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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

#401

Post by kube-system »

FractalParadigm wrote: post #218
fastball wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds like a terrible idea. Why have a proprietary charge port if it can also charge with USB-C?

All kinds of reasons - my biggest one being why MagSafe was invented in the first place; I know my power cord is run across the living room due to a lack of power outlets in my 70-year-old apartment, and gets tripped over regularly. Not to mention a proprietary charger can free up a USB port for additional peripherals.

Tripping over a power cable was a problem created by a battery life that was shorter than a work day, IMO. I have been charging my M1 Mac at night, like my phone.

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

#402

Post by wwweston »

jessriedel wrote: post #298
hatchnyc wrote: post #137

I use two MacBooks for programming for several hours each every single day, my personal machine has a touchbar, my work machine does not. I realize this is blasphemous to say and I did think I would hate the touchbar for all the reasons, but I actually ended up liking it. I had imagined myself tapping virtual function buttons and the whole thing seemed silly and useless and worse than having physical keys, but VS Cod…

Yea, what I really want is physical keys that travel but also have OLED screens built in on the top. Expensive, but best of both worlds.

I wonder if e-ink might be better -- less energy, could work with a general keyboard backlight?

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

#403

Post by Scapeghost »

vemv wrote: post #181

Honestly I've never understood why laptops are so strongly associated with developer culture. They are inefficient and conflated machines - two things that tend to be contradictory with software engineering. More practically, many people find themselves completely dependent on Apple's design whims. Mac Pros (or server racks in general) are closer to the kinds of machines that we deploy to (they use Xeons for one thin…

> I've never understood

This is the reason :)

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

#404

Post by anonymousab »

I would like to pay more for a usb-c magsafe connector. Even 5x the cost of the current cheap cables would be worth it if it 1) actually worked 2) was standards compliant in all the ways that mattered. USB-C is a dice roll right now and the magnetic ones even moreso.

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

#405

Post by xirbeosbwo1234 »

numbsafari wrote: post #385
xirbeosbwo1234 wrote: post #368

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I buy a computer, I want something that makes my life better. I do not want something that deliberately makes my life worse to achieve a strategic goal for Apple Computer. We saw the same thing with Flash. Apple didn't like Flash and wanted it dead. They couldn't manage to kill it off through negotiation or outreach or by offering a better alternative, so they instead decided to weaponize the iPhone by refusing…

They did offer something better: HTML5. Don’t blame Apple for Flash’s demise. Blame Adobe. They allowed it to become the inefficient, security rats nest that it was. The web is amazingly better now that Flash has been relegated to its best use: historical animations and games.

And HTML5 did not kill off Flash. People kept right on using Flash until Apple sicced millions of angry iPhone users on them.

I thank Apple for Flash's demise. I had no love for Flash. What I blame Apple for is treating their customers as pawns in a game. They sold their customers a broken product so they could gain leverage.

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

#406

Post by aeturnum »

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…

Apple's approach to ports is bad design.

I think they were envisioning a USB-C revolution that hasn't come yet. You can buy new devices or buy adapters, but either way the computer is asking the user to adapt to it. I have a Razer laptop for playing games and they have some USB-C ports and some USB-A. One of the USB-C ports connects to the thunderbolt bus. On paper, the Razer has less connectivity bandwidth, but it's my macbook that I always fuss over.

I see the attraction in making all your ports USB-C, but that's just not where the computing world is yet. Give us 3 USB-C and 2 USB-A. Give us 2 of each and a specialized charging cable.

P.s. I would be more into the USB-C charger if I believed it was 100% safe to charge other devices with it, but I'm not sure that's true (even though I trust Apple - I'm not sure about the other devices)[1].

[1] https://www.androidauthority.com/state-of-usb-c-870996/

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

#407

Post by unethical_ban »

harel wrote: post #399

Apple hardware is really top notch. I am a Linux person but if I squint hard enough I can use the Mac OS (with some swearing weaved in). But I cannot use that terrible keyboard. Why do I need key combos for page up/down? Why are they useless buttons like that top squiggle on the top left but no page up/down buttons (there is space for them). Why some things are Cmd+ and some are Ctrl+? Why no key travel?

I enjoy typing on the macbook more than my Lenovo now. I've just gotten used to it, I suppose.

The key combos take some learning - protip: Few things are "ctrl+" unless it is Firefox or terminal, in my experience.

I do agree in missing the nav buttons.

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

#408

Post by bradlys »

chrisseaton wrote: post #327
mrgordon wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you really believe most people don’t use USB-A devices anymore? Even the iPhone 11 is USB-A and that was the newest until like three months ago lol

> Even the iPhone 11 is USB-A Not sure what you mean - the iPhone 11 is Lightning, which is usually plugged into a charger not a laptop. I doubt many people plug their phones into the laptops anymore - syncing has been done over wireless for many years now.

I doubt 95% of users even sync anymore. The only reason you used to do that was for podcasts, music, and backing up. Now, that’s mostly pointless thanks to streaming services and backups you can do in the cloud.

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

#409

Post by Marazan »

chrisseaton wrote: post #242
alex_c wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean... no? If there’s a trade off involved then the “best” solution is the one that works for me at the cost of inconveniencing others :) I don’t think you’ll convince people to think otherwise.

> If there’s a trade off involved then the “best” solution is the one that works for me at the cost of inconveniencing others :) But Apple aren't just trying to please you - they're trying to please most people. Most people don't use SD cards or USB-A devices anymore. The few who do can still do it using dongles, but the majority get a better laptop without them.

Don't use USB-A devices?

I'm sorry for the crude language but that's absolute bullshit.

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

#410

Post by bradlys »

vvatermelone wrote: post #379
exhilaration wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The dramatic decline in camera sales has been discussed a few times on HN, here's a random google result: https://www.mirrorlessrumors.com/dont-look-at-this-graph-sho... Cameras are rapidly turning into a niche product, it makes no sense for any laptop manufacturer to include an SD card reader at this point.

I don't think it's fair to represent that graph as the death of the standalone camera, at least with regard to the 2020 data. The fact that nobody could go anywhere or be with anyone probably had a lot to do with it.

Camera sales on a whole peaked in the 2000’s and have been on a massive decline ever since. Smartphones are where photography is at for most consumers today.

Supporting an SD card is silly unless you plan to support many formats. At that point, you may as well just use an external card reader or just plug in the camera directly.

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