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New MacBook Air

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Re: New MacBook Air

#511

Post by quxbar »

I bought one, maxed out everything but storage -can anybody really justify the 2TB option?

Fingers crossed it will work for lighter web dev work. I figure I'll know well within the 14 day return period. As a consultant, I work with a pretty diverse set of tools, but I figure I can at least do frontend work and throw together the odd lambda here and there. Also running a mac mini currently with a couple 4k screens as a main environment. Can anybody recommend a way to take both of these screens and switch their inputs easily between the mini and a macbook?

Re: New MacBook Air

#512

Post by Eric_WVGG »

quxbar wrote: post #511

I bought one, maxed out everything but storage -can anybody really justify the 2TB option? Fingers crossed it will work for lighter web dev work. I figure I'll know well within the 14 day return period. As a consultant, I work with a pretty diverse set of tools, but I figure I can at least do frontend work and throw together the odd lambda here and there. Also running a mac mini currently with a couple 4k screens as…

hm, yeah. I work with a lot of graphic designers, they'll be working on multiple 20+mb Photoshop files that save over the course of the day as "SomeClient_2020_03_18_rev13.psd" etc. That stuff adds up fast. Adobe could help out a lot of their user base by making some kind of built-in Git-for-graphics tool…

If you're looking for a USB-C KVM, you're not going to find it. I would look into some kind of cloud sync for the Air's data to the Mini, and then just put the Air to sleep when you're at the home base or something.

Re: New MacBook Air

#513

Post by chairmanwow1 »

climb_stealth wrote: post #182

After using the latest Macbook Pro 13" for over a year I have recently had my 2015 Macbook Pro 13" repaired. Both are max specs. It was a $600 bill, but it has been so worth it. The keyboard just works, it doesn't run hot and the fan doesn't blast under the slightest load, the performance is much better, the battery lasts longer and the external screen + keyboard and mouse are detected every single time without havin…

I recently got a 2019 MBP for work (with the ESC key!!!), and I have to say that a lot of the things you are encountering with your 2013 I encounter quite a bit with this new one.

Overall, I found the speed of this model far exceeded my 2017 MBP from my last job, but it's kinda surprising how frequently the monitors / keyboard / mouse encounter connection issues.

That being said, I feel like I'm being a little picky, especially when I think of how nightmarish it was to get any of this shit to work with my Windows machines. It's the exception rather than the rule that anything would work the first time as expected (monitors / keyboards / mice / printers / programs).

Re: New MacBook Air

#514

Post by swah »

pyrophane wrote: post #266

Keep in mind that probably the most important spec when considering a new laptop is one that is often not directly stated: the processor series. I'm not talking about i3/i5/i7, but rather U/Y/H. This letter determines the TDP (thermal design power/point) them machine is designed to run at. The TDP will govern the setting for the base clock speed, and, just as importantly, the throttling behabior under load. Processor…

I've been issued a MBP at work and now thinking of picking a 5 year old MBP to work at home, since switching two OSes is overwhelming at this point. Is this a good idea?

Re: New MacBook Air

#515

Post by swah »

ctvo wrote: post #322
pyrophane wrote: post #266

Keep in mind that probably the most important spec when considering a new laptop is one that is often not directly stated: the processor series. I'm not talking about i3/i5/i7, but rather U/Y/H. This letter determines the TDP (thermal design power/point) them machine is designed to run at. The TDP will govern the setting for the base clock speed, and, just as importantly, the throttling behabior under load. Processor…

This is underestimating modern processors and overestimating programming compute resource usage. Your post may apply if we're working with 4K+ resolution video files, rendering and other activities, but the modern programmer, even compiling binaries, will be fine on a MacBook Air. How do I know? I use a 2 generation old Macbook as my primary personal development machine. I write Go, Rust, Java and TypeScript using th…

Even Chrome brings my machine to a halt. I've been running Docker recently and 8Gb of ram is instantly gone. Sometimes I think most folks are simply more patient with their computers, and will wait a few seconds for operations to finish, while I get a feeling something is taking too long and start messing around with ps aux, killing processes and such...

Re: New MacBook Air

#516

Post by tjoff »

ctvo wrote: post #322
pyrophane wrote: post #266

Keep in mind that probably the most important spec when considering a new laptop is one that is often not directly stated: the processor series. I'm not talking about i3/i5/i7, but rather U/Y/H. This letter determines the TDP (thermal design power/point) them machine is designed to run at. The TDP will govern the setting for the base clock speed, and, just as importantly, the throttling behabior under load. Processor…

This is underestimating modern processors and overestimating programming compute resource usage. Your post may apply if we're working with 4K+ resolution video files, rendering and other activities, but the modern programmer, even compiling binaries, will be fine on a MacBook Air. How do I know? I use a 2 generation old Macbook as my primary personal development machine. I write Go, Rust, Java and TypeScript using th…

That is peanuts. Have you tried opening a browser and surf the world wide web?

Re: New MacBook Air

#517

Post by chairmanwow1 »

modeless wrote: post #461
chipotle_coyote wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can actually just tap the volume icon on the Touch Bar and slide your finger back and forth immediately and it works; you don't have to tap, then move your finger to the volume slider and move back and forth. (This is clever, but basically undiscoverable unless someone tells you in, for example, a comment on Hacker News, which is how I found out.)

> You can actually just tap the volume icon on the Touch Bar and slide your finger back and forth immediately No you can't! There is a pretty long delay. If you move your finger during the delay, nothing happens. Then when it finally decides to switch modes, you have to move your finger again for it to change the volume. Hope you didn't hit the edge of the touchbar yet. Combined with the phantom button presses when u…

It's potentially that I'm using a 2019 MPB, but I can absolutely touch and slide to change volume immediately. Just press and slide on the icon for volume or brightness.

Also pro-tip: you can change the buttons that show up in the touch bar. Settings > Keyboard > Customize Control Strip. I swapped out Siri for a "Sleep" button, which is super convenient when I walk away from my desk.

Re: New MacBook Air

#518

Post by rooam-dev »

How future proof is it? Even if it's quad core, it's still 1.1GHz I mean, will a browser need multiple cores to scroll smoothly through pages in 2-3 years from now?

Re: New MacBook Air

#519

Post by aledalgrande »

vbezhenar wrote: post #505
aledalgrande wrote: post #470

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find it a bit opaque that they do not advertise exactly which series/gen they are putting on the machine. Can't find it even on the Tech Specs page.

They don't advertise their memory models or disk manufacturer either. Probably typical customer does not care. Wait for teardowns if you're interested in those details.

I'd say anyone buying a pro careas at least about the generation.

Re: New MacBook Air

#520

Post by tlarkworthy »

swah wrote: post #515
ctvo wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is underestimating modern processors and overestimating programming compute resource usage. Your post may apply if we're working with 4K+ resolution video files, rendering and other activities, but the modern programmer, even compiling binaries, will be fine on a MacBook Air. How do I know? I use a 2 generation old Macbook as my primary personal development machine. I write Go, Rust, Java and TypeScript using th…

Even Chrome brings my machine to a halt. I've been running Docker recently and 8Gb of ram is instantly gone. Sometimes I think most folks are simply more patient with their computers, and will wait a few seconds for operations to finish, while I get a feeling something is taking too long and start messing around with ps aux, killing processes and such...

You can lower docker resources in a settings. I use it on my air.
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