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Updated MacBook Pros

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131–140 of 156 posts

Re: Updated MacBook Pros

#131
post #91

Nice but my next laptop will be some Chromebook + ElementaryOS rooted - if all you use is terminal/sublime and browser - Mac is a waste of money.

I understand the appeal of a more or less throwaway computer, but I have to add the Retina screen is outstanding, the OS is good enough and the machines are incredibly well built. My wife was in a car crash about two years ago and, while the car was totalled, her MBP survived with exactly one scratch.

That's kind of a weird thing to support that - not that I disagree, I love the build of my MBP... but a) it takes very little to consider a car totaled, and b) as a firefighter/paramedic, the very large majority of the time, even the most serious of car accidents don't result in the vehicle being crushed to the point where a laptop sitting on a seat is destroyed.

Re: Updated MacBook Pros

#132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried to use OS X as my main OS, but I just couldn't get past what I considered "illogical" and "inconsistent" keyboard acceleration, keyboard navigation and user interactions. For instance, in Windows and Gnome I can hunt through menus with the keyboard by simply press ALT and then the underlined letter of a menu (then use the arrow keys to look around and press ENTER or SPACE to pick one). This is consistent thro…

With my Mac in repairs, the most painful thing about using anything else (currently Ubuntu) is the mess of keyboard shortcuts. On Mac, everything starts with Cmd. And it's like the Windows key, in that it doesn't conflict with anything in your terminal or elsewhere. (On that note, the Windows key is the most underused key ever.)

You're right - the only Windows key shortcuts I really use are Win+E (opens file explorer), Win+P (switch 2ndary display on/off/make-primary) and Win+Arrow-Key (snap window to edge or maximize/minimize.)

Re: Updated MacBook Pros

#133

I needed to buy a MacBook Pro 2013 13" retina for live music performances. The 1000$ soundcard has optimized OSX core audio drivers and Win7 drivers. Danger: Cynical, heavy stereotyping and biasing comment following... I can work with OSX, nix and Win boxes, no problem, but OSX' interface isn't optimized for simple tasks like cutting and pasting various folders form one to another, where some of them will be overwrit…

And I love the fact that the "upgrade path" of Mac users is kind of "buy it, use it until the next gen comes, throw it away". Thats super cool and totally fits into the common starbucks customer, wearing neon colored running shoes while listening music on beats head phones.

If one can afford it then why not? It's everywhere, not just gadget industry. People buy new models of premium cars when they come out, people buy a new pair of $600 shoes when new collection arrives. Those people don't quite fit to your description of a common Starbucks customer.

Re: Updated MacBook Pros

#135

I needed to buy a MacBook Pro 2013 13" retina for live music performances. The 1000$ soundcard has optimized OSX core audio drivers and Win7 drivers. Danger: Cynical, heavy stereotyping and biasing comment following... I can work with OSX, nix and Win boxes, no problem, but OSX' interface isn't optimized for simple tasks like cutting and pasting various folders form one to another, where some of them will be overwrit…

And I love the fact that the "upgrade path" of Mac users is kind of "buy it, use it until the next gen comes, throw it away". Thats super cool and totally fits into the common starbucks customer, wearing neon colored running shoes while listening music on beats head phones.

Except for the fact that macs maintain their value, so selling your last-gen Mac and upgrading to the new one is pretty cheap, all things considered.

Re: Updated MacBook Pros

#136
post #79
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Stop being a packrat and move cold data to an external drive. >Bonus: now you have your data around even if your laptop breaks. External drives are pretty unreliable. It's more probable the external drive will die before the laptops internal one.

> External drives are pretty unreliable. It's more probable the external drive will die before the laptops internal one. Citation needed. There's no reason for the external drive to "die before the laptops internal one". Not only that: you can actually buy the very same drives that are in your laptop for external use if you like.

Agree, most of the time external drives are cases with USB/eSATA adapters and an "internal" hard drive. The only difference with a PC is that it's easier to drop the external drive.

Re: Updated MacBook Pros

#137
post #57

Compared to my 2011 MBP I Like the Retina, 16GB is nice as a standard but I have that now (and honestly I don't foresee needing more soon). But man would I trade that 256GB SSD for a 2 or 4 TB HDD in a heartbeat.

Just add an external HDD if you need the storage. Booting and running your OS off an SSD is a major speed improvement over HDD.

Re: Updated MacBook Pros

#138
post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand the appeal of a more or less throwaway computer, but I have to add the Retina screen is outstanding, the OS is good enough and the machines are incredibly well built. My wife was in a car crash about two years ago and, while the car was totalled, her MBP survived with exactly one scratch.

That's kind of a weird thing to support that - not that I disagree, I love the build of my MBP... but a) it takes very little to consider a car totaled, and b) as a firefighter/paramedic, the very large majority of the time, even the most serious of car accidents don't result in the vehicle being crushed to the point where a laptop sitting on a seat is destroyed.

Most of the back of the car was crushed into the rear seat area. The laptop was in the trunk, inside a briefcase that ruptured in the crash - the small scratch/dent on the corner of the laptop was probably from a shock against a metal object at that moment.

The fact my wife left the vehicle angry but without even a scratch is a testament to the engineers who designed all cabin safety features. As for the poor laptop in the trunk, well... That's entirely thanks to Apple's design and engineering team. That thing is indestructible.

Re: Updated MacBook Pros

#139
post #86
post #15

I'm seriously wondering what my upgrade path is supposed to be. I have an ancient 2011 15" MBP, which was also the last user-upgradeable Apple laptop ever, but I remain hesitant to buy a new model. There is just not enough storage in the new ones, or in models that come close to my old one (1TB+) it's prohibitively expensive. At some point soon, my old MBP will probably disintegrate or get stolen, and it has features…

The overall system performance improvement of an SSD is worth it alone for an upgrade (or replacing it in your current laptop if you can). It turned my old plastic MacBook into a new laptop for me. I'm surprised no one has mentioned it yet. You will love using your laptop even more, and you can get a small form factor external to complement it.

> My laptop right now has an SSD for fast system things and an HDD for bulk data

Re: Updated MacBook Pros

#140

I needed to buy a MacBook Pro 2013 13" retina for live music performances. The 1000$ soundcard has optimized OSX core audio drivers and Win7 drivers. Danger: Cynical, heavy stereotyping and biasing comment following... I can work with OSX, nix and Win boxes, no problem, but OSX' interface isn't optimized for simple tasks like cutting and pasting various folders form one to another, where some of them will be overwrit…

You're complaining that the Finder doesn't work like Windows. Well done, it doesn't. Design choices made decades ago mean that Macs work differently - I find a lot of the differences really frustrating when I use a Windows machine, because I'm used to Macs, but that doesn't mean that Windows is for 'idiots and grandmothers'.

Something not conforming to your personal preferences does not mean that it's only suitable for the hard of thinking.

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