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

The new MacBook

apple.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

351–360 of 1001 posts

Re: The new MacBook

#351

Post by rsync »

mdeslaur wrote: post #11

Seriously? Couldn't they have put _two_ ports in it so you can plug something in while it's being charged without lugging around a usb hub?

"Seriously? Couldn't they have put _two_ ports in it so you can plug something in while it's being charged without lugging around a usb hub?"

I have been a macbook air user since 2008 (6 years with a 13 and 1+ with an 11) and I love them.

I will not buy one that has zero ports available while I am charging. No hard feelings - I just can't do it.

I am not a feature wizard and I don't need to address every possible use case, but I absolutely need to have the ability to charge my laptop while using a cellular dongle. It's an absolute requirement.

The current MBA design with a port on each side is sensible and highly usable, and is vastly superior to a design that limits you to zero ports while you are charging.

Let's not even discuss hub use while traveling. It's a clownish suggestion.

Re: The new MacBook

#352

Post by news_to_me »

tenfingers wrote: post #294
james-skemp wrote: post #271

A search against the comments returns no results: 2304×1440 resolution and 16:10 aspect ratio? Showing a few co-workers and a quick suggests what I thought: a bit of amazement at 16:10. Does anyone have any insight into why they didn't go with a 16:9 ratio?

16:10 is a much better ratio for working compared to 16:9.

Can you explain? I'm interested why this is. Is there any research into this?

Re: The new MacBook

#353

Post by robotresearcher »

ddoolin wrote: post #306
blhack wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank god. The magsafe adapter is cool, but has some serious flaws to it. Namely: it's magnetic, so any sort of [ferrous] metal dust will accumulate inside of it, preventing you from getting a good seal on the connector. If you work in any environment other than a sterile coffee shop, this will be a huge problem for you. I spend almost all of my time working in a hackerspace, and fiddling with my power connector on m…

I've had three MBPs over the course of a few years and never had this issue. Though, I have noticed a very small dust build up but it definitely hasn't compromised the magnetic seal. Is it an older version? I don't plug/unplug a whole lot so that may also be contributing.

It is a problem if your environment includes ferro-magnetic crud. All my lab's magsafe ports are wobbly and it's hard to clean them out.

Re: The new MacBook

#354

Post by calinet6 »

ghshephard wrote: post #343
olso wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I want to buy the updated 13". How much RAM does Yosemite take up? Not sure if I should go for the 16 GB version.

OS X is pretty good about sharing memory, so 8 GB is fine. I routinely run about 15-20 Apps on my MacBook Air, including a VMware instance with Windows XP, Aperture, Google Earth, Excel/Word/Powerpoint/Outlook/Mail.app. The only people who require more than 8 GB on OS X are those who have Apps that specially require a lot of memory to perform - Image Processing, Databases, etc... I used to be in the "Buy as much memo…

It got a lot better in Mavericks with compression and better subsystems, but I'm sorry, I still push the limits with 16GB. 8 isn't enough for OSX at this point.

Re: The new MacBook

#355

Post by xanderstrike »

greggman wrote: post #58
bane wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It just means we're going to stay stuck in dongle hell. When I'm on the road the minimalism of a Mac is nice, but at my desk, hooked up to everything I really need for heavy work, my desktop is a cluster-f of cables and adapters and wires.

Isn't it only dongle hell for a few years? Theoretically monitors, printers, hard drives, etc will all have USB-C connectors as well at some point.

What does the USB-C equivalent of this [1] look like on a laptop with only one port? Apple basically killed the always-plugged-in peripheral with this revision, there's no way you could create something small enough that it wouldn't break in a bag that still provided pass-through for charging or other devices.

Do all monitors/printers/hard drives/etc provide pass through so you can charge? Or do you have to unplug your laptop from the power to get to your hard drive if you lose your dongle?

Not to mention the fact that every single mac apple peripheral you've ever owned is now worthless.

If they threw USB-C on as the charger alongside a USB and Thunderbolt I'd be stoked that mac is embracing new technology. If they put two or three USB-C ports and nothing else I'd be impressed with their commitment. With just one port, I'm left wondering what the hell they're thinking people use their laptops for.

[1] http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA2TY1K447...

Re: The new MacBook

#356

Post by xngzng »

dchuk wrote: post #22

What's interesting to me as well is that they don't seem to have announced any sort of dock or usb hub or even really mentioned what the charging brick looks like right? That seems like a really important thing to cover when announcing you have 1 port for all peripherals now.

Apple most likely will release a new Thunderbolt Display (probably with name change, Apply Display?) that can act as USB-C hub. It is not ready I guess, this new MacBook also is available about one month later.

Re: The new MacBook

#357

Post by stinos »

jameshart wrote: post #40
colinramsay wrote: post #8

Are there things here where Apple is significantly further ahead than the competition? Innovating on keyboards, trackpad, battery life, power usage and form factor - there just seem to be innovating simultaneously on more levels than the competition. Another thing - that vibrating trackpad gizmo feels like a couple of innovations away from true touch feedback on an iPhone? Any thoughts?

Apple's role here is often to be more opinionated, or braver, than others. They were the first to adopt USB, first to stop shipping floppy drives, first to ditch optical drives, first to make high-DPI ('retina') displays a standard feature... they are willing to be the one who goes out there and says 'we all know this is where things are going - so let's quit pussy-footing around and just do it'. This new MacBook ann…

first to adopt USB

Do you mean they were the first to bring out a desktop/laptop with usb?

Re: The new MacBook

#358

Post by pearjuice »

Okay, okay, allright.

I can forgive the price. I can forgive the anemic CPU. I can forgive the so-think-it'll-break-in-half thing Hell, I can even forgive the no ventilation and housefires.

But, APPLE. ONE SINGLE USB PORT? THE SAME USB PORT THAT HAS ZERO (0) DEVICES ON THE MARKET? A SINGLE NEW STANDARD USB PORT THAT IS NOT BACKWARDS COMPATIBLE WITHOUT AN ADAPTER?

WHY?

I CANNOT CHARGE THIS THING WHILE IT'S CONNECTED TO A EXTERNAL SCREEN

I CANNOT INSERT A USB STICK WHILE THIS IS CHARGING

TWO, TWO PORTS

WAS IT SO HARD, APPLE?

Re: The new MacBook

#359

Post by drinchev »

blhack wrote: post #283
mmastrac wrote: post #2

USB-C as the "one connector to rule them all" is the big news. That's the end of MagSafe and the exploding era of USB-C docking stations that work for multiple devices. I think we'll start to see an era of expandable computing coming up soon: USB-C is a perfect connector to push your data and state into a larger desktop experience. Why not carry around your laptop in tablet form when you are mobile? [1] [1] https://g…

Thank god. The magsafe adapter is cool, but has some serious flaws to it. Namely: it's magnetic, so any sort of [ferrous] metal dust will accumulate inside of it, preventing you from getting a good seal on the connector. If you work in any environment other than a sterile coffee shop, this will be a huge problem for you. I spend almost all of my time working in a hackerspace, and fiddling with my power connector on m…

I thought the magnetic part of the MagSafe is actually an "extra", not a downside.

Re: The new MacBook

#360

Post by thedufer »

Osmium wrote: post #23
mdeslaur wrote: post #11

Seriously? Couldn't they have put _two_ ports in it so you can plug something in while it's being charged without lugging around a usb hub?

I believe (someone correct me if this is wrong?) that you can in principle daisy chain a USB-C connector for both data and power?

The USB 3.1 spec has separate pinouts for power out and power in, so this should be possible. Anyone who wants to use the USB for peripherals regularly will just need a hub.
Post reply on HN