had to switch to a new laptop last year after my old MBP first generation retina died. I couldn't justify the price, the specs and the keyboard of a new MBP anymore and after much deliberation I chose a $1200 HP Spectre x360. I do mostly web development work (Ember.js, PHP and Node), and after running Win10 for a few weeks and hating the performance (especially for Node). I installed Ubuntu Budgie, and have been sm…

Any problems with the touch screen working in Ubuntu? Can you still use the pen to sketch in drawing programs etc? I need a good Linux-friendly laptop with touch screen for sketching as well as code dev, so I'm very curious about this one.

Not the OP but the touch screen worked out of the box for me on Arch, Dell 9350 and Gnome, just like on Windows. I don't have pen to test this though.

Re: Ask HN: Is the new MacBook Pro worth its value for a developer?

#96

Post by Boulth »

indymike wrote: post #23

I just bought a Dell XPS after eight years of Mac use. Zero productivity loss, now I can test pen and touch GUI on the laptop. Can run Linux, can run windows. Honestly, the 4k display is even better than my last Macbook's retina display. Oh, and the Dell's keyboard is much better. The big win: function keys.

Which version did you buy?

I bought 9350 (Skylake) when that came out and this really scared me away from XPSes (multiple issues, motherboards replaced, the worst thing being Thunderbolt integration with the TB16 dock).

I generally like quick and nice Dell support service but would rather not have to use it.

Re: Ask HN: Is the new MacBook Pro worth its value for a developer?

#97

Post by Rjevski »

Do you really need 16GB of RAM, more storage and a beefy CPU? For reference, I'm using a 12-inch MacBook with a dual-core M3 processor and 8 GB of RAM as my daily driver and it's more than enough; this thing somehow runs IntelliJ and around 5 Docker containers in the background (including Javascript stuff with 1000+ dependencies) and has plenty of resources to spare.

Now I do agree the new MacBooks have a lot of drawbacks (I'm typing this on a keyboard where the "R" key is no longer responding; autocorrect is my saviour) but the time saved not having to tinker with shit in Linux or Windows (and be put to actual, billable work instead) means I can literally buy a new machine every month if needed. Not ideal but for me MacBooks are still the best option at the moment.

Re: Ask HN: Is the new MacBook Pro worth its value for a developer?

#99

Post by badestrand »

MaxLeiter wrote: post #84
drcongo wrote: post #79

Absolutely not. I have the top of the range 15" MacBook Pro and I despise it, it's without question the worst computer I've ever owned. 1. The Touch Bar is appalling if you're at all a touch typist. It puts destructive actions just an accidental brush of the finger tip away. 2. The keyboard is failing all over the place. My left command key has fallen off, and three keys occasionally stick resulting in double entries…

If you’re crashing once a week you’re definitely doing something incorrect on your end. Apple may have poor QA, but there’s no way it’s _that_ poor.

My MacBook Air is also crashing weekly and I don't even do anything demanding (no VMs or video editing or the like).

Re: Ask HN: Is the new MacBook Pro worth its value for a developer?

#100

Post by Doctor_Fegg »

Razengan wrote: post #61
tortasaur wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the contrary, it's disingenuous to act like resolution or color are metrics of "performance" when the colloquial usage of the word generally refers to processing speed and memory capacity. I/O speed would qualify, but is only one metric; it is correct to say it is outperformed by other machines at lower price points when accounting for the CPU and RAM.

That's cherry-picking specs and definitions. The ""colloquial usage of the word"" very much includes I/O performance; disk speed has historically been the worst bottleneck, aside from network access. Resolution also affects performance: it's how much information you can view at a time. Most cheaper laptops do not present the same value as a MacBook Pro unless you ignore some of the advantages of the MBP you’re compar…

> Resolution also affects performance: it's how much information you can view at a time.

Not for me. My 40-something-year-old eyes mean that the amount of text I can view on a monitor is restricted by the text size, not by the resolution of the monitor. Retina displays make not a jot of difference to me. YMMV, of course.

Post reply on HN