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2016 Retina MacBook Pro Caveats

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Re: 2016 Retina MacBook Pro Caveats

#81

Post by 51Cards »

Caballera wrote: post #30
Tom1971 wrote: post #8

While, over time, a lot of today's annoyances with the new Macabook's will fade away, the lack of ESC key is a deal breaker for me. I tried it at the Apple Store and it's pretty much unusable. (It had the seen issue as the writer, apparently relying on the physical click to know whether or not I had pressed it. In addition, I also mistyped it a lot. Maybe hack to replace the whole touch bar as one single ESC key will…

The escape key is still there, it's on the Touch Bar, I have no issues with using it, and I haven't had to re-map it. Also you can hit the 'fn' key and the 'Function' bar and escape key will appear while using any other 'app' that changes the Touch Bar.

The prime issue is lack of tactile feedback. I wrote quite a bit about this in a previous comment, in that we "touch type" because we get feedback from our fingers. Implementing a "keyboard" interface that requires a change of visual focus is not a good UI practice.

Re: 2016 Retina MacBook Pro Caveats

#82

Post by hackcrafter »

Caballera wrote: post #30
Tom1971 wrote: post #8

While, over time, a lot of today's annoyances with the new Macabook's will fade away, the lack of ESC key is a deal breaker for me. I tried it at the Apple Store and it's pretty much unusable. (It had the seen issue as the writer, apparently relying on the physical click to know whether or not I had pressed it. In addition, I also mistyped it a lot. Maybe hack to replace the whole touch bar as one single ESC key will…

The escape key is still there, it's on the Touch Bar, I have no issues with using it, and I haven't had to re-map it. Also you can hit the 'fn' key and the 'Function' bar and escape key will appear while using any other 'app' that changes the Touch Bar.

I've been wondering about this.

Does the 'fn' key force-change the touchbar to display F1-F12?

If so, then I don't understand the folks bemoaning the lack of physical "function keys" from their apps, which I assume they mean that they use the F(n) keys, since the mechanics of this are the same.

I'm a fast touch typist, but have never have hit F(n) keys accurately without glancing at the keyboard when I do use them, so I assume I would have no problem with the TouchBar based F keys.

Re: 2016 Retina MacBook Pro Caveats

#83

Post by pikhq »

Siecje wrote: post #35
otterley wrote: post #9

We bought a 15" 2016 Macbook Pro ("Retina" is redundant; there are no 2016 MBPs that lack a Retina display.) We also bought a LG 27UD88-W monitor to go with it. (It's one of the few that has a USB-C input.) I have to say, I'm really impressed by the single-cable solution. The monitor charges the laptop (57W maximum, which is less than the Apple charger, but "good enough"), and the laptop sends both video and USB peri…

Why doesn't the Apple-supplied USB charging cable work?

A given USB Type C cable can be a "USB 2.0" cable, which is only good for USB @ 480 Mbps and power, or a "USB 3.1" cable, which can handle USB @ 10 Gbps and power, as well as alternate data modes like DisplayPort or Thunderbolt. Additionally, it can be only good for 3 A, or it can have a chip in it to indicate it's good for more power (up to 5A).

The Apple-supplied cable is probably a USB 2.0 cable, with a chip indicating it can handle 5A.

Re: 2016 Retina MacBook Pro Caveats

#84

Post by lars_francke »

asragab wrote: post #22

I really appreciated the no nonsense, non-editorialized description of his experiences. Given the recent political climate, it is a nice change of pace. The external monitor and wifi issues seem egregious, could these be OS related issues?

Ever since I upgraded from Mavericks to El Capitan every time I plug in a USB 3 device my Wifi becomes flakey. There's lots of threads out there for people with the same or similar issue. Something is very weird in Apple & USB land.

Re: 2016 Retina MacBook Pro Caveats

#85

Post by slantyyz »

lvh wrote: post #57
rayiner wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are USB-C to DisplayPort cables. You need some sort of converting cable anyway--the old MBP had Mini DisplayPort and I've never seen a monitor with a MiniDP input.

(Author here) The Dell P2515Q I have has both DisplayPort and mDP2 in and out (for chaining).

As does the Dell 4K P2715Q.

I have to admit, my assumption for the monitor having both sizes of the display port (vs both being full sized DP) and including a DP-> mDp cable were so that the monitor worked out of the box no matter what type of port the source computer had. All possible combinations are satisfied.

Re: 2016 Retina MacBook Pro Caveats

#86

Post by baus »

nicky0 wrote: post #64
baus wrote: post #3

The lack of DisplayPort support is significant. This requires buying new monitors? Which monitors does the MBP support?

It supports DisplayPort but not with a Thunderbolt 2 adapter

Ok, so I'm confused. Why would you want to use DP with ThunderBolt 2? Is this only for 4k monitors?

Re: 2016 Retina MacBook Pro Caveats

#87

Post by teilo »

Here is the interesting thing regarding Display Port: I am using an OWC Thunderbolt 2 Dock. I have my dock hooked up to using the Apple Thunderbolt 3 to 2 adapter.

I am able to use my external 27" just fine. I have a DisplayPort cable plugged into the second Thunderbolt port on the dock. It's all working.

This is reminiscent of the way the Thunderbolt Display behaves: You cannot plug a DisplayPort monitor directly into the Thunderbolt Display, but you can daisy-chain another Thunderbolt device to the Thunderbolt Display, and then plug a DisplayPort cable into the Thunderbolt device on the end of the chain, and then it works.

Re: 2016 Retina MacBook Pro Caveats

#88

Post by throwanem »

revelation wrote: post #68
illumin8 wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's for charging only. This seems to be a huge disadvantage to USB-c... you have to buy different cables for different purposes, even though they have the same physical connector. Can you imagine if AC power had the same plug for both 110V and 220V? And you just had to "guess" which one was the right one?

They do? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEC_60320 That's a common problem with power supplies that require setting a hard switch to choose between 110V and 220V.

Which is why it's rare at best to encounter such power supplies in new manufacture, and has been for quite some years now. Instead, they sense the line voltage and configure themselves accordingly.

It's hard to see the profusion of semi- and incompatibilities permissible in the USB-C connector as anything but a regression.

Re: 2016 Retina MacBook Pro Caveats

#89

Post by sergiosgc »

Caballera wrote: post #30
Tom1971 wrote: post #8

While, over time, a lot of today's annoyances with the new Macabook's will fade away, the lack of ESC key is a deal breaker for me. I tried it at the Apple Store and it's pretty much unusable. (It had the seen issue as the writer, apparently relying on the physical click to know whether or not I had pressed it. In addition, I also mistyped it a lot. Maybe hack to replace the whole touch bar as one single ESC key will…

The escape key is still there, it's on the Touch Bar, I have no issues with using it, and I haven't had to re-map it. Also you can hit the 'fn' key and the 'Function' bar and escape key will appear while using any other 'app' that changes the Touch Bar.

I have a Lenovo x1c with an oled touch bar. In the x1c it has function keys. It's a terrible solution. No tactile feedback is a deal breaker.

Lenovo backtracked, and subsequent generations lost the "touch bar" and use regular keys.

Re: 2016 Retina MacBook Pro Caveats

#90

Post by prh8 »

rebootthesystem wrote: post #58

It is starting to feel like the "Pro" is actually more of a consumer toy for gaming and messing with Facebook rather than a real professional machine. I need to buy a new laptop today. For development, not to play games. The unix underpinning of MacOS always made their machines attractive, expensive, but attractive nonetheless. I'll go visit the Apple store and see but it is starting to look like it'll be a waste of…

If you're heading to Best Buy, what about a 2015 MPB? I would assume that like previous releases, they continue to sell the older model at a cheaper price.
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