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2016 Retina MacBook Pro Caveats

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Re: 2016 Retina MacBook Pro Caveats

#261

Post by Klathmon »

ProAm wrote: post #257
Klathmon wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I also notice that the power output of the USB ports on the monitors is barely enough to charge any recent mobile device. That's because it's probably supplying the USB spec of 500ma. That's not a fault, it's how it should work. The usb-looking chargers that come with many recent mobile devices are using a bastardized set of "not really standards" to let them pump more juice through the USB port than is allowed.

It's probably the cable, if they use a data cable it will limit it to 500ma, but if they get a usb power only cable I bet it will supply more. You're right its probably working as designed.

Well technically a USB port should disconnect if you try to draw more than 500ma, and if something does draw more than 500ma it's not usb.

But some do allow it to go out of spec, and if that happens you'll only be able to get that extra power if you are using a "charging only" cable (which tricks the phone into thinking it's plugged into a power-only USB outlet and it tries to draw more than 500ma).

So with a USB cable (that's not actually a USB cable), plugged into a USB port (that's not actually a USB port) you can get over that, but it's not meant to run that way on several levels.

It's one of the things that USB-C is meant to solve. Let the device and power source negotiate on how much can be sent and received by each (even being able to swap which way power is going). Sadly that means that cables are no longer just a bunch of metal in a wrapper, they need a set resistance or in some cases built-in IC's, and that means that now a shitty cable can cause issues.

Re: 2016 Retina MacBook Pro Caveats

#262

Post by eridius »

scottlamb wrote: post #256

Here are my caveats: 1. The keyboard. Not the Touch Bar; the rest of the keyboard. There isn't much travel and I'm afraid it will aggravate my RSI. I've tried pressing the keys more gently, but sometimes I'm too gentle and miss keystrokes. Pressing the right side of the caps lock key is unreliable even when I press it fairly firmly. And the right shift key has gotten stuck once already. I'll give it some more time to…

#5 is Intel's fault. Apple going 32GiB would have a really hugely negative impact on battery life.

Re: 2016 Retina MacBook Pro Caveats

#264

Post by joesmo »

asragab wrote: post #22

I really appreciated the no nonsense, non-editorialized description of his experiences. Given the recent political climate, it is a nice change of pace. The external monitor and wifi issues seem egregious, could these be OS related issues?

Apple's track record with wireless is atrocious over the last five years. Over the last four OSs, over 3 different macs (07 mbpro, 12 air, 13 mbpro) the Bluetooth doesn't work for audio at all except sometimes when the speaker so close it's actually touching the laptop. (Works fine in the same space from my phone in case you're wondering if it's interference). Hell, even the Magic Trackpad 2 something they control completely and only works on OS X (currently) can't do Bluetooth without skipping (better but not fixed in Sierra). Same thing with RF dongles from Logitech which become completely unusable on OS X yet have no problems on Win/Linux. I haven't noticed WiFi problems per se, but I think two out of three wireless systems not working on Macs is enough.

Of course, Apple ignores every single problem.

Re: 2016 Retina MacBook Pro Caveats

#265

Post by kaypro »

eridius wrote: post #250
kaypro wrote: post #180

I just got back from returning my 15" 2.6 i7 with Radeon 450. First time I've returned an Apple product ever. The build quality of the machine is superb. TouchID, display, keyboard and SSD are fantastic. There's something going on with the GPU's... I'm putting my money on the Intel HD but the framerate is extremely slow. Just scrolling a simple web page in Safari stutters considerably. I tried using gfxCardStatus to…

> Not being able to have a volume down button in the control strip makes reducing the volume more time consuming. Do you routinely change your volume by only one increment? Whenever I change my volume I have to tap up and down a few times to figure out the exact volume I want, and with the Touch Bar that's just one extra tap (tapping the < button gets you the volume up/down buttons).

No. I may be an outlier but for me its more fluid and faster to hit a physical tactile always visible down button 3-4 times then to tap and hold a non tactile icon and slide my finger down. I'd imagine I'd eventually get used to this if I really had to. It's arguable as to what makes more sense and I'm really not one to be set in my ways and consider myself easily adaptable but my gut tells me that a physical volume button that has to be tapped repeatedly requires less mental effort than what the current touchbar iteration offers.

Re: 2016 Retina MacBook Pro Caveats

#266

Post by ProZsolt »

lnanek2 wrote: post #61
Siecje wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why doesn't the Apple-supplied USB charging cable work?

It probably lacks data lines. It is common for USB cables used for charging to only have power lines and skip the data lines to save money. I believe the USB cable that came with my Chromecast is the same.

It has data line, but only supports USB 2.0

Re: 2016 Retina MacBook Pro Caveats

#267

Post by scottlamb »

eridius wrote: post #262
scottlamb wrote: post #256

Here are my caveats: 1. The keyboard. Not the Touch Bar; the rest of the keyboard. There isn't much travel and I'm afraid it will aggravate my RSI. I've tried pressing the keys more gently, but sometimes I'm too gentle and miss keystrokes. Pressing the right side of the caps lock key is unreliable even when I press it fairly firmly. And the right shift key has gotten stuck once already. I'll give it some more time to…

#5 is Intel's fault. Apple going 32GiB would have a really hugely negative impact on battery life.

Yeah, it's unfortunate Intel chose not to support LPDDR4 in Skylake, but Apple still has some control here. If you want better battery life, put in a bigger battery. Or at least the same size as the previous generation...

Re: 2016 Retina MacBook Pro Caveats

#268

Post by CountSessine »

emidln wrote: post #238
CountSessine wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True but you're still out of luck in other Vi like places. Agreed. I use set -o vi in bash and of course my little remapping is of no use there. As an alternative I used Karabina in the past to map Caps lock into Esc (when pressed and released) and Ctrl (when pressed with another key). This was something else I had suggested to me, but while probably about 50% of my computer use on a daily basis is on OSX, the other…

It can. I've been using Caps Lock as Escape across Linux, FreeBSD, and OS X for 7 years now. The various gui interfaces to xmodmap even have an option to do the flip for you (at least in GNOME, Cinnamon, and KDE).

I've been using Caps Lock as Escape

That's easy - what @Lio was talking about was having Caps Lock be a tap for and then holding it with another key would be . Is that what you're talking about? Karabiner can accomplish this on macOS, but I can't find a gconf/gsetting/xmodmap combination to do this on Linux. Caps Lock as Escape is easy. Caps Lock as Ctrl is easy. Caps Lock as both doesn't seem to be possible on Linux.

Am I wrong? Can you point me toward more info on this? I'd really appreciate it - I would so love to be able to use tap-for-escape in all readline contexts.

Re: 2016 Retina MacBook Pro Caveats

#269

Post by CountSessine »

evadne wrote: post #237
CountSessine wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple has left the golden middle ground a long time ago and is going after the "media" types only. News flash: the margins in those youtubers-sectors are very low, hence the spending will dry sooner rather then later. I don't think that this is a very good good laptop for media-youtuber types either. Just watch Casey Neistat's review of the new rMBP. He really wants to like it, but it's really clear from what he's sa…

He then appeared in the finale episode with the old rMBP and an SD card in it.

HAHA! I noticed that too!

Re: 2016 Retina MacBook Pro Caveats

#270

Post by rasz_pl »

slantyyz wrote: post #210
otterley wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't expect the hub to work when the display is powered off or unplugged. I do, however, expect it to work when the monitor is "asleep", i.e., in power-saving mode. My Dell P2715Q display does work properly as a hub when it's asleep.

>> My Dell P2715Q display does work properly as a hub when it's asleep. The P2715Q has all sorts of quirks. I have a pair of them connected to my Windows computer, and when they go to sleep, Windows basically forgets where all the open windows were and disperses them somewhat randomly. Of all the monitors I've used, I've only ever experienced this with the P2715Q. I also notice that the power output of the USB ports…

might be a MST mode related - randomly bringing parts of the monitor online in different order makes windows think overall display geometry changed?
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