Introducing the next generation of Mac • Hacker News Board

Re: Introducing the next generation of Mac

#501

Post by EgoIncarnate » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 10:21 PM UTC

tiffanyh wrote: post #445

I don't understand the pricing of the MacBook Air vs the 13" Pro. The Air ($1249) vs 13" Pro ($1299), you get: - same CPU - same GPU - same Neural chip - same RAM (8gb) - More storage for the Air (512gb vs 256gb with 13" Pro) - You get Touch Bar with 13" Pro So if you don't care about the Touch Bar, you actually get with the Air: - better specs - smaller device footprint - and $50 cheaper. Am I missing something?

On the Air only 7 GPU cores (vs 8 on Pro). Also no active cooling, so likely lower max CPU performance under thermally limited conditions.

Re: Introducing the next generation of Mac

#502

Post by asdff » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 10:21 PM UTC

buu700 wrote: post #263

plorkyeran wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All of them? I use the function keys regularly and it's much harder to hit the correct one without looking at the keyboard with the touch bar.

This is such a bizarre unforced error. Why would they just arbitrarily remove a row of the keyboard? Taking it away and asking why I need it is like asking why I need right-click, pinch-to-zoom, or my left pinky finger. It makes no sense that we have to choose between fully featured input and active cooling. Either way, based on this announcement I'll probably hold off on upgrading for another generation. That'll lea…

Don't know why they didn't just add a screen to the blank function key width gap of bare aluminum between the keyboard and the hinge if they were looking to add some decoration to the keyboard. That would have been praised, instead it's been a pariah.

Re: Introducing the next generation of Mac

#503

Post by boogies » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 10:21 PM UTC

submeta wrote: post #479

AnonHP wrote: post #140

Apple mentioned in the event that these Macs will have hardware verified secure boot. Since I’m not very knowledgeable in this area, can someone explain (or even try to guess) what this would/could mean for running Linux on these? I use Macs way beyond Apple’s support timeframe with OS X/macOS, and Linux is the one that runs on some of the older Macs and provides adequate security and security related software update…

Oh Apple, why are you doing this, taking freedom from your customers. I don‘t want to use Windows, neither do I want to tinker with Ubuntu. But if you keep going that path, you are forcing your power users to think about migrating to platforms that respect users freedom to do whatever they want to do with their machines. After two years of using an otherwise beautiful iPad Pro (along with my MBP) I came to realize th…

> neither do I want to tinker with Ubuntu

You can get XPS Developer Edition, System76, Purism, or many other laptop brands (eg. any of these https://elementary.io/store/ with elementaryOS, whose DE should feel fairly familiar to a macOS user) with GNU preinstalled these days.

Re: Introducing the next generation of Mac

#504

Post by Semiapies » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 10:22 PM UTC

keyle wrote: post #456

tiffanyh wrote: post #425

Apple officially has dropped mentioning the CPU frequency for these new Macs (just like they don't mentioned it with iOS devices)

Yep we're 4X this and 3X that and here is a graph with a 2 curves and no scale, but it's a glowing line! Then the top model still ships with a Radeon mobile chip. So... your super duper M1 graphics, not so super duper.

And if you look at the tiny, tiny, dark-gray-on-black footnotes, they're making these comparisons with things like...the i3 Mac Minis. Not impressive.

Re: Introducing the next generation of Mac

#505

Post by asdff » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 10:22 PM UTC

mindajar wrote: post #481

bengale wrote: post #447

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What difference does having it closed make? I keep my on a stand but open just for slack really. It does make a hell of a racket when I’ve got a lot of containers running.

In clamshell mode it only has to drive one display, so it demands a lower baseline of memory, CPU, GPU, ...

Is the reality of the 4k era that if you want dual monitors and peformance that you have to go back to 1080p monitors? Looks like I'll be holding onto my $100 dell screens for a while yet.

Re: Introducing the next generation of Mac

#506

Post by snazz » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 10:22 PM UTC

robotmay wrote: post #493

shakow wrote: post #489

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is definitely an adequate base spec. What would the random MacBook user fill 16GB of RAM with?

Chrome?

I don’t do any tab-hoarding in Chrome (that’s the job of Safari on my machine), but I’m pretty sure that it will suspend tabs long before you run out of RAM. 8 GB is still plenty for web browsing.

Re: Introducing the next generation of Mac

#507

Post by russianbandit » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 10:23 PM UTC

obilgic wrote: post #497

tiffanyh wrote: post #445

I don't understand the pricing of the MacBook Air vs the 13" Pro. The Air ($1249) vs 13" Pro ($1299), you get: - same CPU - same GPU - same Neural chip - same RAM (8gb) - More storage for the Air (512gb vs 256gb with 13" Pro) - You get Touch Bar with 13" Pro So if you don't care about the Touch Bar, you actually get with the Air: - better specs - smaller device footprint - and $50 cheaper. Am I missing something?

I literally had to cancel orders after noticing this as well, was very confusing even for a developer. Also, what's the difference between the left and the right versions? just the storage? can't you configure the storage? why do they make it look like there are 2 different options.

For Air, the one on the right has one more GPU core too.

Re: Introducing the next generation of Mac

#508

Post by auggierose » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 10:23 PM UTC

foobiekr wrote: post #475

auggierose wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Think of it that way, you are getting a GPU with 16GB Ram. How much do those cost again?

Just because the memory is unified does not mean the GPU can address all of it.

I think that is pretty much what unified means, unless you know that for some reason it can address only 8GB of it or something like that?

Re: Introducing the next generation of Mac

#509

Post by gnicholas » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 10:23 PM UTC

yoz-y wrote: post #409

callamdelaney wrote: post #150

I'll be sticking with my 2015 Macbook Pro Retina 13". Great machine, not too thin, heavy enough, no stupid touch screen, usb ports, great keyboard. Everything apple has done since hasn't compared.

The only bad thing about the current 16" is the Touch Bar. There is a lot to like about the rest though.

For those of us who are trying to stay on Mojave (or older), being forced to use the current OS is also a downside.

Re: Introducing the next generation of Mac

#510

Post by stjohnswarts » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 10:24 PM UTC

crazygringo wrote: post #87

regulation_d wrote: post #46

Did I miss something, or are they, once again, not upgrading the camera? The low light performance of the current version is real bad. Since we're all using these cameras way more, I really thought there would a hardware bump. You can only squeeze so much detail out of an under-exposed, noisy image with software.

I'm curious, are higher-quality cameras even available that fit into the thin lid? (At a reasonable price?) I was always under the impression that the built-in camera is so much worse than your phone's front-facing camera simply because the phone is thick and has room, while the MacBook lid is much thinner.

Considering how good they are at iphone cameras there is absolutely no reason to have a poor camera nowaday in the laptop. They know how to make cameras that fit in tight places. They're just being lazy/cheap