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2018 MacBook Pro Review

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Re: 2018 MacBook Pro Review

#251

Post by monetus »

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #173
chrisseaton wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You can't even plug a USB stick into it. I don't think I've used, or seen anyone else use, a USB stick in about a decade. We can't just keep these legacy ports around forever, cluttering up our devices.

USB dongles are absolutely standard in pro audio. Products made by Steinberg, Avid, and many plug-in shops will not work without a USB dongle. Aside from a few high-end audio interfaces, most music hardware - including licensing dongles - is USB-A. Of course you can buy the inevitable wart-on-a-cable adaptor from Apple. But it's both fragile and ugly, and when you have an iLok with thousands of dollars of software on…

Thanks for saying this. Every producer/Dj I know needs USB-A. It will be decades before that equipment is phased out.

Re: 2018 MacBook Pro Review

#252

Post by timdierks »

derefr wrote: post #224
Stratoscope wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lately I've been working at a company that uses YubiKeys for 2FA. You can use a traditional YubiKey, but the YubiKey Nano is especially popular because you can put it in your laptop and leave it there. It barely sticks out at all, just enough that you can touch it and activate the touch sensor. [1] I started noticing people in meetings with their new MacBook Pros and six inch cords sticking out the side, and on close…

That's even more funny, because the MBP's touch-bar is essentially the same type of device as the YubiKey—an isolated offboard CPU with its own TPM that can be unlocked with a fingerprint and then asked to encrypt secrets for the host/parent PC. The touch-bar just has more screen. I'm surprised nobody's hacked the YubiKey app into making use of the touch-bar as the YubiKey "device."

https://github.com/github/SoftU2F

Re: 2018 MacBook Pro Review

#253

Post by monetus »

sumedh wrote: post #225
TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

USB dongles are absolutely standard in pro audio. Products made by Steinberg, Avid, and many plug-in shops will not work without a USB dongle. Aside from a few high-end audio interfaces, most music hardware - including licensing dongles - is USB-A. Of course you can buy the inevitable wart-on-a-cable adaptor from Apple. But it's both fragile and ugly, and when you have an iLok with thousands of dollars of software on…

> USB dongles are absolutely standard in pro audio. That is like saying everyone is using floppy disks, why did Apple remove floppy disk drive. You will need to use dongle for a while but everyone moving to USB C/wireless is a good thing.

Mac is highly supported for pro audio, so you can hope. I'm certain that until pioneer, m-audio, etc. jump on board, they will lose consumers.

Re: 2018 MacBook Pro Review

#254

Post by bigiain »

bodas wrote: post #118
stupidcar wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's almost as if Apple aren't even basing their hardware strategy on what developers are complaining about on Hacker News.

I'd go further and say that Apple isn't basing their hardware strategy on the needs of any real person. It's a laptop with only USB-C ports (and the 13-inch only has two of them). You can't even plug a USB stick into it. The only people who asked for a laptop like that are working at Apple.

"If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses." -- Henry Ford

Nobody asked for USB ports when they had serial/parallel ports, or for the floppy drive to disappear, or to lose the VGA connector.

I don't know if Apple have made the right calls here (on either the USB-C ports or the keyboard), but they do have some history in making eventually-winning calls on at least some of these things. (That _also_ built the Newton, so I'm not gonna claim they _always_ get it right.)

It'll be interesting to see how these design decisions fare over then next 3-5 years...

Re: 2018 MacBook Pro Review

#255

Post by BugsJustFindMe »

inopinatus wrote: post #194
georgewfraser wrote: post #186

The touchbar is such an FU to developers. It still hasn't found any real use. They're not rolling it out to other models. Basically, it's a little fun "experiment" that they've imposed on all their PRO users, thus demonstrating they no longer really care about this user group. Personally, I'm waiting for the next generation of Surface devices to come out, and I'm going to see if I can make WSL work for me.

Without an Escape key I'm doomed. The touchbar doesn't cut it. I tried a 2017 model and could only adapt with the daggy workaround of remapping Caps Lock to Escape. Unfortunately that is therefore in the "wrong" location for muscle memory for every other keyboard I use. Sadly I have such a strong preference for OSX that it seems I'll be using the limping 2012 Retina MBP on which I'm typing until it dies completely, a…

Now that I have a video demonstration, I feel obligated to post it any time I see someone complaining about the escape key. You can use escape on the touchbar by putting your finger in the exact same place as you would on any other keyboard. Escape didn't go anywhere.

Video proof: https://streamable.com/ao18b

Re: 2018 MacBook Pro Review

#256

Post by bigiain »

derefr wrote: post #220
manigandham wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You didn't answer the question. It doesn't need to be so dysfunctionally thin and light to travel between work and home sometimes. Nobody is going to suffer from an extra pound of weight.

In places other than the US, the majority of commuters are supporting the weight of their laptops on their backs (on public transit/walking/cycling), rather than having it sitting beside them (in a car.)

True - but I doubt that's really a significant factor in the MacbookPro target market.

(They're much more likely to optimise them for being carried in artisan faux-vintage messenger bags by people riding share-scooters between home and the FAANG shuttlebus...)

Re: 2018 MacBook Pro Review

#257

Post by BugsJustFindMe »

1123581321 wrote: post #98
coupdejarnac wrote: post #63

Has the power supply been redesigned so the cord doesn't fray in 18 months? This has really irked me.

Yes, for me, fraying hasn’t been an issue since they switched from MagSafe to USB-C. Considering a 2014 MagSafe nearly started a fire in my house (Apple had nothing to say about that, but did replace the cable), it’s been welcome.

After seeing literally dozens of frayed Apple power cords, I think the real problem was actually the relative softness of the old cable sheathing, not the magsafe part itself. The new USB-C cables are quite noticeably stiffer.

Re: 2018 MacBook Pro Review

#258

Post by mirimir »

sumedh wrote: post #228
josephg wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use USB sticks semi regularly and I have a USB-c MacBook Pro. I picked up a few USB sticks with dual A and C plugs on them. They work a treat.

> I use USB sticks semi regularly What do you use it for, is it something dropbox or others cannot do?

Bandwidth is much greater.

Re: 2018 MacBook Pro Review

#259

Post by techdragon »

prolikewh0a wrote: post #115
gambiting wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's fascinating to me that Dell STILL hasn't fixed the bloody coil whine on the XPS. I have the top-of-the-line XPS 13 from few years back and had the motherboard on it replaced 3 times because of the whine, and it's still there. In comparison, my 2012 Air was perfect, absolutely no issues.

I have absolutely no coil whine on my 2018 9370. It is dead quiet.

I find sometimes the whine is there... you (and others like you) just lack the high frequency hearing to perceive it.

I’ve walked into plenty of places and complained about many high pitched whine noises over the years, and more often than not, I get a puzzled look followed by some variation of “what noise?”

And to preempt the obvious possibility I was merely hearing things or have tinnitus. Yes I’ve had my hearing checked, and I’ve also, on a couple of particularly egregious occasions, used sound measuring equipment that in one case validated that there was in fact a loud intermittent, nearly inaudible noise fluctuating between 80 and 85 decibels whenever it was occurring, that apparently no one else in the office noticed.

Re: 2018 MacBook Pro Review

#260

Post by laex »

FPGAhacker wrote: post #167
systoll wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple's removal of the Escape key is courageously guiding its users into the superior Caps-lock-as-escape configuration.

I prefer caps lock as control. Although for a while I ran in a hybrid mode where if I hit caps lock and released quickly it was escape. If I held it down and tapped another key it was control.

My config:

Caps -> Control

Control -> Command

Perfect config for TMUX + VIM.

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