Live data from Hacker News

New 13-inch MacBook Pro

apple.com

681–690 of 1001 posts

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#681

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm still surprised that so many people are stuck on the Escape key but it's probably no surprise that the ones that are stuck are all developers using vi or emacs. I love the Touch Bar and had no problem adjusting/remapping and find the utility of the Touch Bar for video and audio editing to be invaluable now. I wasn't sold on it before but, over the last year or so, I'll be really disappointed if they remove it. Ad…

I personally use Vi and so do others I hear from (as in HN) but other than that it would probably never come up as an issue. For the record, you can remap Caps lock to Esc which is as good, if not better than escape. I use this on my iPad and other keyboards as well (even with the esc key)

I think one of the main points is that you shouldn't have to.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#682
post #654

Bringing back the escape key is such a admission of their original screw up. I'm glad they admitted it and reversed the design decision. But I'm still on a 2012 15" MacBook that's running strong. I normally would have updated but using my work 15" has been horrific between the dongles, the keyboard randomly dropping keys (last week "G" would not work, now it's back. The most infuriating thing about the touch bar, out…

In macOS Keyboard Settings Remap CapsLock -> Esc Changed my life.

As a VIM guy myself, this was huge. I never felt like I was missing out having done this.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#683

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It probably can, although some tinkering is involved. https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/guide-high-sierra-on-hp-s... https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/8xznw4/how-to-make-a-hack... But yeah... not easily enough that many consumers would consider doing it over directly buying a mac.

There is a legal aspect too. How long Apple will allow/tolerate this?

I don't think they allow it necessarily. They have explicit licensing terms which say that MacOS can only be installed and used on Apple hardware.

How long they tolerate it is another question, and I don't think anyone knows for sure. But if hackintoshing becomes easier (imagine a one click installer on a Dell/HP/ASUS PC), I'd imagine they'd start pursuing people.

I think there was also an individual/company that would build PCs, install MacOS, and sell them for a profit. IIRC, they were shut down.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#684
post #654

Bringing back the escape key is such a admission of their original screw up. I'm glad they admitted it and reversed the design decision. But I'm still on a 2012 15" MacBook that's running strong. I normally would have updated but using my work 15" has been horrific between the dongles, the keyboard randomly dropping keys (last week "G" would not work, now it's back. The most infuriating thing about the touch bar, out…

In macOS Keyboard Settings Remap CapsLock -> Esc Changed my life.

Even better, hyper key: https://brettterpstra.com/2017/06/15/a-hyper-key-with-karabi...

(Functions as ESC if pressed alone, otherwise acts as hyper key which is great to use for keyboard shortcuts)

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#685
post #197

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 decided to become an early adopter of "USB-C for everything" in ~2017 and do not regret it. Between my laptops (work + personal), tablet, phone, VR, game console, headphones it is really nice to have a single 65w wall wart and a single cable that works for everything and only need to bring one charger.

The one holdout still is an e-ink e-reader, the Kindle Oasis's top review is a one-star review talking about lack of USB-C.

I might switch to an apple-based consumer tablet when they put USB-C on them. The pro tablet models already have USB-C but I don't need that kind of power.

USB-C is really nice. There are some complaints about cables but if you buy brand name cables (anker, cable matters, etc) they seem to last forever and don't have the problems the tech blogs speculate about.

I think twice in five years am I glad I had the magsafe adapter but I'm happy to live without it to avoid carting around a proprietary charger all the time. We lost my wife's magsafe charger while traveling and found out that those cannot be bought for any price when in rural areas, especially outside of first-world countries. Every town has a shop that sells/services USB-C phones/tablets/laptops though.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#686

Bringing back the escape key is such a admission of their original screw up. I'm glad they admitted it and reversed the design decision. But I'm still on a 2012 15" MacBook that's running strong. I normally would have updated but using my work 15" has been horrific between the dongles, the keyboard randomly dropping keys (last week "G" would not work, now it's back. The most infuriating thing about the touch bar, out…

I'm still surprised that so many people are stuck on the Escape key but it's probably no surprise that the ones that are stuck are all developers using vi or emacs. I love the Touch Bar and had no problem adjusting/remapping and find the utility of the Touch Bar for video and audio editing to be invaluable now. I wasn't sold on it before but, over the last year or so, I'll be really disappointed if they remove it. Ad…

The problem is most heavy computer users set themselves up with a proper ergonomic setup, i.e. external keyboard. And by not building the touch bar into external keyboards, they killed the entire concept of the Touch Bar, because any "pro" application has to assume that you may or may not have a touch bar and can't put essential functionality there. Which limits the Touch Bar to proper first-class support primarily in Apple first-party apps.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#687

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally use Vi and so do others I hear from (as in HN) but other than that it would probably never come up as an issue. For the record, you can remap Caps lock to Esc which is as good, if not better than escape. I use this on my iPad and other keyboards as well (even with the esc key)

A bit tricky when I have Caps Lock remapped to Control, like any self-respecting emacs user!

Do both!

You can use karabiner elements to remap CAPS LOCK so that it’s ESCAPE when tapped and CONTROL when held.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#688
post #498

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's completely clear. You can read the RAM and CPU specs right there on the website. Hardly anyone cares how many fans their laptop has.

No, there is nothing clear about marketing a brand new laptop with a 3-year old CPU alongside a current-gen one under the same name. It's exactly as the parent comment said, they may as well be two completely different models of computer.

I really think you're off base here. Apple list the different models together with their specs (including the generation of the CPU). Are you saying that they have to make them look different because they have different internals? For most users the experience of using any of these models would be exactly the same.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#689
Anyone have any insight into why they might not have included "Wi-Fi 6" aka 802.11ax? I was under the impression that it's current get now even if there's not a lot of support yet.

Are we still lacking good chipsets with support?

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#690

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Useful figures, so thanks for providing those. It's been a few months since I last looked into the latest prices. I agree with you that it's still worth it. However, I feel that without comparing the OS and tight OS integration, this doesn't represent one of the most important aspects of a comparison between the two, when considering a purchase. I go through this same loop every time I buy a new machine... yes, usual…

I've had very good experiences with Linux on my laptop. Definitely more stable than windows, literally never had to fiddle with kernel modules or any sort of hardware support. Battery life is actually better than in windows. You have to be a bit careful with the hardware, especially non Intel wifi/Bluetooth seems not well supported. And Nvidia graphics are a bit risky, but of the alternative is a MacBook that shouldn…

I've heard this a lot over the years, but it's never held up to scrutiny.

Usually there's a lot of manual config, driver issues, shitty hardware support, screen resolution issues, bad battery life, laptop suspend issues, terrible trackpad support, connecting to external monitor issues, etc.

I've had the best luck with Thinkpads and I still like Linux and have fun with this kind of thing, but it's not even close to macOS and I don't think it's really close to Windows either.

Post reply on HN