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New 13-inch MacBook Pro

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Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#481

Post by snalty »

jandrese wrote: post #252
latexr wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I still miss mag-safe adapters though. I still don't understand that decision. As someone who’s never had a tripping accident with a magsafe charger but has had to replace multiple damaged chargers despite being careful, I welcome that change. Spending 90€ because Apple doesn’t know how (or doesn’t care) to make cables with a modicum of durability isn’t fun. With USB-C, presumably (I don’t own one of these) I could…

Replacing the cable is a lot easier than replacing a damaged port. I don't have enough experience with USB-C devices to know but micro USB ports ended up being too fragile if you have toddlers.

I can't find a source for this right now, but IIRC USB-C was designed such that the cable was always the weak point, so in cases of extreme stress the cable will break before the port does.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#483

Post by kogepathic »

ericcholis wrote: post #154
alexggordon wrote: post #125

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…

I recently switched from an Air to an XPS 15 9570. I was very excited, it seemed to have all the best qualities of a MacBook, minus the shotty keyboard, and superior performance per dollar (at the time). Things went downhill rather quickly. I've had massive cooling issues, I've removed and replaced the thermal paste. I've been forced to operate the laptop on the "Cool" thermal setting; downgrading the performance of…

I've had a company-issued XPS 9570 for the last year, and overall I haven't had any big issues.

Cooling is sub-par, but I think that's mostly due to the Intel i9-8950HK running way over the advertised TDP during Turbo. Dell has been tweaking their cooling profile in subsequent BIOS updates, at with the latest version (1.15) they're quite aggressive on ramping up the fans to keep things cool. Which is good from a performance perspective, but really annoying to sit beside all day. While I didn't experience severe thermal throttling, I did end up disabling Turbo as it made the laptop sound like a jet engine too often for my taste.

My only other complaint would be that despite Dell's claims of 100W+ power delivery from their ThunderBolt dock (above and beyond what USB-C PD can deliver), I frequently find the laptop discharging the battery under moderate load (high CPU, idle dGPU) when connected via USB-C to the dock. Using the supplied DC charger solves this, but it's still a poor user experience.

At my previous employer I had a 2017 MBP. IMHO an XPS/Precision is a better option as you can (in no particular order): upgrade the RAM, upgrade the SSD, run Linux on it, and (until the new MBP release) had a much better keyboard experience.

As others have noted, Dell's enterprise warranty support is fantastic. I was able to invoke the warranty to replace a motherboard in a Latitude I bought used on eBay; they sent a technician to my house to replace it free of charge.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#484

Post by bengale »

Tepix wrote: 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…

Pretty sure its mainly just recycling service. It's for people that have no interest in attempting to deal with the hassle of reselling.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#485

Post by C1sc0cat »

DonHopkins wrote: post #369
RedneckBob wrote: post #338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just purged Apple from my life largely because the touchbar continues to live on. Love my new Lenovo, btw. As a workaround for the touchbar that worked pretty well, I bought a silicon keyboard protector for the Apple Magic Keyboard, cut out the area for the function keys, and used hot glue to glue it over the touch bar. Prevented the touchbar from activating at the slightest touch and did return some of the feel of…

The original Apple ][ had a reset key in the upper right corner of the keyboard that was WAAAAAY too easy to press. https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e3/1b/53/e31b53767fad646fc635... They eventually put a stronger spring under it so it was harder to press, but it was still terrible. There was actually a thriving after-market for $3.25 "RESET KEY PROTECTORS": square plastic tube shields that fit over the reset key so you…

Around 1994 or so One mac model (system 7) was notorious for having a power switch next to the floppy drive that looked like the eject button.

Those of us from a windows / unix back ground where for ever pushing the power button when we wanted to eject a floppy.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#486

Post by masklinn »

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #275
fluffything wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

~~2399$~~ 2999$ (EDIT: see replies) in the US, and.... 3924$ for the same model if you buy it in Europe (3629 EUR). That's a bit outrageous. I still have a Macbook Air 2013, and have been looking for an upgrade for like 5 years, but I was not willing to pay 4k for a laptop with a worse keyboard, a worse power plug, an OS that in 2020 still doesn't have any kind of windows tiling capabilities and quite poor virtual de…

Sounds like a good business opportunity. What's stopping me from buying them all up at the Apple store and selling them to overseas customers?

> What's stopping me from buying them all up at the Apple store and selling them to overseas customers?

Import duties and VAT. VAT accounts for much of the price difference, OP didn't explain which Europe they're talking about, but assuming a 20% VAT a 2999 machine costs $3598.8 to the end-user.

Means you're working with a 325.2 price difference, which doesn't even cover import duties.

So pretty much as ever, if you're round-tripping through the US, picking up an MBP there is nice. It does not however make for a business.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#487

Post by mthoms »

whywhywhywhy wrote: post #430
dubcanada wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Can't change the laptop volume with your eyes closed, I use my MBP to listen to podcasts in bed sometimes so like to alter the volume just by knowing where the keys are, not having to sit up and fumble with some touch screen widget.

FWIW, I have BetterTouchTool configured so that a two finger swipe/scroll anywhere on the bar adjusts volume and a three finger one adjusts brightness.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#488

Post by blhack »

dewey wrote: post #422
deepGem wrote: post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My gripe with the touch bar is that for every IDE you have to customise it to see the function keys by default. It's so damn annoying. Why can't the default layout be just the Fn keys ?

Because 95% of the people don't use them and for them having an emoji picker, a volume, brightness control is more useful. The small group of people who actively use the Fn keys can just enable this checkbox at the settings.

Someday they should make a pro model for the 5% of people who don't care about emoji pickers.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#489

Post by kalleboo »

latexr wrote: post #192
alexggordon wrote: post #125

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…

> I still miss mag-safe adapters though. I still don't understand that decision. As someone who’s never had a tripping accident with a magsafe charger but has had to replace multiple damaged chargers despite being careful, I welcome that change. Spending 90€ because Apple doesn’t know how (or doesn’t care) to make cables with a modicum of durability isn’t fun. With USB-C, presumably (I don’t own one of these) I could…

Yeah as someone who used MagSafe for probably a decade and then switched to a USB-C MBP (now counting 3 years), I much prefer USB-C. And I'm a really clumsy person, and have two small children running around.

I probably went through one Apple MagSafe charger a year. One of them I literally only used on my desk, and the cable fell apart in 6 months, the Apple Store guy accused me of all kinds of abuse to avoid replacing it under warranty. Even with crappy amazon marketplace noname Chinese 90W USB-C cables, I've been totally fine for 3 years now.

With USB-C you can get cheaper third party chargers with all kinds of options (including full-featured Thunderbolt docks), you can use literally any old USB power bank, you can just switch out the cable when it wears out or gets chewed on, charge on the right side of the computer [the latter also really helps with the yanking risk].

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#490

Post by mr_custard »

bcrosby95 wrote: post #456
mr_custard wrote: post #444

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks. I'm am aware of this. I research this all the time, and regularly come away disappointed. I don't know if I verbalised clearly enough, but I have actively wanted good options for years, and I'm always open to whatever alternatives are current at the time of purchase. Seriously, I'm in the market for a new laptop and there are still too many concerns relating to support for these devices... not just Dell but u…

I switched from a macbook to a system76 laptop around 6 years ago and the only negative I noticed functionality-wise was the worse trackpad. But I would guess that different users are sensitive to different problems. E.g. power management isn't much of an issue for me because I use my laptop unplugged for only a couple hours per day, so I wouldn't have noticed any problems related to that.

Ahh... good to hear.

I have been keeping an eye on the system76 stuff too - not just Dell. For a long time system76 seemed to only make laptops with large keyboards with extra number pads and asymetric mouse pads which put me off (many manufacturers do this, so it's not just them).

I notice that they finally have more tenkeyless models, so slowly but surely my checklist is being satisfied. Are you still able to use a recent version of Pop!_OS after all this time, or are you using another recent version of another distro? I'm interested in the longevity in terms of being able to install up to date OSes over the years. I mean that really shouldn't be an issue with Linux - support usually only gets better as time advances and new drivers / modules are written, but it would be nice to know how you got on, regardless.

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