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MacBook Pros updated today - Good time to buy
- chengmi 19y agoOne subtle but annoying change: Apple rearranged the function keys at the top of the keyboard to match the Macbook Air.
- alaskamiller 19y agoit now looks like this: http://images.apple.com/keyboard/images/gallery/wired_1_20070813.jpg http://images.apple.com/keyboard/images/gallery/wired_1_2007...
- papersmith 19y agoAs an Emacs user, it's one of the things I look for when I buy a laptop. Right now the right ctrl key on my HP laptop is directly underneath the slash key, and the left ctrl key is mapped to caps lock, so both my pinkies only have to move slightly. For the Mac users, how are you guys dealing with this? I've used 10.4 and the re-mapping feature in the preferences panel seems fairly limited.
- ken 19y agoSame thing I've always done, on every platform: make sure the key to the left of A is mapped to control, and only use that. Even when I'm on a keyboard with 3 control keys, I only ever use the one. I don't think any laptop has a good key layout. Just pick one and try to get used to it.
- gcv 19y agoI only use the left Control key, and I remapped Caps Lock to Control in the Mac OS preferences panel. Works very well for me.
- pivo 19y agoI don't have any problem with the control key position, I just swap it with caps lock. The real pain for me is the meta key mapping. If I'm using Carbon Emacs I use one mapping, if I'm using emacs in a terminal I have to switch to another mapping. Things work a little differently with my external keyboard v.s. the built in one. I find the whole thing really irritating, almost enough to make me switch back to Linux on my laptop. Anyway, I use http://doublecommand.sourceforge.net/ http://doublecommand.sourceforge.net/ to map keys that aren't handled by the limited built-in mapping choices.
- mc 19y agoThanks for the link. I thought it was just me going crazy with Emacs/Apple keyboard bindings. I do the Capslock/Ctrl swap, but I really want to make the Apple key my meta command, since that's the location of the Alt button on every other keyboard I've used
- Readmore 19y agoThe only thing I wish they had done was increase the size of the touchpad. I need some space to use my gestures.
- jey 19y agoScrew gestures, use keyboard shortcuts instead.
- jgrahamc 19y agoI tend to agree, but there are some gestures on the MBP that are really handy: 1. Two finger tap: since there's no 'right click' (which is CTRL-click on a Mac) the two finger tap means I don't remove my fingers from the pad to get a context menu. 2. Two fingers to scroll. Very handy on web pages and it works up/down and left/right.
- sohail 19y ago$2000 is a bit steep isn't it?
- mynameishere 19y agoHere's a comparable machine: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3550141&CatId=17 http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-det... $1050 The "fashion" tax is pretty high on Apple. The only advantage it has on the HP is a superior video card.
- alaskamiller 19y ago1. Apple doesn't make machines that fit into feature tables. 2. Even then, the HP is not similar to the MacBook PRo, it's missing a comparable CPU, 802.11n, backlit LED screen, multitouch mousepad, backlit keyboard, and most importantly software: Mac OS X and iLife. 3. The "fashion" tax is also the quality tax. Al casing and hundreds of screws is a very real difference.
- mrtron 19y agoThe "only advantage" it has is insanely good video card... That HP machine is in no way comparable to Macbook Pro... The base Macbook is the same price as that HP machine, and is roughly the same price.
- mynameishere 19y agoI believe Steve Jobs has a patent on inappropriate uses of the word "insane" and its inflections. Anyway, the HP actually seems better for most things. The AMD processor seems to cost a bit more than Intel. Aside from that, I won't compare them. mac: 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 2GB memory 200GB hard drive1 Double-layer SuperDrive NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 256MB hp: Turion 64 X2 TL-62 Memory Size: 3GB Dual Layer DVD RW Capacity: 250GB Unspecified, probably crappy, video card.
- mrtron 19y ago
- davidmathers 19y agoBad time to buy. This is just the update to 45nm CPUs. The next generation chipset will be out in 6 months. That will be a good time to buy. Unless you don't already have a Mac, then anytime is a good time to buy.
- holygoat 19y agoThat's one POV. Another: if you wait 6 months, there'll be another significant bump 6 months after that. (WiMax!) The sensible thing to do is to wait a year. Sorry, 18 months. Oh no, 2 years.
- alaskamiller 19y agonow is a good time to buy last gen's macbook pros for a steal.
- semigeek 19y agoYou'd think so - but it rarely happens. I did this with my current macbook and only got a few hundred dollars off after waiting ~7months.
- DocSavage 19y agoI'll give some YC hacker a good deal right now for my 1st gen macbook pro (2 GB RAM) :)
- semigeek 19y agoak (at) semigeek (dot) com Always like picking up more hardware - send the specs.
- alaskamiller 19y agocurrent macbook pro price: $1999 + taxes some thread perusing on macrumors: $1500-1600 shipped
- 19y ago
- chaostheory 19y agoI just wished they gave an option whether to have the macbook style keyboard or not. I really like the new keyboards compared to what the mac book pros have
- Prrometheus 19y agoDo these still come with bootcamp? I really want a Mac Pro, but the ability to dual-boot would be key.
- stillmotion 19y agoYep. All is included.
- comatose_kid 19y agoI think that the 'Douple-layer' SuperDrive on the 17 inch model is an especially convincing reason to buy.
- henning 19y agoEveryone's reservations about proprietary software go away when it's Apple. Closed source isn't a bad thing when it isn't Microsoft doing it.
- kingnothing 19y agoI've never had a problem with closed source. I bet the majority of hackers here don't mind it, as they're all working on their own startups and only a tiny fraction of them are likely to release their source code.