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New 13-inch MacBook Pro

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Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#571

Post by saagarjha »

FireBeyond wrote: post #540
teddyuk wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will never buy a dell again, had an XPS 9550 (£2.7k 32gb ram, top of the range) - they had a chip in to detect a valid dell power adapter and that went so they wanted over 600 to replace the motherboard. I bought a macbook and use the dell charger (udb-c) to charge my macbook.

My step-daughter spilled water on her MBA. It would no longer charge. It would run connected to AC, and the battery health was fine, but the "charging circuit" needed replaced, according to diagnostics. Okay, I thought. $200, maybe $300, including parts and labor. Not quite. They wanted $879. "Maybe we should look at getting you into a new Macbook instead?" No thanks. It was almost never used unplugged anyway.

Sounds like they needed to replace the whole motherboard.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#572

Post by warent »

whymauri wrote: post #553
makecheck wrote: post #381

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve found that the Touch Bar’s fundamental flaw is that it doesn’t handle unintended touches well (which sadly affects multiple Apple technologies, including my Watch and even the trackpad occasionally), and that is directly related to the fact that it has no raised elements. Furthermore, one of its main added features — the ability to do gestures that keys can’t do — just isn’t valuable. I haven’t seen a single exa…

My touch bar freezes every hour or so when changing volume. I then have to close the laptop, wait for a second, and then open the laptop again. It's awful.

This is the only thing that I don't like about the touch bar. It freezes every so often for me too. However, the fix is a lot easier for me. I just open spotlight search (CMD + Spacebar) and it fixes it.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#573

Post by voidmain0001 »

ksec wrote: post #560
extr wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have the latest Dell model (XPS 13 9300), and I'm left with a bit of chagrin as I probably would have looked into this new 13" MBP instead had it been available a few months ago, but overall I've been happy with my purchase. I'm not really "in" the Apple ecosystem so I'm probably a bit biased though. A few other Dell Pros: * 16:10 aspect ratio. The 4K touchscreen in general is fantastic, nearly borderless and reall…

> 16:10 aspect ratio..... MacBook ( Pro, Air or just MacBook ) has always been using 16:10 ratio. 16:10 on Dell is something new in the PC space that everyone is making a big fuss about it. Although I hope this change will finally run across the industry so we are back to 16:10 instead of stupid video consumption orientated 16:9 Ratio.

Funny. You pine for 16:10 everywhere and I pine for 4:3 everywhere. If software is eating the world, then why doesn't the ultimate screen ratio for development take over computers?

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#574

Post by archived22 »

mr_custard wrote: post #444
lwh wrote: post #419

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dell has supported Linux officially on the XPS 13 variants since 2012. https://bartongeorge.io/2020/01/01/introducing-the-2020-xps-...

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…

Not XPS, but I have used Ubuntu as main dev machine on Dell Latitude Laptop for more than 6 years without much issue.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#575

Post by saagarjha »

fnord123 wrote: post #440
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…

The macbook still electrocutes you when it's plugged in since the grounding is all fucked up. This is still a problem: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3969131 https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/macbook-pro-giving-me-e... https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/10545/is-it-bad-th...

More specifically, you're using the non-grounded plug rather than a grounded one. Since the laptop is metal, it passes it to you and to the ground instead of through the dedicated circuit.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#576

Post by fluffything »

Saaster wrote: post #505
fluffything wrote: post #371

What about the quality of the webcam? I need to do a lot of video conferencing nowadays, and the macbook air 2020 webcam is worse than the rear facing camera of a Nokia 3210.

It's still the exact same potato-cam in every model, from the Air to the $$$ MacBook Pro "16.

How do people WFH with their new $$$ macbooks ? Is there any external cam you would recommend ?

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#577

Post by electrum »

Heliosmaster wrote: post #333
gwd wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So now that I'm mostly working from home, I bought a Thunderbolt monitor, and the setup is actually pretty awesome. The montior has both USB-C and USB-A inputs. I've got a physical network cable plugged and my USB-A mechanical keyboard plugged into the monitor; and of course the monitor also acts as a charger for the laptop. Boom -- instant docking station: Plugging in a single standard cable gives me power, ethernet…

Which monitor?

I've used the Dell U3219Q for over a year for this purpose. Importantly, the monitor provides 90W of power, which is needed for the larger laptops, especially when running power intensive tasks. Most USB-C monitors do not provide enough power.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#578

Post by vkou »

EForEndeavour wrote: post #392
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…

I admire your resourcefulness and dedication, but it hurts me that people are resorting to literally cutting and pasting hardware workarounds just to recreate what had been a standard part of computer keyboards for decades until some highly paid, well-meaning design team decided to screw with it completely unnecessarily. Hey Apple laptop division, if you or your social-listening analysts are reading this: I hope the…

They didn't do it unnecessarilly, Apple's whole thing has been always shipping something different for the sake of being different. Sometimes it works fine, and sometimes it flops hard.

See - gems like the iMac hockey puck mice. I still wonder - who thought that was a good idea..?

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#579

Post by warent »

tw04 wrote: post #197
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…

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.

I don't understand why people hate the touch bar or the keyboard. It's imperfect yes but the entire MBP keyboard+trackpad layout enables me to be insanely productive. The only reason I don't buy something like a Mac Mini is because I can't get a peripheral keyboard that is the same as the one on the MBP. The only thing I wish it had was a number pad.

Maybe you're just not realizing its potential. I definitely recommend checking out some cool extensions to the touch bar such as Pock https://pock.dev/

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#580

Post by saagarjha »

philwelch wrote: post #409
qubex wrote: post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It really stuns me how “MacOS” doesn’t appear anywhere in the Pros (or the Cons). That’s literally the main discriminant between choosing an Apple machine over any other brand, and there’s no mention of it. By missing that main difference the comparison is reduced to pure comparison of commodities, and of course the result is that the Apple machine is ‘unjustifiably’ more expensive. The Apple ecosystem is literally w…

At this point macOS is just a different list of pros and cons all by itself.

Often a different list for each person.
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