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Apple’s 2018 MacBook Pros Attempt to Solve Flexgate, Without Admitting It Exists

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Re: Apple’s 2018 MacBook Pros Attempt to Solve Flexgate, Without Admitting It Exists

#161

Post by blhack »

PascLeRasc wrote: post #156
fzzzy wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have never seen a USB-A connector become loose. It's been over 20 years. The USB-C connector on my 2016 touchbar was loose within months.

It's much more evident with USB 3.0. I can almost never use USB 3 drives on my laptop because they won't connect. Maybe 1/10 times it'll connect fully, but any touching the cable will disconnect it.

Are you talking about the USB-A connector, or the "micro b superspeed" connector https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/USB_3.0_...?

USB-A is this part of the cable: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/USB_Type...

Re: Apple’s 2018 MacBook Pros Attempt to Solve Flexgate, Without Admitting It Exists

#162

Post by gumby »

davidverhasselt wrote: post #76
gumby wrote: post #67

The 2018 keyboard is much more robust than the earilier ones. In 8 months I haven’t had to replace it at all (though I am close). I actually don’t mind the feel, just want it to work. And the Touch Bar...if I could just disable the hypersensitive virtual escape key (I use caps lock for that) it would be perfect...all else can be disabled but not that botch, for some reason. I guess I still use it because I find the a…

You can easily disable the escape key on the TouchBar using the free Karabiner-Elements https://pqrs.org/osx/karabiner/ This is my setup: https://d.pr/i/sP4OMX

Hmm, that still doesn't disable the Touch Bar escape on my 2018 MBP. Any advice?

Re: Apple’s 2018 MacBook Pros Attempt to Solve Flexgate, Without Admitting It Exists

#163

Post by eridius »

VBprogrammer wrote: post #108
eridius wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love the newer Mac keyboard. It is hands-down the best laptop keyboard I've ever used. Literally my only complaint is the design of the arrow keys.

I'm not an Apple fan boy by any stretch but years ago I discovered that the Apple 104 key keyboard suited me down to the ground. Despite using it mostly on Ubuntu and Windows. I've put up with strange key mappings just to use that keyboard. The MacBook Pro I've just gotten at work is a nightmare. I assumed this was just getting used to it until this weekend when I finally setup my desktop at home with the old 104 key…

For what it's worth, I hate laptop keyboards in general. The MBP keyboard being the best laptop keyboard I've ever used is, quite frankly, an extremely low bar.

Re: Apple’s 2018 MacBook Pros Attempt to Solve Flexgate, Without Admitting It Exists

#164

Post by eridius »

oneeyedpigeon wrote: post #107
eridius wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Question: do they delete any other posts, or just ones alleging design flaws? Do they give any reason for deletion?

Accidental Tech Podcast dealt with this recently: Apple's support and bug tracking is really low-standard, by all accounts. Apparently, they frequently mass-close bugs (e.g. after a new release) with a comment to the effect of "if this is still a bug, please reopen it". You can understand the circumstances that might've led them to do this ... but it doesn't sound great.

As someone who files an extremely high volume of Apple bug reports, that's not actually true. They occasionally close a bug with "please try again and let us know if it's still happening", but that's extremely rare. And to be fair, the last time I saw that happen, the bug in question had actually been fixed at some point in the past. I'm pretty sure in that instance some engineer said "hey wait, that sounds familiar, I think we fixed that already, but I can't find the original bug report".

Re: Apple’s 2018 MacBook Pros Attempt to Solve Flexgate, Without Admitting It Exists

#165

Post by TMWNN »

SyneRyder wrote: post #71
forgingahead wrote: post #3

I regret not buying a stash of 2012 Macbook Pros and hoarding them for my own use. Edit: And iPhone SEs as well

Careful on the mid-2012 MBPs... as much as I love that machine, they also have their own flexgate [1]. The internal SATA flex cables bend across the Superdrive and rub against the slightly abrasive back plate, so they have a high failure rate if you actually use your device as a laptop (eg travel with it, keep it in an backpack). Apple seems to have had a problem with flex cables for nearly a decade now. My MBP 2012…

Only the 13" has the cable fail issue.

I've had my 15" 2012 for three years, and hope it lasts for a long, long, long time.

Re: Apple’s 2018 MacBook Pros Attempt to Solve Flexgate, Without Admitting It Exists

#166

Post by marssaxman »

function_seven wrote: post #47
sbaha88 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bought first Macbook Pro retina in 2012 with a hefty $2500 price tag. It's been seven years and it still just works fine. Not looking to upgrade

Same boat. I rationalized to myself when I bought it that this would be the laptop I stuck with for a decade. I didn't realize the reason I'd be doing that is because the current generations are just so bad. (Keyboard, touchbar, aggressive port diet, etc.) If someone were to steal this, I'd probably get a Thinkpad at this point. At least their keyboards don't suck, and I can get by with the half-decent touchpad. Mayb…

The little red nib is great once you get used to it. I was a Mac user for many years but I've become a convert to Thinkpads (running Linux, not Windows).

Re: Apple’s 2018 MacBook Pros Attempt to Solve Flexgate, Without Admitting It Exists

#167

Post by beaugunderson »

skilled wrote: post #9

I have owned 3 Macbooks so far. And all 3 have had one of the speakers break. Am I just that unlucky? Oh and yeah, what a diarrhea of a keyboard in the 2016 edition.

And the late-2018 model with the third revision of that keyboard is still broken (I have keys that are starting to go after just two months of use).

Re: Apple’s 2018 MacBook Pros Attempt to Solve Flexgate, Without Admitting It Exists

#168

Post by fooker »

majewsky wrote: post #117
fooker wrote: post #24

Is there any signal that they are going to introduce a better keyboard? I just can't grow to like the current ones.

They got a patent for putting key switches under a touchscreen, so my guess is that it's just going to get worse.

Oh wow, that's messed up.

Re: Apple’s 2018 MacBook Pros Attempt to Solve Flexgate, Without Admitting It Exists

#169

Post by potta_coffee »

eridius wrote: post #163
VBprogrammer wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not an Apple fan boy by any stretch but years ago I discovered that the Apple 104 key keyboard suited me down to the ground. Despite using it mostly on Ubuntu and Windows. I've put up with strange key mappings just to use that keyboard. The MacBook Pro I've just gotten at work is a nightmare. I assumed this was just getting used to it until this weekend when I finally setup my desktop at home with the old 104 key…

For what it's worth, I hate laptop keyboards in general. The MBP keyboard being the best laptop keyboard I've ever used is, quite frankly, an extremely low bar.

My older generation MBP keyboard (2015?) Is really good, best laptop keyboard I've touched. The newer one is just painful. I don't even know what I don't like about it, it just feels terrible, maybe because of how short the travel is. The key bottoms out immediately and it feels like I'm just tapping my fingers on a solid surface.

Re: Apple’s 2018 MacBook Pros Attempt to Solve Flexgate, Without Admitting It Exists

#170

Post by potta_coffee »

andrei_says_ wrote: post #29
titanix2 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When the MacBook Pro were presented with this new keyboard I bought the older model in prevision of the 5+ years keyboard winter. Very happy of this decision so far.

I got a nice used 2015 model. Absolutely love it. Great keyboard, MagSafe, SD card slot, hdmi. Physical keys instead of a touchbar. The other day I walked through the cord while it was charging on the table and my laptop did not get destroyed. how could Apple f that up so badly is beyond me.

Yes, MagSafe is still awesome, I'm blown away that they took it away for something else.
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