7 ms·

Ask HN: What DON'T you like about your Macbook?

• smallegan 15y ago
  Sharp edges.
  • jesstaa 15y ago
    I agree, and in winter the metal case gets really cold. I already solved the 'it runs MacOS' problem.
    • jrsmith1279 15y ago
      Ahh yes, I agree with both of these.
• cubtastic71 15y ago
  Endless spinning beach ball of death due to lack of a good video card.
• JshWright 15y ago
  Both the battery and power adapter failed on mine (just outside the warranty window). The Chinese knock-off replacements have now outlasted the original OEM equipment by a couple years. That, and the crack in the casing under the right palm-rest (but I assume they've fixed that by now).
  • dadro 15y ago
    I never knew the crack in the casing was a known issue. Thanks for info, I have same problem.
• jrsmith1279 15y ago
  Major Annoyances - The fact that I still have to run a Windows VM to run some of the software that I use for work. - Lack of good support for 3 monitors (Laptop screen + 2 additional). I'm currently using a Diamond BVU195 USB video adapter for the 3rd monitor, but it's really quite useless and I use it almost 100% for my instant messaging client. - Exchange Public folder access is pretty useless in both the Mail app and Outlook 2011. Microsoft Exchange is actually to blame for this, but it's still an annoyance. Minor Annoyances - Having to use Command-c, Command-v, ..etc instead of Control-C, Control-V, .etc - Mouse tracking speed is odd if coming from a Windows environment. I use a Magic Mouse and MagicPrefs to make the mouse work more like it does in Windows. - Click & Drag on the trackpad is a little more difficult than I'd like it to be. It gets easier with practice though. - It's pretty and expensive and I'm afraid of breaking it. Dropping my MBP is probably one of the top 10 things I'm afraid of in life. EDIT: 1 more minor annoyance is that at full resolution I find it hard to read the text on the screen. I'm constantly either using the zoom-in/zoom-out feature in Chrome or holding down Control and scrolling to zoom in on the screen. Everything looks terrible (fuzzy fonts, skewed icons..etc) if you run at lower resolutions, so I stay at the highest resolution. Note: I admit I probably should have my eyes checked. I'm sure there are other things that I just can't think of right now, but overall I'm very happy with my MBP and have less problems with it than I did with my Windows PC.
  • alexanderedge 15y ago
    I also find the resolution on the 15" MBP to be too high at 1680x1050 and a strain on the eyes. I also have a 13.3" and this is much better at 1280x800.
    • jrsmith1279 15y ago
      I forgot to mention mine is a 17". I run in 1920x1200 when not connected to my monitors and 1680x1050 when connected. I find it hard to read text in both resolutions on the laptop screen, but my monitors are Dell 20" widescreen and I can see the text fine on them, although it is not as sharp.
  • pavel_lishin 15y ago
• veyron 15y ago
  - Many strange default characteristics, like auto-dimming (had to install caffeine http://lightheadsw.com/caffeine/ http://lightheadsw.com/caffeine/ in order to disable auto-dimming) - Since 2008, uncomfortable edges (oh how i love the older macbook pro keys and body ...) - having to clean the screen - uses bsd getopt rather than gnu (the difference is that if you try to something like $ rm foo -rf then it parses -rf as if it weren't a getopt flag) - the apple logo (which makes you look like a hippie character vis-a-vis the "professionals" who use windows or linux) - PITA to deal with custom USB devices (I have a delcom 904005-SB led light + switch + buzzer and had to hack together a solution because libusb doesnt work well) - Office can't compare to windows office versions - poor bloomberg support - the default tab order skips drop-down menus (can be changed, but the default bothers me)
  • pavel_lishin 15y ago
    How do you fix the drop-down menu skip?
    • veyron 15y ago
      The keyboard shortcut is ctrl-F7 The syspref way is: Apple -> system preferences -> keyboard -> keyboard shortcuts At the bottom there's an item which says "Full Keyboard Access". Choose 'All Controls'
• Morendil 15y ago
  Fan noise.
  • nxn 15y ago
    MMMOOOOOOOOOOO
    • MaxGabriel 15y ago
      I had this problem with my macbook air. It wasn't there when I first got it, but later it did. I think it might have been an update to the OS that caused it. Anyway, I upped the minimum fan speed to where I still couldn't hear it but louder than before, and that prevented the computer from getting too hot and the fan turning loud. Since then, its been fine, except when running intensive applications (say, Starcraft or Flash video), but that's always temporary and I have headphones on for those tasks anyway.
• MichaelStubbs 15y ago
  Every one I have encountered so far has gotten very hot when doing any kind of light CPU/GPU task. Sure it's by design, but it's also very unpleasant.
• kevinherron 15y ago
  I'll assume this applies to MacBook Pro's as well: My MAJOR complaint is that I still can't hook up 2 external displays to it without resorting to some sort of ghetto USB video dongle. Just put a 2nd mini-displayport/thunderbolt on the damn thing! I also don't like the fact that the full-size wired keyboard and the laptop/bluetooth keyboards have different layouts because of the placement of the Fn button. I would much rather my MBP have a full-size Ctrl in the lower left and Fn be moved somewhere else.
  • brg 15y ago
    We had a discussion about this in the office the other day. Exacerbated by having the windows reposition and resize when changing between an external display and the laptop display, a major complaint was that window resizing is awkward.
    • stevelosh 15y ago
      This bugged me too (I use two external displays with the above mentioned USB dongle). I've tried a bunch of the "window management" apps out there and settled on a combination of Stay and Breeze. Once you spend 10 minutes configuring them the first time you're only a few keystrokes away from OCD-level window-placement perfection. http://cordlessdog.com/stay/ http://cordlessdog.com/stay/ http://www.autumnapps.com/breeze/ http://www.autumnapps.com/breeze/
      • jrsmith1279 15y ago
        Nice, thanks for these! I've been meaning to look, but I've been too lazy and just lived with having to move windows around every time I reconnect my external monitors.
  • pavel_lishin 15y ago
    I thought the newer models allowed you to hook up two displays? I'll be in the market for a new one in a few weeks, and was really hoping to not have to use this stupid USB doodle anymore.
  • 15y ago
• nxn 15y ago
  Well, before my macbook was stolen: - Optical drive was unusable if you had the macbook in your lap; slight movements would cause the disc to scrape against something in the drive. Somehow when I mention this to mac owners they get into a rant about how it's unreasonable to complain about this. Forgive me for trying to use a laptop in my lap. - Loud mooing fan and other noises that were hard to identify. - The magnetic latch put so much pressure on the cheap plastic that it would crack it. - The cheap plastic would get discolored after a while of use. - Trackpad was horribly inaccurate causing the cursor to noticeably jump if you had your finger over a certain portion of it. I'm sure I'm forgetting some other hardware issues, the whole thing just felt incredibly cheap for the price. Biggest annoyance actually came from the mac communities and how defensive they got when someone would mention these problems.
  • slashclee 15y ago
    Not that this helps you since there are no Thunderbolt peripherals yet, but supposedly Thunderbolt will let you daisy-chain multiple displays from that one port.
  • NickM 15y ago
    I've had the same problem as you with the case cracking, and have seen it mentioned in other places on the internet. Definitely a design snafu there. That being said, Apple will fix it for free, even if it's out of warranty.
• joblessjunkie 15y ago
  fn key where the ctrl key should be
  • MaxGabriel 15y ago
    Having used a mac for half a year, after having to go back to windows to use some windows-only software, I actually find the mac command key much better placed than the windows control key. Its much easier to reach, which feels natural for a key used so often.
    • joshma 15y ago
      I don't think joblessjunkie is criticizing the command key (I personally don't mind either the Windows or Mac placement). He's saying that the ctrl and the fn key (used to access the function keys instead of brightness/expose/volume/etc) should be swapped. I completely agree; I never use the fn key and my pinkie ends up bending for the control key.
  • jensnockert 15y ago
    You can remap it to be the way it should be, use Keymap4Macbook.
    • hollerith 15y ago
      I used Keymap4Macbook for a while, but found it easier to do the remapping in Emacs (with (setq mac-function-modifier 'control)) and use Emacs's eshell mode rather than a terminal emulator to run interactive shells. The only time I use the control key outside of Emacs and interactive shells is to control-click when I cannot right-click (because, e.g., I am using the Macbook's internal trackpad) and in that situation I found it simple enough to train my muscle memory to hit the second-to-leftmost modifier key rather than the rightmost modifier key. In contrast, retraining my muscles to use anything but the rightmost modifier key to "set the control bit" in Emacs would have taken a lot of time and attention. (On OS X, control-click does the same thing as right-click, namely pop up a contextual menu, and you can only right-click if you have a non-Apple pointing device.)
• drewvolpe 15y ago
  I moved back to Linux after a number of years on a macbook mainly because of package management. As a developer, it's too useful to be able to do 'apt-get install foo' for almost every piece of software and have it just work.
  • oomkiller 15y ago
    Ever hear of Macports or Homebrew? They have almost everything I need, usually with the most up to date version. No 2 year old stale packages like Debian. Edit: Don't presume this for everyone.
    • veyron 15y ago
      macports and homebrew are ok but for many projects, there are linux-specific extensions that arent properly ported. For example, epoll is not supported (and I haven't seen a good epoll wrapper for kqueue)
    • drewvolpe 15y ago
      I used Fink and then Macports. Both were miserable. They did a terrible job with dependencies and many common things (MySql, memecache, ..) either weren't in them or wouldn't install properly. Homebrew concerned me because it defaults to using the base libraries installed by OS X. That's really the core problem; on linux, all of the software on my machine is from the open source ecosystem and it tends to follow the unix patterns and work well together. On OS X, it was a mix of open source and what comes out of Jobs' Garden. It also meant that ports to OS X package systems were always behind linux.
      • oomkiller 15y ago
        I've never used Fink, but the main problem I had with MacPorts is that it pulls down so much stuff and takes forever to compile things, since it doesn't use the built-in stuff. I can understand your trepidation when using XCode to build things, but in reality I've never had any trouble using Homebrew. The packages are updated often, and if you want to contribute something, it's super easy (I've done it myself), since they're on Github.
• mgkimsal 15y ago
  Beach balls lack of pageup/pagedown on 13" I got a new 13" last fall and didn't notice until after the 2 weeks that they'd got rid of the mic-in, and now its software toggle on that headphone port (sound out or sound in). Really annoying, and I wish the sales guy had pointed that out, as I said I'd had an earlier white macbook (which did have that). I have a useless (to me) expresscard port instead of useful mic-in :/
  • jinushaun 15y ago
    Page up/down should be mapped to fn-up and fn-down. Spacebar also does page up and page down in both Windows and OSX.
    • mgkimsal 15y ago
      Still would be nicer to have one key. I've gotten used to the swiping on the trackpad for the most part, but I miss the keys :)
  • tonyarkles 15y ago
    If you have iPhone headphones (with the mic), you can use those and get the mic and output. I suspect you could wire up a plug that would give you both too (it's a T/R/R/S plug).
• rdouble 15y ago
  Wish there was a matte screen option on the MBA.
• kenneth_reitz 15y ago
  I have a 15" i7. It gets VERY hot.
• rbritton 15y ago
  I hate the trackpad with the integrated button. I much prefer the older style where the button was separate from the dragging area. I also do not like glossy screens, so I'm forced to pay more to get a matte screen.
  • div 15y ago
    Absolutely hate the glossy screen, should have gotten the matte version :(
• damienkatz 15y ago
  Shiny silver body is hard to use use in the sun. Was worse when the keys where silver too. The sharp edges could be more round. Numerous small gripes about OS X, but that's not really a Macbook gripe specifically.
  • Brewer 15y ago
    Gripes about OS X are more than welcome, seeing as if I migrate to Mac I will probably use it a fair bit. I've heard that OS X has some pretty good software.
• Brewer 15y ago
  So the three biggest complaints seem to be: 1) Macbooks get too hot, too fast. 2) Noisy fans. 3) Ridiculously lame support for 2 external displays. I would think that the first problem could be solved by getting a decent cooling pad. You would think that a noisy fan would prevent problem #1, but I guess not. Not much we can do about that. As far as displays go, I would barely be able to afford the Macbook, I won't be buying two extra monitors! Does anyone have any tips on how to fix the fan problem?
• brosephius 15y ago
  the hardware itself, not much. I don't like the magnetic latch on the 13" plastic macbook, it makes it annoying to open with one hand and occasionally when I'm closing it if my hand slips it slams down. I would also love bigger arrow keys. one thing I still don't like in OS X is how you can't navigate menus via keyboard like you can in windows. I know there's some keyboard shortcut to focus on the first menu, but I prefer the alt+_ shortcuts in windows.
• kbob 15y ago
  I have never bought a MacBook, because I don't understand how you're supposed to survive without a dock. I have two desks. When I drop my ThinkPad onto the dock on either desk, it lights up the second screen, external mouse and keyboard, speakers, wired Ethernet, and battery charger. I do that twice a day. I don't want to plug in half a dozen cables every time. There are easy workarounds for Ethernet (WiFi) and mouse/keyboard (Bluetooth), but not for the other three. It's ironic, because Apple invented the laptop dock with the PowerBook Duo, circa 1993. (I think.)
  • MatthewPhillips 15y ago
    You have a transformer arrangement that turns your thinkpad into a desktop. I like desktops too. So i bought a desktop.
    • bradleyland 15y ago
      I use my MacBook Pro at my desk a lot -- probably 80% of the time -- but I invested in the fastest model I could get, and bought an SSD hard drive, so performance is great. I'd rather not spend another $2500 on an iMac when I have such a great MacBook Pro. Not to mention, I really love working from a single machine. I used to do the iMac + MacBook 13" shuffle. Even with tools like Dropbox, it's next to impossible to keep everything synced. I don't want my 30 GB Aperture library syncing in my Dropbox. It's just much more convenient to work from one machine. When you factor in that Apple sells more laptops than anything, I'd say it's a fair argument that there are a lot of people running a MacBook (Pro) attached to an external display, keyboard, mouse, and related peripherals. The lack of a dock makes this a real exercise.
• CLaRGe 15y ago
  The number one thing I don't like about my macbook is the keyboard. As a developer I have to learn, and re-learn, twice the amount of keyboard combinations to write code.
• instakill 15y ago
  Lack of home/end keys.
• teilo 15y ago
  First, the fact that Apple has stubbornly refused to support USB3. The first Thunderbolt hard drive is due this summer. Seriously? Would it have killed you to support USB3 and thunderbolt? In the past, Apple has tried to push the hardware world into this new standard or that, and invariably have failed, and adopted the industry standards. Appletalk gave way to Ethernet (Yes, I'm that old). Various Mac busses yielded to PCI. They gave up on SCSI and went all IDE. They eventually buckled and replaced proprietary serial ports and ADB with USB. Intel replaced PowerPC. Don't get me wrong. I love having Firewire, and I use it for audio and video. But I'd rather have USB3, because I have massive choice in USB3, very little in FW800, none at all in Thunderbolt. Next, and similarly: Bluray. I know this one is more debatable, but I have a large library of Bluray movies. I'd love to take them with me and play them on my Mac. I'd love even more to have a Mac Mini with a Bluray drive, so I can eliminate my standalone player in my entertainment center.
• rranshous 15y ago
  I bought my first macbook pro when the thunderbolt hit so that I could support 3 monitors in the future. I've overall been pretty pleased with it. I would be 100% more pleased if it didn't cost me ~3K. When I use something which has such a relatively high cost I expect a lot. The things I do not like about the hardware: * Once you start doing something CPU heavy it sounds as though a jet is taking off from your desk * I've already had to return one due to overheating * Mine makes a _super_ annoying small "clicking" noise when you torque it in any way. It sounds as though two internal pieces don't quite meet, but touching the case causes them to meet and possibly "stick" (will happen when you push down w/ your palm against the body, click the trackpad, move it etc) * My (annoyingly located) ctrl key pops off at least once a day. This seems to be due to my torquing it slightly when using it as a modifier key. All keys may suffer from this, ctrl certainly seems to suffer the most * the stock hard drive is _slowwww_. This can not be over stated. * There are no hardware lights which indicate IO activity (very frustrating when you are just staring at your unresponsive computer) * All the ports (except CD) are on one side of the body * The space between the keys seems to be a dirt / grunge magnet.
• nicksergeant 15y ago
  Gets way too hot on the lap when plugged in and using a bunch of applications. By way too hot, I mean, me wanting to sell it because it's completely unusable-hot. No support for more than one external monitor. Hopefully Thunderbolt will fix this.
• ppetty 15y ago
  MBA no longer has a backlit keyboard
• mieses 15y ago
  Glossy screens. Big apple logo on screen lid. (Ignore the marketers and stop putting logos on the hardware. Let the hardware design speak for itself.) Difficult to service internal parts on certain models. Trash lacks restore. Poor window management (no tile, maximize height/width). Numerous issues with OS X and the included Applications.
  • koichirose 15y ago
    Trash has restore: the menu item is "Put Back". I'm on Snow Leopard.
• jinushaun 15y ago
  Unibody Macbooks are bloody sharp, especially the notch below the trackpad. I was constantly getting cut and scraped the first couple of weeks. I understand now why Windows laptops are so round and pudgy. Unfortunately, that's also why Windows laptops are ugly... C'est la vie. MBPs are also really heavy. I'm using a 15" MBP from work--can't imagine what the 17" is like! When the time comes to buy my own personal laptop, I think I will get an Air. No USB plug on the right side. When hooking up to a 27" iMac and running audio through to the iMac speakers, the volume controls are on the iMac and not on the MBP. Switching controls back to the laptop also switches the sound to the laptop speakers. You can't win! The whole MiniDP/Thunderbolt BS. Adapters are expensive. Apple doesn't even sell a MiniDP-to-MiniDP adapter to support MBP to iMac! I had to buy one from Belkin. Lack of a docking station. I plug and unplug my MBP a lot and it's so time consuming. I wish I could just dock it and instantly have all my peripherals available to me.
  • syk83 15y ago
    * Lack of a docking station -> I second this! I always hate to plug in my display and everything else at home and at work. Still can't belive Apple won't sell me an overpriced docking station....
    • bradleyland 15y ago
      Normally I'd just vote you up, but since no one will see it, I'll vote you up and echo your sentiment. Lack of a docking station -> I third this.
  • phaethonx 15y ago
    I've read good things about these docks: http://www.hengedocks.com/ http://www.hengedocks.com/
    • bradleyland 15y ago
      They do look great, but you can't use your Macbook as a second monitor with it.
  • 15y ago
• nhannah 15y ago
  Have a MacBook Pro Circa 2006/7. I could fry an egg on the bottom and have burned myself holding it before. That battery (3rd one) dies after 5 minutes disconnected and says service battery. The machine was fully replaced internally 1 yr ago due to it killing batteries under warranty. Now 1 yr later it is closer than ever to dying. I have treated it well, but the internal hardware seems to fail fast. On the other hand the newer unibody MBP's my friends have don't seem to have these issues. Other ppl with the same version as mine do have these problems though.
• Omatic810 15y ago
  Ctrl and fn are in reversed positions relative to most machines I use, so I find myself hitting the wrong buttons semi-frequently if I'm not paying attention. Despite having paid a high premium on this thing, it still can't multitask in chrome like my Sony Vaio, which I paid only a little more for. Automatic switching of the display doesn't occur when I plug something into the display port, I have to toggle it manually usually. The standard HD is still 5400rpm!
• hollerith 15y ago
  http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2642333 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2642333 -- a couple of things I dislike about the physical design of the Macbook.
• eqdw 15y ago
  Heat issues. My MBP is by far the hottest-running laptop I've ever had. I chalk it up to the fact that it is significantly thinner than any other laptop I've had. No ventilation in there. The fact that it's an aluminum case doesn't help, either. I mean, if my CPU was hot, but my fingers were cool, I wouldn't mind so much. But I had to stop playing SC2 on my laptop directly (ie use usb keyboard/mouse) because I was burning my fingers.
• diem 15y ago
  NVIDIA display driver heat sensitivity. Due to Mr. Jobs' pathological hatred of fan noise, Macintoshes always seem to run hotter than their PC brethren. Consequently when it's a hot day (like only 27°C) occasionally the screen of my 2010 MBP locks solid (check the Apple Discussion Forums for the phrase "Channel Exception!" to see how widespread this problem is). Frustrating. Also the leading edge of the Unibody design is too sharp. Pretty but not good for the palms/wrists!
• pkamb 15y ago
  The ridiculously annoying "breathing" sleep light on the front lid. Don't plan on sleeping in the same room as your Mac, your room will be completely dark then brighter than 1000 suns every 30 seconds or so. Repeat all night.
• silencio 15y ago
  My MacBook Air is light to the point that whenever I use it on a non-level surface (like my lap) or perched on the edge of something (like a table), the entire computer bobs up and down and moves around as I type. Heavier laptops by definition do not have this problem to a similar extent. The other problem with the weight is that if someone brushes past and snags something (a bag strap, clothing) on the display, I get really nervous that the entire laptop will go flying. With my 15" MBP, I'm just worried about the hinge breaking, or maybe if the surface is slick enough, the laptop sliding around. The Air has changed the way I use laptops and makes a noticeable difference in the weight of my purse every day, but some days it gets pretty nerve-wracking...
• dguaraglia 15y ago
  Short list: - Keyboard. For programmers not having Home/End/PgUp/PgDown are a major drawback. Even as a Vim user I feel the keyboard is still kind of wonky. - There's no standard for 'cycle through document windows'. Some programs cycle using Ctrl-Tab, some using Cmd-Alt-Arrows, some Cmd-Shift-Arrows. - Small Enter key (although I guess that's mostly an American layout problem, rather than Macbook specific) - Finder sucks, every other file manager is $30 or more - When coming from another OS the whole 'closing the last window doesn't quit the application' paradigm is really confusing. - Cmd-Tab-Option to unminimize a window from the program switcher is the most RSI-friendly keystroke ever - Two USB ports? On a $1100+ notebook? On the same side? Really? - Package management does suck indeed. Even windows has a centralized 'uninstall this crap' list. AppCleaner does a good job though. Probably a bunch of things I'm forgetting right now. I still love it, it's just that we are going through a 'phase'...
• jrussbowman 15y ago
  The fact my 13in MBP has a lower max resolution than the air models, and the air has no backlit keyboard.
• crcastle 15y ago
  palm rests get too hot. not enough to burn, just enough to make me sweat. i use my MBP 15" (mid 2010) on my desk almost every day. i didn't know the underside of one's wrists could sweat so much. i actually look forward to opening it in the morning when i know the metal will be cool to the touch.
• wlievens 15y ago
  No HDMI output. What's that about?