The new MacBook • Hacker News Board

Re: The new MacBook

#731

Post by akshatpradhan » Tue, Mar 10, 2015, 1:35 AM UTC

xlayn wrote: post #724

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…

Right in so many points: "Now, it's all about the style": that's right, it's an accessory, it's the long awaited iPad pro + keyboard, a glorified browser for your social network, check photos and look chick and trending. Why are we here? People have decided with their pockets, Apple is now the biggest company in the history of humanity. Don't get me wrong, Apple has done a lot of stuff right, the amount of design and…

>upgrade the machine in a pursuit of a more thinner machine

Why is hardware upgradeability so important? What's the harm in just upgrading to the next device?

Re: The new MacBook

#732

Post by titanomachy » Tue, Mar 10, 2015, 1:35 AM UTC

npalli wrote: post #468

Looks like apple has finally introduced a netbook or iPad with a keyboard. Frankly, I'm disappointed with this macbook as I was expecting a full scale retina macbook air. After seeing the Dell XPS 13, I was hoping apple will take the retinafy the regular air. Ah well, the wait continues. Let's see -- 1. Resolution of 2304x1440 which means at Retina this is 1152x720!. This is worse than the 11 inch air, much less the…

> I was hoping apple will... retinafy the regular air

I doubt that's happening soon. With this new macbook on the market, the only use Apple has for the Air is as a budget option. The new macbook is smaller and lighter, the only advantage of the air is its 12 hour battery life compared to this thing's 8, but that's to be expected considering how gutless the Air is.

Re: The new MacBook

#733

Post by titanomachy » Tue, Mar 10, 2015, 1:39 AM UTC

exelius wrote: post #363

jader201 wrote: post #210

Is the world really as obsessed with smallness as Apple thinks it is? From what I keep hearing (and this is anecdotal, of course), it seems that most people would prefer to (reasonably) maximize the battery life with the downside of adding a bit more heft. Of course, there's always a balance that has to be stricken, but it seems like Apple always pushes much more to the side of size over battery vs. what seems to be…

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…

> this thing is a cell phone with a really nice screen

Man, at $1299 I hope that's not the case. It was amusing how the "logic board" was really mentioned as kind of an afterthought in the design video, and then only to point out how small it was.

Re: The new MacBook

#734

Post by jmspring » Tue, Mar 10, 2015, 1:39 AM 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…

Software - iTunes and the crap like it has become has been the canary for Apple software. Never better, only worse and more bloated.

Re: The new MacBook

#735

Post by ghshephard » Tue, Mar 10, 2015, 1:41 AM UTC

calinet6 wrote: post #354

ghshephard wrote: post #343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OS X is pretty good about sharing memory, so 8 GB is fine. I routinely run about 15-20 Apps on my MacBook Air, including a VMware instance with Windows XP, Aperture, Google Earth, Excel/Word/Powerpoint/Outlook/Mail.app. The only people who require more than 8 GB on OS X are those who have Apps that specially require a lot of memory to perform - Image Processing, Databases, etc... I used to be in the "Buy as much memo…

It got a lot better in Mavericks with compression and better subsystems, but I'm sorry, I still push the limits with 16GB. 8 isn't enough for OSX at this point.

Ironically - I'm still on 10.8.5 (Mountain Lion) - My system is rock solid, no longer kernel faults, and I rarely have to reboot it more than once every two-three weeks because of a system hang.

Only specialists, or people with massive, massive data sets require more than 8 GB on OS X - I push my system really, really hard, and I rarely (if ever?) come close to maxing out memory.

This isn't to say there isn't a subset of people who can make do with more than 8 GB - but 95%+ of the average knowledge worker running the Office Apps, Google Earth, Safari, etc... will be fine for several years with that much memory.

Re: The new MacBook

#736

Post by xlayn » Tue, Mar 10, 2015, 1:42 AM UTC

akshatpradhan wrote: post #731

xlayn wrote: post #724

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right in so many points: "Now, it's all about the style": that's right, it's an accessory, it's the long awaited iPad pro + keyboard, a glorified browser for your social network, check photos and look chick and trending. Why are we here? People have decided with their pockets, Apple is now the biggest company in the history of humanity. Don't get me wrong, Apple has done a lot of stuff right, the amount of design and…

>upgrade the machine in a pursuit of a more thinner machine Why is hardware upgradeability so important? What's the harm in just upgrading to the next device?

Programmed obsolescence... The analogy is, buy a new car if your spare tire is flat

Re: The new MacBook

#737

Post by gcr » Tue, Mar 10, 2015, 1:43 AM UTC

bobbles wrote: post #723

gcr wrote: post #680

Is this laptop aimed for the high-end Macbook Pro users, or is it poised as the spiritual successor to the Macbook Air? According to the tech specs, this has the slowest processor (1.1 Ghz Intel Core M) of all of their models and the oldest graphics card (Intel HD Graphics 5300). Granted -- I know I shouldn't commit the cardinal sin of "The number is lower so it's worse." My words aren't meaningful. I guess I'm just…

As a non-mac owner, this and the 5K retina imac are the first machines to really make me consider the switch.

Interesting! What qualities won you over?

Re: The new MacBook

#738

Post by dilap » Tue, Mar 10, 2015, 1:43 AM UTC

72deluxe wrote: post #642

dilap wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Different strokes, different folks. I love my MB Air and this looks even better; I almost never plug anything into it, just my iPhone or a HD occasionally. It does seem a little insane to not be able to e.g., run a harddrive to backup the computer while it's plugged in...

Perhaps it's to make you buy an AirPort and TimeCapsule instead?

"Make you buy" is sort of a harsh way to cast it :) But yeah, that's probably how they'll imagine you'll use it. Makes sense.

Re: The new MacBook

#739

Post by ghshephard » Tue, Mar 10, 2015, 1:43 AM UTC

nixgeek wrote: post #318

olso wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I want to buy the updated 13". How much RAM does Yosemite take up? Not sure if I should go for the 16 GB version.

Buy as much as you can afford. If you expect to be using this laptop in 4-5 years time, the OSX and applications of that era will probably only perform well on >8GB RAM.

That used to be the theory - but four years now, and I've been fine with 8 GB, more than fine. I wouldn't recommend purchasing more right now - Unless you have special requirements (Running Oracle, or some intense image management/CAD system/Development platform) - Wait for the next round of upgrades in 5 years to see if more than 8 GB is needed - I'm guessing it probably won't be even then.

Re: The new MacBook

#740

Post by titanomachy » Tue, Mar 10, 2015, 1:43 AM UTC

sytelus wrote: post #518

I'm actually quite unhappy with this obsession with "thinner and lighter" mantra which throws away features at the expense of saving 0.01mm of thickness. These new computers don't have interfaces like Ethernet, DVD player, common interfaces for video. All of these is supposed to be outdated while it is very clearly not. You can't even do trivial upgrades like RAM let alone putting in new bigger SSD. These things are…

I once felt the same way as you did, but I'm coming to appreciate the allure of minimalism. Come on. Join us. Look at the shiny laptop. Pretty, isn't it? You don't need ports, or reliably functioning software. Drink the Apple cider.