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Its butterfly keyboard design has failed, but Apple has yet to admit its mistake

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Re: Its butterfly keyboard design has failed, but Apple has yet to admit its mistake

#261

Post by simongr3dal »

mrybczyn wrote: post #195
simongr3dal wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That palm rest corner is razor sharp even compared to earlier MBP designs, and it finally made me get a silicone palm/lower arm rest. It is probably the best purchase I’ve made the last few years, I’m so happy with it every single day and it just makes working with laptops such a joy. Make sure to get an extra wide one, mine is something like 70cm wide and I can keep my mouse and laptop a good distance apart and have…

Wait what? You're using a palm rest, therefore the laptop is on you desk. And you don't have a real keyboard and mouse plugged into it?

I use a separate mouse when I’m at my own desk, but not when I’m in a classroom or something like that.

My desk isn’t really deep enough for both a laptop, a keyboard, and my arms to fit comfortably on it.

Re: Its butterfly keyboard design has failed, but Apple has yet to admit its mistake

#262

Post by SamuelAdams »

LeonM wrote: post #56
stunt wrote: post #39

X1 Carbon and XPS 13 are still the best hardware out there if you are using Linux.

X1 Extreme is a better choice imo, up to 64G (replaceable), 2 m.2 slots, a GTX1050 for casual gaming or ML and a 4K display. I have one on order. There is also the P1, which comes with a Xeon (!) option and Quadro P1000 graphics. The market for the P1 is pretty specific, but if you need those nVidia certified drivers, this is the one. Edit: obviously you wouldn't run Linux on the P1 if you bought it for the certified…

I use the P1 as a company provided laptop. It works very well, but the thing is a tank. It's probably twice the weight as a Macbook, and the battery life is about 2 hours or so. It has died if I have many meetings in the day.

Honestly I'd rather just have a desktop at this point. But I don't get to decide what hardware I use.

Re: Its butterfly keyboard design has failed, but Apple has yet to admit its mistake

#263

Post by seba_dos1 »

rovr138 wrote: post #202
seba_dos1 wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but I just don’t have time to a.) tune and configure it to work and have decent battery life with whatever hardware I choose or b.) troubleshoot it when it randomly decides to break itself on update From my experience, troubleshooting macOS when it randomly decides to break is almost a Windows-like experience - lots of frustration and no sensible help on the internet (unless your problem is so trivial it gets solve…

For my workstation, no matter the OS, I’m going to revert what I did. If that doesn’t fix it, I’m going to format and restore with a backup. I have better things to do.

Of course it depends, but I'd say that formatting and restoring from backup takes way longer than fixing an average system hick-up - provided that you have access to meaningful logs, which is where GNU/Linux works pretty well.

Re: Its butterfly keyboard design has failed, but Apple has yet to admit its mistake

#264

Post by michelpp »

School-Cotton wrote: post #231
jordanbeiber wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience: it’s ”unix” on a laptop that just works. Easy access to up-to-date tooling through brew: zsh, docker, bash, vim et al. Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve been a Linux only user since the 90’s and for many years used the dell xps developer edition. But, the mac touchpad (I know, I’m doing it wrong) and screen coupled with superior battery time as well as solid sleep/wakeup makes for a great experience. The…

What is "unixy" about brew or docker?

I don't know much about brew (or MacOS at all) but docker is native linux technology. Docker for Mac runs linux in a VM in the background. The MacOS docker experience is similar to running anything in a VM: slower, memory limits, poor IOPS.

Re: Its butterfly keyboard design has failed, but Apple has yet to admit its mistake

#265

Post by RandomBacon »

vbezhenar wrote: post #245
robertAngst wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have any reasons? You didn't post any in your comment.

There are many little things, I just don't feel that Android UI is as polished. I can live with them or in some cases I probably can customize things, but it's still irritation. Here are some random ones: * When I have to enter pin (6 digits) I must press "OK". iPhone unlocks after 6-th digit automatically. * It seems that Android app developers prefer the ad model. I don't have a single app on iOS with ads. Yet it's…

> When I have to enter pin (6 digits) I must press "OK". iPhone unlocks after 6-th digit automatically.

So Apple leaks the length of your password, Android does not. Okay.

> I don't have a single app on iOS with ads.

I don't have a single app on my Android with Ads. I pay for my apps to support the developers, otherwise I could easily add a hosts file or firewall to block ads in apps. I'm not an iOS user, so I don't know if a local hosts/firewall is possible with iOS.

> I spent something like 30 minutes trying to add a second phone number to my own android contact.

PEBKAC. I found it super easy. If I'm reading your comment correctly, you had to create two contacts for yourself just to have two phone numbers for yourself in iOS!?

> To turn off all radios

It's one swipe for Android too...

Your last two issues are just personal preferences.

Re: Its butterfly keyboard design has failed, but Apple has yet to admit its mistake

#266

Post by artimaeis »

coldtea wrote: post #204
griffinmb wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The docs don't seem to disagree with me. > Besides, you shouldn't need to plug it that way to pair it either. Agreed. And glad that's not necessary for the latest generation.

> The docs don't seem to disagree with me. You said "You plug the Pencil into the iPad to pair it. It comes with an adapter that you use to charge it with a regular cable." As a response to the parent, your comment makes sense only if you meant to imply: "you're not supposed to plug it to charge it, only to pair it". But if you meant to imply that as the right way to do things as according to Apple, you're wrong. App…

Say you are tasked with writing something that can be done 2 different ways. Both have the same end-result.

In one way there's a single step.

In the other way, there's 2 steps and it involves another piece of equipment.

How might you write the documentation on how to do that thing?

Personally, I'd go with two sentences. The first that describes how to do the thing in one step. The latter, how to also do it in two steps and with another piece of equipment. I'm genuinely curious, is there a better way to approach that?

Re: Its butterfly keyboard design has failed, but Apple has yet to admit its mistake

#267

Post by asark »

robertAngst wrote: post #170
Veen wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is there any reason for a 'Nerd' to pick Apple? You are making a typical nerd assumption, which is to equate "better product" with "better specs".

The rest is just marketing. Apple is very good at Marketing. EDIT: Will someone explain what this theoretical 'non spec' thing that matters is? The Apple logo?

> EDIT: Will someone explain what this theoretical 'non spec' thing that matters is? The Apple logo?

Mostly the OS. I don't cringe before plugging into an unfamiliar external display. The touchpad isn't so bad it makes me feel like I have to carry a mouse if I plan to use the device for any length of time. The built-in "office" suite of apps are my favorite I've used, anywhere. Preview is indispensable for working with PDFs—I've never even known PDFs to be more than barely tolerable to work with outside Apple's world. It's Unixy, so many of my preferred tools work natively on it. It has lots of built-in stuff that's less convenient or works less well on Linux (modifier key remapping, screen sharing, and more).

I've been around the block with Linux on the desktop. Around and around and around, in fact. I could tolerate Windows—not as a work OS, but for gaming, anyway—all the way from 3.1 to 8, but 10's aggressively unpleasant. Now MacOS is the only desktop OS that doesn't drive me to swear at it multiple times a day while using it. That's worth some money, when I have to use some OS just about 365 days a year.

Touchbar's beyond dumb and into "harms UX" territory, though. The keyboard two generations ago—on the fatter Macbooks that still had disc drives—is noticeably better than either since, and the butterfly keyboards are awful. Unfortunately every other option is so much worse that they can afford to screw up badly for years on end and I still can't bring myself to switch.

Re: Its butterfly keyboard design has failed, but Apple has yet to admit its mistake

#268

Post by weberc2 »

darrmit wrote: post #117

It’s not just the keyboard, either. I’ve been buying Macs since they switched to Intel in 2006 and the most recent MacBook Pros are the most problematic I’ve ever had. - Bluetooth seems to be fundamentally flawed at a hardware level. AirPods, Plantronics, doesn’t matter. It just randomly connects and disconnects as it pleases. - USB-C dongles are a minefield of poor functionality However, I’ve run Linux off and on si…

Also, the trackpads on Mac just work. I recently made a foray back into Windows a few years ago and was disappointed to learn that PC trackpads have made little progress in the intervening decade. Is it really easier to touchscreenify your entire software stack than to build a sane touchpad?

Re: Its butterfly keyboard design has failed, but Apple has yet to admit its mistake

#269

Post by bluedino »

Causality1 wrote: post #139

I take it with these amazing apple keyboards you can't just pop the keycaps off with a screwdriver to clean under them and pop them back on?

You can very, very carefully remove them with a credit card.

However, they are VERY easy to damage. And even if you get the key off without breaking it, the problem is the butterfly mechanism is very fragilse and goes 'flat', it's not so much getting dust specks in there.

Re: Its butterfly keyboard design has failed, but Apple has yet to admit its mistake

#270

Post by ceejayoz »

alehul wrote: post #258
KyM78YDM wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use the Apple Mouse on a daily basis. This criticism is blown way out of proportion. I agree that it's a very ridiculous placement, but do you have a better idea where it should be placed? IMO, this is the best option given the constraints. The usual ridicule is that you can't use it when it's charging. To me, it's a non-issue at all: - When the battery drops to a low level (4% I think?), you will see a notificatio…

> but do you have a better idea where it should be placed? How about having a small notch at the front of the mouse, like every other mouse I've used? It can then be simultaneously wired, and usable. Maybe you're right that it's usually not frustrating, but I was trying to use this mouse at my office once and it wasn't charged, and it seemed pointless to wait before using it. > then plug it in before you get your cof…

> What if I don't want to test my mouse before coffee? What if I have urgent emails to answer?

Plug it in once a month (when it's at ~50% or so) for an hour or two when you finish your day or go to lunch?

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