The new MacBook • Hacker News Board

Re: The new MacBook

#601

Post by ryaneager » Mon, Mar 09, 2015, 11:01 PM UTC

pearjuice wrote: post #358

Okay, okay, allright. I can forgive the price. I can forgive the anemic CPU. I can forgive the so-think-it'll-break-in-half thing Hell, I can even forgive the no ventilation and housefires. But, APPLE. ONE SINGLE USB PORT? THE SAME USB PORT THAT HAS ZERO (0) DEVICES ON THE MARKET? A SINGLE NEW STANDARD USB PORT THAT IS NOT BACKWARDS COMPATIBLE WITHOUT AN ADAPTER? WHY? I CANNOT CHARGE THIS THING WHILE IT'S CONNECTED T…

Yes you can charge and hook a display up. And use USB at the same time. Maybe look before hating?

http://store.apple.com/us/product/MJ1L2AM/A/usb-c-vga-multip...

Re: The new MacBook

#602

Post by selectodude » Mon, Mar 09, 2015, 11:01 PM UTC

rayiner wrote: post #584

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…

Yosemite is moderately buggy, and iOS 8 is buggy as shit. Meanwhile, I've been using Outlook 15 and now the Office 2016 Preview, and I have to say I'm really impressed. Thanks to Microsoft, and despite Apple, I'm really loving my Mac right now.

I'm hoping beyond hopes that iOS 8.2 is the release I've been waiting for. So far, it seems pretty good.

Re: The new MacBook

#603

Post by reilly3000 » Mon, Mar 09, 2015, 11:01 PM UTC

vinhboy wrote: post #245

jkot wrote: post #30

I am bit disappointed. Dell has similar sized laptop, with bigger display, smaller bezel and higher resolution. http://www.dell.com/us/p/xps-13-9343-laptop/pd

Man... the folks at Dell are just terrible at marketing. Look at that page the OP linked and the apple macbook page. There is absolutely no comparison. I had to make an effort to find pictures of their product. Even then, the pictures are completely distracting because of those ugly award logos they put on it. If I was Dell, I would just sit down my entire design and marketing team and make a plan for redesigning and…

Word. The freakin top end laptop is out of view and requires a click to even see it. I almost bailed because I didn't see an i7 option. I was browsing on my 27" with the browser full screen too... hard FAIL, Dell.

I have a M3800 and am not unhappy with it, although the touchpad is too touchy and the fan is too fanny. Somebody needs to get their shit together and actually push Apple.

Re: The new MacBook

#604

Post by nmridul » Mon, Mar 09, 2015, 11:02 PM UTC

nsxwolf wrote: post #561

SiVal wrote: post #509

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because you can't really tell how well software is working when looking at the device edge-on, and that's apparently the way Apple looks at them most of the time. I mean this more metaphorically than literally, but I'm so tired of complaints about the ridiculously primitive Finder being met with, "the edge of the iMac now appears even thinner, now that we've repositioned formerly convenient connectors and such into a…

Curious - what do Finder complainers consider the gold standard of file browsers that Finder should aspire to be? I do most of my file management at the command line so I don't experience the pain of Finder very often, and I've generally been able to get Finder to do what I want without much fuss. Windows Explorer is, to me, a painful experience (but its 1980s DOS command line is so much worse) I've found the various…

I wish I was able to right click a folder and get an option "open terminal here" and then terminal opens and directory changes to the current selected folder. Is this available currently that I'm not aware of ? Else, make it easy to copy the path.... Just like the windows explorer does.

Re: The new MacBook

#605

Post by serve_yay » Mon, Mar 09, 2015, 11:02 PM UTC

MBCook wrote: post #21

Noticed the changed the headline? The Air still exists and is NOT replaced by this. I believe it's staying because it's non-retina, but I may be wrong. Either way, they seem to have made a call a bit too early when posting this.

Yes, but I think it will go away pretty soon. It doesn't have much reason to exist with the introduction of this new machine. Long term I would say it's this new Macbook + MBP.

Re: The new MacBook

#606

Post by rayiner » Mon, Mar 09, 2015, 11:02 PM UTC

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...

Macbook batteries are rated at 80% after 1,000 cycles. And battery replacement on an MBA is a $129 ($199 for an MBP) service that they can do at the Apple Store while you wait. Lenovo wants $139 for a replacement battery for a T4xx of similar capacity.

Re: The new MacBook

#607

Post by cookiecaper » Mon, Mar 09, 2015, 11:02 PM UTC

buffportion wrote: post #482

0942v8653 wrote: post #410

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Think about it. Eighty dollars just to get less than you had before (with the 11-inch Air). And you're already paying the Apple tax, plus that ugly adapter defeats the purpose of the whole making-it-pretty thing. All in the pursuit of a few millimeters.

As someone who travels regularly for work, I am absolutely OK with Apple trimming as much as they can from their laptops.

Next they should trim the keyboard, monitor, battery, touchpad, and everything else except the Apple logo, since that's really all that matters anyway. Then you'll be able to travel really light.

I am all for portability but there comes a point where you start trimming essential functions. I'm not saying every laptop needs to have a SCSI port, but ONE connector?! I thought Apple was bad before with two USB slots and mini-DP. My Thinkpad Yoga, which I bought specifically for portability, manages to have 2 USB connectors, HDMI, built-in SD card reader, and other useful peripherals onboard, and yes, I do actually use these.

I think MacBooks are cool but I always find myself unable to use them for serious work. If I was a casual computer user that just needed to update Facebook once in a while, they'd probably be fine, but every time I've tried something more serious than that with one, I've ended up on a non-Apple product because why torture myself over fashion?

Re: The new MacBook

#608

Post by banachtarski » Mon, Mar 09, 2015, 11:03 PM UTC

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…

OpenGL compatibility is still 4.1...

I like linux, I like Apple hardware, but as a graphics/game programmer, I find developing native OSX applications to be a miserable process.

Re: The new MacBook

#609

Post by JBiserkov » Mon, Mar 09, 2015, 11:04 PM UTC

Finbarr wrote: post #308

mmastrac wrote: post #2

USB-C as the "one connector to rule them all" is the big news. That's the end of MagSafe and the exploding era of USB-C docking stations that work for multiple devices. I think we'll start to see an era of expandable computing coming up soon: USB-C is a perfect connector to push your data and state into a larger desktop experience. Why not carry around your laptop in tablet form when you are mobile? [1] [1] https://g…

Seems like there are some new $79 adapters to split out the USB-C port into power, usb and av[1]/vga[2]. [1] http://store.apple.com/us/product/MJ1K2AM/A/usb-c-digital-av... [2] http://store.apple.com/us/product/MJ1L2AM/A/usb-c-vga-multip...

Indeed. Yet video output is limited at 1/4 4k a.k.a. FullHD/1080p which is ridiculous in this day and age.

Re: The new MacBook

#610

Post by hrktb » Mon, Mar 09, 2015, 11:05 PM UTC

nsxwolf wrote: post #561

SiVal wrote: post #509

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because you can't really tell how well software is working when looking at the device edge-on, and that's apparently the way Apple looks at them most of the time. I mean this more metaphorically than literally, but I'm so tired of complaints about the ridiculously primitive Finder being met with, "the edge of the iMac now appears even thinner, now that we've repositioned formerly convenient connectors and such into a…

Curious - what do Finder complainers consider the gold standard of file browsers that Finder should aspire to be? I do most of my file management at the command line so I don't experience the pain of Finder very often, and I've generally been able to get Finder to do what I want without much fuss. Windows Explorer is, to me, a painful experience (but its 1980s DOS command line is so much worse) I've found the various…

I also think the Finder interface is just fine because there are so many other ways to navigate around. From the command line of course, spotlight works great as well, and usually files and folders will also be better browsed from the application managing them (e.g.A text editor's file panel, or photo management software, vlc or itunes, etc.)

But, what iritates me is very poor handling of network shares. Those are critical to me, and it just won't work perfectly. On a previous job there was a windows share that could be browsed in command line but Finder wouldn't open the folder.

Or the credentials would get messed up every once in a while, with old values filled in when I logged in with the new credentials so many times already.

Or the Finder would go beachballing and stop responding when an nfs share is disconnected while navigating it in the Finder.

Or the list view refresh on a dropbox share while renaming a file, which can result in a partially typed file name getting commited automatically.

I hated windows, but I have to concede Explorer was rock solid and basically bug free in comparison.