New 13-inch MacBook Pro • Hacker News Board

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#721

Post by RussianCow » Mon, May 04, 2020, 7:02 PM UTC

rconti wrote: post #717

Very interesting. I had assumed I'd buy a 13" Pro as a personal laptop replacement for my 2011 Air when they updated the keyboard. However, when the 2020 Air dropped, I snapped one up because it ticked all the boxes, and I really don't need the "power" of the Pro, especially given its presumed expense. I bought a loaded Air with 512gb which was I think $1650. Speccing out the Pro, the pricepoint for a similar machine…

> it's interesting how much faster the RAM on the Air is

Isn't that just the difference between DDR4 and DDR3?

Edit: Yes, I just confirmed that the last generation of MacBook Pros used DDR3 memory, whereas these new ones will use DDR4, so that's why there is such a big difference in speed. The new ones run at 3733MHz.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#722

Post by TheRealPomax » Mon, May 04, 2020, 7:03 PM UTC

dkonofalski wrote: post #641

MaintenanceMode wrote: post #632

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…

Or, you know, literally any app where `esc` is the "cancel and exit this dialog" key. Which is every Adobe application, all DAWs, etc. etc.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#723

Post by [deleted] » Mon, May 04, 2020, 7:03 PM UTC

fnord123 wrote: post #645

saagarjha wrote: post #575

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

>More specifically, you're using the non-grounded plug rather than a grounded one Yes, the one that comes with extremely expensive European 2019 16" Macbook Pro is not grounded. I'm not sure they sell the grounded lead anymore. But maybe I should charge my work macbook with my personal xps 13 charger which is grounded (yay usb-c!)

[deleted]

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#724

Post by rozab » Mon, May 04, 2020, 7:03 PM UTC

dkonofalski wrote: post #641

MaintenanceMode wrote: post #632

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…

On the contrary, I'd say the ESC key is even more important to normal consumers than programmers compared to, say, the backtick key. I mostly use it for coming out of fullscreen for youtube, netflix etc and I'm sure most consumers don't even know what a backtick is.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#725

Post by ppeetteerr » Mon, May 04, 2020, 7:05 PM UTC

js2 wrote: post #527

tw04 wrote: 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.

> in theory someday I'll have one cable to rule them all I predict a future with USB-D that's incompatible with USB-C and on and on...

Everything is going wireless. There are still some items that require plugging in but headphones, keyboards and mice, even hard drives, are all going wireless.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#726

Post by miguelbemartin » Mon, May 04, 2020, 7:06 PM UTC

I am surprised to don't see so much difference between the 13" and 16" prices. Other than that, good movement from Apple, listening to what the people wanted.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#727

Post by lukifer » Mon, May 04, 2020, 7:06 PM UTC

patrickserrano wrote: post #677

lukifer wrote: post #508

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+1 to TouchBar hate. It was a major factor in "upgrading" my personal machine to a 2020 Air, which is the best (least-worst?) of all worlds: Touch ID + F-keys. Luckily the size/performance tradeoff works for me; but anyone who needs the fastest Mac portable is boned. My work machine is the new 16" MBP, and while the new keyboard is the best they've ever made, and the return of Esc is welcome, the goddamn TouchBar sti…

The UX for volume and brightness on the touchbar isn't as intuitive as I'd expect from Apple, but you can press and slide to adjust them. Took me a few weeks to realize I didn't have to tap the volume or brightness button and then adjust using the up or down buttons.

Yes, that helps, but I still have to take a beat and look down, as opposed to muscle-memory and not even thinking about it.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#728

Post by lukifer » Mon, May 04, 2020, 7:09 PM UTC

hilti wrote: post #586

lukifer wrote: post #508

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+1 to TouchBar hate. It was a major factor in "upgrading" my personal machine to a 2020 Air, which is the best (least-worst?) of all worlds: Touch ID + F-keys. Luckily the size/performance tradeoff works for me; but anyone who needs the fastest Mac portable is boned. My work machine is the new 16" MBP, and while the new keyboard is the best they've ever made, and the return of Esc is welcome, the goddamn TouchBar sti…

It's easy to change this behaviour Open the System Preferences app. Select the Keyboard option (third row, sixth item) On the first tab (also called Keyboard), locate the dropdown for "Touch Bar shows" and choose "Expanded Control Strip".

While I'd still prefer keys, this is quite helpful, thanks for sharing!

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#729

Post by jmull » Mon, May 04, 2020, 7:09 PM UTC

AdamCraven wrote: post #347

jmull wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It probably actually costs them money, when all is done, to take that machine and get rid of it in a reasonably responsible way.

Perhaps, but it reduces the size of the secondary market so consumers have less choice and may opt for a new one instead. This is the real advantage to Apple.

There's no meaningful competition between new Apple products and ten-year-old Apple products.

But if you want to talk about much newer machines, Apple doesn't offer good trade-in prices, so it still doesn't look like they are trying to beat out the secondary market.

I think it's pretty clear the trade-in offers are a convenience they can provide more than anything.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#730

Post by everdrive » Mon, May 04, 2020, 7:13 PM UTC

qubex wrote: post #345

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…

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…

MacOS has really stagnated over the years. I first started using it back in 2004, where its main competitor was pre-SP2 Windows XP. At that time you could really call MacOS advanced. At this point, it's sort of a wash. Windows does things better, Mac does other things better, and it mostly comes down to preference.

The old argument about security is mostly a wash now as well. (whereas with pre-SP2 Windows XP vs. OSX 10.4, you could legitimately claim that OSX was more secure.)