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New 13-inch MacBook Pro

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Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#801

Post by hittaruki »

dreamcompiler wrote: post #770
tolmasky wrote: post #759

I decided to switch back to the (new) MacBook Air instead. I feel that had the butterfly fiasco never happened, this generation of laptops may have just dumped the Touch Bar entirely, but instead, there were so many general keyboard complaints (escape key specifically, general Touch Bar complaints, and of course the butterfly keyboard complaints), that it is reasonable that they are trying to see if this new "reduced…

The Touch Bar feels to me like a stopgap measure from Apple because they don't yet have touch-sensitive screens on their laptops. Eventually Apple will have to put touch-sensitive screens on their laptops -- just like everybody else does -- and on that day the Touch Bar will be history. I know Apple doesn't think touch-sensitive screens on laptops are a good idea. I would have agreed with them 5 years ago. But every…

I dont think that is a good enough reason to add touch screen. Do you have a better reason for adding one?

One of the reasons for me to keep using a Mac has been not having a touch screen. It has become very difficult to find non-Mac laptops without a touch screen now. I for one hope they never add it.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#802

Post by mekster »

pram wrote: post #142
alexggordon wrote: post #125

I was curious how the 13 inch was priced so I compared it to a new Dell XPS 13. Dell has a better processor (maybe, [2]) , but I couldn't find the option to upgrade the Dell to 4TB internal SSD, so I compared both with the 2 TB option. Ram is the same at 32GB. Dell came out to $2399[0] USD and Apple came out to $2999[1] USD. Dell Pros: * Row of function buttons (I've used BTT to customize my touch-bar to the point wh…

Nice comparison but from personal experience I'd count the 'Killer' WiFi/BT as a giant negative on the XPS. I've had no shortage of issues with it on Linux and Windows.

Bluetooth may have hit the right spot for demand but whoever came up with the spec wasn't smart enough to get it below thousands of pages for its spec and now every manufacturer has random quality of Bluetooth drivers. Bluetooth needs s replacement but it's kind of too late.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#803

Post by pier25 »

dreamcompiler wrote: post #748
rozab wrote: post #724

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the contrary, I'd say the ESC key is even more important to normal consumers than programmers compared to, say, the backtick key. I mostly use it for coming out of fullscreen for youtube, netflix etc and I'm sure most consumers don't even know what a backtick is.

You're probably right about the unpopularity of the backtick key, and it's too bad. I use cmd-` probably 1000 times every day. For me cmd-` and cmd-Tab completely obviate any need for Mission Control or any of the other 14 different mechanisms in MacOS that show you all your windows and let you click one with the mouse.

Same. CMD+Tab tells me everything I need to know.

My dock auto hides and I only use it to open the downloads folder.

Very rarely I can't find a window and I use a hot corner to show all windows of the space but it happens once a week at the most.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#805

Post by thoughtsimple »

alexggordon wrote: post #125

I was curious how the 13 inch was priced so I compared it to a new Dell XPS 13. Dell has a better processor (maybe, [2]) , but I couldn't find the option to upgrade the Dell to 4TB internal SSD, so I compared both with the 2 TB option. Ram is the same at 32GB. Dell came out to $2399[0] USD and Apple came out to $2999[1] USD. Dell Pros: * Row of function buttons (I've used BTT to customize my touch-bar to the point wh…

I’m pretty sure Apple is using the latest 4-core 10th Gen CPUs. Unless the Dell is using a 6 core chip, it is unlikely that their CPU is better.

The top end is the Core i7-1068NG7 and the i5 is the Core i5-1038NG7. They are both 28W parts with the highest end integrated GPU that Intel sells.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#806

Post by athenot »

I'm no fan of the TouchBar but once I rearranged it to my liking with BetterTouchTool[0], at least it's out of my way and has a modicum of usefulness.

The Escape key is the one key that even BTT didn't fix… because accidentally hitting the key does actions. I like to rest the fingers of my left hand around the upper-left corner of the keyboard, relying on touch. And triggering the escape key without pressing has been very annoying.

So seeing Apple bring back the hardware escape key fixes most of my gripes. The other improvement I'd like to see is force-touch on the touchbar. That would require some pressing in order to prevent triggering actions by simply brushing the fingers.

[0] https://folivora.ai

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#807

Post by godelski »

jlg23 wrote: post #790
godelski wrote: post #773

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a fellow vim user, I don't get the esc key problem. is the same thing and a lot less movement. Esc is too far away where as is already where my hands naturally lie and similar to other patterns I use ( , , etc). I seriously do not understand the whole obsession with the esc key. If you have to lift your wrists you're doing it wrong.

One might be using a keyboard layout in which some special characters are cumbersome to type. I am switching between 3 layouts regularly and "[" and "|" are only fun on QWERTY, on AZERTY or QWERTZ they are painful.

That would be painful. But I hear these comments from a lot of Americans. QWERTY is also pretty common in Europe in general, so I don't think the frequency of the comments (aligned with the quality of English) lines up.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#808

Post by mekster »

rconti wrote: post #717

Very interesting. I had assumed I'd buy a 13" Pro as a personal laptop replacement for my 2011 Air when they updated the keyboard. However, when the 2020 Air dropped, I snapped one up because it ticked all the boxes, and I really don't need the "power" of the Pro, especially given its presumed expense. I bought a loaded Air with 512gb which was I think $1650. Speccing out the Pro, the pricepoint for a similar machine…

If you look around, the difference between the i5 and i7 on Air is negligible even though it's $300 apart. i3 to i5 makes bigger difference for smaller difference in price.

Re: New 13-inch MacBook Pro

#810

Post by mekster »

reaperducer wrote: post #459
AdamCraven wrote: post #347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps, but it reduces the size of the secondary market so consumers have less choice and may opt for a new one instead. This is the real advantage to Apple.

Is there a secondary market for a ten-year-old MacBook Air? I use a nine-year-old Air almost daily, but I don't think the vast majority of people would consider it viable, let alone pay for one.

If it can install latest macOS, it's a good test machine to test the newest OS to see if it sucks or not.
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