The new MacBook • Hacker News Board

Re: The new MacBook

#651

Post by themaen » Mon, Mar 09, 2015, 11:35 PM UTC

notsony wrote: post #628

geophile wrote: post #579

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about showing the actual filesystem? Instead of some restricted fictional view? For example, how the hell do you get to /tmp from the Finder? What's with the stupid column per directory level? This is an extremely bad use of display space. Haven't used Windows in a long time, and the equivalent in Linux is useless. (Or, more precisely, I don't use it.) But there are a number of irritations that have been there fo…

~/Library/Application Support Keeps getting hidden and you have to set a preference option via the command line to show it... only for it get hidden on the next OS update. Very frustrating!

I use a little shell script saved as an app created with automator for toggling hidden files:

showfiles=`defaults read com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles` if [ "$showfiles" = "TRUE" ]; then defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE else defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE fi

In combination with the spotlight search it's really fast ;)

Edit: Formatting isn't that nice in the comments, here's a little gist which is pretty much the same. https://gist.github.com/rprieto/7349079

Re: The new MacBook

#652

Post by ams6110 » Mon, Mar 09, 2015, 11:36 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'm with you. The ls(1) and find(1) utilities in the shell are my day-to-day file management tools. I almost never use the GUI Finder.

Re: The new MacBook

#653

Post by pikachu_is_cool » Mon, Mar 09, 2015, 11:37 PM UTC

SiVal wrote: post #509

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…

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…

What kind of pleb prefers Finder over bash?

Re: The new MacBook

#654

Post by LoSboccacc » Mon, Mar 09, 2015, 11:41 PM UTC

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…

Yup. The iconic lack of care on software side can be seen since forever when ejecting an usb. What used to become an eject icon with an eject label it's an eject icon with a trash label

That is just the smallest of thing, but is so easy to spot and fix and really his square against the level of detail the hardware side gets.

Re: The new MacBook

#655

Post by babuskov » Mon, Mar 09, 2015, 11:43 PM UTC

mark_l_watson wrote: post #645

ForHackernews wrote: post #547

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just install Linux on your macbook?

I dual boot my old MacBook Air between OS X and Ubuntu - really nice because some software development tasks are just easier on Linux. (Off topic, but a good tip: buy a 64gig memory card and always keep it in the memory slot with a file system friendly to both Linux and OS X - there are cards designed to fit in flush on MacBook Airs. This lets my old 128gig MBA comfortably support dual boot, and the shared file syste…

I'm curious which tasks you find easier? I was a hardcode Linux user before I got Mac, so I had to try it. Four months later, and I never boot into Ubuntu anymore because everything works equal or better on OSX.

Am I missing something?

Re: The new MacBook

#656

Post by sixbrx » Mon, Mar 09, 2015, 11:46 PM UTC

city41 wrote: post #633

727374 wrote: post #577

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody is claiming a gold standard. With that said, I prefer windows explorer because you can simply type a path into the address bar (with tab completion if you need it) and navigate to a place on the filesystem. That's all. If finder added this one feature I'd be overjoyed. Instead, I find myself opening up menus to get to so many locations on the machine. For example, if you want to simply go to your home director…

why do you need to use the go menu? command+shift+h takes you home. The keyboard shortcuts are listed right in the go menu you refer to. It's also a default in the Favorites pane on the left side of all Finder windows. I agree Finder could use some work, but I find your criticisms odd. If anyone is fantastic at consistent, system-wide keyboard shortcuts, it's Apple.

I don't think Home is in the favorites pane anymore as of Yosemite (just created a new user to test ... it's not).

What's worse is that choosing something known to be under the home, like Desktop or Documents, yields a bare window with no way of seeing what's above it, in any of the view modes.

Eventually users will discover "Go" menu (yeah I guess Home is someplace I might want to "Go" - but I assumed that's where I already am and that it was just a view issue). Go menu seemss a pretty odd place to stash such an important location.

Not going to bite on the subject of requiring a three-finger solute just to go home ...

Re: The new MacBook

#657

Post by eropple » Mon, Mar 09, 2015, 11:46 PM UTC

quaunaut wrote: post #342

I'm just supremely disappointed in the Macbook itself- I have a 3 year old Macbook Air, that is more powerful than this Retina. That's just absurd, that it's that much of a step back in terms of raw CPU. Luckily however, the new 13inch MBP is actually perfect. I'm rather excited about it.

"More powerful" is a little hard to isolate as tightly as you are doing here. The 1.1GHz model will burst a single thread at 2.9GHz.

I'm disappointed there's no 16GB RAM model, and that'll keep me from buying it, but CPU perf is not on the list of my worries.

Re: The new MacBook

#658

Post by johnpowell » Mon, Mar 09, 2015, 11:46 PM UTC

DIVx0 wrote: post #90

I'm really sorry to see magsafe go. Between my dogs and kids I would have gone though a dozen macbooks without magsafe. I sincerely hope this no magsafe or single port thing goes into the MBPs as well.

How did you manage before magsafe?

Re: The new MacBook

#659

Post by rayiner » Mon, Mar 09, 2015, 11:47 PM UTC

mark_l_watson wrote: post #639

rayiner wrote: post #584

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Thanks for mentioning the preview; I am downloading it right now. I assume that it is all compatible with the Office 365 web services.

I think so, but I don't use the web services so I can't vouch for them.

Re: The new MacBook

#660

Post by KeytarHero » Mon, Mar 09, 2015, 11:47 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…

It's because the last few versions of OS X and Apple's applications have seen bigger changes than previous versions. And a lot of the more hardcore Apple fans tend to dislike change. A lot of Apple's more long-term fans hated OS X when it first came out, too.

I'm not trying to bash Apple fans when I say this - I'm an OS X user too, and admittedly I only finally moved on from Snow Leopard last year (I actually like a lot of the changes, and most of the ones I don't like are ones that are easy to ignore). This phenomenon is certainly not exclusive to Apple fans either - just look at how many people still refuse to upgrade to Windows 8.