4 ms·

I can't remember where, but I read an interesting piece pleading with apple to bring the 17" macbook pro back. If you think about it, it makes a lot of sense.

I can't remember where, but I read an interesting piece pleading with apple to bring the 17" macbook pro back. If you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. The extra headroom for the keyboard means they can easily cozy the touch bar in above the normal function keys. The extra chassis means they can put a bigger battery in there. The extra screen size would be... well it would be awesome. But that's all a bunch of dreamy tech fluff. Apple has it's sights set squarely on a customer that most certainly isn't using the product for professional purposes.

philliphaydon 10y ago
There's enough room to have the function keys and touch bar now... the way they should have done it to begin with.
- bnj 10y ago
  My bet is that they were worried that no one would find a use for the touch bar if it didn't replace an existing function
vectorpush 10y ago
Yeah, 17" is pretty much a prerequisite for me as far as laptops go. I was in the market for a laptop a few years back and considered the MBP but I ended up going with the 17" Asus Zenbook and have been very pleased with it. I'll admit that the MBP has a bit better build quality, but I'd say the Zenbook is 90% there but much cheaper, much better specs, and of course I got my 17" display. It was only later I discovered that the newer MBPs don't play nicely with Linux, so I dodged a bullet there.
- the_hoser 10y ago
  The problem that I have with most 17" laptops is the stupid number pad. It forces me to type with my hands off-center from the screen, and it drives me insane. The old 17" macbook pro was basically the only one to do it right.
  - vectorpush 10y ago
    Yeah, I'm not a numpad user myself, but I never really noticed the hands off-center issue, my brain seems to adapt without much distraction.
    - the_hoser 10y ago
      It's not my brain that's the problem. It's my shoulders. I tend to want to view the screen dead-on, so I'm typing with my hands shifted a few inches to the left. For a few minutes that's no big deal. Get into a 3-hour coding bender and my shoulders are killing me once I unfold.
- JBiserkov 10y ago
  Which model is the 17" ZenBook? A quick search came back empty.

philliphaydon 10y ago

There's enough room to have the function keys and touch bar now... the way they should have done it to begin with.

bnj 10y ago
My bet is that they were worried that no one would find a use for the touch bar if it didn't replace an existing function

vectorpush 10y ago

Yeah, 17" is pretty much a prerequisite for me as far as laptops go. I was in the market for a laptop a few years back and considered the MBP but I ended up going with the 17" Asus Zenbook and have been very pleased with it. I'll admit that the MBP has a bit better build quality, but I'd say the Zenbook is 90% there but much cheaper, much better specs, and of course I got my 17" display. It was only later I discovered that the newer MBPs don't play nicely with Linux, so I dodged a bullet there.

the_hoser 10y ago
The problem that I have with most 17" laptops is the stupid number pad. It forces me to type with my hands off-center from the screen, and it drives me insane. The old 17" macbook pro was basically the only one to do it right.
- vectorpush 10y ago
  Yeah, I'm not a numpad user myself, but I never really noticed the hands off-center issue, my brain seems to adapt without much distraction.
  - the_hoser 10y ago
    It's not my brain that's the problem. It's my shoulders. I tend to want to view the screen dead-on, so I'm typing with my hands shifted a few inches to the left. For a few minutes that's no big deal. Get into a 3-hour coding bender and my shoulders are killing me once I unfold.
JBiserkov 10y ago
Which model is the 17" ZenBook? A quick search came back empty.