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

Jony Ive to form independent design company with Apple as client

apple.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

691–700 of 872 posts

Re: Jony Ive to form independent design company with Apple as client

#691

Post by slantyyz »

gridlockd wrote: post #683
oliveshell wrote: post #656

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I want to get 10 GB of RAW photos onto my 2013 MacBook Pro, I just pop the SD card out of the camera and into the laptop. Transfer is done in about a minute or two. No SD card reader means the new MBP just couldn’t do this without dongles, full stop. That’s a step backwards.

> No SD card reader means the new MBP just couldn’t do this without dongles, full stop. So you go out and buy a dongle. Or you just connect the Camera with a cable and you don't have to fiddle with the tiny SD card. I personally never use SD cards, or any other flash cards. I never use the ethernet jack on a laptop. I very rarely use thumbdrives or other USB devices. I also don't use serial out, or PCMCIA, or compact…

The problem has less to do with dongles than having a diverse product line catering to multiple user types.

Apple has basically decided to make all their laptop lines ultrabooks (which is their prerogative). And because a lot Mac users are more loyal to the OS than the hardware itself, they're stuck with what Apple is offering.

As a consultant who goes to different clients, I prefer to have built-in ports as opposed to having dongles I can forget, lose or leave behind. Also, a lot of cables will wear out, and they will stop working when you need them the most (I've ruined quite a few video dongles).

This is why the old unibody MBPs were so great. Yes, they were a little chunkier, but that tradeoff was well worth it for the convenience.

Re: Jony Ive to form independent design company with Apple as client

#692

Post by CPLX »

Eric_WVGG wrote: post #655
AimForTheBushes wrote: post #645

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Gorgeous and mostly user-friendly products, but slightly too caught up in their own cleverness instead of the actual needs of real users. This is so true. Hence the dongle epidemic.

What dongle epidemic? A USB-C version of every important cord or connector has existed for _years_. Anyone who still has dongles is choosing them.

If you walk into an Apple store and buy their top of the line laptop and top of the line phone and take them home you’ll quickly realize there is no way to plug them in to each other.

That is, in fact, stupid.

Re: Jony Ive to form independent design company with Apple as client

#693

Post by bin0 »

robinmayfair wrote: post #660
oliveshell wrote: post #656

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I want to get 10 GB of RAW photos onto my 2013 MacBook Pro, I just pop the SD card out of the camera and into the laptop. Transfer is done in about a minute or two. No SD card reader means the new MBP just couldn’t do this without dongles, full stop. That’s a step backwards.

“Full Stop” is always a good argument. I have a USB-C card reader which I guarantee you is faster than the one you have. Sure, internal card readers were nice. But they’re gone from Apple now. Really not sure why people keep talking about this.

Show me the SD card that can saturate USB 3 or USB C. The fastest sony cards top out at about 300Mbps. Heck, USB 2 could handle that at top speed (theoretically; most implementations stunk). USB C is better with really high bandwidth things like eGPU, 4k displays, etc., but sd cards are not the best argument to make here.

Re: Jony Ive to form independent design company with Apple as client

#694

Post by stetrain »

Eric_WVGG wrote: post #664
oliveshell wrote: post #656

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I want to get 10 GB of RAW photos onto my 2013 MacBook Pro, I just pop the SD card out of the camera and into the laptop. Transfer is done in about a minute or two. No SD card reader means the new MBP just couldn’t do this without dongles, full stop. That’s a step backwards.

First, that's not a dongle, that's an SD card reader. A dongle would adapt a USB-A reader's plug to a USB-C plug. Second, this is a step forward. Previously, people who didn't need to carry around SD card readers had to, in the form of bulkier laptops with smaller batteries. Now, only folks who need readers have to carry them around. That's a win.

Dongle

Noun: A thing I have to carry around to use my new device that I didn't have to carry to use my old device.

Re: Jony Ive to form independent design company with Apple as client

#695

Post by slantyyz »

Eric_WVGG wrote: post #688
Eric_WVGG wrote: post #664

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First, that's not a dongle, that's an SD card reader. A dongle would adapt a USB-A reader's plug to a USB-C plug. Second, this is a step forward. Previously, people who didn't need to carry around SD card readers had to, in the form of bulkier laptops with smaller batteries. Now, only folks who need readers have to carry them around. That's a win.

I knew defining a dongle would bring out the pedants, and that makes me very happy, but I think the real point is being overlooked here. Folks who want an SD card reader or HDMI should carry around SD card readers and HDMI cables. People who don't want those things shouldn't have to carry them around. I modernized all my accessories years ago. USB-C is all I or, I would argue, nearly anyone needs. I'm truly sorry tha…

>> I knew defining a dongle would bring out the pedants

Some might say your narrow definition of dongle was an attempt at being pedantic.

>> I think the real point is being overlooked here.

The real point being overlooked isn't the dongle issue, or being minimalist. It's a product line diversity issue.

You have to be aware that a lot of people who won't switch away from Mac are doing it because of love of the OS, and not necessarily the love of the hardware itself.

Apple has basically decided to make all of their laptop lines ultrabooks (as is their right).

If you look at all the other companies who make laptops, they have non-ultrabook lines for people who need ports, etc. Apple has chosen not to cater to those people, and those people, whose requirements used to be satisfied by previous iterations of Macbooks, are now complaining.

Re: Jony Ive to form independent design company with Apple as client

#696

Post by throw0101a »

jedberg wrote: post #102
mstade wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’d be interesting to see the results of a survey on this I think, I and I know many of my peers are of the exact opposite opinion. I like the move to usb-c, I like the new keyboard, I don’t mind (but also don’t really use) the Touch Bar but I can’t live without Touch ID at this point. The big trackpad is magical to me, and the thickness and weight of the 13” is just right. I have an older MBP as well, 2013 maybe, a…

Nothing wrong with USB-C and the big trackpad is fine too, and I would love to have touchID on my 2015MBP. But getting rid of mag power and the USB-A ports, HDMI port, and SD card slot was a big step back. Maybe you don't ever need to present anything from your laptop, but if you talk to anyone who does, they will tell you how awful it is to not have an HDMI port. The USB-C to HDMI is the worst adapter I've ever seen…

> And if you're a semi-pro photographer, the lack of an SD card slot is terrible.

If you're a semi-pro photographer you should stop wasting your time with a built-in SD card slot and get an external USB 3.1 Gen 2 card reader. Fstopper running the numbers:

> Even if you don't want to spend the money on a more expensive memory card, buying a nicer ProGrade card reader is still worth it.

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlWhvc-UCOA

Re: Jony Ive to form independent design company with Apple as client

#697

Post by foldr »

jimmaswell wrote: post #678
lawik wrote: post #551

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Objectively is a hard claim when it comes to an integration of software and hardware. What is the integration of hardware and software worth to any particular person? What is Apple doubling down on privacy worth to another one? Current MBP hardware is nothing exciting to me. But my previous MBP was lasted me 2009 to 2016 I believe, with a few upgrades. And I like the OS. I don't mind working in Linux or Windows but I…

Here's the current MBP priced around $1300. https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro/13-inch-space... Here's the laptop I bought in September 2017 for about $1200 or $1100, now down to $840. https://www.walmart.com/ip/HP-Omen-15-ax250wm-15-6-Full-HD-I... Screen: 13" vs 15.6" RAM: 8GB vs 12GB CPU: i5 vs i7 Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640 vs GTX 1050Ti 4GB 128GB SSD vs 1TB HDD, you can buy your own 1TB SSD for aroun…

Doesn't the model you link to have a non-retina display? It's hardly comparable. You're not paying for raw specs when you buy a mac. You're paying for the screen, the trackpad, the aesthetics, the thin profile, the battery life, the speakers and microphone, and the OS. Apple has the good taste not to max out the specs if it means sacrificing other, more important features.

If you look for Windows laptops that check all the aforementioned boxes (leaving aside the trackpad, as none of them have good trackpads), you'll be paying just as much as you pay for a macbook.

Re: Jony Ive to form independent design company with Apple as client

#698

Post by mjhagen »

sb636 wrote: post #647
bayareanative wrote: post #612

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone should watch the Louis Rossmann channel before lionizing, much less even saying anything good about modern MBP's they don't seem to understand what's been lost and what sucks. It's not been a long-lasting product for at least 5 years: - the batteries are glued in, making them very difficult to change - there's no locking slot - GPU goes out - the unencapsulated (motherboard) is very susceptible to any humidi…

I was part of that unrealistic, brainwashed, tribalist community for many years. Except not for apple. For PC. I switched over to a mbp this past year after having used countless different PC laptops over the past ten years, and my god, my mbp just feels so much better than my previous laptops in so many ways. Yes there are shortcomings, but the overall user experience is nothing to gloss over.

The thing is though, that it used to be even better.

Re: Jony Ive to form independent design company with Apple as client

#699

Post by slantyyz »

foldr wrote: post #690
slantyyz wrote: post #673

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a mouse user (who actually really liked both the much maligned mighty mouse and magic mouse), but when it came to track pads, I hated that Apple didn't have physical buttons for the trackpad. My hand eye coordination on trackpads has never been great (and I'm not getting any younger), and I've always had issues with taps as clicks. I've since switched back to Windows, and it drives me nuts that all the PC laptops…

The haptic trackpads on the newer macbooks are perfect for this. You can click anywhere on the pad and the amount of pressure required is exactly the same. It's not tap to click, because you need to actually press down for a click to register.

They aren't for me.

While I would say Macs have always had excellent pads, I still hated them.

I want to be able to have a finger on a physical button that doesn't detect any touch movements when dragging something.

Re: Jony Ive to form independent design company with Apple as client

#700

Post by throw0101a »

test1235 wrote: post #425
moon2 wrote: post #384

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Back when they launched the Macbook Air, we also thought having no DVD drive was a big step back. It took some time, but other companies started removing the DVD drives from their laptops as well. Maybe technology moves around Apple after all. If your Macbook does not have a SD Card slot, then SD Cards will soon be dead. Having a single USB-C, though, is still frustrating.

>SD Cards will soon be dead. Not a chance - professional photographers won't be ditching their cameras anytime soon.

Professional photographers should (IMHO) either shoot tethered or get an external USB 3.1 (>5Gb/s) external card reader. Fstopper recently did some quick benchmarks, and the transfer times were significantly faster:

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlWhvc-UCOA

Post reply on HN