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Apple Updates Air, Pro Laptops, Kills Off the MacBook

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Re: Apple Updates Air, Pro Laptops, Kills Off the MacBook

#61

Post by pazimzadeh »

geerlingguy wrote: post #5
areoform wrote: post #2

That's Courage. For real this time, one of the first things Steve Jobs did when he came back to Apple was that he slashed the product line and killed off a ton of things so that the company could focus on what truly mattered; building great computing devices. I am positively encouraged that Apple has grown to the point where they took feedback critically and have returned to a more Jobs-ian way of operating. As they…

Not sure if the whole post or only part is /s, but IMO they need to have the courage to drop the Touch Bar. Everything else I can live with, but now there’s literally no MacBook Pro I will buy. I have the 2016 Function Key model, and maybe my next upgrade will be to a 2015 Pro... or to a non-Apple laptop (sigh).

Or the courage to make the Touch Bar...retina?

Re: Apple Updates Air, Pro Laptops, Kills Off the MacBook

#63

Post by eanzenberg »

geerlingguy wrote: post #5
areoform wrote: post #2

That's Courage. For real this time, one of the first things Steve Jobs did when he came back to Apple was that he slashed the product line and killed off a ton of things so that the company could focus on what truly mattered; building great computing devices. I am positively encouraged that Apple has grown to the point where they took feedback critically and have returned to a more Jobs-ian way of operating. As they…

Not sure if the whole post or only part is /s, but IMO they need to have the courage to drop the Touch Bar. Everything else I can live with, but now there’s literally no MacBook Pro I will buy. I have the 2016 Function Key model, and maybe my next upgrade will be to a 2015 Pro... or to a non-Apple laptop (sigh).

I love the touchbar and use the auto-complete function fairly frequently with it.

Re: Apple Updates Air, Pro Laptops, Kills Off the MacBook

#64

Post by rayiner »

jasonhansel wrote: post #49

For all the devs wondering how to replace their MacBook Pros: I highly recommend running Linux on a Lenovo X1 Carbon. I've also heard good things about System76.

Contrary view: https://medium.com/@hkdb/ubuntu-18-04-on-lenovo-x1-carbon-6g...

Re: Apple Updates Air, Pro Laptops, Kills Off the MacBook

#65

Post by SilasX »

wwweston wrote: post #38

Macbook Pro "improvements" over the last 3-7 years: * No more matte display * RAM soldered to the board * SSD soldered in * remove all ports except USB-C * make keyboard worse * remove function keys, replace with touch surface that's redundant at best But it's very thin! And even thinner was the recent Macbook, and if the law of "diminishing returns" matters as little as the usual defenses of all the above tradeoffs…

I also hate that MacBook Pro touchpads are oversized and easy to touch with your thumbs by accident. I had one issued for a job and had annoying, error-inducing swipes about three times a day.

Re: Apple Updates Air, Pro Laptops, Kills Off the MacBook

#66

Post by rayiner »

persistent wrote: post #10

The price is not even that outrageous. When specified similar to the top-of-the-line ThinkPad X1 Carbon it's only $200 more, and you're getting a better display.

The X1C6 is pretty expensive unless you’re doing some Lenovo EPP swindle.

Re: Apple Updates Air, Pro Laptops, Kills Off the MacBook

#67

Post by andrew_wc_brown »

wwweston wrote: post #38

Macbook Pro "improvements" over the last 3-7 years: * No more matte display * RAM soldered to the board * SSD soldered in * remove all ports except USB-C * make keyboard worse * remove function keys, replace with touch surface that's redundant at best But it's very thin! And even thinner was the recent Macbook, and if the law of "diminishing returns" matters as little as the usual defenses of all the above tradeoffs…

The sticking keys on the new macbook pro is a serious problem. Always get Apple Care. I have had a problem with the last 3 mac purchases.

Re: Apple Updates Air, Pro Laptops, Kills Off the MacBook

#68

Post by wwweston »

eanzenberg wrote: post #59
hanniabu wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like my 2013 MBP because the newer thin laptops I just feel like I'm going to break them.

I like my 2019 MBP because it's thin, has a better display, has a great trackpad, decent keyboard, and a touchbar that I use fairly frequently for auto-complete.

Displays and trackpads are still something Apple does very well, maybe better than anyone else.

Re: Apple Updates Air, Pro Laptops, Kills Off the MacBook

#69

Post by baddox »

scarface74 wrote: post #25
IgorPartola wrote: post #17

Why does choosing an Apple product always require a degree in Apple marketing and design? I generally like their products but you need to do so much research about everything from the weird ass product names (does Air even mean anything anymore?), to where exactly in the product cycle each product is. Am I about to buy something that will be upgraded in a week?

Have you been on any PC makers websites lately?

Seriously. I wonder which consumer electronics/computing product sectors are supposedly easier to shop for. Other than smartphones, which generally just have a couple of size and storage capacity options, and much simpler/cheaper electronics like USB batteries, I can't think of any brand offering a simpler product line.

Check out Dell's home computer landing page. It's a horizontal carousel with literally 29 different laptops with different model names/numbers/screen sizes. And that's just the laptops. Before any actual customization of RAM, storage capacity, etc.

Even a pretty well-known sub-brand of laptops, ThinkPad, now presents you with four top-level choices (Laptops, Yoga, Tablets, Desktops), each of which has between 2 and 5 (apparently) completely different model lines. How do I buy the high-end "ultrabook" ThinkPad that I've heard is nice? I remembered it having "Carbon" in the name, so I searched the page for that and deduced that it's under the "X Series" of laptops. Then I click "Compare X Series Laptops." Then the fun begins. There are literally 14 different models of ThinkPad X1 Carbon, including "Yogas" (I guess it never remembered that I started the process by selecting Laptops).

Re: Apple Updates Air, Pro Laptops, Kills Off the MacBook

#70

Post by jacobsenscott »

geerlingguy wrote: post #5
areoform wrote: post #2

That's Courage. For real this time, one of the first things Steve Jobs did when he came back to Apple was that he slashed the product line and killed off a ton of things so that the company could focus on what truly mattered; building great computing devices. I am positively encouraged that Apple has grown to the point where they took feedback critically and have returned to a more Jobs-ian way of operating. As they…

Not sure if the whole post or only part is /s, but IMO they need to have the courage to drop the Touch Bar. Everything else I can live with, but now there’s literally no MacBook Pro I will buy. I have the 2016 Function Key model, and maybe my next upgrade will be to a 2015 Pro... or to a non-Apple laptop (sigh).

The touchbar is awful, but the show stopper is the keyboard. Had mine replaced once, and now some other keys are failing. Even if they all worked the feel is atrocious. They are selling $2000 laptop computers that you literally cannot use without an external keyboard. That's brand loyalty for you.
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