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Thoughts on the Late 2016 MacBook Pro

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Re: Thoughts on the Late 2016 MacBook Pro

#121

Post by dan_m2k »

drcode wrote: post #29
jwilliams wrote: post #15

I've got the 13" maxed out Late 2016. I've owned every form factor of the MacBook Pro and this is my least favorite. I like the USB-C and have bought into the tradeoff of having no Magsafe. It's also a minor plus to be able to plug in either side of the machine. The TouchID is good too. However, I've found the TouchID extremely laggy for some reason (esp. on unlock) which really reduced the benefit. The keyboard is _…

The main problem I have with the keyboard is that the small travel gives it very small tolerances for to achieve the "clickiness", and after a few months use I can already feel that some keys are less clicky than others, due apparently to uneven wear in the mechanism among different keys... I wonder if there'll be a "keyboard-gate" situation in a year as more people notice this, or if I'm an outlier.

FYI, my new 13in MBP went back after 9 days because of failed/stuck keys :(

Re: Thoughts on the Late 2016 MacBook Pro

#122

Post by yokohummer7 »

theodorton wrote: post #112
yokohummer7 wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, my experience is the opposite: while using the new MacBook I realized how infrequent I was using the function keys. The only times that I noticed the "missing" function keys were when I tried to open up the web developer console (F12), or rename a file (F2). I did see Apple's rationale here: ordinary users won't miss them, given I, being a developer, didn't miss them either. But unlike you and the OP, pressing…

You can re-map the Escape key to Caps Lock. I bought the new MBP and got used to this. Although I returned it later and went back to my previous machine, I still use Caps Lock as Escape. I'm using Karabiner Elements on Sierra. brew cask install karabiner-elements Edit: I also believe it causes less strain on my fingers.

Oh wow. I can't believe I didn't think of it earlier! As a Vim user I've always been told it is good to swap Caps Lock and Esc, yet I haven't actually tried it due to my laziness. Probably now is the time.

Re: Thoughts on the Late 2016 MacBook Pro

#123

Post by thirdsun »

tachion wrote: post #77
H4CK3RM4N wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't do this with iOS devices though. Apple care discounts screen replacements/other repairs significantly with mobile devices.

As far as consumer rights are concerned, you shouldn't give a damn what the manufacturer discontinues. If the device fails within 6 years it should be fixed, replaced (happened to me, brand new iPhone 5 handed over immediately) or refunded.

discounts, not discontinues.

Re: Thoughts on the Late 2016 MacBook Pro

#124

Post by yokohummer7 »

chadcmulligan wrote: post #115

I don't hear much about the display on the MBP, it's as near to perfect as any display I've ever seen, using text is beautiful, the colour depth is extraordinary - and its a laptop. I plugged in a new external 1080p monitor and thought at first there was something wrong with it, but no it's just the difference in crispness. Not only that you can run 2 external 5K monitors! from a laptop! The SSD's are so fast, it's a…

One thing I find odd about the display is that it somehow changes white balance occasionally depending on the content. I'm not sure if this only happens on BootCamp or not, but it's a bit surprising. Is there any setting to turn off this?

Re: Thoughts on the Late 2016 MacBook Pro

#125

Post by swanandp »

zimbatm wrote: post #119
hmigneron wrote: post #42

I'm always surprised when developers don't talk about the F keys in their reviews of the new MBP. I mostly agree with the author regarding the escape key, the touch bar isn't really a problem in that regard, it still works and I got used to "pressing" it on the touchbar really quickly. I really really miss physical F keys though. I spend a lot of time debugging (either in the Chrome debugger or in IDEs) where pressin…

As a workaround it's possible to show them on the strip: System Preferences -> Keyboard -> Press Fn Key to: Show F1, F2, etc Keys

Even better, System Preferences -> Keyboard -> Shortcuts -> Function Keys; and select the app in which you want the function keys to show up by default. e.g. IntelliJ Idea.

Re: Thoughts on the Late 2016 MacBook Pro

#126

Post by dash2 »

tlow wrote: post #70
jp555 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bret Victor tweeted that the TouchBar took 8 years of work to go from conception to production. https://twitter.com/worrydream/status/791767756928462848 You sure it was a reaction to MS?

Steve Jobs: "I'm as proud of the things I have done as the things I have not". Jobs would not have brought this version of TouchBar to market; not a chance.[1] [1] My source is my personal opinion and anecdotal. If I'm not unimpeachably correct in this assertion you should downvote; there is no possible means to prove the assertion so only judgement can decide the validity of my claim. While I had met Jobs and had mu…

You never knew him well on a personal level. An intra-personal level would mean that you were stuck in the same body, like Being John Malkovich.

Re: Thoughts on the Late 2016 MacBook Pro

#127

Post by AsyncAwait »

routelastresort wrote: post #67
WildUtah wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a real detriment to UI, it costs you battery life, it's a distracting gimmick, and it adds $200 to the cost of your machine. And Apple will never give up on it. Every Mac is going to be worse for years and years because of it. Enjoy.

The good thing that can come of this would be the resurgence of the Linux desktop. Apple just crossed the line for me (<32GB, no SSD upgrade, messing with the keyboard). I'll miss the almost perfect trackpad, but there's no way I'll support these choices.

XPS's trackpad is pretty good, not MacBook good, but almost there.

Re: Thoughts on the Late 2016 MacBook Pro

#128

Post by notalaser »

meddlepal wrote: post #117
notalaser wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Historically, the side effect this tends to have is that a lot of programmers flock to a new platform but bring the way they use and write programs with them. Fifteen years ago we ended up with CORBA- and Window Registry-like components bolted on top of Linux desktops. On the other hand, seeing how nowadays the Linux "community" is mostly a bunch of big cloud, automotive and IoT/vaporware companies, this could be the…

I wasn't aware the Linux desktop needed salvation. Maybe it needs salvation for non-technical end users but it's good to excellent for end-users whose primary use involve actually using Linux for what it's good at which is basically being a fully open OS and IDE for software and other engineers.

It has been exactly two days since the last time I had to dig down and figure out what broke in PulseAudio this time. Things are certainly bad for non-technical users, but those of us who write Linux software for a living don't have it much better, either.

Re: Thoughts on the Late 2016 MacBook Pro

#129

Post by WillKirkby »

bradgessler wrote: post #48
jwilliams wrote: post #15

I've got the 13" maxed out Late 2016. I've owned every form factor of the MacBook Pro and this is my least favorite. I like the USB-C and have bought into the tradeoff of having no Magsafe. It's also a minor plus to be able to plug in either side of the machine. The TouchID is good too. However, I've found the TouchID extremely laggy for some reason (esp. on unlock) which really reduced the benefit. The keyboard is _…

Same. The TouchBar needs a lot of tweaking at a software level. My problem is when I hit "Play" or "Pause" I expect my music to play or pause. The problem is that it's possible for other apps to steal focus for play and pause. For example if you're watching a video clip in Safari and hit Pause to stop your music after you started playing the video, it will pause the video. The most annoying thing I'm dealing with at…

> The most annoying thing I'm dealing with at the moment is HipChat stealing focus of the play button. When that happens and I hit that play button, HipChat just plays the new message sound. Its so dumb.

Yup, had this with WhatsApp web too. My suspicion is there's a hidden tag for the sound and safari's just exposing controls for that.

Re: Thoughts on the Late 2016 MacBook Pro

#130

Post by AsyncAwait »

yokohummer7 wrote: post #124
chadcmulligan wrote: post #115

I don't hear much about the display on the MBP, it's as near to perfect as any display I've ever seen, using text is beautiful, the colour depth is extraordinary - and its a laptop. I plugged in a new external 1080p monitor and thought at first there was something wrong with it, but no it's just the difference in crispness. Not only that you can run 2 external 5K monitors! from a laptop! The SSD's are so fast, it's a…

One thing I find odd about the display is that it somehow changes white balance occasionally depending on the content. I'm not sure if this only happens on BootCamp or not, but it's a bit surprising. Is there any setting to turn off this?

My MBP display occasionally gets a greenish tint.
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