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Apple introduces 8-core MacBook Pro

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Re: Apple introduces 8-core MacBook Pro

#721

Post by kabdib »

docker_up wrote: post #176
endymi0n wrote: post #111

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 recently was forced to upgrade by 2015 laptop at work because the battery life was finally short enough that I couldn't stand it. I hate dongles. The 2015 Macbook will stand as their last best laptop. Nothing about the 2018 laptop is better, it's only worse. I don't understand why they don't see this. There should really be a huge multi-billion dollar class action lawsuit for their keyboards and fixability to wake…

Just walk away from the Mac.

Windows is perfectly viable for doing development, so is Linux. You can easily get a laptop that is cheaper and more reliable than a Macbook. About the only thing you'll be missing is a cool Apple sticker, but you can get those on eBay. Your wallet will thank you, and so will your fingers.

A Macbook was a reasonable, even logical choice in 2012. Now, not so much.

Apple can have me back if they want -- hey, take my money! -- but they have to stop fucking up. I don't know why the Apple board isn't simply pounding the hell out of the management that's been allowing the poor quality and user-hostile decisions of the past several years.

[Hmmm, I just looked at their board members. That would explain a lot...]

Re: Apple introduces 8-core MacBook Pro

#722

Post by megaremote »

kllrnohj wrote: post #454
AtHeartEngineer wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> an 8 core processor is awesome Yeah but there's no way this thing has the thermal or power capacity to actually run that 8-core CPU at its rated specs. This already happened with the 6-core in the previous gen, and it certainly doesn't look like Apple did anything to improve thermal capacity in this refresh. Hopefully they at least addressed the lack of VRM power delivery, but that doesn't seem likely. So you're ta…

> and it certainly doesn't look like Apple did anything to improve thermal capacity in this refresh

Well, it says they did, but I guess you know better.

Re: Apple introduces 8-core MacBook Pro

#723

Post by wwweston »

cbm-vic-20 wrote: post #351
docker_up wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently was forced to upgrade by 2015 laptop at work because the battery life was finally short enough that I couldn't stand it. I hate dongles. The 2015 Macbook will stand as their last best laptop. Nothing about the 2018 laptop is better, it's only worse. I don't understand why they don't see this. There should really be a huge multi-billion dollar class action lawsuit for their keyboards and fixability to wake…

I'm disappointed that Apple didn't either kill the Touchbar, or commit to it fully: why is there no desktop keyboard (wireless or wired) with the Touchbar? Presumably a huge amount of Pro users (this is a Macbook "Pro", right?) plug into keyboard, pointing device, and monitor frequently...

It's for consistency across their product line:

force touch -> force touchbar

;)

Re: Apple introduces 8-core MacBook Pro

#724

Post by Jill_the_Pill »

golfer wrote: post #261
docker_up wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently was forced to upgrade by 2015 laptop at work because the battery life was finally short enough that I couldn't stand it. I hate dongles. The 2015 Macbook will stand as their last best laptop. Nothing about the 2018 laptop is better, it's only worse. I don't understand why they don't see this. There should really be a huge multi-billion dollar class action lawsuit for their keyboards and fixability to wake…

100% agree. I'm typing this on a 2015 Macbook Pro, and holding on for dear life, even as it has started alerting me about servicing the battery. It's a great machine. I tried using the touchbar on my son's newer MBP. It's awful, and not meant for serious use. His laptop has been replaced once already due to keyboard issue, and starting to show defects again.

You can buy a like-new, souped-up 2015 Macbook Pro on ebay. I am very happy with mine, except for the new OS.

Re: Apple introduces 8-core MacBook Pro

#725

Post by aziraphale »

dwighttk wrote: post #584
golfer wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100% agree. I'm typing this on a 2015 Macbook Pro, and holding on for dear life, even as it has started alerting me about servicing the battery. It's a great machine. I tried using the touchbar on my son's newer MBP. It's awful, and not meant for serious use. His laptop has been replaced once already due to keyboard issue, and starting to show defects again.

weird I'm on an early 2013 MBP (original battery) at 81% health (226 cycles)

15" Retina MBP late 2013 with original battery. System reports 142 cycles (I mostly use it at a desk) and condition Normal.

Unfortunately it's not at all normal, it's swollen to the extent that the bottom of the case is slightly warped and the macbook will no longer sit flat. It's also affected the trackpad which doesn't click very well any more. I noticed these things a while back but didn't realise that the battery was the cause until I opened it up a couple of days ago to clean it out (something I do once or twice a year).

Now awaiting a battery replacement kit from iFixit and not looking forward to removing the old one. Probably going to try the dental floss method someone mentioned above (very, very carefully and far away from anything flammable).

Re: Apple introduces 8-core MacBook Pro

#726

Post by colordrops »

vogon_laureate wrote: post #706
colordrops wrote: post #583

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dell XPS laptops are some of the best Linux laptops out there. No need for Windows. I've been using the same model as you with Linux for a while now and an very happy with it.

I've tried to go full Linux desktop. I hated it. On the servers I manage, I run terminal only and mostly BSD systems. Linux desktop just boils my piss. Plus I need Adobe apps, and a few other bits and pieces of software. I need my machine to facilitate my work, not get in my way. I appreciate that Linux works like that for some, but for me, not at all.

Just using a Linux desktop vanilla out of the box is setting yourself up for failure. If you plan to be in Linux full-time, you'll have to meet it half-way, and do a lot of customization work. I've got scripts checked into github that setup the machine how I like, which includes XMonad as a window manager, tmux + a heavily customized neovim for terminal and coding, and Brave+Vimium as my browser. I almost never have to touch the mouse and it's fast as hell. Sharp learning curve but one you are over it it's much more efficient and out of your way than windows or os x. If you are going to be using computers professionally for more than a year, as most of us probably are, it's almost certainly worth a few months of effort to have a low level hotrod as your environment.

Re: Apple introduces 8-core MacBook Pro

#727

Post by hu3 »

ylere wrote: post #606
vogon_laureate wrote: post #566

I own both a 15" Macbook Pro 2017 model with touch bar and a Dell XPS 15" 2017 model. Both have their pluses and minuses. Both needed major repairs. Dell needed logic board and screen replaced. Mac needed logic board and keyboard. I mainly use the Mac. It's much quieter, has an amazingly vivid and bright retina display, extremely good battery life, best track pad in the industry and the best speakers on any laptop I'…

I've also switched to an XPS15 as a linux machine - the largest benefit Dell has over Apple is that IF something breaks (or I break it accidentally) someone will be at my home or at work within 24 hours with replacement parts and will fix it, no questions asked. I can't afford having to go to the apple store and wait days for a replacement when it's my main work machine. The build quality is quite decent and if you l…

Can confirm. 10 years ago I burned motherboard and processor trying to overclock my Dell PC. Within 24h a Dell support guy was at my home with all parts of the PC and replaced it without questions asked.

After the quick replacement I even told him it was probably my fault but he replied saying it doesn't matter because on average customers don't abuse and I was just a number to them.

Re: Apple introduces 8-core MacBook Pro

#728

Post by Phlarp »

dwaite wrote: post #400
cbm-vic-20 wrote: post #351

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm disappointed that Apple didn't either kill the Touchbar, or commit to it fully: why is there no desktop keyboard (wireless or wired) with the Touchbar? Presumably a huge amount of Pro users (this is a Macbook "Pro", right?) plug into keyboard, pointing device, and monitor frequently...

Agreed that I wish they had embraced, extended, or extinguished the Touch Bar. A larger offset from the top row of physical keys, a physical escape key, some form of accidental touch elimination, and/or a taller display surface would all be useful changes. WRT to an external keyboard with it - in addition to making keyboards more expensive and proprietary, the Touch Bar is powered by the T2 chip, which is not just us…

Haptic feedback. I don't understand how they can understand how essential this is and implement it with increasing sophistication in both phones and trackpads but abdicate it entirely with the Touch Bar. To the point that third party software to use the trackpad haptics on touchbar clicks is a thing now: https://www.haptictouchbar.com/

Re: Apple introduces 8-core MacBook Pro

#729

Post by countbackula »

earenndil wrote: post #344
deaddodo wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I feel too old to compile my own kernel for a glitchy wifi driver, and Windows? Nah, get away... Linux hasn't had issues with the major wifi chipsets in ages. It's as plug and play as Mac and Windows are. There are plenty of reasons people might choose to avoid Linux, but drivers (outside of specialty, niche or obscure hardware) aren't really a reason anymore.

Driver for my wifi card under linux crashes. Granted it is a 'staging' driver, but it's still a pretty bad look.

I had a miserable time with the Broadcom drivers as well-- I actually abandoned them completely to instead use an adapter with Ralink driver. No hiccups, let alone crashes, since.

Re: Apple introduces 8-core MacBook Pro

#730

Post by TaylorAlexander »

josephg wrote: post #640
TaylorAlexander wrote: post #581

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand these issues are an impediment to Linux adoption. However people always say this as if Linux is at fault. Well, mostly the sleep issues exist because the laptop ships with windows, and windows has some fancy sleep mode that involves a specific bios setting. Linux uses more traditional sleep settings, so when installing Linux one must change that bios setting and then run a command to tell the OS that set…

I think everything you’re saying is right; but also it doesn’t matter. When my mum asks me which computer to buy, I’m not going to recommend the computer that has defects that I can explain away. I’m going to recommend the machine that works out of the box, where I won’t have to goof around with graphics drivers via PPI or whatever to make an external display work.

Sure, but I really must emphasize that I am not advocating this setup for your mom or anyone’s mom necessarily. I’m saying that if you’re a developer you may like this setup. The fact that Linux is not always a great choice for non technical people isn’t really relevant to the value some of the people from Hacker News may get out of it.
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