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New 13-inch MacBook Pro

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Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#111

Post by jccalhoun »

missosoup wrote: post #2

Is it just me or is Apple starting to fall woefully behind non-mac hardware competitors in both price and perf? I used to look forward to these announcements, now it's just 'we upgraded to a +1 generation config (still 1-2 generations behind what others are doing), that'll be 2000 bucks thanks'. Advertising 4 cores and 2018 Iris graphics as if it's some kind of achievement, when competitors have full dGpu solutions a…

The "apple tax" has been a thing for decades now. I have never owned a mac but I listen to a mac-centric podcast and from their complaints I am not sure why I, a non-programmer, would ever pay the apple tax to buy one.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#112

Post by rvz »

lmilcin wrote: post #28
nivertech wrote: post #7

4 cores? Pro? 2020? lol EDIT: maybe 4 cores are enough for development using non-compiled languages, and if you don't use Chrome and Electron apps, and not running several VMs and docker containers. Some programming languages like Julia and Erlang/Elixir will happily use all the cores available on your laptop to speed up calculations, run builds, tests and other development tasks.

4 cores is actually more than enough to do almost all development. I work on a four core PC right now (i7-4770k) running Linux and couple VMs and containers, one VM dedicated to running Windows 10 which is in turn running Citrix client. I have two 4K monitors and bunch of hardware. I work on webapps, backend software, have couple IDEs running at the same time and probably Zoom session, not to mention huge amount of C…

Yes. Now just avoid running those poor Electron apps which actually impact battery life on all laptops. No user shouldn't need to get a laptop with a i7 CPU with 16GB to 32GB of RAM and a high end GPU to run your over-engineered chat app.

I get this all the time with my MacBook that I use for development. Run 1 or 2 of them is fine, but 10 or more at the same time and it will run the machine down to the ground.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#113

Post by bluedino »

philipkiely wrote: post #22

Now all Apple laptops feature magic keyboards. Butterfly switches are no more! I’m not convinced by the value of the thirteen inch pro versus the air. Same screen size, keyboard, and ports. Similar upgrade path. I know that not all i5/i7 etc are created equal, and the 13 inch pro uses chips that draw more power, but could someone explain the more concrete difference in performance that a user would see day to day?

Even the last Pro will destroy the Air when it comes to something like video encoding, 3D rendering, etc. Anything that will run full-tilt for longer than 20 seconds.

It is faster in things like Geekbench or browser benchmarks, and if you're buying the Air you're probably not using it to do heavy lifting.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#114

Post by jfkebwjsbx »

scarface74 wrote: post #103
jfkebwjsbx wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's ignore no 120/144/240 Hz screens, no good GPU (or any dedicated GPU in most models), no CUDA, no Zen2, no workstation CPUs, no high-capacity RAM, finicky keyboard, bad warranty, no Linux support, bad Windows support, no proper OpenGL, no Vulkan, no Direct3D, no 32-bit software, no Ethernet, no FireWire, no USB-A, no optical drive, no HDMI, no DP, no VGA... Definitely all advantages! Let's also ignore all vendor…

Optical drives, FireWire, 32 bit software, and VGA in 2020? What next? No PS/2 ports or ADB ports.

I use the VGA port in many conference talks I give. Modern, digital projectors are still not a guarantee and it is very awkward to go ask around for another laptop or a dongle.

I have FireWire hardware still around that I have no plan on replacing until it breaks.

Around half my games are 32-bit.

I have a library of BluRays with my favorite shows at home. I also bought some kid shows for my daughter 6 months ago that came in a DVD set.

But yeah, go laugh and make a comparison with PS/2. Everyone I listed is still in use today and many laptop vendors provide ports for them. Some will go out soon, some won't for years.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#115

Post by solarkraft »

tsar9x wrote: post #6
missosoup wrote: post #2

Is it just me or is Apple starting to fall woefully behind non-mac hardware competitors in both price and perf? I used to look forward to these announcements, now it's just 'we upgraded to a +1 generation config (still 1-2 generations behind what others are doing), that'll be 2000 bucks thanks'. Advertising 4 cores and 2018 Iris graphics as if it's some kind of achievement, when competitors have full dGpu solutions a…

Well, competitors are still behind Apple. They offer worse touchpad, worse screens (it's either 16:9 or weird resolution), no macOS, worse speakers, worse microphone, worse battery.

The resolution part is insane. I use my work Macbook at 125% scaling, which would be equivalent to 100% on a WQHD screen. There are some available on some very specific (expensive) ThinkPads from a generation I don't want and the new Ryzen ASUS Zephyrus G14 (but it seems like they absolutely don't want to sell it, I seriously have found no listing for it after spending a long time hunting down the actual model code).

There are some 4k models, but those bring more weird fractional scaling problems with them (especially bad on Linux), have battery life and are usually super expensive.

Oh ... and it's all 14 or 15" models. I'd happily take a 17 or 19" laptop - I just want enough portability so I can carry it around in a bag while commuting and have it on a desk most of the time, but, while there are some okay 17" offerings (barely any "pro" devices, though, so no swappable RAM) there is not one (apart from the insanely expensive ZBook) offering with a higher than FHD screen.

What the fuck?! Why? Don't most people use their laptops as only somewhat portable work stations? Am I the only one who finds a larger screen with more content useful?

?!?!?!!?!?

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#116

Post by ikeboy »

Tenoke wrote: post #96
dylkil wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I'm just dead tired of all the jank in Ubuntu. im thinking about moving to ubuntu, what sort of jank is annoying you?

All OSs have their issues. I use Windows and Ubuntu daily and have had work macbooks. In a lot of cases it does come down to what you are used to, as there are design differences that aren't necessarily worse or better but when you get used to one the other feels janky. At any rate, in Ubuntu's case things like display support are worse - especially multiple different DPI screens (yes, there are workarounds). UI is l…

I've seen this mentioned a few times now on HN as a drawback of Ubuntu. Are multiple monitors really that much of a benefit that so many people use them?

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#117

Post by hyperbovine »

xxs wrote: post #100
jfkebwjsbx wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's ignore no 120/144/240 Hz screens, no good GPU (or any dedicated GPU in most models), no CUDA, no Zen2, no workstation CPUs, no high-capacity RAM, finicky keyboard, bad warranty, no Linux support, bad Windows support, no proper OpenGL, no Vulkan, no Direct3D, no 32-bit software, no Ethernet, no FireWire, no USB-A, no optical drive, no HDMI, no DP, no VGA... Definitely all advantages! Let's also ignore all vendor…

how did you miss rj-45?

Or RJ-11!

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#118

Post by fastball »

calin2k wrote: post #14

So now all the MacBook Pro 13's have no physical function keys?

Yep. You can get a MBA though. Not nearly as "airy" as they used to be, given that the screen is 13" too and you can get a decent amount of RAM in there. CPU still isn't great, but probably you're not doing super CPU intensive stuff with a 13" MBP.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#119

Post by ascendantlogic »

elliotpage wrote: post #46
tsar9x wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, competitors are still behind Apple. They offer worse touchpad, worse screens (it's either 16:9 or weird resolution), no macOS, worse speakers, worse microphone, worse battery.

Many people would cite "no macOS" as a positive. However, you are bang on about the worse speakers and microphone.

I would argue that macOS isn't the selling point it used to be but it's still less annoying to me to work with than WSL on Windows 10 or wrestling with a Linux distro and shitty display drivers.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#120

Post by asdkhadsj »

tachion wrote: post #39
nickcox wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No sure that no macOS makes competitors objectively worse.

Laugh as much as you want but to me (and many others) it actually is. I would look at other manufacturers for their hardware, but sadly it's all non-MacOs and I value this operating system above anything else for my needs (work and personal).

I'll amend that a bit, I assume many of the people you speak of are in my camp, and that camp is a bit different than what you described.

Mostly I don't care about OSX. Some days i actually would prefer Linux. The reason I'm on OSX though is because I've been down the Linux desktop road, many times, and between the software and/or faulty configuration experience I use avoid it.

Random problems when I'm trying to work drive me mad. I use OSX to avoid problems.

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