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Fixing the MacBook Pro

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Re: Fixing the MacBook Pro

#71

Post by robraven »

blhack wrote: post #68

We aren't apple's target market anymore, and these are not "pro" laptops. They're "pro" iPads. The target market is upper-middle class/upper class people who want a really attractive, designer laptop. Developers have got to be such a tiny niche of Apple's customer base now that they don't care anymore. Go into an apple store sometime. Try to guess how many of the people there buying macbook "pros" are software develo…

Really couldn't disagree more. So many software engineers at tier-1 tech companies use apple machines (I'd put the percentage at around 50% depending on tech stack.)

Walk into any engineering class at a university and you'll likely see the same ratio, perhaps even further skewed towards macs.

Disclaimer: I own a mac and a pc

Re: Fixing the MacBook Pro

#72

Post by mrpippy »

JamesBaxter wrote: post #42
rivm wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It comes with a lightning to USB-A cable.

That’s crazy to me! I’ll stick with my iPhone 7 and 2015 MBP

True. I really wish Apple let you walk into an Apple Store and trade a Lightning-A cable for a Type-C cable.

Re: Fixing the MacBook Pro

#73

Post by on_and_off »

mistersquid wrote: post #61
on_and_off wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another minor cons is that just came to mind is that there is no longer an indicator on the keyboard's bezel giving you the position of the ports. It was pretty useful but Apple has discarded them.. That's too bad, even something really discrete like a line or even a point would be great. Lastly : magsafe was great. I am all for a future where we use USB-c but is it impossible to have a magnetic adapter on the powerp…

> Another minor cons is that just came to mind is that there is no longer > an indicator on the keyboard's bezel giving you the position of the > ports. On the 2016 MacBook Pro 15 the top of the speaker grill lines up with the top edge of the Touch Bar which lines up with the top edge of the plugs on Apple USB C cables. To my eyes, this "line" seems characteristic of Apple engineering.

The bottom usb port does not really line up with anything though.

That's a very minor grievance though, especially compared to touchbar.

Re: Fixing the MacBook Pro

#74

Post by blhack »

robraven wrote: post #71
blhack wrote: post #68

We aren't apple's target market anymore, and these are not "pro" laptops. They're "pro" iPads. The target market is upper-middle class/upper class people who want a really attractive, designer laptop. Developers have got to be such a tiny niche of Apple's customer base now that they don't care anymore. Go into an apple store sometime. Try to guess how many of the people there buying macbook "pros" are software develo…

Really couldn't disagree more. So many software engineers at tier-1 tech companies use apple machines (I'd put the percentage at around 50% depending on tech stack.) Walk into any engineering class at a university and you'll likely see the same ratio, perhaps even further skewed towards macs. Disclaimer: I own a mac and a pc

No, I'm not saying that developers don't use macs (they do, except for people who have a stack that is explicitly tied to windows).

I'm saying that apple doesn't care about those people anymore, because they've found a new, bigger market segment.

Re: Fixing the MacBook Pro

#75

Post by srge »

Pharylon wrote: post #19

I have a 2016 MacBook Pro, and I really dislike it. Part of that is the dongles, and the dongles plugged into the dongles. I also dislike the keyboard, but I rarely use it as an actual laptop so it's fine I guess

I dislike mine so much as well. The battery life is so disappointing and the Touch Bar makes everything worst. I now need twice the number of taps to increase the volume or switch to the next song. For me this computer is a disaster.

Re: Fixing the MacBook Pro

#76

Post by bearbearbear »

on_and_off wrote: post #41

I got the last mac book pro at work, coming from a 2015 model I use at home. Pro : - it is lighter. I don't really find it is a very relevant pro, the previous one is already a light device so this isn't really relevant but it would not be fair to do not list it. - touch id is very convenient. It has one huge caveat : it is very capricious. For example each time the mbp crashes, fingerprints are automatically deleted…

I bought a Macbook pro for personal use in 2013.

Pros: Just about everything.

Cons: The X key stopped working. Apple charged me $400 to fix it. Then the G key stopped working 8 months later. Apple wanted to charge me another $400 to fix it again, and I can't afford that. So now I have a beautiful, useless slab of metal and glass sitting on my endtable and I'm using a Chromebook I bought for $80 as my primary computer.

You see, I have the letter G in my disk unlock password, and every time the computer powers up it immediately starts ghost typing the letter G, causing the OS to disable the letter G globally, so plugging in an external keyboard doesn't let me type a G to unlock the disk, either.

Re: Fixing the MacBook Pro

#77

Post by krrrh »

kibibu wrote: post #54
Chernobog wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is sad to hear your story, and I hope you have great luck in finding a good solution that does not empty your wallet. I really wish that the 5 year "reklamasjon" (roughly translated to claims) period we have in Norway for things that are supposed to last more than two years, caught on globally. It can sort of be explained as a warranty mandated by law, which means we can usually ignore the usual warranties from th…

Australia has a similar arrangement. The wording in the Consumer Law is deliberately vague - something like it must last "a reasonable time", which means a $2000 laptop should last longer than a $300 one. It's not a fixed 5 years. My Samsung TV I bought in 2012 died this year under normal use, and they replaced it with a new model. The "warranty" was only 12 month. I'm 100% this law is partly responsible for the "Aus…

It’s important that this gets brought up every time Australians complain about high prices. When it comes to MacBooks, it is essentially mandated AppleCare.

Re: Fixing the MacBook Pro

#78

Post by markholmes »

look_lookatme wrote: post #64
lwhalen wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a $job-provided MBP with the touchbar, and I find it actively evil. I am _constantly_ resting my fingers in the general vicinity of the top row, which triggers F11-type behavior, volume changes, esc-key hits, etc. It is a _damnably_ sensitive gimmick, pressure-sensitivity would improve it, but in general its a solution looking for a problem. In its current incarnation, I do not like it at all.

I removed all those behaviors from the touch bar after I accidentally triggered Siri for the thousandth time. Doing that means the touch bar is black most of the time but has made the keyboard easier to live with.

Which is an issue. Disabling a $400 gimmick so that your $3000 computer is “easier to live with”.

The sad part is, I completely agree. I purchased a 15” MBP in May and I finally gave up a couple weeks ago. My wife now uses it to play the Sims, while I switched back to my Dell XPS. She doesn’t seem to mind the touch bar, so maybe it’s how I rest my hands. She hates the keyboard too, though.

Re: Fixing the MacBook Pro

#79

Post by dingo_bat »

> Magic keyboard

Are keyboards a big problem on macbooks? I've never heard of anybody having any problems with the keys.

> Great first-party USB-C hubs

Or just include enough ports on the laptop itself. In my entire life I've never needed to use a hub for anything.

> More ports

Couldn't agree more. SD card slot, 3x USB-A, 2x USB-C, Displayport, headphone port, Ethernet port, sim card slot.

> Back away from the Touch Bar

Yeah the touch bar is kind of useless and fucks up the already limited keyboard. Touch screens are the way to go for the occasional touch usage.

> Nicer charger

Apple's never been great at charging. Iphones have always charged slower than every other phone on the market. Even their wired charging is slower than my 2 year old Samsung's wireless charging. So yeah, much improvement needed.

Re: Fixing the MacBook Pro

#80

Post by spronkey »

chrisbennet wrote: post #22

I think they should show some courage and make a Pro quality laptop again - one that doesn’t require dongles. Make it thicker, maybe even make it black. Developers don’t want the thinnest , we want the best . It’s probably never gonna happen because they are a mobile device company now and that is where the money is.

This. Make it upgradable. RAM and multiple M.2 please.

And make it shut the hell up, or let me offload compute to something that has big fans.

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