> Though Apple employees receive significant yearly discounts on computers, and this was the first significant redesign of the MacBook Pro’s body in eight years, he had chosen not to buy one of the new ones, even a year later. (The author, referring to a Genius' 2015 MBP) Umm. I earn modestly good money developing software and my 2010 MBP is starting to show its age. How much does he think an Apple Store employee mak…
FYI, OP is a woman: https://twitter.com/caseyjohnston
Thanks for pointing that out! Usually aiming for non-gendered language, but sometimes assumptions get the better of me!
This autumn I finally needed to buy a new laptop and spent some time testing and figuring out which keyboard I like the most. The funny thing was that the only seriously decent laptop keyboard is in a model that has a limited release and will probably sell out in the coming weeks: The ThinkPad 25th anniversary edition. How can it be that to get a seriously good keyboard for programming, I need to get a novelty laptop…
I think FHD is a feature. Even on a 15" laptop it is around 140ppi, thats... a lot. And FHD saves on battery life significantly on anything not Apple. I specifically ordered a Precision 7520 this week with an anti-glare FHD with no mic or webcam because 140+ PPI is a good balance for me and it extends battery life significantly. 96 ppi is the old standard. 140ppi generally gives a very nice and crisp screen. The 220…
It's definitely ok! I just had a ThinkPad X1 Carbon to test from work and I kind of liked the WQHD resolution with the crisp colors. At least for 15" screen and keeping one Emacs and one terminal side by side was a nice way to work and I could easily read the text.
Not complaining though, everything else in this T25 is so much better.
I think the main point is that you could just map those to function keys. I think I've only seen one main use that works well with the bar, and that's scrubbing through video or audio.
But you have to remember what the function keys do, so you are ignoring the primary point of the touch bar.
Most developer tools (which is the context that comes to mind for me) have some sort of quick lookup for unfamiliar functions (eg. Sublime Text's command palette, IntelliJ 'find action by name' etc etc). These facilities don't require you to look away from the screen, and give access to far more commands than the touch bar. Anything used often enough to be worth mapping you can remember within a day or so of use, so it seems like a tiny gain for losing one whole row of touch-typeable keys.
Side note: the Apple store is the worst retail experience I've had, every single time. The entire process seems to be designed for clueless geriatric retirees who have plenty of time and no understanding of technology to be slowly accosted and removed of their money by the exact opposite of a genius.
Other than saying 'Hi', I generally don't interact with anyone in the Apple Store these days. I get what I need, scan the bar codes of the items I'm buying in the Apple Store app, and then walk out.
Sure, but all of their actual hardware is not available that way. If you're just buying accessories, then you probably could've just bought them online anyway. Downloading an app to go shopping at the store isn't appealing.
This is coming from the company that used to do design and function so well. Now they just have form. Their obsession for thinness is stupid at this point.
Based on the title I assumed that this person was going to be complaining about joint damage due to the low key travel. This keyboard on my 12" MacBook is so bad that between having to get the top case replaced to fix broken keys (when as stated in the article, careful blowing didn't work and trying to replace the keys caused them to break) and my fingers feeing like they have aged many years from the poor ergonomics…
Your story resonated with me because I had the same experiences with a 12” MacBook. While I can’t really use you as an example, since you kind of need a Mac for a lot of the work you do specifically, I’ve heard the same complaints about Apple hardware from other long-time Mac users that don’t actually need to have a Mac. I am curious how many of those of us that don’t need macOS day to day have voted with their walle…
I did the same as you and migrated away. I was looking at the XPS and ended up going with the Razer Blade Stealth. What's actually surprised me most is how much I enjoy having a touch screen. I could see checking out the new surface pro 2 at some point now.
The other huge thing that surprised me was how easy development is becoming with the new Windows Linux Subsystem. The only thing i haven't gotten to play nicely with it is Postgres, but I just set it up in windows and have the wls connect to it and I'm on my way.
This autumn I finally needed to buy a new laptop and spent some time testing and figuring out which keyboard I like the most. The funny thing was that the only seriously decent laptop keyboard is in a model that has a limited release and will probably sell out in the coming weeks: The ThinkPad 25th anniversary edition. How can it be that to get a seriously good keyboard for programming, I need to get a novelty laptop…
I think FHD is a feature. Even on a 15" laptop it is around 140ppi, thats... a lot. And FHD saves on battery life significantly on anything not Apple. I specifically ordered a Precision 7520 this week with an anti-glare FHD with no mic or webcam because 140+ PPI is a good balance for me and it extends battery life significantly. 96 ppi is the old standard. 140ppi generally gives a very nice and crisp screen. The 220…
Agreed, and I'm happy that I'm not the only person with this view on display density. I can deal with HiDPI displays if it allows me to to a 1:2 integer scale without losing too much real estate, but any scaling between there loses small pixel details. As someone who appreciates sharp bitmap fonts and pixel graphics, the retina MBP is a big irritation.
This autumn I finally needed to buy a new laptop and spent some time testing and figuring out which keyboard I like the most. The funny thing was that the only seriously decent laptop keyboard is in a model that has a limited release and will probably sell out in the coming weeks: The ThinkPad 25th anniversary edition. How can it be that to get a seriously good keyboard for programming, I need to get a novelty laptop…
I just received my T25. They are already unavailable in the US. I will soon be making a comparison video between the T25, my X62, and the old X300.
I will say that the panel itself is a good panel, 1080p aside. It is like the one in the T450s - good white point, linear constant-current backlight driver (no flickery low-freq PWM!)
My biggest beaf with the TouchBar: volume takes two clicks! Instead of an up down and mute button, I get mute and volume which then opens a slider to the left of the click. So instead of just clicking once to lower volume I have to click, move my finger and slide. It would be so easy to allow custom button to add back on (and maybe there is that I haven't been able to find?) I also accidentally 'touch my pinky finger…
A couple things: you don’t have to click volume and then move to the slider, you can just touch the volume button and begin sliding immediately and it will adjust relative to how you slide. Also, if you go into System Preferences—>Keyboard, you can customize the keys, including adding a dedicated mute button.
Maybe I'm missing it or my os is not up to date? These are the settings I get, I only see mute and single volume button: https://imgur.com/a/CIgz3