New 13-inch MacBook Pro • Hacker News Board

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#851

Post by marcus_holmes » Mon, May 04, 2020, 9:44 PM UTC

lighthammer wrote: post #618

marcus_holmes wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I switched from Mac to Linux a few years back, haven't regretted it for a second (well, there were a few seconds in there that were touch-and-go). I now run a tiling window manager (i3wm) on a Debian distro (PureOS, came with the laptop) and I'm enjoying it immensely. I still use an external Apple keyboard (a magic keyboard from 2015 - y'know, when they were good hehe). The trackpad has never been quite up to the Mac…

Which laptop or desktop hardware are you using for your Linux setup.

After the Mac I bought a Dell XPS 15, which ran Linux fine but I had issues with the dual-boot and GRUB setup - I could probably have fixed them, but meh.

I then bought a Purism 13, which has been awesome (apart from a niggling problem with the space bar). Having a laptop designed from the ground up to be open, maintainable, and running Linux is an amazing experience. I had a problem with the screen on this one and tech support said "open up the back of the case and have a look to see if anything looks odd". I had more or less the exact same issue with the MBP and had to do without my laptop for a week while they replaced the screen.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#852

Post by makecheck » Mon, May 04, 2020, 9:50 PM UTC

hilti wrote: post #584

dkdbejwi383 wrote: post #473

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. It's the worst. I constantly hit mute instesd of backspace. Changing the volume or brightness is a complete pain now. It used to be just tap…

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".

There are problems with that, too:

- Their “Customize Control Strip” sheet provides an arbitrary subset of volume buttons, which don’t include the ones I want. (Specifically, separate volume buttons and not “button that shows slider first”.)

- Previously I was very accustomed to feeling for the volume buttons, and even using modifier keys for very fine-grained volume changes. With default Touch Bar keys, this is basically impossible. It is sort-of-OK with BetterTouchTool customization but it took me awhile to find a combination that I liked. And, still not as good as the original volume/modifier keys.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#853

Post by zeku » Mon, May 04, 2020, 9:51 PM UTC

geophile wrote: post #415

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…

Apple has lost me as a customer for their computers. The software has been getting flakier for years, the butterfly fiasco, and their inexplicable decision to continue shipping laptops missing 15% of the keyboard. I'm on a System 76 Darter Pro now. Pop OS has been fantastic. Great specs for the money, and while it certainly isn't Mac-level hardware, it's fine. At this point, the Darter has a far superior keyboard, ev…

Apple still has me as a customer, when it comes to work solutions. I have to use windows at home for gaming, no way around it.

MacOS vs Windows 10 is a MUCH lesser difference than MacOS vs Windows 8 and below. If Apple doesn't put more focus into their computers over the next 5 years the tide may truly turn.

Also before someone mentions Linux, I really love linux. I used linux out of NEED in college but I find myself maintaining it too much for it to be worth it vs MacOS when it comes to work. I have access to linux servers for running most of my code anyway so perhaps I'm a special user.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#854

Post by makecheck » Mon, May 04, 2020, 9:52 PM UTC

JadeNB wrote: post #603

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…

> Despite customizing the bar with BetterTouchTool, including “vibrate” feedback, I invariably found I had to remove more and more things from the bar over time. Any functions in the central part of the bar were invariably triggering by accident. It was just too distracting to have things randomly happening when my finger slid onto something that doesn’t feel like an active panel. Is there any way to disable the fixe…

BetterTouchTool can remove the “esc” (or any key) entirely but I don’t think there is a normal macOS way to do it.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#855

Post by weaksauce » Mon, May 04, 2020, 9:52 PM UTC

liamdiprose wrote: post #841

chrischen wrote: post #745

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Real Vi/emac users don’t use the esc key. It’s way too far frome home row.

Mapping the sequence 'jk' to Esc supercharged vim for me. Faster, but also helps me stay in the flow longer. Run `:inoremap jk ` to try it out.

add in kj too and you can just press both keys at the same time and it will work like it was just one key press. the added benefit is that it's basically a no-op from the standpoint of vim too just in case you were already in normal mode.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#856

Post by ravedave5 » Mon, May 04, 2020, 9:53 PM UTC

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…

MY 6 month old mac is loosing the ink off the letters, at this point I can barely read "A". My 2015 model they keyboard is still in perfect shape. ALSO one of the things I hate about this new keyboard is its SUPER noisy on voice calls.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#857

Post by prewett » Mon, May 04, 2020, 9:54 PM UTC

molszanski wrote: post #756

cletus wrote: post #631

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> USB-C was all about standardizing. USB-C is all about having a thinner connector and giving the appearance of standardizing. Previously if the cable fit, it worked. There were just a bunch of different cables but that had largely settled down to USB-A cables to like 2 maybe 3 connectors on the other end. Now we have cables that have the same connector on each end but do vastly different things and there's no clue a…

USB-C is shit. Apple lightning physical connector is still lightyears ahead in reliability, maintenance (dust) and physical size. USB-3 standard is even a bigger mess. This whole USB 3.2 Gen 2 x 2 is the biggest clusterfuck in the history of naming things.

Somewhere I read that USB-C's cable design was informed by Apple's experience with thee lightning connector. In particular, one of the changes is that the lightning connector has the springs on the hardware side, which means that if the springs break, you have a major headache. USB-C puts the springs in the connector, so if the springs break, you just buy a new cable. That seems like a pretty big improvement, to me.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#858

Post by deergomoo » Mon, May 04, 2020, 9:55 PM UTC

calaphos wrote: post #597

mr_custard wrote: post #382

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…

My issue with desktop/laptop Linux has always been the quality of the GUI-based software.

While I appreciate that people put in tons of time and effort to make these things available for free, I’d rather pay for something better, and on Linux I usually can’t.

As an example, our dev machines at the office run Linux, and it’s a great platform for the majority of the work we do. But I have to keep a Windows VM around for Office, because I can’t trust that LibreOffice isn’t going to completely mangle a file that I need to send to a client.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#859

Post by makecheck » Mon, May 04, 2020, 9:55 PM UTC

mirkules wrote: post #675

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…

You mentioned the volume/brightness sliders as being imprecise. I don’t have a MBP, but I noticed that touchscreen sliders are really difficult to use accurately. Whenever I slide to a value I wanted, lifting my finger inevitably moves the slider over just a little bit selecting an adjacent value (just by virtue of my finger not being lifted straight up). Is this the issue?

I’m sure I have had sliders mishave like that, too. Mostly I just don’t want a slider in the first place; I prefer feeling for the volume up/down keys and tweaking the volume bit by bit, sometimes using modifier keys for extra precision. It is incredibly easy to input “slightly louder” in the old way. It is unnecessarily hard to input “slightly louder” with a wonky touch slider. And, at times I have blown up the speaker by touching it the wrong way.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#860

Post by pier25 » Mon, May 04, 2020, 9:57 PM UTC

gnicholas wrote: post #846

pier25 wrote: post #642

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wanted one because on paper it looked great for my needs. But it turns out the CPU has passive cooling and the case fan needs to work very hard to keep it cool. At least the i5 model which is the one I was considering. I don't know about the i3.

Do you know where to find out more about this? I like that the fan practically never spins up on my 2017 MBP, but of course the keyboard is garbage. I'm not a dev so perhaps I could get by with a lesser processor, but I wouldn't want to go to the trouble of swapping to get something that is actually slower than my current machine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSgi2deRivc

> At around 30% CPU load (installation of OS updates), the fan is clearly audible and we are already above 40 dB(A), which is hard to understand considering the low performance level.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/The-new-2020-MacBook-Air-Core-...