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Fixing the MacBook Pro

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Re: Fixing the MacBook Pro

#121

Post by on_and_off »

nouveaux wrote: post #111
on_and_off wrote: post #41

I got the last mac book pro at work, coming from a 2015 model I use at home. Pro : - it is lighter. I don't really find it is a very relevant pro, the previous one is already a light device so this isn't really relevant but it would not be fair to do not list it. - touch id is very convenient. It has one huge caveat : it is very capricious. For example each time the mbp crashes, fingerprints are automatically deleted…

I have the 2017 MBP 15" and had my laptop crash several times (htop bug). My fingerprints have never been deleted. Have you verified that it is indeed a security measure? If it is not a security measure, it might be something worth taking the it in to get more scrutiny. Best of luck with the laptop.

Hard to say, I updated the OS recently and I have way less crashes.

Maybe it only erases prints recorded since the last restart ? I googled a bit when it happened and it was explained as a security feature.

Re: Fixing the MacBook Pro

#122

Post by raincom »

ihenriksen wrote: post #92

According to Geekbench there is only about a 50% performance gain with Intel i7 CPUs since MacBook Pro Retinas from 2012, am I the only one that is surprised about this - Moore's Law and all? https://browser.geekbench.com/v4/cpu/search?q=macbook+pro

I have Late 2013 MBP Retina i7-4850HQ CPU @ 2.30GHz. The score I see is: 4120 14264. For the latest MBP Retina i7-7820HQ @ 2.90HZ and its score is: 4644 15802.

I see just 10% gain, and I don't see any reason to upgrade unless the logic board fails on my 3.5 years old laptop.

Re: Fixing the MacBook Pro

#123

Post by ksec »

I would very much like to see Gruber's take on it. Because while Marco is a prominent software developer, I dont think he understand Apple "that" much.

Take SD Card as Example. To me they are going to the way of CD/DVD. I am not a professional photographer, so it is a little hard for me to understand what specific workflow that SD Card is mandatory. We have 802.11ax and 802.11ay, First being a much improved 802.11ac that should finally mean WiFi doesn't suck ( as much ) and the latter brings 60Ghz direct line of sight transfer and 100s of Gbps. While we are unlikely to see those speed, it is no argument that we are capable of doing 5-10 Gbps wireless transfer now, and even better in the future. So why the need for an SD Card? Your Camera should wirelessly connect to your Computer.

Then there is the Keyboard, I loved the Magic Keyboard. But even then it is not perfect. So not only should Apple NOT try to put scissors back to MBP, they should make something that is better then Magic Keyboard, give the sense of depth, using more or less the height of Butterfly, while being super reliable. The problem with only 5% of MBP have keyboard issues is that the previous MBP had 1%, that is 5X more! They should aim high and have a failure rate of less then 0.5%.

Again it is the same with trackpad. Let as avoid all the discussion of why such a large trackpad. But if they are going to make it stay there, may be an hands on keyboard sensor, we want palm rejection to be 99.999% accurate! Not 98 or 99%.

The list goes on. But Apple is known to be the master of iteration. Or more like Steve Jobs's Apple was known for it. So the next MBP is going to be critical.

Mac is still a 25M unit/ year business. 5th Largest PC Vendor by Unit, likely higher on revenue, possibly the number 1 in profits since Apple make 10x more profits then other PC vendor. ( Doesn't mean Apple is making a lot, it is just other PC vendor are cut throat competition going down to 5% Gross Profit ) So Mac still matters, and will continue to matter for the coming 10 years, despite the Post PC era, and going in a full circle, It is Apple's best chance to take over some PC Market.

Re: Fixing the MacBook Pro

#124

Post by kayoone »

on_and_off wrote: post #121
nouveaux wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have the 2017 MBP 15" and had my laptop crash several times (htop bug). My fingerprints have never been deleted. Have you verified that it is indeed a security measure? If it is not a security measure, it might be something worth taking the it in to get more scrutiny. Best of luck with the laptop.

Hard to say, I updated the OS recently and I have way less crashes. Maybe it only erases prints recorded since the last restart ? I googled a bit when it happened and it was explained as a security feature.

I've been using a Macbook 2016 for a year but i have never had the fingerprints deleted. That sounds super annoying.

Re: Fixing the MacBook Pro

#125

Post by saltcod »

kitsunesoba wrote: post #39
saltcod wrote: post #2

Surprises me that a 2015 MBP is still passable for him cpu-wise. I briefly replaced my 2014 MBP with a 2017 iMac, citing the 16GB ram ceiling as my primary issue. I ordered the iMac from Apple with 8GB of ram and ordered an additional 16GB from OWC b/c it was way cheaper. The iMac arrived over two weeks before the OWC ram arrived, so I had 2 weeks using the 8GB iMac in it's ram-starved state. In short: I never once n…

I have a 15” Mid 2015 MBP as my personal machine and a latest model 15” MBP w/touchbar as my work machine, and while the latter is a bit faster I don’t feel much of a difference between the two in my day to day. The projects I work on are small/moderate sized, though, and compiling them doesn’t take too long. It’d probably be a different story if I were working on WebKit or Chrome or some other monstrously huge proje…

How / why are desktops so much better? Wondering what was it that made that new iMac I bought so much better than this 2015 MBP with just half the ram. Any ideas?

Re: Fixing the MacBook Pro

#126

Post by saltcod »

bluedino wrote: post #98
saltcod wrote: post #2

Surprises me that a 2015 MBP is still passable for him cpu-wise. I briefly replaced my 2014 MBP with a 2017 iMac, citing the 16GB ram ceiling as my primary issue. I ordered the iMac from Apple with 8GB of ram and ordered an additional 16GB from OWC b/c it was way cheaper. The iMac arrived over two weeks before the OWC ram arrived, so I had 2 weeks using the 8GB iMac in it's ram-starved state. In short: I never once n…

Did the iMac have an SSD?

It did yeah. My MBP does too.

Re: Fixing the MacBook Pro

#127

Post by Tagbert »

re:ports

It seems clear that we are heading to a USB-C world but we are not there yet. There are too many existing devices to which we need connections to just abandon them. When you reduce both the type and number of ports, you make the device less versatile. The availability of USB-C is still in transition and this generation of mackbook should reflect that. include at least one USB-A port and one display-port or hdmi port. Adding USB-C ports does move things forward but dropping the others too soon just impedes the function of these laptops.

Re: Fixing the MacBook Pro

#128

Post by spronkey »

eitland wrote: post #82
spronkey wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. Make it upgradable. RAM and multiple M.2 please. And make it shut the hell up, or let me offload compute to something that has big fans.

> or let me offload compute to something that has big fans. This one puzzles me. Back when I used a MacBook the fact that it was mostly silent was one of the biggest advantages. Also, somewhat honestly: I don’t see any reason why Mac users can't offload to AWS, Azure or Google Cloud?

What kind of MacBook did you use, and did you plug it in to an external display?

My 2013 15" MacBook Pro is extremely loud when plugged in to one or more external displays. Seems to be related to the fact that its fans are either off, or at 100%. Or at least have a very late, aggressive curve. It's also very loud when the CPU is constantly pegged at 20% or more, which is basically a given when running Xcode.

I can offload some things to the cloud, but I can't offload my UI and local apps, which are the things that cause the really loud noise.

When it's under a light load, it's very quiet - moreso than most non-Apple machines I've used. But under heavy load, a number of other machines seem to be much better at expelling their heat without sounding like a jet engine.

Re: Fixing the MacBook Pro

#129

Post by dontjaywalk »

saurik wrote: post #106
robraven wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really couldn't disagree more. So many software engineers at tier-1 tech companies use apple machines (I'd put the percentage at around 50% depending on tech stack.) Walk into any engineering class at a university and you'll likely see the same ratio, perhaps even further skewed towards macs. Disclaimer: I own a mac and a pc

Even if 100% of those people are using a Mac (and they aren't... I help teach CS at a University in California and 75% of the people in my intro class this year have a Windows laptop: I counted, as I was that shocked at how different this is than five years ago when everyone had a Mac), you first have to show that there are actually a lot of those people, and there simply aren't... "engineers at tier-1 tech companies…

Actually, it's 50%. Count a little closer next time.

Re: Fixing the MacBook Pro

#130

Post by MarkMc »

Gaelan wrote: post #81
MarkMc wrote: post #53

Yes, the keyboard is so disappointing. The plastic of the keys is so thin and harsh it feels so cheap. Yes, I really miss the inverted T arrow keys - my right hand can't orientate itself any more. Yes, touch pad was a mistake - a single tap should change the volume!

This isn’t as discoverable as it should be, but you can put your finger on the volume “key” and slide without pressing the button, waiting for slider, then sliding. I think I actually like adjusting volume on the Touch bar better than the old way.

True, but that's not really a 'single tap'. More like 'tap then wait until the slider appears then drag finger just the right distance'
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