4 ms·

A few Pro features Apple could add to the MacBook Pro: ECC, ZFS, function keys Yeah, function keys like on the Air. I don't know anyone who likes the Touch

A few Pro features Apple could add to the MacBook Pro: ECC, ZFS, function keys Yeah, function keys like on the Air. I don't know anyone who likes the Touch Bar. I'd like to get a Pro but the Air is very very good and I don't find anything that I really value on the Pro. Yes, the Pro is faster than the Air but the Air is fast and faster apparently requires a fan.

bstar77 6y ago
The pro is not any faster, it just has a fan that kicks in that prevents the machine from throttling as quickly. Someone who buys a PC with a water cooler isn't buying a machine that's faster than someone buying one with an air cooler. I realize there's a nuance here.
- alisonkisk 6y ago
  Throttling means slowing down. Not-throttling means going faster.
  - withinboredom 6y ago
    > Not-throttling means going faster. No, it means not going slower. You don't go faster by not going slower.
- chongli 6y ago
  From the reviews on YouTube that I’ve seen, the fan on the Pro is inaudible all the time, even after running Cinebench in a loop for 30 mins. The reviewer was able to conclude that the fan was actually doing something, since the benchmark score held steady over those multiple consecutive runs whereas the score of the Air dropped after about ten minutes of sustained load. I’m sure the Pro has the same throttling logic as the Air since they’re identical apart from the fan and case/peripherals but it’s going to be very difficult to get it to throttle. I would think you’d need to run a microbenchmark of vector instructions in a very tight loop just to get the fan to spin fast enough to be audible. Under normal use it may never happen unless the fan fails.
- CalChris 6y ago
  Good catch. It's the same chip.
Fnoord 6y ago
> ZFS Not going to happen. It almost happened around 2007, when Sun's Jonathan Schwartz announced it on his blog. Then Apple conceded the development, sticked with HFS+ for another decade, only to eventually roll out APFS.
darthrupert 6y ago
Yep, the Touch Bar almost guarantees that I will never spend my own money on a Pro. Which is a shame, since in every other way, I'd prefer it. I'd probably pay 200 euro extra for a "real pro" edition that changes nothing else except remove the dumb bar. Come on Apple, take my money. I cannot be the only one who wants this. (I guess I could just disable the bar in software though, but where's my esc key then...)
- dan1234 6y ago
  There’s a physical escape key.
  - darthrupert 6y ago
    Oops. Indeed.
Twixes 6y ago
The Touch Bar is really nice.

bstar77 6y ago

The pro is not any faster, it just has a fan that kicks in that prevents the machine from throttling as quickly. Someone who buys a PC with a water cooler isn't buying a machine that's faster than someone buying one with an air cooler. I realize there's a nuance here.

alisonkisk 6y ago
Throttling means slowing down. Not-throttling means going faster.
- withinboredom 6y ago
  > Not-throttling means going faster. No, it means not going slower. You don't go faster by not going slower.
chongli 6y ago
From the reviews on YouTube that I’ve seen, the fan on the Pro is inaudible all the time, even after running Cinebench in a loop for 30 mins. The reviewer was able to conclude that the fan was actually doing something, since the benchmark score held steady over those multiple consecutive runs whereas the score of the Air dropped after about ten minutes of sustained load. I’m sure the Pro has the same throttling logic as the Air since they’re identical apart from the fan and case/peripherals but it’s going to be very difficult to get it to throttle. I would think you’d need to run a microbenchmark of vector instructions in a very tight loop just to get the fan to spin fast enough to be audible. Under normal use it may never happen unless the fan fails.
CalChris 6y ago
Good catch. It's the same chip.

Fnoord 6y ago

> ZFS Not going to happen. It almost happened around 2007, when Sun's Jonathan Schwartz announced it on his blog. Then Apple conceded the development, sticked with HFS+ for another decade, only to eventually roll out APFS.

darthrupert 6y ago

Yep, the Touch Bar almost guarantees that I will never spend my own money on a Pro. Which is a shame, since in every other way, I'd prefer it. I'd probably pay 200 euro extra for a "real pro" edition that changes nothing else except remove the dumb bar. Come on Apple, take my money. I cannot be the only one who wants this. (I guess I could just disable the bar in software though, but where's my esc key then...)

dan1234 6y ago
There’s a physical escape key.
- darthrupert 6y ago
  Oops. Indeed.

Twixes 6y ago

The Touch Bar is really nice.