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MacBook Pro with faster performance and new features for pros

apple.com

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Re: MacBook Pro with faster performance and new features for pros

#541

Post by tolmasky »

rayiner wrote: post #498
no1youknowz wrote: post #20

> The new keyboard has the same dimensions and look as its two predecessors, but the keys feel just a little bit different. They're quieter, for one thing. They have a softer, less click-y feel that is a little closer to the pre-2016 models' chiclet keys. We found the new keyboard to be a little nicer to type on, but it's not a radical difference. It's unlikely to convert the detractors, but it's a welcome iteration…

Do you speak on behalf of all "developers?" The 2016 revision is Apple's fastest-selling iteration of the MBP. I notice you don't quote two paragraphs right before that: > The butterfly keyboard design Apple introduced in 2016 has been divisive. Some people really like it, claiming it has fast travel and a sturdy, responsive feel to it. Others feel it's uncomfortable to type on. We haven't seen a keyboard this polari…

> The 2016 revision is Apple's fastest-selling iteration of the MBP.

This is after an (at the time) abnormally long period of little to no substantial updates to the laptops. If you remember at the time, people were worrying about the lack of a new laptop the way they worry now about the Mac Pro. It's really not completely fair to state this metric without the realization that there was a lot of pent up demand for modern components, which would probably overrule any other issues. I was one of the people that bought the 2016 model -- and I'm not happy (not least of which because one of the keys literally fell off), so "fastest selling" != "well received". As it stands now, for me the defining quality of the hardware is that it is the easiest way to run macOS. The fact that the 2015 model and the Air keep selling so well is in my opinion a better demonstration of the "reception" of this new MacBook.

> The reaction is mixed, even among people who compare laptops to each other for a living. But you make it sound like anybody who knows what they're doing would prefer the old model.

This is also just not a fair representation of the actual state of affairs. Regardless of whether the keyboards are enjoyable when functional, the reality is that they have quality issues. Apple having to create a program for replacing the keyboards since they break so often is just a fact. Interestingly enough, I'm in this camp: I really have no issue with the new keyboard except for the fact that the keys break. Well, that and the Touch Bar which is a separate topic.

Re: MacBook Pro with faster performance and new features for pros

#543

Post by rbanffy »

School-Cotton wrote: post #300
jetsnoc wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the article they cite the MBP as being the most popular notebook for developers so this niche must be important, otherwise why list it?: > Already the most popular notebook for developers around the world, the new MacBook Pro can compile code faster and run multiple virtual machines and test environments easier than before. What we want is a functional keyboard. They are losing this market-share quickly but you're…

What does wanting a functional keyboard have to do with being a developer? All laptop users use the keyboard, not just software developers.

Most developers I know use rarely touch the laptop keyboard. On my desk I have a bunch of monitors and an awesome mechanical keyboard. The only time I need the built-in keyboard is when I'm away from my desk.

Re: MacBook Pro with faster performance and new features for pros

#544

Post by slantyyz »

tartrate wrote: post #296
linguae wrote: post #87

I’m glad to see that Apple has finally updated its MacBook Pro line, but it’s a little too late for me. After using Macs for nearly 12 years, I bought a Dell XPS 15 9570 a week after WWDC 2018 (I couldn’t put off a new computer purchase any longer), and I couldn’t be happier. It turns out that Windows 10 really shines on a computer with six processor cores, a 4K display, and a NVMe SSD, a dramatic improvement from th…

I decided to leave Apple a while ago too, and a decision like that usually lasts many years.

I'm on a weird cycle of switching every 10 years or so.

Mid 80s to mid 90s: Apple 2 and Mac

Mid 90s to mid 00's: Windows

Mid 00s to Mid 10s: OSX

Mid 10s to Present: Windows 8/10

Re: MacBook Pro with faster performance and new features for pros

#545

Post by plopz »

driverdan wrote: post #508
linguae wrote: post #87

I’m glad to see that Apple has finally updated its MacBook Pro line, but it’s a little too late for me. After using Macs for nearly 12 years, I bought a Dell XPS 15 9570 a week after WWDC 2018 (I couldn’t put off a new computer purchase any longer), and I couldn’t be happier. It turns out that Windows 10 really shines on a computer with six processor cores, a 4K display, and a NVMe SSD, a dramatic improvement from th…

> and there are still some aspects of Windows 10 that annoy me (namely the prevelance of ads) This is why I won't run Windows 10. It's spyware you pay for. No thanks!

Has anyone actually paid for windows 10? Everyone I know got it for free.

Re: MacBook Pro with faster performance and new features for pros

#547

Post by slantyyz »

asselinpaul wrote: post #330
dijit wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Echoing this sentiment, got a precision 5520 pre-loaded with Ubuntu and it's been a real champ. The build-quality is on-par with Apple and the fact that I still have HDMI/USB-A has been a life-saver a whole bunch of times. There's one other thing that I like too; it's linux. If I bought a macbook I'd definitely leave OSX on it, OSX is a decent system but the lack of decent window manager, the fact that I can't naviga…

I have found chunkwm to be an enjoyable window manager for macOS: https://koekeishiya.github.io/chunkwm/

When I was still on OSX, I loved Moom: https://manytricks.com/moom/

Re: MacBook Pro with faster performance and new features for pros

#548

Post by jayd16 »

r0fl wrote: post #36
no1youknowz wrote: post #20

> The new keyboard has the same dimensions and look as its two predecessors, but the keys feel just a little bit different. They're quieter, for one thing. They have a softer, less click-y feel that is a little closer to the pre-2016 models' chiclet keys. We found the new keyboard to be a little nicer to type on, but it's not a radical difference. It's unlikely to convert the detractors, but it's a welcome iteration…

They didn't do that because it is not what most people want. Apple has to make changes that will sell more laptops to the masses to maximize shareholder value. The niche developer/macrumors posters will never be happy regardless of what Apple does. Better to focus on the 90% of customers who buy products and make up 10% of the complaints then to focus on the 10% of customers who make up 90% of the complaints.

You can tell no one is clamoring for those features because they're not getting copy-catted.

No one wants that touchbar and Apple themselves just replaced the keyboard so to say its what consumers want is just pure fantasy. There's no data yet. Maybe they'll want this new keyboard but you're assuming anything Apple does is what the consumer wants.

Re: MacBook Pro with faster performance and new features for pros

#549

Post by cakeface »

The 32GB RAM bump is huge. This will be the first MacBook that has greater than 16GB of RAM since 2012. That's a 6 year plateau where MacBook RAM was capped at 16GB.

Meanwhile that whole time RAM prices dropped and servers and desktops have been packed with more and more and more RAM. Not every workload needs that much but I have certainly hit limits when doing large heap dump analysis, local processing of large data sets, running many many local services to try to debug. I'm very happy with the change.

Re: MacBook Pro with faster performance and new features for pros

#550

Post by vel0city »

walterbell wrote: post #193

Is this the only x86 laptop where disk encryption keys are not vulnerable to Spectre attacks, since they are on T2 Arm processor that doesn’t support speculative execution? Or, if T2 does support speculative execution, it only runs trusted code?

OPAL-certified drives running in OPAL mode are not vulnerable to Spectre attacks, as the encryption happens on-disk and not in the OS or application processor.
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