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Apple's MacBook revival plan: Bring back old features

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Re: Apple's MacBook revival plan: Bring back old features

#91
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you tried the 2019 16” MacBook Pro keyboard?

Ok, I just switched back to the M1 from the 2012 MBA. Keyboard is just too shallow and key travel is just too short. It is improved over the butterfly but it still isn't as good as the 2012. The machine you mention is my work machine, but it has been docked and I haven't really broken in the keyboard. The previous work machine which I typed in probably 20k words a day was a butterfly keyboard mac. I hate that machine…

I actually like the feel of my M1 pro keyboard better than my 1015 15" macbook pro's keyboard. But... That weird lcd strip constantly flickering in the periphery of my vision makes me want to throw the laptop out of the window. Good thing it isn't my main working machine, just a device to make fat binaries of Krita on.

Re: Apple's MacBook revival plan: Bring back old features

#92
post #14

My controversial hot take-- I have never needed an SD card, and have gone all-in on USB-C. I will be very disappointed if they add back in USB-A/HDMI/SD ports, or remove USB-C charging in favor of proprietary charge port. Sounds like unnecessary feature bloat. Please just do MagSage + USB-C, so I can maintain my one-cable-for-everything, making traveling lighter and simpler. Here's my counter argument to all those th…

I love this and have considered doing it myself. However, what worries me is whether using a single power adapter will shorten the life of devices which require different levels of wattage. Sure you can use the same USB-C cable, but the benefit is largely diminished if you have to carry a bunch of different power adapters for each device's unique wattage. Or am I worrying about this unnecessarily?

It’s not a concern, the more powerful the charger, the better.

The devices that are being powered are the ones controlling the charging, the charging brick will derate itself if devices demand more than it can handle. It might hurt the brick, it will get hot or perhaps noisy if it’s a cheaper one.

It’s like openning every single faucet at your house, as long as the pressure and flow at the source are ok, the faucets will output the same as in any other case, otherwise each faucet will “slow down”.

Re: Apple's MacBook revival plan: Bring back old features

#93
post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love this and have considered doing it myself. However, what worries me is whether using a single power adapter will shorten the life of devices which require different levels of wattage. Sure you can use the same USB-C cable, but the benefit is largely diminished if you have to carry a bunch of different power adapters for each device's unique wattage. Or am I worrying about this unnecessarily?

Just carry around a first-party Apple charger that matches the highest draw among your devices. Using a higher-rated charger won’t hurt anything.

I used to carry around a 60W adapter, even though I had a device that required an 80W adapter.

The reason was airplane seats. They have a breaker that flips at 75W.

I wouldn't get fast charging with the 60W adapter, but I wouldn't run out of juice on a 14-hour flight.

Re: Apple's MacBook revival plan: Bring back old features

#94
post #14

My controversial hot take-- I have never needed an SD card, and have gone all-in on USB-C. I will be very disappointed if they add back in USB-A/HDMI/SD ports, or remove USB-C charging in favor of proprietary charge port. Sounds like unnecessary feature bloat. Please just do MagSage + USB-C, so I can maintain my one-cable-for-everything, making traveling lighter and simpler. Here's my counter argument to all those th…

What is “unnecessary feature bloat”?

Do you think something like “gosh, I _hate_ all these additional ports” about MBP 2015? There’s a reason it is still holds (not much, but) some value on second-hand market.

Re: Apple's MacBook revival plan: Bring back old features

#95
post #14

My controversial hot take-- I have never needed an SD card, and have gone all-in on USB-C. I will be very disappointed if they add back in USB-A/HDMI/SD ports, or remove USB-C charging in favor of proprietary charge port. Sounds like unnecessary feature bloat. Please just do MagSage + USB-C, so I can maintain my one-cable-for-everything, making traveling lighter and simpler. Here's my counter argument to all those th…

If you really want or need MagSafe, as I do, you can have it with USB-C only Macs too.

There are many magnetic adapters you can buy, the good ones working better than the original MagSafe 2, which easily fell off when using MacBooks on your Lap, due to the connector being T shaped (instead of MagSafe 1 being L shaped, which worked great).

I also hope they don‘t bring back SD card readers and big clunky HDMI ports into the MacBook lineup, potentially reducing the amount of USB-C ports and making some models thicker.

Re: Apple's MacBook revival plan: Bring back old features

#96
post #14

My controversial hot take-- I have never needed an SD card, and have gone all-in on USB-C. I will be very disappointed if they add back in USB-A/HDMI/SD ports, or remove USB-C charging in favor of proprietary charge port. Sounds like unnecessary feature bloat. Please just do MagSage + USB-C, so I can maintain my one-cable-for-everything, making traveling lighter and simpler. Here's my counter argument to all those th…

I love this and have considered doing it myself. However, what worries me is whether using a single power adapter will shorten the life of devices which require different levels of wattage. Sure you can use the same USB-C cable, but the benefit is largely diminished if you have to carry a bunch of different power adapters for each device's unique wattage. Or am I worrying about this unnecessarily?

You are worrying unnecessarily. These devices use USB-PD to negotiate how much power it wants with the power adapter, and a well-behaving power adapter would refuse to output anything above the minimal current without the negotiation happening.

Re: Apple's MacBook revival plan: Bring back old features

#97
post #14

My controversial hot take-- I have never needed an SD card, and have gone all-in on USB-C. I will be very disappointed if they add back in USB-A/HDMI/SD ports, or remove USB-C charging in favor of proprietary charge port. Sounds like unnecessary feature bloat. Please just do MagSage + USB-C, so I can maintain my one-cable-for-everything, making traveling lighter and simpler. Here's my counter argument to all those th…

I love this and have considered doing it myself. However, what worries me is whether using a single power adapter will shorten the life of devices which require different levels of wattage. Sure you can use the same USB-C cable, but the benefit is largely diminished if you have to carry a bunch of different power adapters for each device's unique wattage. Or am I worrying about this unnecessarily?

Worrying unnecessarily. The USB PD spec requires negotiation of delivered power - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_hardware#USB_Power_Deliver....

Re: Apple's MacBook revival plan: Bring back old features

#98

The article's criticism of the 12-inch MacBook are preposterous. The 2 lb Macbook is the best laptop I've ever owned, by far. Maybe I'm too sensitive about weight, but I feel an incredible difference between 3 lb and 2 lb laptops, especially if its sitting on your lap for extended periods of time. The keyboard and charger have never once been a hindrance to my workflow, as the article makes it out be. I really wish A…

I agree I wish Apple would find a way to make a 16inch MBP weight 3lbs and an Air weigh 2lbs. It *seems* possible given an 12.9 inch iPad Pro only weighs 1.4lbs and other manufacturers have entries in that range. For whatever reason this idea always gets downvoted but I believe it will happen someday and every who downvoted will suddenly "get it".

> I wish Apple would find a way to make a 16inch MBP weight 3lbs

This could be reasonably possible with Apple silicon—well, maybe not 3lbs, but noticeably lighter than the current model.

Part of the reason the 16” is so heavy is the 100Whr battery (which still manages to be woefully inadequate due to how much power the CPU sucks, let alone the GPU).

The 13” ASi Pro has a 58Whr battery for “up to 17 hours” use, which seems to pan out to about 12-14 hours real-world usage. They could put that exact battery in an ASi 16” and it would still be leagues better than the “up to 11 hours” battery in the current model, which in my experience is actually 3-5 hours.

Re: Apple's MacBook revival plan: Bring back old features

#99
post #17

The keyboard! I have an M1 mac, I typing this from a 2012 macbook air. The new keyboards are utter crap! They are still crap. If I could have the M1 in an x220 shell, with the mac trackpad, I would be good.

Have you tried the 2019 16” MacBook Pro keyboard?

I'm typing this from a 2019 16" MBP keyboard. And I can say without a doubt that it is my favourite keyboard of probably 10 macs I've ever owned. There is a Macbook Air sitting nearby which I just tried for comparison. It's pretty good too. But the MBP 16" is just lovely. Quiet. Enough feedback.

The only gripe is, and this might be true of all Mac backlit keyboards. Is that I can see light coming from under the keys when viewing it at a low angle such as when I've got my feet up and it's on my lap. Not just through the letters, but little slivers of light under each one.

Re: Apple's MacBook revival plan: Bring back old features

#100
post #14

My controversial hot take-- I have never needed an SD card, and have gone all-in on USB-C. I will be very disappointed if they add back in USB-A/HDMI/SD ports, or remove USB-C charging in favor of proprietary charge port. Sounds like unnecessary feature bloat. Please just do MagSage + USB-C, so I can maintain my one-cable-for-everything, making traveling lighter and simpler. Here's my counter argument to all those th…

I love this and have considered doing it myself. However, what worries me is whether using a single power adapter will shorten the life of devices which require different levels of wattage. Sure you can use the same USB-C cable, but the benefit is largely diminished if you have to carry a bunch of different power adapters for each device's unique wattage. Or am I worrying about this unnecessarily?

> Or am I worrying about this unnecessarily?

You are. Provide a lot of amps. Each device will take just as much as it needs. So err on the side of more watts - it will even help your batteries charge faster.

The only thing that can be diminished with fast charging is the number of battery cycles (the battery lifetime) so set a low charging engage (only charge if 90%) in your bios: this will increase your battery life.

Source: all my devices use USB-C. They all share the same AC adapter with power delivery, and a Lenovo Dock also USB-C with PD.

No USB-C charging = I don't buy.

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