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Apple introduces 8-core MacBook Pro

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Re: Apple introduces 8-core MacBook Pro

#331

When in God's name will they get rid of TouchBar? I DESPISE IT. Why not add the function keys back and add the touch bar above it? I see that there's space above! Am I the only one that feels this way?

My speculation is that this will be the last model with it. Next year's redesign will give up on the concept. They just have too many parts and the economics of it sort of demand a final run.

Re: Apple introduces 8-core MacBook Pro

#332

We repair these as part of our business, and to be clear, both the keyboards and the screens are failing on these at an alarming rate. iFixit detailed the issues with the screens, which (in Apple's unending quest for "thinness") use a thinner flex cable to connect the display to the rest of the laptop. This thinner cable is prone to breakage, and we are already seeing 2016-2017 MacBook Pros in our shop regularly for…

The cheapest XPS 15" is more expensive than the cheapest MB 15". Are there any reliable ~$1000 laptops to host linux?

Thinkpad T series and Dell Latitude 7390/7490 are good choices around that price.

Re: Apple introduces 8-core MacBook Pro

#333
post #14

These used to excite me because I've desperately needed 32gb and faster procs and used to upgrade every 2-3 years but now I just yawn at MBP releases. I'm so unexcited by everything about this form factor other than the fact that it has OSX. I'm guessing I'll be on my 2016 until I finally bite the bullet and quit using OSX if they don't make a more compelling package to spend my $3k on in the next few years. I don't…

Agreed, the keyboard is awful. I just want a decent/good keyboard, an HDMI port, and just 1 USB A port, I'll definitely take 0.5mm thicker for those. Well, at least they kept the headphone jack... 32gb ram and an 8 core processor is awesome, but all the downsides have turned me away from getting the next gen unless they fix those things.

I love the keyboard.

Re: Apple introduces 8-core MacBook Pro

#334

I'm currently using the last, best 2015 macbook, and having tried a newer model as a work computer for a short while previously, am dreading the day I need to think about replacing it. How about this apple. "macbook util". The pro line can keep the thin delicate stuff. Give me the 2015 case, screen, keyboard, and magsafe, with some new internals and a usb-c. I'd happily hand over my money.

Wasn't that kind of the point of the "Pro" line? I mean, if you just wanted a kinda cool laptop, you'd buy a MacBook or MacBook Air. It's now the MacBook Prosumer, and there is no pro option.

Hacker News has been whinging about this Apple dilemma for years. I'm sorry to say that I just don't think there will ever be the golden age of MacBooks again. The "Pro" ideas coming from Cupertino are gimmicky at best for developers, and we will be stuck working on various Linux machines and leave the MBP problems to designers. The hacker-type software engineer is not Apple's target market for the MBP, and I think even before it was likely coincidence.

If you look at the pro target even in this post, the majority of Mac "pro" use cases being displayed here are creative in nature. Devs generally aren't spending their days editing video or sitting in Maya and they are targeting those markets - people who need power but don't wrench into their OS internals or open a debugger when something goes wrong. Those customers are also a lot less flighty as long as their creative tools work.

As for me, I stopped complaining and wishing for a pony, accepted that the MacBook is dead, and moved to a ThinkPad for daily use. My 2015 MBP will stick around when I need macOS, but it's best to start converting my workflow to a different platform where I see a future for development work.

Re: Apple introduces 8-core MacBook Pro

#336

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course, electron is bringing this great fragmented ui experience to macOS

I'm curious which applications made you come to this conclusion. I've heard a lot of Electron criticism, and most of it is very valid, but I think Slack, Spotify, and Atom very much fit into the macOS UI environment.

I have command-shift-u bound to “open selected url” this reliably works in cocoa apps and often doesn’t work in electron apps.

EDIT: VS Code is the main place I run into this

Re: Apple introduces 8-core MacBook Pro

#337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can only come to the same conclusion. Typing this on a 2018 MacBook 15 inch, and it's a disaster. I still keep accidentally hitting the Touchbar ten times per day while typing (it's not a press-bar, duh), I need a dongle for _everything and their mother_, battery lifetime isn't good, the keyboard is prone to mistyping and double clicks, the screen doesn't get bright enough sometimes, I can't get any higher spec har…

I have been using a System76 Darter Pro (max cpu and ram) with Pop!_OS 19.04 and it’s been a dream to use. My day to day workload includes docker, node.js services, Postgres, mongodb, and gis tasks. I get about 6 hours of battery life while working and about 8 or so when doing non-work tasks. It’s the real deal. I’m also driving a 4K monitor with the laptop display on as well. Smooth as butter. However, I’ve tried so…

Looking into Pop OS, I found these useful links:

https://pop.system76.com/docs/difference-between-pop-ubuntu/

https://www.osboxes.org/pop_os-19-04-and-18-04-vm-images-ava...

Re: Apple introduces 8-core MacBook Pro

#338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious which applications made you come to this conclusion. I've heard a lot of Electron criticism, and most of it is very valid, but I think Slack, Spotify, and Atom very much fit into the macOS UI environment.

I have command-shift-u bound to “open selected url” this reliably works in cocoa apps and often doesn’t work in electron apps. EDIT: VS Code is the main place I run into this

A ui is more than its appearance: the interaction model of electron apps is always slightly off from cocoa apps.

Re: Apple introduces 8-core MacBook Pro

#339
For me 13” Retina MBP circa 2013 was the pinnacle of form factor, price, & performance. Unfortunately they went out of support and employer forced us to upgrade with 15” Touch MBP. I don’t have any complaints about keyboard, guess I’m just lucky in that regards.

But new MacOS and hardware are frighteningly unstable. I have observed roughly 1 in 5 times that it’ll crash outright with blank screen when attached to external display. Resetting PRAM, & SMC work for a couple of days and then back to same behaviour. Apple Store had a quick look but stupid thing didn’t crash so they blamed it on faulty cables at work and home. How can a cable can cause it to crash even after disconnected?

Unless they up their game I’ll never spend my own money on another Mac.

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