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Benjamin Button Reviews the New MacBook Pro
- locusm 10y agoAnyone else considering Hackintosh? Some water cooled beast running OSX really appeals TBH.
- asendra 10y ago2 years ago, while I still had just a Macbook Air, I built a gaming PC, but choose all the hardware from the tonymacx86 guide so I could use it also for iOS development. Last year I bought a Broadwell rMBP and relegated the Gaming PC to just gaming. Imho, too much work to mantain it updated and properly working. If I was still in high school, I could live with all the cons, but as a working freelancer, I won't.
- Hates_ 10y agoAs a counter point, my wife and I have both been using hackintoshes for the past four years and I do very little, if any at all, work to maintain them. Setting up a machine from scratch is made easier now with Clover. Even moving to each new version of OSX has been just as easy as my MBP which I use when travelling. That's not to say it's without it's cons, iMessage/Handoff/Facetime don't work, but that doesn't bother me as I don't really use them and when I do it's on my iPhone or iPad.
- kossmoboleat 10y agoI've also had few issues all in all. The key is to get compatible hardware and you'll mostly be fine.
- locusm 10y agoNow that Polaris support seems to be in MacOS I'm pulling the trigger on this.
- fredley 10y agoBut the new model surprisingly hasn't had any increase in memory, sticking to a somewhat frustrating limit of 16GB, something that won't come as welcome news to VM users, or graphics and video designers.
- reuven 10y agoYes. This is the real jaw-dropping showstopper for me. My current MacBook works well enough. There's no overwhelming, compelling reason to get a new one. And yet, it's three years old, so I figured that maybe if Apple comes out with a 32GB version, I'll get it in the coming months. They didn't, and so I'll be holding onto my machine for a while longer.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- androidfox 10y agoI suppose Apple should listen to the recommendations in this blog
- therein 10y agoBut what's a good alternative? I really don't like the new MBP but it looks like I'm going to have to suck it up and buy it anyway because it's time for an upgrade. I wish there was a slim Linux compatible laptop out there with decent battery life, display and trackpad.
- on_and_off 10y agoI am a bit lost myself : for me OsX is the best mix where I have a nix like terminal, great design tools and general software support, good UX, and I don't have to spend too much time maintaining and configuring the machine. Both Linux and Windows are inferior in some of these aspects, so I have been sucking it up for the past couple of years. Coming the next time I have to change my machine, I am not sure what I will get.
- chipperyman573 10y ago>I have a nix like terminal Does bash on windows solve this issue for you or do you want the entire terminal to be nix like (instead of the command prompt)
- hellofunk 10y agoBash on windows is a far cry from a true nix terminal. A lot of things in windows bash just don't work right yet.
- algesten 10y agoWith the latest NVIDIA and Intel chipsets and with built-to-order options of up to 128GB on board memory, it's firmly positioned in the hi-end laptop market segment.
- megous 10y agoNice reference to Scott Fitzgerald. :)
- canada_dry 10y agoButton forgot to mention: "It's likely that these changes were not possible had it not been for the unceremonious departure of Jonathan Ive - who had obviously lost his keen design touch years earlier."
- 4684499 10y agoThis is hilarious. I didn't know my current MBP is that good.
- GuiA 10y agoUSB C is the best thing that's come out of the USB Implementers' Forum in a long time. I can't wait till all of my equipment does everything - power delivery, video display, arbitrary high speed data exchange- through identical ports. I'll be traveling for 6 weeks soon, and if my camera and kindle used USB C, I'd be very happy.
- exergy 10y agoI think the idea is that charging itself could have been kept magsafe. The aesthetic elegance of a universal port is trumped by the guarantee that my machine is safe. I trip over power cords far more than I'd proud to admit, and I'm sure most people are the same way too. And yet, I also cannot wait until everything is USB-C. It makes me hope that after that we can also tackle wall plugs and make them universal!
- imtringued 10y agoThey could have integrated that in their USB C charging cable but for some reason they didn't. https://griffintechnology.com/us/breaksafe-magnetic-usb-c-power-cable https://griffintechnology.com/us/breaksafe-magnetic-usb-c-po...
- illumin8 10y agoThat thing looks ugly as sin... Apple should have integrated it with their charger; you're right.
- visarga 10y agoAll you're going to need is a bunch of USB C cables, one for each standard that is used with this plug.
- SocratesV 10y agoLike with HDMI cables? (though it doesn't fry ports...) It's a cable maker problem. Buy the one that supports the super-set from a brand that doesn't try to fool customers.
- messutied 10y agoAbout the escape key, is it not possible to place a digital version of it in the touch bar?... not defending apple I'm also not happy with this MBP but I think at least that can be worked around.
- idlewords 10y agoI believe that's the solution they went with.
- Lio 10y agoTrue but the screenshots released so far indicate that it's centred, so it's position will move depending on context. Not good for muscle memory.
- nicky0 10y agoNo, it is positioned at the far left on all screen shots. There is a small, ugly, constant margin however.
- Lio 10y agoI guess we'll know for sure once they ship. Hopefully, it could be be something that's configurable to preference. If it's just an ugly margin around the Esc key then I still think it's poor UX work.
- nicky0 10y agoI agree. I don't think they should have put the esc key there at all. I would have made the key to the left of the "1" key the Esc key, and moved the original functions of that key somewhere else. However this is coming from a UK user on which the key in question has the symbols "§" and "±". Which I never type. I understand the US layout has some more useful symbols there.
- hatmatrix 10y ago
- illuminati1911 10y agoSome people seem to think that the MacBook is only for developers and Apple is obliged to listen to only their feedback. News flash: world doesn't revolve around hacker news. Let's be honest for a moment. Apple has never in the history been the one to wait for market to adapt to some new technology. They have been the one who immediately puts it on their products and gets rid of the old standards. Everybody has known this for years so this really shouldn't surprise anyone. Generally speaking whether you like it or not, no one really cares if the ESC button is on the touchbar instead of being traditional physical button. Even fewer people care if there are ridiculous 32GB models available when most devs dont even need 16GB. Not to mention average consumers. If Apple would give you guys 32GB option then people would cry why they can't get 64GB option. If the new MacBook wouldn't have touchbar then people would complain why Apple isn't innovating anymore etc. What Apple is doing with their new MacBook is what Apple has been doing with their products for decades. If you don't like it feel free to switch to other laptops and run Win10 or Linux. But we all know you won't. You'll buy this MacBook sooner or later, then in 2018 when Apple releases new models you'll be here complaining about something again and you'll still buy that one as well.
- alanfranzoni 10y agoAt the same time, developers are often power users that are willing to shed a good amount of money for a decent laptop, and will recommend Macs to friends and famility. It was around 2009-2012 that about 50% of laptops at most developer conferences were Macbook/Macbook pros; I've seen the (perceived) percentage declining since. Do you really think the "average user" would spend $1500-2500 for a laptop? The Macbook Pro is for Pro users. Let them work as pros.
- mrzool 10y agoIn fact, the only thing I don't like about this utterly brilliant piece is that it revolves only around developers. It would have been a much stronger statement if only :%s/developers/professionals.
- idlewords 10y agoYou're right—point taken!
- icantdrive55 10y agoI still like Apple products. Will I buy a new Apple product--probally not, but will buy used. I look at the shiny, miniminslistic Apple Stores. I look at their products, and I just get this picture in my mind. The picture is Steve Jobs throwing phones/computers/watches right against his glass office windows. (He know the windows are shatterproof). His blood pressure is off the charts. He knows he needs to calm down, and make a bunch of changes at his company. He is so upset with the hardware; he isn't even yelling about the software bugs, or the weird direction the company is going in. I picture him yelling, "We are not a democracy here--you listen to me. We are not Google. We are not a company with too many chiefs. I'm the chief! We do it this way! Oh, yea--we do listen to some of our customers. We are not in the 90's. People have changed. Let's not irritate our better customers?" I picture employees tip-toeing around that office--until they produce a produce a product that is up to Apple standards. They know they need to produce the perfect product. A device, even Job's, won't find fault in. They know Apple bugs are just expected to be fixed quickly. They know Apple only produces the best devices. And then, and only then can Apple put a huge price on the package.
- SocratesV 10y agoWould be interesting to know, a few months from now, the percentage of those complaining that actually switched to Linux/Windows and bought a non-Apple laptop. Apple has always done this. Always. In the end people adapt and things progress.