Apple's MacBook revival plan: Bring back old features • Hacker News Board

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

#121

Post by 1996 » Sun, Jan 17, 2021, 12:58 PM UTC

jspash wrote: post #99

genuine_smiles wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> Not just through the letters, but little slivers of light under each one.

My pet peeve too. I hate that, as it doesn't happen on Microsoft Surfaces.

If it can't be fixed due to the different travel distance, give me instead a RGB led per key and I will be coding funny patterns to work around the issue (ex: red keyboard backlight at night, with a green for the important keys like enter, and blinking F keys if I got activity on a terminal)

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

#122

Post by sradman » Sun, Jan 17, 2021, 1:00 PM UTC

BluSyn wrote: 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…

> There are a few things about the TouchBar I do like -- eg, having a custom one-touch screen lock button that's always present.

The trackpad preferences allows one or more corners to be assigned to locking the screen. One swipe away works well.

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

#123

Post by matwood » Sun, Jan 17, 2021, 1:00 PM UTC

BluSyn wrote: 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 agree and also don't see a need to go back. As what always happens with these rumors, people filter it through the lens they want.

Already mentioned elsewhere, MagSafe could just mean there will be a charger for the iPhone in handset portion of the new MBP. Ports can also mean a lot of things, even releasing an Apple branded dock of some sort. Imagine a branded dock that you just set the MBP on and it charges and has a bunch of ports that can be used? That is much more Applely than adding usb-a back.

The Touch Bar has been on life support for awhile. When Apple never released a version for the desktop, they relegated it to a niche feature regardless of how useful it could have been.

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

#124

Post by sneak » Sun, Jan 17, 2021, 1:01 PM UTC

BluSyn wrote: 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…

Anyone who shoots photos or videos on a real camera uses SD cards near-constantly.

It wouldn't affect your not using the port for them to include it. Adding magsafe doesn't mean not supporting usb-c charging, or removing any usb-c ports.

Your take obviously isn't that controversial: the maker of the best laptops in the world agrees with you, or at least they did at one time.

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

#125

Post by S_A_P » Sun, Jan 17, 2021, 1:04 PM UTC

I’m happy to give up thinness for SD card and HDMI. I use my MBP with a bunch of hardware samplers old and new which use SD for sample import and storage. I never use the Touch Bar and miss F keys dearly(development duties). The next MacBook that reverts back to the above is an instabuy.

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

#126

Post by rozab » Sun, Jan 17, 2021, 1:07 PM UTC

riffraff wrote: post #18

BluSyn wrote: 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…

They could put the magnet as an end of a usb cable. You would still use the same brick, and just plug a different cable if you want to charge a different device. Seems like a reasonable tradeoff to me.

That would just defeat the point of having USB-C charging. Only the one proprietary cable would stay in the port.

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

#127

Post by uncledave » Sun, Jan 17, 2021, 1:07 PM UTC

Mistri wrote: post #90

I'm excited about everything mentioned in the rumors, except for the "flat edge design similar to the iPhone 12". One of my favorite parts of the MacBook design is how easy it is to pick up off of a flat surface with one hand. The tapers help me slide my fingers underneath the computer to hold on. I feel like if there is a flat edge, it'll be hard to grip on the side unless you're using 2 hands.

What is like is one robust enough to pick up by the top of the screen like the thinkpads.

Also my Dell XPS is so bad if you pick it up by the corner of the unit it flexes enough for the touchpad to trigger clicks. Ugh.

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

#128

Post by manmal » Sun, Jan 17, 2021, 1:08 PM UTC

tornato7 wrote: post #31

manmal wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you take photos or videos with a camera other than an iDevice? I do, and I have to use a dongle every time to transfer data. Those wifi SD cards are a joke. I agree that they should not remove USB-C charging. People by now have powerbanks, or USB-C ports in their car that would stop working. However, my daily driver still is the 87W charger that came with the MBP, for the simple reason that it’s the fastest option…

My camera, like many modern ones, has USB-C and can transfer photos over Wi-Fi, so I find it pretty convenient to connect to a Mac.

Cameras have SD cards instead of internal storage for a reason - plugging in the whole camera is often cumbersome or in some scenarios not possible.

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

#129

Post by uncledave » Sun, Jan 17, 2021, 1:09 PM UTC

ricg wrote: post #83

Anyone still remember Apple Remote? It used to come free with your MacBook and is to this day one of my favorite features of my mid 2012 MBP that I will miss terribly once I have to upgrade (no Big Sur support...).

Yeah had one with my first gen intel iMac. Great idea that was. The whole machine got used as an audio source regularly.

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

#130

Post by scyzoryk_xyz » Sun, Jan 17, 2021, 1:11 PM UTC

Mistri wrote: post #90

I'm excited about everything mentioned in the rumors, except for the "flat edge design similar to the iPhone 12". One of my favorite parts of the MacBook design is how easy it is to pick up off of a flat surface with one hand. The tapers help me slide my fingers underneath the computer to hold on. I feel like if there is a flat edge, it'll be hard to grip on the side unless you're using 2 hands.

Fair point.

I do think that they have a team in place to make these decisions and the experience you’re describing was thoroughly tested and designed already.

One thing they’re frequently berated for is an emphasis on visual aesthetics. But I think that’s a misunderstanding - they design for function, and the aesthetic pleasure comes from that function.

I suspect they will find a way to make these match the visual look that these leaks suggest, without abandoning what you’re talking about. Probably with some tapered edge shape or something like that.