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MacBook Pro? No

shahidkamal.com

171–180 of 239 posts

Re: MacBook Pro? No

#171
post #157

a. Why do people have a need to write blog posts about why they won't buy a macbook? What do we care? I won't buy most things I see offers for: certain soda drinks, instant coffee, etc, etc, etc, etc b. Why do these posts get so high on the HN main page? What is the value? Is it just nerdy conversation and, in this case, Apple shaming just like we do with celebrity gossip? Do we feel like giddy children telling stori…

> a Macbook is just a product you don't have to buy. and you learn these things by reading blogs.

What I mean is that there is a choice to buy certain things. You have free will don't you?

Re: MacBook Pro? No

#172
I took my 9 month old 13" Touchbar Pro into Apple last night for the third time. This time it was a display fault (bottom of screen had horizontal lines and pink hue when cold) and all 4 USB-C ports were soggy with no hold.

Previously I've had a new logic board after a power fault that took a authorized repairer to fix as they were the only ones that believed me.

FINALLY I got a full refund. I bought the previous 15" model (which I should never had sold) with the proceeds in store.

I've never had such an unreliable piece of hardware. Some guy was in store with a key that was stuck and he was told it would take 5 days to repair.

The relief I felt when the genius said refund said it all.

Re: MacBook Pro? No

#173
I am saddens to see a lot people are saying most of these are minor annoyances.

People forget, the reason most buy an Apple is attention to details. Quality, in places where you dont't expect it. We dont expect Apple to be just "good", we expect "better" or "best". It is a reason why people pay a premium over others.

Lets skip the discussion of whether the MBP is Pro or not, it is certainly a top price range premium notebook on the market, you expect these pieces of equipment to last, not the old golden standard where your 484 could still turn on, but at least within its warranty period. 2 Years, with AppleCare+. Even having 1% of your customer coming in within the first 2 year of its usage because of a faulty keyboard is a design failure. That is 200K Macbook Pro. And Apple spoke about this, which has less then 5% return rate. 5%? Serious? Even 0.5% within first year on a Keyboard is wrong.

I know most people love the new Keyboard spacing, and its key stability. But we have a polarise group of people on Key Depth. Not every body likes to type on shallow keys, and not everyone can get used to it. I haven't seen anyone who could type of these new keys would mind if they had more depth, they wouldn't be bothered. But not vice versa.

Given Intel's new released KabyLake-G, It is likely the new Macbook Pro will use it, you get similar CPU performance, but 50% better Graphics, along with support of 64GB Memory ( if Apple Choose to, but my guess they will limit it to 32GB ).

I really care about any of that. But the keyboard definitely needs some rethink. Some have suggested Apple regress to old Keyboard. But I disagree, since we are talking about Apple, I expect them to have a new Keyboard that is just as thin, gives more depth then even the old keyboard, have ultra high reliability, and even better key stability. I.e It needs to be better in every way then this and its previous keyboard design. A Tall order, but that is what we expect of Apple.

Note: Dell is a maglev keyboard shown with their new XPS 15. Which is suppose to be everything i described above. Will be waiting to see it it is any good.

Re: MacBook Pro? No

#174
Why has Apple not added Pencil support to the extra-large trackpad? Perfect lateral move and great for so-called professionals. Was eagerly anticipating cool new hardware features in that vein to justify buying a new laptop; ended up getting an eGPU for my 2013 MBP instead. And in the meantime, the widely-acclaimed and perfectly precise Pencil continues to languish. Sigh!

Re: MacBook Pro? No

#175

a. Why do people have a need to write blog posts about why they won't buy a macbook? What do we care? I won't buy most things I see offers for: certain soda drinks, instant coffee, etc, etc, etc, etc b. Why do these posts get so high on the HN main page? What is the value? Is it just nerdy conversation and, in this case, Apple shaming just like we do with celebrity gossip? Do we feel like giddy children telling stori…

This isn't a post about why the author won't buy one. The post is about why the author, a long time Apple die-hard, doesn't believe the current Macbook Pro is "Pro". These posts get so high up on HN because they resonate with people on HN. I'm a new-media producer/developer, and my 2014 MBP is the best machine I've ever owned- but the state of the current MBP and the current Mac Pro have left me in an interesting sit…

Firstly, people can write about whatever they want. Also, I understand that people might feel the same way here, but the issue I am raising is that we as tech interested readers should not idolize the subjective ramblings of people who are dissatisfied with the products they buy.

Issues raised in the article:

- 'The arrow keys are squished together' - Usually when I buy things I do research about what I am buying, especially when those things cost $2000+. I don't even have to go to Apple's website to know that there are pictures of the macbook pro with its arrow keys close together.

- 'Track pad is too big" - I like that it is so big

etc

You say "...Apple to get their shit together". So what should they do? Offer models with big and small track pads? Create models with different positions of arrow keys? Not have the touch bar because some people use VIM?

A few days ago I bought a new baby chair and I wanted to have one that I could adjust so that as my daughter grows I can still have her sit in it. There are chairs that have this features and others that don't. What happens with these blog posts is as if I bought a chair of a hip brand that doesn't offer adjustments and then complain about it online and tell them to get their shit together.

Re: MacBook Pro? No

#176
post #157

a. Why do people have a need to write blog posts about why they won't buy a macbook? What do we care? I won't buy most things I see offers for: certain soda drinks, instant coffee, etc, etc, etc, etc b. Why do these posts get so high on the HN main page? What is the value? Is it just nerdy conversation and, in this case, Apple shaming just like we do with celebrity gossip? Do we feel like giddy children telling stori…

> a Macbook is just a product you don't have to buy. and you learn these things by reading blogs.

and you can make that choice by reading blogs to make an informed decisions.

Re: MacBook Pro? No

#177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Apple’s only homemade blunders are the asinine keyboard and the silly half assed attempt at touch-but-not-screen. The keyboard rules. Can confirm. Also some content creation apps I use (ex: Ableton) are starting to get useful treatment in the Touch Bar. > Oh and the stupid obsession with thin The thinner the laptop, the more stuff I can cram in my carry on. ymmv

This means you're probably not using the laptop as a workstation. Say, graphics, CAD, CAM, video or audio authoring. To do these you might want extra ports for say audio interface, specialized controller, digitizer... And a video output to present the results perhaps. Instead you get to carry that and an interface box. More disk space and RAM are major assets too.

Not that i wouldnt agree with you but when you are doing music production you will need powered hub anyway. At minimum i plug in mouse, soundcard, midi controller and most of the time keyboard and midi keys.

This is problem on every laptop since most of them have under 4 usb slots.

Re: MacBook Pro? No

#178
post #24
post #22

These arguments are made for cell phones all the time too. The consensus is that it's impossible to please everyone. At least for phones, and this might be similar to laptops, we made decisions on everything based on intensive research, usability testing, and profitability. Companies can't simply cater to specific demographics and hope for the best. For example, the keyboard quality on the MBP could be a valid concer…

Do you think the user research said to design a keyboard that has buttons that randomly doublepress? It's not just the author, everyone in my team with the new MacBook have the same issue with some buttons.

My 'bb' key double-presses something like 60% of the time.

Re: MacBook Pro? No

#179

a. Why do people have a need to write blog posts about why they won't buy a macbook? What do we care? I won't buy most things I see offers for: certain soda drinks, instant coffee, etc, etc, etc, etc b. Why do these posts get so high on the HN main page? What is the value? Is it just nerdy conversation and, in this case, Apple shaming just like we do with celebrity gossip? Do we feel like giddy children telling stori…

> a. Because, as opposed to a soda or cup of coffee, he paid a significant amount of money for a device that turned out to be a bad investment to him. 2$ misinvested are nothing to write home about; 2000$ misinvested are. Same reason why there are tons of car reviews and tech reviews, but not a lot of soda or coffee reviews. > b. Because Apple knows how to appeal to people emotionally.

He actually paid 2800£, so it’s something like 3800$ with today exchange rate.

Re: MacBook Pro? No

#180
post #83

I’m also stuck on an old MacBook Pro model. Can’t justify the price but after some research — namely trying to find an equivalent Lenovo or Hp or whatever — I reached the conclusion that it’s mostly Intel’s fault. Let me explain: Intel chipsets don’t support enough lanes to supply USB-c, GPU, SSD and anything else with no less than 4 of them. The extra “legacy port breakout” ruins the tally and that’s why Apple dropp…

> Apple’s only homemade blunders are the asinine keyboard and the silly half assed attempt at touch-but-not-screen. The keyboard rules. Can confirm. Also some content creation apps I use (ex: Ableton) are starting to get useful treatment in the Touch Bar. > Oh and the stupid obsession with thin The thinner the laptop, the more stuff I can cram in my carry on. ymmv

> The thinner the laptop, the more stuff I can cram in my carry on. ymmv

This is important. Because all those adapters do take up space.

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