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Seven years later, I bought a new MacBook. For the first time, I don't love it

cfenollosa.com

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Re: Seven years later, I bought a new MacBook. For the first time, I don't love it

#81
> By the way, not including the extension cord is unacceptable. This cord is not only a convenience, but it increases safety, because it's the only way to have earth grounding for the laptop. Without it, rubbing your fingers on the surface of the computer generates this weird vibration due to static.

.... THAT'S WHAT THAT IS?

I have wondered for _years_ why my laptop sometimes feels that way. Another mystery solved!

Re: Seven years later, I bought a new MacBook. For the first time, I don't love it

#82
This blog seems to be down.

Yeah I can't deal with the new keyboards myself. Especially the butterfly ones, but even the new redesigned ones are too thin for me. Edit: Lol, the page works again and the keyboard is the one thing he does like :) I can't imagine this but I did notice the new keyboards are highly polarising. Some people love them, some hate them (like me). I really love the keyboards on the thicker thinkpad laptops I use in work as well (I use many computers in work ;) )

In addition you now have to pay full price for upgrades as everything is soldered, and the platform is being dumbed down to the level of iPad Plus. I'm just not really interested anymore. I still use them for work (with external keyboard) but the attraction of a great strong POSIX compliant platform with a good user interface is long gone.

Re: Seven years later, I bought a new MacBook. For the first time, I don't love it

#83
post #81

> By the way, not including the extension cord is unacceptable. This cord is not only a convenience, but it increases safety, because it's the only way to have earth grounding for the laptop. Without it, rubbing your fingers on the surface of the computer generates this weird vibration due to static. .... THAT'S WHAT THAT IS? I have wondered for _years_ why my laptop sometimes feels that way. Another mystery solved!

It's not really static. It's actually induction of the transformer (probably to parts of its shielding) that can't be released to ground.

You can tell because it immediately disappears when you unplug it. Static electricity would take longer to build up. And generally will not build up in metal objects but rather in insulators.

Re: Seven years later, I bought a new MacBook. For the first time, I don't love it

#84
post #36
post #6

Wsl 2 is incredible. Got a 1000 dollars dell desktop and it is insanely faster than my Mac. Windows has improved a lot, and Linux based development on windows is a lot easier now. 5 years ago I would have quit a job if they asked me to use windows. Macos is still marginally better but not worth the cost IMHO.

Windows (the technology) is okay. Not good, but okay. Windows (the experience) degrades every day. Everything is slow even though the specs are good. Granted, corporate “additions” like O365 ATP don’t help and aren’t part of the core system. But many users have to bear with them nonetheless. And have you looked through the diagnostic data Windows sends? That cannot be turned off without hacks? They get live notificat…

Any pointers on where to start disabling all the telemetry for someone that was recently forced back to Windows?

Re: Seven years later, I bought a new MacBook. For the first time, I don't love it

#86
I completely agree with the author in that my 2013 MBA is the best laptop I've ever used. It's not my daily driver so I should be able to get quite a few more years of life out of it. And I also agree that for the brief period when macOS had Continuity but wasn't intolerably bad in other areas, it really was a magical experience. That's the one thing I really miss from going all Linux.

Re: Seven years later, I bought a new MacBook. For the first time, I don't love it

#87

I should note that most of this is rather subjective. It's a personal blog so that's totally fine, but I don't think it should sway you doing your own analysis. I've owned nearly every MBP release/bump since 2007 and the 16" MBP is by far the best IMHO and certainly a huge jump up from the 2016-2018 era disasters. Also as a touch typist, I was worried the huge trackpad might be an impediment, but it hasn't turned out…

Yup, owning the 16", I also have the same experience; the huge trackpad is fine. The blog writer bought the 13" though, maybe that is one part of his problem.

Ah, maybe! I tried a 13" once and gave it to an employee after a few weeks as it was infuriatingly small. If the 13" has the same trackpad size as the 16", that would probably be a real impediment.

Re: Seven years later, I bought a new MacBook. For the first time, I don't love it

#88
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+1 for WSL 2. I'm a huge advocate of it at work where people are very pro-Linux. I have noticed a few issues with it that don't make sense seeing as it's meant to have a full Linux Kernel (such as sockets not appearing) but that could be Ubuntu-20.04 being the one at fault to be fair :)

-1 for WSL. If I need Linux, it will be obviously native. Also WSL doesn't solve: * forced Windows updates when you don't need them * shitload of failed updates: bricked OS, deleted user data etc * stupid non-uninstallable game icons in start menu, a lot of vendor-forever-locked garbage like cortana & one drive * bad fs performance in general

There is a problem on Linux with some software not being available or not being as well tested. Despite all the problems with Windows this means that sometimes having it is helpful.

Re: Seven years later, I bought a new MacBook. For the first time, I don't love it

#89
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Changing music on Spotify doesn't work for me 80% of the time. Physical keyboard worked 100% of the time. I hate the touchpad greatly. 0 benefits to me but tons of annoyances. I keep touching random buttons I never intended. I cannot press the correct button without looking (used to put volume to really low in bed)

I don’t mean to belittle any issues you have, but > I cannot press the correct button without looking does this seem like a really really minor problem to anyone else? I can’t imagine using function keys often enough that this would actually become annoying.

With physical F-keys (correctly grouped in fours) it’s very easy to hit F5 for example, without looking.

(Yes, I use a Windows keyboard with my work Mac.)

Re: Seven years later, I bought a new MacBook. For the first time, I don't love it

#90
post #6

Wsl 2 is incredible. Got a 1000 dollars dell desktop and it is insanely faster than my Mac. Windows has improved a lot, and Linux based development on windows is a lot easier now. 5 years ago I would have quit a job if they asked me to use windows. Macos is still marginally better but not worth the cost IMHO.

Windows constantly spies on you, with no way to turn it off. This alone is a dealbreaker.
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