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New 13-inch MacBook Pro

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221–230 of 1001 posts

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#221
The great things:

The new keyboard is always welcome. The butterfly keyboard was a huge pain. An escape key is definitely something that most of us have been waiting for !

The bad: I don't get it why Apple is still sticking with a sub-standard 720p facetime camera when they can easily upgrade that. For this video-call covid situation, a nice camera would have been nice

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

LPDDR4 (X) is a thing...

IIRC there was some problem with LPDDR4 having issues with sleeping power consumption that slowed Apple’s adoption of it.

That is DDR4 (no LP). MacBook Air 2020, MacBook Pro 16", and the most expensive MacBook Pro 13" configuration use LPDDR4.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#223
post #158

Funny anecdote: Apple offers a trade-in when buying a new Macbook. I decided to have a look. I entered the serial number of my Macbook Air 11" (Late 2010). I confirmed that it boots up, has no defects, has no optical faults and that I will include the power supply. Apple offered 10€ ($12). Yay?! PS: This ancient notebook runs macOS High Sierra with the current 2020-2 security patch and sells for an astonishing 200€ o…

I tried with my 2015 MBP, and was offered £180 by Apple. The average eBay price for the same model seems to be around £450, so the eBay route would be worth the risk for me.

Also, when selling second hand, at least I know it's being reused not just recycled.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#224
post #6

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.

Could say the same thing about Apple Vs Surface and Apple lacking touch/pen support, replaceable SSDs, SD ports, high viewing ratios, thicker devices.

But it's just cherrypicking isn't it...

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#225

I was curious how the 13 inch was priced so I compared it to a new Dell XPS 13. Dell has a better processor (maybe, [2]) , but I couldn't find the option to upgrade the Dell to 4TB internal SSD, so I compared both with the 2 TB option. Ram is the same at 32GB. Dell came out to $2399[0] USD and Apple came out to $2999[1] USD. Dell Pros: * Row of function buttons (I've used BTT to customize my touch-bar to the point wh…

Have you ever purchased a Dell ? Well I just did (Dell XPS 13 2-in-1) last month and let me tell how you how horrible the driver and support has been. I really wish I could chuck this brand new 1400$ device out the Window for days of troubleshooting I've got through. I deeply regret it and wish I purchased a Surface device instead (note I'm not an Apple user)

For the price premium and judging by the quality of the drivers that Apple produces, I WOULD MUCH RATHER PAY THE PREMIUM than struggle with Dell.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#226
post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After several years I can unequivocally say I still hate the touch bar. I love touch ID, but the bar needs to go. USB-C was all about standardizing. I'm still not sure how I feel about it, I did love magsafe, but I also love that in theory someday I'll have one cable to rule them all. And I'll be able to charge my headphones/laptop/phone/random device with a usb-c cable instead of needing 8 of them.

The best way I can sell Thunderbolt 3/USB-C to myself is that at Apple's size, they need to be able to sell (to consumers, courts, governments) that they aren't being anti-competitive, so by switching to designs that are open and standardized (Thunderbolt 3 is a spec, not a patent) they can better sell their market dominance as not driven by patents and lawyers.

I personally wish Apple would make something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Magnetic-Adapter-Connector-Quick-Char...

Before any of you see that and go "awesome, exactly what I was looking for!" - I've had several coworkers try various models of those adapters and all have told me they universally suck. Don't waste your money.

I trust Apple could do it with quality - frankly I'd be willing to spend $50+ for a reliable version of that.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#227

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…

Has Apple ever designed a product solely around just a couple of specs? No. Consumers unfortunately fail to realize this and compare A vs B based on cherry picked specs. The reason you can't get a top of the line CPU and GPU in the MacBook is that Apple would then have to increase the price past the point which the machine would have broad appeal, or make concessions in other important areas.

What are those important areas?

- Speakers, Mic, Webcam - Trackpad - Aluminum chassis and form factor - Touch ID - Mac OS (like it or not, this is perhaps the most important feature for those considering Macs.)

It's very possible the competitive landscape has changed since 2010 and they are placing more focus on these ancillary features than before, but the strategy has always appeared to be to deliver a superior holistic machine. I, and their financials would argue they have been doing that from before 2010 through now.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#228
Only two USB-C ports?!? That's really disappointing, I always have a yubikey in one so that only leaves one free.

Seeing this, I'm actually more inclined to get the Air since it has faster ram, a newer processor, and no touch bar. (I'd love 32gb but at Apple prices I could VPN to a custom built rig and still be under budget)

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Huh, interesting. Personally I have always found homebrew to to be a poor imitation of apt-get, and really enjoyed moving back to it using WSL2.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#230

So glad they finally got rid of the butterfly keyboard! That said, I cannot wait until they retire the Touch Bar.

What's your problem with the touch bar? My biggest was the lack of esc key, but they adjusted that. I actually really like the touch bar. I don't use it very often, but I never used function keys.

I use function keys all the time and am indifferent to the Touch Bar. It's fine. I just set it to show the function keys all the time and off we go. I don't need tactile feedback for keys for non-typing keys.
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