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Not an Apple fan boy, but I have stuck to my 2015 MacBook Pro. Hoping that one day Apple will produce an 'classic' edition of the MacBook Pro. It came in itera

Not an Apple fan boy, but I have stuck to my 2015 MacBook Pro. Hoping that one day Apple will produce an 'classic' edition of the MacBook Pro. It came in iterations, better keyboard then ESC key. Now touch bar. Funny how things come full circle.

DonHopkins 5y ago
This is the SECOND time it came full circle. Apple should have learned their lesson with the original Apple ][ RESET key. The earliest model of the Apple ][ had a normal RESET key in the upper right corner of the keyboard, with only a slightly stiffer spring than every other key on the keyboard. When you pressed it, it went BEEP and dumped you in the monitor. Later versions of the Apple ][+ increased the spring stiffness a bit, but not enough that it wasn't still way too easy to accidentally press. And eventually Applesoft came along and it dumped you in BASIC instead of the monitor. But it also disconnected you from DOS and made it almost impossible to continue what you were doing. There was a whole third party ecosystem of physical and electronic devices to make the RESET key harder to press. One common one was a square plastic tube that fit over the button, that you had to stick your finger into to press. They came in various styles and colors and designs, and made great branded swag to hand out at trade shows. Another popular electronic one was a little board that you wired up to make it necessary to press the control key at the same time as the RESET button. The Apple //e finally adopted built-in control-key RESET protection. (Putting many little third party companies out of business -- not the first or the last time Apple did that!) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23068829 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23068829 The original Apple ][ had a reset key in the upper right corner of the keyboard that was WAAAAAY too easy to press. https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e3/1b/53/e31b53767fad646fc635271d1192fe13.jpg https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e3/1b/53/e31b53767fad646fc635... They eventually put a stronger spring under it so it was harder to press, but it was still terrible. There was actually a thriving after-market for $3.25 "RESET KEY PROTECTORS": square plastic tube shields that fit over the reset key so you had to stick your finger down inside of it to press reset. https://apple2history.org/history/ah13/ https://apple2history.org/history/ah13/ RESET KEY PROTECTOR, which prevented accidental RESET on the earliest models of the Apple II, was available for only $3.25 from Special Systems Design. This was necessary because the RESET key, on the upper right of the keyboard, was easy to press because it had the same spring action as the other keys on the keyboard. Various methods (like this product) were used to stiffen that key, and make it harder to press. https://imgur.com/a/jGpcT4Z https://imgur.com/a/jGpcT4Z Special Systems Design ad for Apple ][ Reset Key Protector, from Apple Orchard v1n1 1980 Mar Apr, page 107. https://archive.org/details/Apple-Orchard-v1n1-1980-Mar-Apr/page/n107/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/Apple-Orchard-v1n1-1980-Mar-Apr/... Videx Enhancer ][ Reset Key Protection: https://archive.org/details/Videx_Enhancer_II_Installation_and_Operation_Manual/page/n57/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/Videx_Enhancer_II_Installation_a...
- makecheck 5y ago
  Yeah I would pop entire keys off keyboards to avoid things like this. There was a Sun Microsystems keyboard with a huge Help button in the top-left corner too, which I had to pop off for my own sanity (otherwise every other time I tried to Escape my desktop would pause for a moment and then pop up the Help application window).
robbie-c 5y ago
The 2015 MBP was definitely the peak. Normal USB ports, an HDMI port, the non-terrible keyboard, and no touch pad. I basically just want this with modern hardware (not just GPU/CPU/RAM etc, but webcam/mic/speakers have improved significantly, and I'd want a couple of USB-C ports). I remember back in 2016 that some coworkers said that the new keyboard had ruined their life. I've not heard anything that strong about the touchbar but I don't know a single person who likes it and everyone seems to dislike it to some extent. Perhaps them ditching it will be the thing that gets me to check out silicon.
crossroadsguy 5y ago
Can the smaller iPhone SE owners hope for the same thing? :) Shame their palm sizes would remain the same when next smallest iPhone grows even bigger.
- reasonabl_human 5y ago
  The 12 mini fits this niche well if you haven’t checked it out yet
srvmshr 5y ago
I have two maxed-out-spec mid-2015 MacBook Pros (one in mint condition, including the paper keyboard cover. Got it as a gift, when I already had one - so only lightly used it). I believe they were among the best MacBooks ever built. I remember Paul Graham also chiming the same in a tweet.

DonHopkins 5y ago

This is the SECOND time it came full circle. Apple should have learned their lesson with the original Apple ][ RESET key. The earliest model of the Apple ][ had a normal RESET key in the upper right corner of the keyboard, with only a slightly stiffer spring than every other key on the keyboard. When you pressed it, it went BEEP and dumped you in the monitor. Later versions of the Apple ][+ increased the spring stiffness a bit, but not enough that it wasn't still way too easy to accidentally press. And eventually Applesoft came along and it dumped you in BASIC instead of the monitor. But it also disconnected you from DOS and made it almost impossible to continue what you were doing. There was a whole third party ecosystem of physical and electronic devices to make the RESET key harder to press. One common one was a square plastic tube that fit over the button, that you had to stick your finger into to press. They came in various styles and colors and designs, and made great branded swag to hand out at trade shows. Another popular electronic one was a little board that you wired up to make it necessary to press the control key at the same time as the RESET button. The Apple //e finally adopted built-in control-key RESET protection. (Putting many little third party companies out of business -- not the first or the last time Apple did that!) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23068829 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23068829 The original Apple ][ had a reset key in the upper right corner of the keyboard that was WAAAAAY too easy to press. https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e3/1b/53/e31b53767fad646fc635271d1192fe13.jpg https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e3/1b/53/e31b53767fad646fc635... They eventually put a stronger spring under it so it was harder to press, but it was still terrible. There was actually a thriving after-market for $3.25 "RESET KEY PROTECTORS": square plastic tube shields that fit over the reset key so you had to stick your finger down inside of it to press reset. https://apple2history.org/history/ah13/ https://apple2history.org/history/ah13/ RESET KEY PROTECTOR, which prevented accidental RESET on the earliest models of the Apple II, was available for only $3.25 from Special Systems Design. This was necessary because the RESET key, on the upper right of the keyboard, was easy to press because it had the same spring action as the other keys on the keyboard. Various methods (like this product) were used to stiffen that key, and make it harder to press. https://imgur.com/a/jGpcT4Z https://imgur.com/a/jGpcT4Z Special Systems Design ad for Apple ][ Reset Key Protector, from Apple Orchard v1n1 1980 Mar Apr, page 107. https://archive.org/details/Apple-Orchard-v1n1-1980-Mar-Apr/page/n107/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/Apple-Orchard-v1n1-1980-Mar-Apr/... Videx Enhancer ][ Reset Key Protection: https://archive.org/details/Videx_Enhancer_II_Installation_and_Operation_Manual/page/n57/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/Videx_Enhancer_II_Installation_a...

makecheck 5y ago
Yeah I would pop entire keys off keyboards to avoid things like this. There was a Sun Microsystems keyboard with a huge Help button in the top-left corner too, which I had to pop off for my own sanity (otherwise every other time I tried to Escape my desktop would pause for a moment and then pop up the Help application window).

robbie-c 5y ago

The 2015 MBP was definitely the peak. Normal USB ports, an HDMI port, the non-terrible keyboard, and no touch pad. I basically just want this with modern hardware (not just GPU/CPU/RAM etc, but webcam/mic/speakers have improved significantly, and I'd want a couple of USB-C ports). I remember back in 2016 that some coworkers said that the new keyboard had ruined their life. I've not heard anything that strong about the touchbar but I don't know a single person who likes it and everyone seems to dislike it to some extent. Perhaps them ditching it will be the thing that gets me to check out silicon.

crossroadsguy 5y ago

Can the smaller iPhone SE owners hope for the same thing? :) Shame their palm sizes would remain the same when next smallest iPhone grows even bigger.

reasonabl_human 5y ago
The 12 mini fits this niche well if you haven’t checked it out yet

srvmshr 5y ago

I have two maxed-out-spec mid-2015 MacBook Pros (one in mint condition, including the paper keyboard cover. Got it as a gift, when I already had one - so only lightly used it). I believe they were among the best MacBooks ever built. I remember Paul Graham also chiming the same in a tweet.