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

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

#521

Post by mehrdadn »

modernerd wrote: post #430
mehrdadn wrote: post #363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems to have been specifically designed for developers who enjoy a difficult UX because anything not up to that standard that is childish to them, which in my experience is the same thing Linux tools optimize for. I guess Windows has been very much trying to cater to that sector, so maybe now I can understand its appeal.

The main advantages of config as JSON for me as a developer are: - Settings become more portable. - Settings become more shareable. That said, VS Code started with JSONC-based configs and now presents a UI by default (still editable directly as JSONC for those who prefer). It seems possible JSONC could be used to bootstrap a UI for Windows Terminal too if there's demand.

The fact that it's JSON rather than a nice little window isn't the main issue. That's not great UI, but it's not the biggest pain point of the UX. For comparison, Sublime uses JSON settings too, but it doesn't require a PhD in Sublime Text to figure out what you can actually configure in that file. I seem to recall VSCode had JSON at some point for some things too (though not sure where it is now, I don't see it). It wasn't exactly fantastic, which I assume is why they've provided a better UI for the settings now, but it was usable. They actually described the options available to you right there. And of course they have their own benefits with regards to portability and shareability like you said. Those are all fine. The problem is Windows Terminal on the other hand seems to go out of its way to make your life hard for no reason, in a manner I have never seen another terminal emulator do. For the life of me I don't get what people like about it. It seems terrible on every axis I can measure on.

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

#522

Post by niemenmaa »

Quite many people are unhappy with their newer Macbook experiences! Sad to see the quality drop in Apple products.

I'll add mine to the list:

My 2012 MacBook Air has been my favourite laptop I used it for five years and my parents two after that. One of the best 700 hundred euros (student discount) I've spent. Then for my work I got previously used ~2014 MBP it worked well. Solid "Apple quality". Then I got an "upgrade" (i think it was 2018 MBP) and it was the most unpleasant experience I have yet to have with computers. Luckily I didn't have to pay for it, but still - so many problems that are unacceptable for any laptop. It really got me out of the Apple fanboy train.

- Keyboard didn't work if the computer got too hot (which it did) - Some buttons didn't properly as dust or some particles got under them - Same problems with the trackpad than the article writer - Don't even get me started with the touchbar (why?!) - Battery life disappointed as I was expecting it to atleast compare with the 2020 Air's (of course my expectations might have been the problem here) - If external monitors were hooked up and you woke up the laptop there as 25% that it froze completely and you had to reboot

The laptop got sent to maintenance - they dusted the keyboard but other problems persisted. After one year of that pain I went back to studying and bought used Thinkpad X220 and installed Arch. That is now my favourite computer!

Last month I bought XPS 13 for programming since x220's CPU doesn't support virtualization. It runs manjaro and is like 2014 MBP was - does the job really well. After finally going full into Linux world I wonder if I'll ever come back.

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

#523

Post by PostThisTooFast »

Lio wrote: post #511
karatestomp wrote: post #404

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't get why they didn't do a transitional design for a few years. Replace the Thunderbolt ports with USB-C but leave the rest the same. It takes me probably damn near a decade to cycle even half my peripherals to a new interface, and I bet that's closer to the norm than people going out and replacing 100% of their stuff with USB-C and Bluetooth within a year, so going to using a port that I had not even actually…

What kills me is that Apple are still so random about ports themselves. They could have replaced the USB-A to Lighting cable and charger they ship with iPhones for USB-C to Lightning years ago. (Personally I’d like to see Lightning replaced too but that’s a different story).

I don't mind them going all-out on USB-C, but yes, then why are brand-new iOS devices still coming with Lightning-to-USB-A cables?

Then they put USB-C on ONE iPad, and leave shitty Lightning ports on everything else.

Oh, and then there's the fact that the USB-C ports are so defectively close together on MacBooks that you often can't plug two things in next to each other... certainly not with the adapters you typically still need.

This kind of blunder stands as Jony Ive's legacy.

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

#524

Post by jki275 »

cannam wrote: post #459
Nextgrid wrote: post #424

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'd probably find a more authoritative source and better documentation by searching, but here's my understanding of it: USB-C can be used with alternate modes like DisplayPort or Thunderbolt, where the wires are no longer transmitting USB data but are used as a dumb pipe for the underlying protocol. If you get a hub it can choose to either operate in the following conditions (depending on its type and capabilities)…

Oh that's interesting. That might be an extra reason why devices are still preferentially coming with USB3 type A plugs on the other end - it's actually more flexible that way? I am in fact plugging both of my new USB-C devices into a USB3 hub, and had no idea I wouldn't have been able to do the same with USB-C cables and hub. (I assume you can still have a USB3 hub with type A sockets on it, plugged in to a USB-C po…

Usb 3 hubs with a USB-C upstream certainly exist, all the docks out there are functionally that, and there are also dedicated hubs as well.

Here’s the one i use:

Anker USB C Hub, Aluminum USB C Adapter with 4 USB 3.0 Ports, for MacBook Pro 2018/2017, ChromeBook, XPS, Galaxy S9/S8, and More https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DFYQXY7

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

#525

Post by tim333 »

rednum wrote: post #217

I did switch from 2012 Macbook Air to 2019 Macbook Pro a few weeks ago and I can't agree more with the article. One of the reasons I'm using Mac instead of Linux is that I make music. And the new Macbook sucks for this purpose: the same recording settings I used on my old laptop are not usable on the new one. 90% of time things work fine, but sometimes I get glitches and pops in the middle of the recording. Why? Who…

Thanks for the update - typed from my 2013 air with 32 bit ok os(10.13). Think I'll hold on.

One fun benefit of 2013 tech is you can by a bunch and give them to your friends for the same price as a 2020 model. I've now bought 4 and given away 3. It's good that they are reliable - many other laptops don't really last 7 years.

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

#526

Post by gassiss »

horsawlarway wrote: post #211
alpaca128 wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I completely agree. Also the automatic updates which potentially just close an open session including unsaved files is not something that helps trust. Windows has become less transparent and much more controlling, actively ignoring or overriding user preferences, and I don't know why I should use a software like that, not to mention pay for the "privilege" of being messed with.

I run Arch for most of my dev work so maybe I'm just missing it, but I do a fair bit of dev/testing on windows machines and I don't EVER have this happen. Like - Literally never in the past two years have I lost work due to auto updates.

It definitely got a lot better over the years, but it still happens sometimes. I don't know the criteria, but it is basically having some update pending install.

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

#527

Post by Enginerrrd »

fxleach wrote: post #341
blunte wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope you like high heat, high fan noise, and thermal throttling issues (common XPS issues that myself and others have experienced). I hope you also like random Wifi failures, random freeze-the-world-while-some-app-is-having-a-network-timeout issues. macOS is getting worse, no doubt. But Windows still has multiple unacceptable problems (ungodly slow unzipping, still!, random heavy lag or freezing, surprise 30 minute…

Being a lifelong Windows users I am always baffled at comments such as these because I have never experienced any of those issues except for maybe the Windows update happening for a couple minutes when I shut down. I'm no gamer, but I am usually cramming my computers with high CPU IDEs, VMs, crypto mining software, and anything else I can fart around with. Am I doing it wrong? How can I have this terrible experience?

I've generally had your experience but I've had a few instances where third parties failed to play nice. HP puts weird bloatware and recovery partitions that do some naughty things in their laptops. I had one relatively recent hp workstation laptop that HP messed up so bad it wouldn't update. I just run Arch on it now.

In general though, I've not had those kind of hardware/driver issues ever.

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

#528

Post by humbfool2 »

rbanffy wrote: post #119
humbfool2 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I moved to Windows after 5 years of Mac this month. Because I knew I will be working from home, decided to build a good workstation (Thank you Ryzen ) and I Couldn't agree more WSL is very helpful for people who like windows UI and functionalities of Linux. There are few quirks but it works great.

My Linux setup is usually like this, but inside out. When I need Windows functions (which is not often), I fire up a VM (either with VirtualBox or KVM). WSL makes Windows useful for Linux development (my software will run on Linux, not Windows), but the rest of Windows is usually a bit of a pain. I usually find the text less readable on Windows than it's on Linux or a Mac. Not sure it's an issue with Edge, my monitor…

This is true. I have found text not so "crisp" and readable on windows compared to MAC. I have an LG Ultrawide monitor and used both Mac and Windows with it, there is a difference in the sharpness.

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

#530

Post by happymellon »

ploxiln wrote: post #412
rednum wrote: post #217

I did switch from 2012 Macbook Air to 2019 Macbook Pro a few weeks ago and I can't agree more with the article. One of the reasons I'm using Mac instead of Linux is that I make music. And the new Macbook sucks for this purpose: the same recording settings I used on my old laptop are not usable on the new one. 90% of time things work fine, but sometimes I get glitches and pops in the middle of the recording. Why? Who…

I've seen reports of pops/crackles in digital audio mixing/synthesis applications being fixed by disabling hyperthreading. This makes some sense if hyperthreading can sometimes cause extra latency for some threads to get real CPU work done, which is hard for the OS to strictly control. There have been a few different ways to disable hyperthreading on macbooks over the years, but recently Apple offers a good way (to m…

I can get pops and crackles in Spotify.

It isn't hyperthreading, which has never been an issue before, on any platform. The audio subsystem has been fucked up in some way.

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