Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Thoughts on the Late 2016 MacBook Pro

perpetual-beta.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

191–200 of 228 posts

Re: Thoughts on the Late 2016 MacBook Pro

#191

Post by chrisseaton »

apricot wrote: post #185
chrisseaton wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a programmer and I don't use keyboard shortcuts either, apart from Control-C, Control-V and Control-Z.

I play the piano and I never use the black keys, except C# once in a while.

That analogy is nonsensical.

A pianist that doesn't use some keys is limited in the music they can produce.

I can write exactly the same code as you without using shortcuts.

I think the advantage is that I don't have to learn completely arbitrary lists of silly little keys to press, and I can keep my brain-space for useful things.

Re: Thoughts on the Late 2016 MacBook Pro

#192

Post by notheguyouthink »

innocenat wrote: post #182
notalaser wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Do you know why it breaks? Because Ubuntu 16.04 just works on my laptop. Things that require one-time technical setup: Function key (screen brightness) and Optimus/bumblebee. I also set up touchegg because Unity hates multi-touch trackpad. But since initial setup I never have to touch anything again, and can upgrade everything via Software Update. I would say it is no better than Windows at all (since you also need t…

This is probably why i'm going to be replacing my 2014 with a 2017 MBP (hopefully they're not worse...), despite wanting to go with Linux.

I can't stomach dealing with driver/etc issues. I can't handle paying $2k only to deal with debugging things that i want to "just work".

Sure, it might work perfectly, or it might be a nightmare. I've had both experiences on desktop linux.

Re: Thoughts on the Late 2016 MacBook Pro

#193

Post by tomaskafka »

rayiner wrote: post #176
bartread wrote: post #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 re…

How often do you work out of LTE range? RDP is very usable if you need to use Windows for work.

I confirm - RDP is super awesome, a reason why I converted my home 'server' from mac to windows.

Re: Thoughts on the Late 2016 MacBook Pro

#194

Post by canuckintime »

epaga wrote: post #155

Wow, until this article I had no idea BetterTouchTool now supported touch bar customization. This is huge. Next to the crazy price, the touch bar was my only other gripe about my 15" tMBP - I absolutely love the keyboard, the huge touch pad, and everything else about it. But now with this tool (I've been tinkering around with it for a bit now), that last complaint is entirely gone. The touch bar is finally useful now…

I'm a huge fan of BetterTouchTool. I even bought a SiriRemote ($99!) just to tinker with it after BTT implemented support.

However the TouchBar is just a UI deadend. We are trained to not look down at our keyboards. My BTT shortcuts for the trackpad and MM are completely memorized so my eyes keep focus on the screen and work in front of me. I can't not do the same for the Touchbar with its changing contextual visual shortcuts. I have to glance down to confirm the context and the shortcuts. Glancing down at the touchbar means breaking concentration. Even if Apple adds haptic feedback in V2 it doesn't solve the fundamental problem of glancing away from my main screen to a tiny touchstrip. T

he touchbar is simply a crutch until the iPad wins or Apple makes a full touchscreen Mac. It's a waste of time. I'd much rather Apple have continued to implement the trackpad haptic feedback controls into the rest of their apps.

Re: Thoughts on the Late 2016 MacBook Pro

#195

Post by chrisseaton »

nicky0 wrote: post #187
Wildgoose wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously? I use them ALL the time.

What for? I don't know a single F key shortcut. People say debugging, which seems fair enough. I guess I've always found the mouse-based controls sufficient to use the Xcode debugger. Apart from the debugger, what do people need the F keys for? Are people really debugging that often? I use a hell of a lot of keyboard shortcuts, mind you. But none of them are F keys.

> Are people really debugging that often?

Don't people say that debugging is the longest part of development?

Re: Thoughts on the Late 2016 MacBook Pro

#196

Post by simonpantzare »

I can't believe they let this keyboard issue slip through: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7762123?start=0&tstart=....

When the laptop gets warm some keys' key-up sound change. I have the issue on the N (worst), X, B, and caps lock keys, but it seems to be different keys for everybody.

I hope that you will be able to have it fixed in-store soon, don't want to wait days for a replacement laptop especially if it's likely to have the same issue.

Now, admittedly it's quite a minor annoyance. But it's such a basic "feature" that keys sound the same that I don't want them to get away with it, if that makes sense.

Re: Thoughts on the Late 2016 MacBook Pro

#197

Post by leonardoe »

hellofunk wrote: post #32

In December 2016, I purchased new the 2015 model that Apple still sells. I've never been so pleased with a computer (and it was a lot cheaper than the Touch Bar model). One big surprise is that after nearly 3 months of using it every day for software development, I am still getting 15 hours battery life. This just amazes me and was far beyond my expectation. (Now, I mainly use emacs, clang, and terminal, but even com…

I needed to replace my 2010 macbook air and after much consideration I ordered a maxed-out (excepting SSD) 2015 mbp last week.

Buying previous generation hardware feels weird, I hope I don't regret this decision.

Re: Thoughts on the Late 2016 MacBook Pro

#198

Post by tlow »

dash2 wrote: post #126
tlow wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

lol whoops interpersonal then?

Re: Thoughts on the Late 2016 MacBook Pro

#199

Post by SomeHacker44 »

I have the 13" Touch Bar model.

I have no end of problems with the ESC key. The touch bar ESC key has no tactile feedback. It has no haptic feedback. I can't tell if I hit it or not. Literally, what used to be a completely unconscious use of a heavily used key (vim, Command-Tab change mind, drag & change mind, etc.) now is literally a 2-3 second mental interrupt every time I want to use it, because now I have to make sure I hit it, and that the hit registers.

The rest of the touch bar is similarly problematic. Using interactive debugging? I used to rest my fingers on F5-6-7 for step-over, step-into and continue, then I could just wiggle one finger to keep stepping. Well, no longer. I can't rest my fingers, I have no tactile feedback when I hit one of these things, and I have to look at the keyboard to make sure I'm doing the right thing.

I haven't looked at a keyboard since 1982, and probably earlier. (Well, maybe except when I was learning my way around my Symbolics keyboard.)

Use WINE? Too bad - you can't force the touch bar to always be F1-12 in System Preferences. Sucks for huge numbers of games. Which, even if you hit Fn-F-key, still suffers from the problem that it does a 2-3 second mental interrupt and glance at the keyboard. Essentially the Mac is no longer suitable for keyboard gaming.

My wife generally goes to sleep an hour or two before me. I very often will take my laptop and do some recreational coding at night as she likes it when I'm there with her while she falls asleep. Well, not anymore. This keyboard is so loud that several nights a week she tells me to leave. I finally gave up and bought an Alienware 13R3 so at least I can play some games while in bed. (That OLED display is the most amazing display I've ever had, parenthetically.) On top of this, several keys have started to "squeak." I don't know how better to describe it, but several of the keys definitely make odd high pitched sounds when you hit them. Not all the time, but if you hit them off center.

Absolute disaster. I will never buy another Apple computer until they get rid of this.

Please give me a non-Touch-Bar model ASAP!

The track pad, however, is excellent.

I don't use the Touch ID. I really don't want the police getting into my stuff without my authorization.

Re: Thoughts on the Late 2016 MacBook Pro

#200

Post by SomeHacker44 »

jrs95 wrote: post #148
mgkimsal wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if there was even a way to just have the f-keys on all the time by default, that would have helped. Last I looked, that was not an option - you needed to hold down the fn key (or control?)

You can actually, on a per application basis: http://m.imore.com/how-make-function-keys-default-touch-bar-...

You can't, actually. This only works for some applications. None of my WINE apps, for example, can have this enabled. Apple failed.
Post reply on HN