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Apple MacBook Pro with M1 Review

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Re: Apple MacBook Pro with M1 Review

#71

Post by marfan »

gootdude wrote: post #41
freehunter wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can get the function keys with the Air, which has the same internals as this Pro.

The air is missing the active cooling. The next upgrade that puts apple chip in the 4 port pro would be the ideal version to purchase without a Touch Bar impacting usability and battery life.

>The air is missing the active cooling.

You say this like it's a negative thing. For me, personally, computer fan noise is uniquely aggravating. I wanted to buy the 2015 Macbook specifically because it was fanless, but decided against it because a x86 CPU trying to run in that fanless form factor essentially made it a $1K netbook. Now that we're seeing the M1 MacBook Air rival the 16-inch MacBook Pro from last year in an extended CineBench test (even through Rosetta!), it's a different story entirely.

I'm not saying active cooling doesn't help, obviously the Air is going to thermal throttle in cases the Pro wouldn't. But I am saying that the new chipset needs active cooling a lot less than the old one did; not just cause it's RISC vs CISC but its also 'cause it's TSMC's 5nm process vs Intel's 14nm one.

Also, I'd give up on the hope that they'd get rid of their stupid meme bar on the Pro. They seem committed to it.

Re: Apple MacBook Pro with M1 Review

#72

Post by Goosee »

dr_dshiv wrote: post #62

In looking for another device to supplement a macbook pro, an ipad with magic keyboard or macbook air?

If you currently have an intel based mbp, choose the m1 mba if you think the m1 might replace the mbp in the future (i.e. same performance in more portable form factor)

Otherwise get the ipad with keyboard & pencil if it's just a 'supplement'. Pencil provides a whole new layer of input possibilities. If you read a lot of PDF documents, ipad is also really nice.

Re: Apple MacBook Pro with M1 Review

#74

Post by wlesieutre »

woah wrote: post #31
zepto wrote: post #26

“Apple’s insistence that reaching up to touch a laptop screen is too burdensome is just getting silly, especially when that is not a problem on the iPad and across the universe of Windows laptops, and most especially when these laptops can run iPhone and iPad apps natively.“ In a way Nilay is right - ultimately it makes no sense not to allow touch interaction. However Apple is also right in a different way. If apps a…

I’ve used windows laptops with touchscreens a lot and never really used the touchscreen. There doesn’t seem to be a point.

I used to have a Surface, and when I was using it with the keyboard the most common thing I'd do on the touchscreen was scrolling. You can extend your arm out and rest your wrist off to the side, which puts your thumb in a nice spot to reach an inch or two at the bottom of the screen.

I used pinch to zoom on the web as well. It's just nicer than weird key combos like ctrl-wheel, and your average user doesn't even know that exists. But I bet they know about pinch to zoom.

Re: Apple MacBook Pro with M1 Review

#75

Post by bfgoodrich »

woah wrote: post #31
zepto wrote: post #26

“Apple’s insistence that reaching up to touch a laptop screen is too burdensome is just getting silly, especially when that is not a problem on the iPad and across the universe of Windows laptops, and most especially when these laptops can run iPhone and iPad apps natively.“ In a way Nilay is right - ultimately it makes no sense not to allow touch interaction. However Apple is also right in a different way. If apps a…

I’ve used windows laptops with touchscreens a lot and never really used the touchscreen. There doesn’t seem to be a point.

I have a Yoga 720 with a touchscreen and honestly the only time I use the touch is inadvertently when I'm wiping a piece of dust or the like off the screen. Every time it is a bit of a shock.

The form just doesn't conduce itself to touch. As someone earlier said, even if Apple does eventually add touch, they need to figure out the collision with iOS to allow functional use without requiring it.

Re: Apple MacBook Pro with M1 Review

#76

Post by Mishkun »

_zachs wrote: post #24

Once they remove the touch bar and add back normal function keys I'll switch back from my ThinkPad to a Macbook Pro.

Just install Karabiner-Elements and make your digit keys turn into function keys with a press of a fn button. Easy to touch type and space-efficient

Re: Apple MacBook Pro with M1 Review

#77

Post by cptskippy »

pembrook wrote: post #37
zepto wrote: post #26

“Apple’s insistence that reaching up to touch a laptop screen is too burdensome is just getting silly, especially when that is not a problem on the iPad and across the universe of Windows laptops, and most especially when these laptops can run iPhone and iPad apps natively.“ In a way Nilay is right - ultimately it makes no sense not to allow touch interaction. However Apple is also right in a different way. If apps a…

Not only is most desktop software not well suited to touch interactions, touchscreens on laptops are also an ergonomic nightmare. Try reaching your hand up to touch your monitor and hold it there for a minute. Now try pretending you’ll do this for an 8 hour workday. It’s a useless feature in search of a use-case.

You're envisioning using a touchscreen device much like you'd use your smartphone which is flawed to say the least. Having used a touchscreen laptop for the last 6+ years, I assure you there's a place for touch in laptops. The arguments against touch on a laptop are much like arguing against any other peripheral used.

> Try reaching your hand up to touch your monitor and hold it there for a minute. Now try pretending you’ll do this for an 8 hour workday.

This is asinine and you know it. That's akin to arguing that we shouldn't use mice or touchpads by saying "just try typing with an onscreen keyboard all day using point and click."

Re: Apple MacBook Pro with M1 Review

#78

Post by freehunter »

marfan wrote: post #71
gootdude wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The air is missing the active cooling. The next upgrade that puts apple chip in the 4 port pro would be the ideal version to purchase without a Touch Bar impacting usability and battery life.

>The air is missing the active cooling. You say this like it's a negative thing. For me, personally, computer fan noise is uniquely aggravating. I wanted to buy the 2015 Macbook specifically because it was fanless, but decided against it because a x86 CPU trying to run in that fanless form factor essentially made it a $1K netbook. Now that we're seeing the M1 MacBook Air rival the 16-inch MacBook Pro from last year i…

>They seem committed to it.

I'm actually not sure about that. Did the MacBook Air ever have a Touch Bar? It seems like this particular MBP has one mostly because they used the exact same case and keyboard and screen and webcam and ports and etc from the previous MBP. Every review I've seen says other than the processor, it's exactly the same.

So there's a chance that this MBP has a Touch Bar merely because the previous one had it and they did not change the case for the M1, which would mean they could still make the change whenever they come out with a new case.

Re: Apple MacBook Pro with M1 Review

#79

Post by zepto »

fjdjsmsm wrote: post #70
zepto wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with everything you just said except this conclusion: “It’s a useless feature in search of a use-case” Sometimes it’s going to be easier to pinch to zoom, for example, than do the same thing with a keyboard or mouse. Touch is no longer an expensive feature to add, so it makes sense to add it for certain use cases. Also imagine a Mac being used in a kiosk situation where an iPad isn’t big enough. I wouldn’t be…

You can pinch to zoom with a trackpad. I too assume touch based Macs are coming at some point. But I expect them to live alongside conventional laptops for as long as people continue to buy them. Whenever I’ve tried different kind of convertibles they’ve felt like compromises. The tablet and the laptop seem like the best version of each.

Not everyone can use a trackpad.

Re: Apple MacBook Pro with M1 Review

#80

Post by bengale »

tonymet wrote: post #55
oatmeal_croc wrote: post #7

Is any web developer planning to get the new Apple Silicon Macs? How's docker support (for ARM and x86 images)? Do the major IDEs work on Rosetta? What's support looking like for languages like GO, Rust now/in the near future?

Docker images are meant to be built once and run everywhere–tested on your dev server, test environment and production. If you buy an ARM mac, it would be ideal to run ARM instances in the datacenter, but those are uncommon and expensive. I discourage people from building ARM images and then rebuilding intel images later in the software lifecycle.

> If you buy an ARM mac, it would be ideal to run ARM instances in the datacenter, but those are uncommon and expensive.

Graviton2 instances are cheaper to run.

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