The MacBook Air has been woefully insufficient for years now. How about trying the 13" MBP and forego the touchbar? Maybe try the 2017 MacBook? The MacBook is very much better than the air in every single conceivable way.
I go back to my old macbook air from my new macbook pro – because it was better
21–30 of 37 posts
Re: I go back to my old macbook air from my new macbook pro – because it was better
#22Every single one of these stupid blog posts goes a little something like "I wanted a 13 inch laptop but I got this 15 inch one instead just so I could gripe about how big it is" or "I don't like the touchbar but I got the one with the touchbar anyway just so I could gripe about it." or "I hammer my digits into the pavement like the smiting fist of an angry god at every keypress and now my fingers hurt." And this guy.…
What's your problem with the airs screen? I work on a macbook pro, mostly because 'modern' 'everything-must-docker' software development seems to require 16GB ram and an i7 to run anything. But for everything else, whether video or web, I come back to an early 2015 air. I definitely sympathise with the OP.
The TN, non-retina display on the latest MacBook Air makes it feel neglected by Apple. That screen is also awful to look at and the viewing angles are supremely poor.
If you have a MacBook Air and like it, by all means use it. If you're in the market for a new laptop, don't buy a MacBook Air. It's essentially been abandoned by Apple.
Re: I go back to my old macbook air from my new macbook pro – because it was better
#23I’m sure I would agree with all gripes against the Touch Bar, except I frequently see articles complaining about things that are technically customizable. For instance, yes many actions are useless or easy to hit accidentally, etc. but you can change what’s on the Touch Bar.
Have you found any useful applications for it? I’ve had mine for over six months now and still find it kind of useless. The fact that it “adapts” to the focused app implies that it would do something useful for that app, which is rarely the case. It also seems impossible to customise it to look exactly like it’s physical counterpart all the time for the same reason. That, and it’s much slower and clumsier for actions…
The dynamic switching is one of its fundamental problems because I don’t like peripheral vision distractions. Fortunately, the bar can be configured to be static.
It’s amazing how little movement it takes to catch your eye’s attention (one reason why ads are almost always annoying if they have any catchy color or move in any way, even if they’re not in your face).
Therefore, I don’t want the icons on the keyboard changing how they look. I’m probably not looking at the keyboard, I’m looking at the screen and that just makes me look at the keyboard again.
And sadly, it’s not like you even need a Touch Bar to have dynamic behavior in every application; function keys are already dynamic.
Re: I go back to my old macbook air from my new macbook pro – because it was better
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
doesn't apple still make a macbook pro without the touchbar?
Yes but it's the May 2015 model.
Re: I go back to my old macbook air from my new macbook pro – because it was better
#25Every single one of these stupid blog posts goes a little something like "I wanted a 13 inch laptop but I got this 15 inch one instead just so I could gripe about how big it is" or "I don't like the touchbar but I got the one with the touchbar anyway just so I could gripe about it." or "I hammer my digits into the pavement like the smiting fist of an angry god at every keypress and now my fingers hurt." And this guy.…
What's your problem with the airs screen? I work on a macbook pro, mostly because 'modern' 'everything-must-docker' software development seems to require 16GB ram and an i7 to run anything. But for everything else, whether video or web, I come back to an early 2015 air. I definitely sympathise with the OP.
As a former MacBook Air owner, the screen is total garbage. It's max resolution 1440x900! Smartphones have higher resolutions than that.
I didn't realise how unproductive I was until I switched to something with more resolution. Not to mention that it's TN, which is insulting for the price.
Re: I go back to my old macbook air from my new macbook pro – because it was better
#26Every single one of these stupid blog posts goes a little something like "I wanted a 13 inch laptop but I got this 15 inch one instead just so I could gripe about how big it is" or "I don't like the touchbar but I got the one with the touchbar anyway just so I could gripe about it." or "I hammer my digits into the pavement like the smiting fist of an angry god at every keypress and now my fingers hurt." And this guy.…
What's your problem with the airs screen? I work on a macbook pro, mostly because 'modern' 'everything-must-docker' software development seems to require 16GB ram and an i7 to run anything. But for everything else, whether video or web, I come back to an early 2015 air. I definitely sympathise with the OP.
1440x900 with poor color fidelity and narrow viewing angles was already subpar in every aspect in 2013 for a 13 inch screen, and is a slap in the face in 2018.
Re: I go back to my old macbook air from my new macbook pro – because it was better
#27These UX problems aside, am I the only one who feels like the latest generation has performance problems? My 2013 Air ran DotA, Sublime, iTerm and Chrome just fine. The 13" 2017 Pro that I'm using now heats up if I'm just using Sublime, and the fan even turns on. The 13" 2015 Pro didn't have this problem either.
Consider the possibility that you have a faulty one. It does happen. Apple, like every other manufacturer, will be resistant to the suggestion, though.
Fwiw, I don't experience anything like what you describe on a 16GB 2017 13" without touchbar.
Re: I go back to my old macbook air from my new macbook pro – because it was better
#28Re: I go back to my old macbook air from my new macbook pro – because it was better
#29"And as a heavy vim user, I really don’t need a physical escape button for sure". Is that a complaint? There is a feature I don't need in my specific circumstances - but which is widely necessary for other people - therefore the product is bad? The escape button isn't niche like the touch bar - seems like a real stupid thing to complain about.
And now we all know who has never used vim. ;)
A vim user needs the esc key approximately as often as the Enter key.
Re: I go back to my old macbook air from my new macbook pro – because it was better
#30Just got one of these. The keyboard feels like a cheap Bluetooth add on, the touch bar is like a state of the art touch screen phone from 2004 in bar form, and the touch pad picks up my palm all the time. Not a happy camper.
doesn't apple still make a macbook pro without the touchbar?
Only the 13" model, so if you want a quad-core CPU or discrete GPU you have to get a touchbar.