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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

#101

Post by b212 »

tomca32 wrote: post #14
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).

Yeah, the touch bar is quite a turn off for me too. That and the crappy keyboard made me always use the laptop in clamshell mode, which ironically I ended up liking quite a bit.

Sometimes I wonder how many people use Macs mainly in clamshell mode. I’ve been doing this for the last 10 years or so because working on a laptop is a huge ergonomy antipattern and Apples keyboards are famous for giving RSI.

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

#102

Post by TheSpiceIsLife »

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…

> I really (really!) appreciate how thin they are. The new 15in is as heavy as the old 13in.

Are these the same thing? Thickness and weight?

How much more material is required to make a laptop a couple millimetres thicker?

I would have assumed most of the weight reduction would be from making the battery smaller?

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

#103

Post by turk73 »

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…

Mitsubishi had one of the most popular cars around, the Evo, and they pissed it all away. Apple is doing the same thing with their market dominance. Makes you wonder.

I don't care about "thinner." I care about speed and reliability.

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

#104

Post by b212 »

bgeeek wrote: post #60
ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're right. In Europe macs are not used as tools for professionals, but as toys for rich kids. You never see macbooks in any company unless they are an Apple shop but if you go in the old town center, in the most hipster cafes, you only see youths with macs.

That is utter nonsense. The university research group that I worked in replaced Dell Linux-based laptops for Macbooks. Hardly toys for rich kids.

I’ve seen homeless people in Copenhagen using Macs. It literally blew my mind.

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

#105

Post by Eiriksmal »

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…

>So what are we to make of the four-year-old MacBook’s demise? ... The laptop got mixed reactions from the get-go. Its high portability and lovely Retina screen were welcomed compared to the bulky, non-Retina MacBook Air of the time.

Pure insanity. We're now referring to the original MacBook Air as bulky!?

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

#106

Post by kahlonel »

tbrock wrote: post #74
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.

I'm a hard +1 on this. Currently running Linux on an X1 carbon 6th gen and it is fantastic.

Did Lenovo fix the suspend issue yet, or did you apply the BIOS patch manually?

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

#107

Post by loudmax »

rayiner wrote: post #64
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...

That's not a contrary view, that's someone who seems quite pleased with his laptop. Yes it's a lot of tweaking to get the system to work optimally, but that is the nature of open source: you trade convenience for power.

I'm pretty happy with the battery life on my X1 Carbon, but I might try some some of the settings from that article.

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

#108

Post by b212 »

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #26

Was expecting this. I imagine the Air will also be the first to make the switch to their in-house ARM processors.

Once they move all products to the ARM (is it even possible? I mean Apple is Apple but they can’t put as much effort into CPUs as Intel or AMD - take a look at the latest Ryzens for example :o) will it kill Hackintoshes?

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

#109

Post by nfoz »

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.

My current recommendations are a bit lesser known:

- Purism https://puri.sm/products/

- Vaio https://us.vaio.com/vaio-sx14/

- Dell Latitude 7390/7490 (not the "New 7300/7400" which look to be a downgrade, sadly)

And if you're in Japan and have money and are really stylish:

- Panasonic Let's Note https://panasonic.jp/cns/pc/products/lv8k/

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

#110

Post by dcsilver »

andrew_wc_brown wrote: post #67
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.

I knew about the keyboards when I bought mine, but didn't opt for Apple Care because they're offering a 4 year warranty on the keyboards whether you bought Apple Care or not.
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