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My Impressions of the MacBook Pro M4

michael.stapelberg.ch

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Re: My Impressions of the MacBook Pro M4

#381

Post by deaddodo »

asdff wrote: post #84
deaddodo wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Finder is the number one reason it boggles my mind that people claim macOS as head and shoulders above other OSes "for professionals". Finder is a badly designed child's toy that does nothing at all intuitively and, in fact, actively does things in the most backwards ways possible. It's like taking the worst of Explorer (from Windows XP), and smashing it into the worst of Dolphin or Nautilus; and, to top it off, then…

It has been more or less the same as long as I've used it (20 years or so). Familiarity is a plus. It is a pretty simple and straightforward tool. I'm not sure what you might find perplexing about Finder.

Who said it was perplexing? If anything, it's the opposite. It's so simple and rudimentary as to be antithetical to filesystem navigation.

Back/forward operate on history, not on hierarchy; at least have an "Up" button. There's no easy way to navigate the non-prescribed folders without adding every folder to the favorites list; hell, there's not even a "Home" link by default. Simple location navigation is hidden behind Cmd+G versus being evident. Easily jumping up the tree from your current location is hidden. Etc, etc, etc. It acts like the iPhone file manager, except the filesystem isn't a sandbox on macOS and you regularly need to navigate around it.

I'm sure if it's the only FS manager you ever use then it's just fine and you've learned all the quirks. But for people that regularly use other (better) managers on other OSes, it's severely lacking in ergonomics and functionality.

Re: My Impressions of the MacBook Pro M4

#382

Post by x3sphere »

jhbadger wrote: post #326
asdff wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The type of person shelling out 3k for a computer is not running it until the wheels come off.

I don't think you can say that -- I paid about that for my 2021 M1 Max with 64GB and I'm still using it four years later as my main machine. There's an argument to be made to buy an expensive computer every 5 years or so rather than a cheaper one that you need to replace every 2 years because it's become unbearably slow.

Even if you are buying at the low end, hardware simply doesn't age that quickly nowadays. Comparing against of the M series chips, I'd be surprised if anyone found an M1 Air unbearably slow in a blind test. In contrast, there was a huge leap in going from say the Pentium 4 to a Core 2 Duo.

I actually find M1 Air class performance still more acceptable for all my usual dev tasks. I might only need a beefier machine for the extra RAM if I'm spinning up a lot of VMs. Otherwise though, the raw CPU performance is still quite fine.

Re: My Impressions of the MacBook Pro M4

#383

Post by jlund-molfese »

javier2 wrote: post #299
jlund-molfese wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you'd like to change that, you can go to System Settings → Battery → Options → Wake for Network Access Or just search for "Power Nap" (what it used to be called). They usually wake up intermittently for Time Machine backups, wake-on-lane and other stuff.

I have done this, yet every now and then my macbook still wants to connect to my bluetooth headphones from my backpack.

Hah, sounds like OS X! I have every possible Universal Control setting turned off, yet the process continues running and slurping up CPU cycles. It's impossible to kill or really disable unless you turn off SIP, and I'd prefer not to do that.

Re: My Impressions of the MacBook Pro M4

#384

Post by ryandrake »

torben-friis wrote: post #319
45764986 wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I have five excellent-condition still-perfectly-working Apple products next to me, none of which have current operating system support from Apple. If they're working perfectly, why does it matter if they have current operating support? It doesn't seem like you're dependent on Apple.

Software drops support for certain OS versions even if the device still can run it. The first iPad Pro can’t run adobe products for example. The Mac is a bit more resilient to this, but it’s still worrying as yearly improvements become subtler.

Yea, this is the bigger problem: 3rd party software developers drop support for "too old" operating systems WAY too early. Especially on mobile. Some developers only support one major previous version, which is insane.

So, Apple leaves old hardware high and dry by not supporting them with operating systems, and 3P software leaves users high and dry by dropping support for operating systems. It's like they are working together to create e-waste.

Re: My Impressions of the MacBook Pro M4

#385

Post by ryandrake »

RossBencina wrote: post #204
biinjo wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That reasoning does not make any sense. I spend $3-4k on a MBP and run it till it fall apart, usually 5-7 years later.

I reckon it makes some sense for Apple users . You have to be willing (and financially able) to upgrade when Apple says. Apple forcefully obsoletes their products way too quickly to be a viable option if you care about longevity[0]. I have five excellent-condition still-perfectly-working Apple products next to me, none of which have current operating system support from Apple. [0] EDIT: for reference, my previous Thi…

Out of about a dozen Apple devices in our household, none of them can be updated to the latest operating system. It's a huge problem with the Apple ecosystem, I'd say one of the biggest problems. Their hardware vastly outlasts their software, comically so.

Re: My Impressions of the MacBook Pro M4

#386

Post by elcritch »

deaddodo wrote: post #381
asdff wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It has been more or less the same as long as I've used it (20 years or so). Familiarity is a plus. It is a pretty simple and straightforward tool. I'm not sure what you might find perplexing about Finder.

Who said it was perplexing? If anything, it's the opposite. It's so simple and rudimentary as to be antithetical to filesystem navigation. Back/forward operate on history, not on hierarchy; at least have an "Up" button. There's no easy way to navigate the non-prescribed folders without adding every folder to the favorites list; hell, there's not even a "Home" link by default. Simple location navigation is hidden behi…

Eh, I feel the opposite. Finder is much more usable to me, but of course I use the shortcuts like cmd-up to go up or down instinctively now. It is a bit ironic for such a mouse oriented OS everywhere else.

Still alt-clicking on the window title to see the whole folder hierarchy is easy to remember and doesn't clutter up the UI (err cmd-clicking? It's muscle memory so I forget). The fact that it works on most native apps with file titles as well I awesome.

Re: My Impressions of the MacBook Pro M4

#387

Post by brailsafe »

RossBencina wrote: post #204
biinjo wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That reasoning does not make any sense. I spend $3-4k on a MBP and run it till it fall apart, usually 5-7 years later.

I reckon it makes some sense for Apple users . You have to be willing (and financially able) to upgrade when Apple says. Apple forcefully obsoletes their products way too quickly to be a viable option if you care about longevity[0]. I have five excellent-condition still-perfectly-working Apple products next to me, none of which have current operating system support from Apple. [0] EDIT: for reference, my previous Thi…

Meh, I've been a mac user for 15 years professionally, usually alongside some desktop pc for gaming, and I upgrade when I damn well please, which is typically when they have a notable leap in performance, my laptop gets stolen, or my needs change, which should hardly be surprising in terms of progression through a career.

Their recent hardware is proving much more capable as tools than the budget i5 I had before, so I upgraded. In terms of machinery expenses, it's more than I'd like to spend on RAM and ssd than I'd prefer (their pricing ladder is comical) but the product is amazing. I'm going to wait as long as possible before I upgrade to Tahoe though, seems almost DoA

Re: My Impressions of the MacBook Pro M4

#388

Post by walletdrainer »

willis936 wrote: post #139
philsnow wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a reason the Zurich airport has a vending machine that sells slips of gold, platinum, and palladium

I'm not sure what the actual reason is, but my first instinct is "tax evasion".

Paying the 30% premium at a gold ATM and then selling for maybe 95% of spot seems like a terribly inefficient way of avoiding taxes.

These machines are just for souvenirs

Re: My Impressions of the MacBook Pro M4

#389

Post by dannersy »

vbezhenar wrote: post #304
jofzar wrote: post #214

> I don’t notice going back to 60 Hz displays on computers. However, on phones, where a lot more animations are a key part of the user experience, I think 120 Hz displays are more interesting. I'm always so jealous of these people, 60hz is just so bad for me now and even make me a bit motion sick. I can see it in everything, moving the window, scrolling, the cursor.

I've made a test for myself. Screen split into two parts, two small squares moving and bouncing. First square moves every frame, second square skips every second frame, but moves 2x. So basically one half of the screen is full FPS, another half of the screen is half FPS. And I implemented it as a "blind test", so I could make a guess and then check it. For screen with 60 FPS, the difference between 30 FPS and 60 FPS…

How old are you? I'm convinced this is an important detail.

I hosted a LAN party when I was in my early twenties when higher hz monitors were getting more popular in specifically the gaming scene. My buddy and I were playing a match of Counter Strike together side by side, me at 60Hz and him at 120Hz. I used to think like you, but it blew my mind how smooth it was in comparison, so much so I ordered a new monitor that weekend. I don't think it improved my ability to play in any significant way but it definitely felt nicer and smoother. Conversely, at the time you had to specifically set the option in Windows to account for higher Hz and if I forgot to on a reinstall or for whatever reason, I could tell something was off and would question my FPS and turn my counter on to see if I was getting lower FPS. You may not believe it, but I would noticably play worse. I thought it was psychosomatic myself until it happened a handful of times.

Now, I'm not a pro CS player by any means, but I guarantee you it matters, makes a difference, and is noticeable. I'm getting older now and care less as time goes on, but I still swear by and game on a high Hz monitor. When I look over my wife's shoulder on her low Hz monitor, the mouse movements are like a flipbook and when gaming on a Nintendo Switch 2 at 60 FPS, it is laughably noticeable.

Re: My Impressions of the MacBook Pro M4

#390

Post by kcplate »

RossBencina wrote: post #204
biinjo wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That reasoning does not make any sense. I spend $3-4k on a MBP and run it till it fall apart, usually 5-7 years later.

I reckon it makes some sense for Apple users . You have to be willing (and financially able) to upgrade when Apple says. Apple forcefully obsoletes their products way too quickly to be a viable option if you care about longevity[0]. I have five excellent-condition still-perfectly-working Apple products next to me, none of which have current operating system support from Apple. [0] EDIT: for reference, my previous Thi…

Describe “forcefully obsoletes”?

I ran a 2008 MBP until 2019. Then…gave it to my wife who used it until 2022. Finally retired it after the battery swelled. I suspect I could have replaced the battery and she could have got another couple of years out of it if I really needed.

Not once did that device ever feel obsolete.

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