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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

#631

Post by notadoc »

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…

> Why they couldn't grab a 2012-2015 model and upgrade the guts?

That would have been far more desirable.

I am repulsed by the Touch Bar, and the keyboard which is widely reported to be notoriously unreliable and requiring very expensive repairs does not inspire confidence.

Sigh.

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

#632

Post by stronglikedan »

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…

All that talk about the keyboard in the article and not a single picture of it...weird.

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

#634

Post by jsgo »

chiefgeek wrote: post #332
gurkendoktor wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Internet hearsay (Apple store/reseller staff quoted in podcasts etc.) often mentions that the MacBook Air is (was?) their best-selling laptop. It has no TouchBar, more keyboard travel, a smaller trackpad, arguably more useful ports, and longer battery life. If the trade-offs in the latest MacBook Pro were universally loved, why wouldn't they spread into Apple's other, more popular product lines? I honestly don't see…

Longtime Mac user (I had an Apple II+). I've had a new MBP since Jan '17. Replaced a five year old MBA. The keyboard itself isn't terrible (although my left command key seems to be going, so yay) the Touch Bar is worthless. I simply cannot fathom who though putting something non-tactile on the keyboard was a good idea. I was so hoping they brought back regular fxn keys with the next iteration. One of the key tenets o…

honestly, I don't think a touchbar is "bad" so much that the implementation may not've been the best. Maybe as an external piece of hardware like Microsoft's dial where I could use it for the cases it seems best suited for (sliders, picture thumbnails to render full screen on display, etc.), that would've been optimal. Although, I would've probably preferred a Magic Trackpad-sized device with a touch screen instead of a long bar. Would seem to allow for more use cases.

Though honestly, I was never much for the f keys beyond the browser and in Visual Studio. So the loss of those keys didn't hit me as much as it has others.

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

#635

Post by your-nanny »

rbanffy wrote: post #493
mbesto wrote: post #445

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They didn't do that because it is not what most people want. > Better to focus on the 90% of customers who buy products So either you're wrong, or Apple's PR team is really bad positioning their product. From the Press Release itself in the first few paragraphs: ideal for manipulating large data sets, performing complex simulations, creating multi-track audio projects or doing advanced image processing or film edit…

> Aren't those all features described exactly for the "niche developer/macrumors posters"?! Yes, and, trust me, most developers I know who got newer MBPs are pretty happy with theirs. I know I am and I hope I get one of these newer ones next week. 6 cores and 32 gigs of DDR4 make a lot of a difference. The vi users make jokes about the Esc key, of course (but I'm into Emacs, so no problem for me). One company I know…

what key do use for meta then on emacs? capslock? esc key was default for my 2012 mbp

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

#637

Post by aingisni_del »

I'm surprised there's only 2 top level comments on this article here.

The price point for an indie developer is quite steep. $1800 for a base level 2018 13" is the price to develop apps for the Apple ecosystem. iMac and Mac Mini are out because they're not portables. MacBook Air is pointless as it's so out of date.

At least throw in 16GB at that price point. Selling it with 8GB/256GB just hurts. I'm currently on a 2014 13" that I was able to pick up brand new for $1100 a month after release and I just can't convince myself that the new TouchID models are worth $700 more. The non-TouchID model will be around as a low priced Pro entry, but why would you want to buy last year's model with an even less performance gain (compared to the 2014 model)?

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

#638

Post by dandare »

Arubis wrote: post #517
dandare wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe the price increase is purely based on the profit-maximizing strategy. If people will pay that much then Apple has no reason to ask for less. Unfortunately, I can not imagine myself switching to a Windows-based laptop. This is just another example of why monopoly is bad.

I agree that this is profit maximization, but the only monopoly Apple has is on sucking less than others at particular things that particular niches care about (privacy, UX, ecosystem integration come to mind). A non-Apple device will do all the same stuff. It just might not do it the exact way you like out of the box. I pay the Apple tax (albeit exceedingly infrequently) because I can afford it & it reduces friction…

Of course you are right, Apple is dominating the market, not behaving monopolistically in the negative sense of the word.

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

#639

Post by braythwayt »

ryanisnan wrote: post #619
ransom1538 wrote: post #605

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry I am missing something here. I just looked up my laptop's info: 2.7 GHz Intel Core i7 from 2012. So you are telling me 6 years later, I can get a 2.9GHz 6‑core 8th‑generation Intel Core i7 processor for ~$2800. So Moore's law was incorrect?

Why are you assuming that Apple's pricing strategy has anything to do with reality?

Who are we to believe has a grasp of the reality of value-for-money? Hacker News commenters smugly declaring that Macbooks are junk? Or Apple's sales figures?

If we're going to be rational, we can't wave it all off as marketing or shiny toys, we have to accept that if they are consistently selling tons of products at high margins, they are delivering value, and the market is voting for that value with their pocketbooks.

If we say, "Well, their prices are out of whack with their value because we can get the exact same thing from Bob's Motherboards for half the price," then we are wilfully choosing to emphasize the part of their value that their customers don't care about, while ignoring the part of their value that customers care about.

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

#640

Post by interestica »

tolmasky wrote: post #456
r0fl wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> 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. I was very happy with every single MacBook Air since I had one (which I think might have been 3rd generation?), and in fact purchased every single MacBook Air therea…

Ugh. A problem? No. Everyone can go on fine never using such a dumb key. Simply avoid. Move on. Adap...t.

/S

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