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The new MacBook

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Re: The new MacBook

#521

Post by jaxbot »

edvinbesic wrote: post #450
rm445 wrote: post #416

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a very good point - Apple's desktop software is definitely not a highlight in the last few years. What's not clear is: (i) how much it matters - the core desktop experience is very solid, and between web browsers and MS Office it's not clear how much the iLife(?) apps actually get run. And (ii) whether it's a symptom of some deeper malaise - Apple still seems to be killing it in other areas so perhaps it's jus…

While I agree with regards to iLife, the software overall just seems to have gone down in quality. Since upgrading to Yosemite I've had a ton of issues with Apple Mail (which is a staple for me) and wifi in general. Having to toggle your wifi on & off throughout the day gets pretty old pretty fast. Still a tough sell to go outside apple simply due to the hardware quality & resale value, but at least we have some cont…

I have constant crashes/freezes when waking up on Yosemite, and something about having iCloud disabled makes every iLife application show unrelated dialogs (usually "This will overwrite the existing file on iCloud" warnings, despite the file not existing at all, nor having iCloud), the EULA box randomly shows up in System Preferences and gets stuck in an infinite loop of showing me the terms even when I press cancel, yada yada. I agree with the word "shoddy". I can work around all this, but it's like nobody bothered to test it. I'm part of the Appleseed program and send in every bug I find, but apparently they're all minor enough to not be patched. Frustrating.

Re: The new MacBook

#522

Post by bluedino »

rosser wrote: post #473
safepants wrote: post #434

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i think the idea is not to have it plugged in to power while using it, only charge overnight

With the limited number of charge-discharge cycles that even LiPo batteries have (typically estimated at ~500), that means you'd be replacing the machine within its depreciation lifetime if you fully — or even mostly — discharged it daily. Oh, wait. That benefits Apple, too...

Did Apple change from 80% battery life after 1000 cycles?

Re: The new MacBook

#523

Post by mhomde »

baddox wrote: post #472
codezero wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I followed the link hoping I could point out how wrong you are. Nope, that's a pretty beautiful laptop. Thin, light, great screen, etc... In the end, you can look at the 12 inch MacBook as being a new notebook for people who care about running Mac OS/don't want to switch to Windows. It's a big deal because the Dell isn't an option most people want to consider :)

Disregarding for the moment subjective issues like design and operating system, I would ask two important questions. How is the battery life, and how is the build quality? That's usually where Windows PCs quickly lose any desirability (to me) compared to Macs. Also, I notice that this XPS is 0.6-0.8 pounds heavier than the new MacBook, and as far as I can tell the XPS has a fan.

I have a maxxed out XPS 13 and its a love-hate relationship. The screen and build quality is great, the keyboard ok and the touchpad as well. There's very little to match it in that form factor right now

It's noisy as hell though, I can't say that battery life is great and I have some weird problems with music stuttering when I compile, also Visual Studio ocassionally locks up on deploy for some reason.

If I could have a Zenbook with the same screen thought I'd take that any day.

Re: The new MacBook

#525

Post by cheesedoodles »

Something that doesn't seem to get mentioned in the comments is the placing of the trackpad; so near the keyboard. This was one the first things I recognised as a potential err.

I once had a ASUS notebook which had a similar design. The problem was that my tip of one or both thumbs or part of it, often touched the touchpad in a fashion that it selected text if working in a editor. This would happen so fast that my typing replaced the text. Very annoying, so annoying that I bought a new notebook of different brand.

I imagine something similar could happen on the Macbook Notebook.

Re: The new MacBook

#527

Post by nilkn »

jrochkind1 wrote: post #196

Do I understand right that it's got one port, which can be used for either power or USB, but not both at once? Man, that's the future? I was hoping they'd give it two USB ports, if it was supposed to serve as the new full powered macbook. It never occured to me they'd actually take away a port, and give you charging or USB peripheral but not both at once. Bah humbug.

If this is true, it's a complete deal breaker. I don't think I'm being unreasonable here. I couldn't even use the laptop in clamshell mode with a monitor, which I do sometimes.

Re: The new MacBook

#528

Post by eblanshey »

nkoren wrote: post #261

This is a beautiful machine. Once again, Apple excels at hardware. But what the living hell is going wrong with Apple's desktop software? OS X and Apple's applications suite have been getting steadily worse with every release. Look at the App store: the latest releases of OS X, iPhoto, iMovie, Pages, and Numbers are (in stark contrast to earlier versins) all rated at 2.5/5 stars, with the plurality being 1-star revie…

Anyone know how viable it is to wipe it and use Ubuntu with it?

Re: The new MacBook

#529

Post by exelius »

darrenkopp wrote: post #478
exelius wrote: post #363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is one product at a specific price point. Hardware wise, this thing is a cell phone with a really nice screen, a full size keyboard and a gigantic battery. Could they have made the battery a little bit bigger? Probably, but I'm sure they have detailed metrics on how often people charge their laptops. Apple doesn't strike me as the type of company to make arbitrary design decisions. Hate them all you want, but th…

Seems like you'd need to run that "benchmark" on windows. My 2014 MBP gets like 4 hours on a full charge while running windows.

I do run a Windows VM (Windows 7, to be exact). My battery life jumped from 4+ hrs to 6+ when I updated to Yosemite.

Re: The new MacBook

#530

Post by grey-area »

mmcconnell1618 wrote: post #520
nkoren wrote: post #261

This is a beautiful machine. Once again, Apple excels at hardware. But what the living hell is going wrong with Apple's desktop software? OS X and Apple's applications suite have been getting steadily worse with every release. Look at the App store: the latest releases of OS X, iPhoto, iMovie, Pages, and Numbers are (in stark contrast to earlier versins) all rated at 2.5/5 stars, with the plurality being 1-star revie…

My guess is that somewhere deep in the basement they have an OS that unites iOS and OS X into a single system that will run on future devices. That OS will run both OS X apps in legacy mode and iOS apps. Apple is funding teams for the iOS versions of the apps because that is where they see the future.

Well they have an OS already which unites them, the API layer above is the heterogeneous bit, which they might unify with something like UXKit. Long term it would make sense, and as you say it would explain the move towards mobile paradigms on desktop and the relative neglect of the desktop software. Of course the other explanation is that there is just so much more money to be made in consumer electronics than in computers - that won't change.

I expect Apple under Cook to be far more predictable in this way and take the steps to maximise revenue that Jobs might have shunned in favour of something revolutionary and unproven.

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