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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

#91

Post by pcr0 »

farisjarrah wrote: post #73
SilasX wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You complained about the best part of the Macbook, the trackpad! I wish I could get that Mac trackpad on my thinkpad x1

As a user of both the Macbook Pro and the X1 Carbon, I have to agree. The MBP touchpad handles gestures and palm rejection really well. On the other hand I get accidental swipes every hour with the X1 Carbon that I can only bear using its keyboard in an emergency. FWIW I have oversized hands.

However, I do overshoot and tap the MBP touchbar now and then, which can be annoying.

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

#92

Post by sakisv »

In a twisted way I welcome these news.

If they had released a model without touchbar and with improved keyboard I would be really tempted to buy it to replace my XPS.

Given their insistence on the touchbar is good way for me to accept that: a) the last good MacBook for me will remain the 2015 model and b) I will have to make do with Linux and XPS.

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

#93

Post by NeedMoreTea »

pcr0 wrote: post #84
SilasX wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Does this happen while typing? Do you touch-type?

It used to happen constantly to me whilst touch typing on a 2016, yet is extremely rare to never on the 2015 MBP I replaced it with. So annoying to keep having something trigger whilst just typing something.

It was 2 broken keyboards in 6 or 7 months that had me sell and replace it though, but damn that massive touchpad was awful.

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

#94

Post by SllX »

farisjarrah wrote: post #73
SilasX wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You complained about the best part of the Macbook, the trackpad! I wish I could get that Mac trackpad on my thinkpad x1

Unless you are really good at keeping your hands off the trackpad when you rest your hands, the previous generation trackpad was overall better in day to day use, and anything bigger is better as an external peripheral.

The problem is, Apple’s palm rejection tech just isn’t good enough, and if you have to write fancy software to cover a deficiency in the size of a piece of hardware, then you’re better off going with the smaller size. I’m assuming without the palm rejection, it would be an even bigger issue, and I wouldn’t trust any OEMs to get that right.

That said, it is only comparatively worse than the previous generation of Apple’s laptop trackpads which was already enormous, and arguably enormous enough. Compared to other laptops from other vendors, I could definitely see the appeal.

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

#95

Post by bubblethink »

reaperducer wrote: post #36
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?

the weird ass product names IME, Apple's product names make more sense than virtually any other computer maker, or auto maker. Currently computers from Lenovo are: ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 6 Yoga C930 ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 5 ThinkPad X1 Extreme Legion Y740 MacBook (RIP), MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro make complete sense comparatively.

Why do names of tools need to make sense? I don't go around calling my screwdriver with cute names. It has a job to do. It needs a unique identifier to distinguish from other screw drivers.

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

#96

Post by jedberg »

ppeetteerr wrote: post #81
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 really (really!) appreciate how thin they are. The new 15in is as heavy as the old 13in. Really nice when you have to carry it around all the time. The biggest pain point is the lack of ports (4 ports including power) is not enough. The older models had around 5+ ports and still required dongles. Everything else aside from the keyboard is a minor issue (e.g. getting more ram today versus in the future is just a que…

> getting more ram today versus in the future is just a question of deferring costs

Not really. I had a 2011 MacBook. In 2015 I was able to upgrade the RAM to chips that didn't exist in 2011. Technically they weren't supported, but they worked just fine. I couldn't have done that if the chips were soldered to the board.

I also upgraded the drive from spinning disk to a much larger SSD. Again an upgrade I couldn't have done otherwise.

It allowed me to keep using the machine until 2017.

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

#97

Post by pier25 »

mnm1 wrote: post #82

This is the final "fuck you and fuck off" to professional developers from Apple. I expect the next generation of MBPros (and MBAirs) that are rumored for later this year to continue in this direction giving us developers the middle finger and likely it will continue into next year and beyond. Apple doesn't care. The laptops look great from the outside and most people don't know any better. Everything that makes this…

If Apple was working on a complete redesign of the MBP with a new keyboard, how long do you think it would take them to release it?

And if Apple were indeed working on that wouldn't it make sense to ditch the 12'' MB since it could not accommodate a thicker keyboard?

I'm bitter too about what has been happening on the Mac front for the last 5 or so years, but I think Apple is correcting course albeit slowly.

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

#98

Post by jefft255 »

pier25 wrote: post #85
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…

While I agree with you I have to say there is real improvement Apple has made: eGPU.

Wonderful concept, I really hope that apple starts supporting nvidia gpus, I can’t work without cuda...

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

#100

Post by dimmke »

chrischen wrote: post #11
geerlingguy wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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'm certain people who are OK with the touch bar don't care about it as much as the people who hate it, but I for one prefer that they are iteratively innovating on the keyboard for macs. I'd rather they do that than make a thick brick of a laptop with a row of mostly useless function keys that a vocal minority has been harping for.

The keys that the touchbar replaced were definitely not useless - they were media control, sound control, screen/keyboard brightness and expose/mission control/launchpad (and of course, ESC.)

Those are all extremely common keys to use. And yes, you could also use them as "F#" keys I guess. Now, those keys are non tactile and much, MUCH less pleasant to use. Also, if you're watching a movie in the dark and you turn off your keyboard backlight the stupid touchbar stays lit up for 45 seconds.

I think Apple will eventually kill the touchbar or at least offer a version without it.

I think the corner they've painted themselves into is they know they can't charge more for a non touchbar version and if they offer it for less that's cutting profit margin as well as a tacit admission that it isn't a beloved feature.

But their choices over the last few months along with the revelation that they're finally ditching their butterfly keyboards leads me to believe it's coming.

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