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Thoughts on the Late 2016 MacBook Pro

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Re: Thoughts on the Late 2016 MacBook Pro

#161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Caps lock should be control, like it was when vi was invented. You can remap it under system preferences| keyboard| modifier As for , :inoremap kj You'll love it.

It should be both

http://stevelosh.com/blog/2012/10/a-modern-space-cadet/#cont...

Re: Thoughts on the Late 2016 MacBook Pro

#162
post #62

Since the author quotes prices in GBP, I'd say to everyone - skip the Apple Care! In UK consumer electronics state-enforced-warranty (or whatever these particular consumer rights are called) is 6 years. That's not a typo, it is 6 years and I've used it twice for my Apple gear that was outside of manufacturer's warranty and without Apple Care. Save yourself £329 and know your rights. And dont get my word on it, check…

In general, know you customer's rights. In the EU the minimum warranty on physical goods is 2 years. That's the minimum for physical goods in general.

Re: Thoughts on the Late 2016 MacBook Pro

#163

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…

You already had to hit the Fn key to make the Fn keys function, correct? The defaults were the brightness, volume, etc settings. You do the same thing and they all appear on the Touchbar. Zero change in usability there.

Re: Thoughts on the Late 2016 MacBook Pro

#164

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.

It's funny how much I think about the trackpad when I consider leaving apple. Seems like a a stupid reason when you tell non-apple users, but seriously, everything else feels so primitive in comparison.

Re: Thoughts on the Late 2016 MacBook Pro

#165

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.

The Linux desktop seems to be getting ever more dragged in crap like Unity, systemd, and broken ideas on top of broken ideas

Though you can replace those components, the time being wasted there makes the Touchbar and other Apple crap seem the worse of two evils

Re: Thoughts on the Late 2016 MacBook Pro

#166

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…

You already had to hit the Fn key to make the Fn keys function, correct? The defaults were the brightness, volume, etc settings. You do the same thing and they all appear on the Touchbar. Zero change in usability there.

I wouldn't call not being able to feel a key no change in usability.

Re: Thoughts on the Late 2016 MacBook Pro

#167
post #97
post #6

£3,700 is just a monumental amount of money. You'd be much better off buying a cheaper laptop (even a MacBook, or MBP without TouchBar) and a more powerful desktop (Hackintosh if you will)

You could buy a used Mazda MX-5 and a Chromebook. http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/20170111122165... https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-Chromebook-C201PA-FD0009-Proce...

Or stay here for 2 days :)

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/9693510?checkin=06%2F01%2F2017&...

Perspectives. I wouldn't throw that much money on a laptop BTW.

Re: Thoughts on the Late 2016 MacBook Pro

#168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The Linux desktop seems to be getting ever more dragged in crap like Unity, systemd, and broken ideas on top of broken ideas Though you can replace those components, the time being wasted there makes the Touchbar and other Apple crap seem the worse of two evils

I can't say there is any usability difference between systemd and upstart on my Ubuntu 16.10 machine.

Which brokenness are you referring to?

Re: Thoughts on the Late 2016 MacBook Pro

#169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You don't need third party software for this. Just look under Keyboard in System Prefs.

If a keyboard doesn't identify itself as such (I have a bluetooth keyboard that does this), you need third-party software to do it. The built-in Apple functionality only works on keyboards that say they're keyboards.

Re: Thoughts on the Late 2016 MacBook Pro

#170
I'm currently running a late-2015 15-inch Macbook Pro, with all specs maxxed out, and have no plans to upgrade until probably next year. Still, even in 2015 the 16GB RAM limit annoyed me because I often run OSX and Windows side-by-side with Parallels. Whilst SSD is fast, it still ain't no RAM, and with 2 x VS instances, different versions of SQL Server, Couchbase, Oracle, and Tibco all running at the same time I'd really like to be able to give my Windows VM at least 16GB to work with.

The other big rub with the new MBP for me is that smaller battery. As mentioned I run Parallels which is just awful for sucking CPU (even when Windows itself appears to be using none; see their support forums). It's actually turned into a really crappy and aggravating product across a number of fronts but this is by far the biggest problem because it absolutely canes the battery. I often find myself having to work disconnected, so it's a real issue when running Windows.

I also don't much appreciate the non-user-upgradeable SSD. I've enjoyed (and used) the option to swap out the stock drive in previous MBP incarnations, to great effect (and cost savings), so the fact that you can no longer do so and are forced to pay Apple's prices for storage (albeit very fast storage), is frustrating.

The other changes don't really bother me too much. I can actually see the touchbar being much more useful than function keys in many cases because it'll reduce the need to remember keyboard shortcuts. Instead custom rendering will make it obvious what the widgets are for. I agree with the author's point about haptic feedback though.

For me, thinness and lightness are not fundamental driving factors. Sure, I appreciate a lighter laptop - and I don't want to return to the bad old days of massive, heavy laptops with giant power supplies (I'm looking at you, Dell) - but not if that means compromising in other important areas. I'd prefer a slightly heavier machine with more (user-upgradeable) RAM, a bigger battery (especially to compensate for the extra RAM), and upgradeable storage. I've said it before but I feel like, despite the machine's name, Apple are somewhat disregarding the needs of the "pros" who use it.

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