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Lest anyone be misled: I assume the comment means that you can’t leave it in clamshell mode without an external monitor. I almost never open mine. There are th

Lest anyone be misled: I assume the comment means that you can’t leave it in clamshell mode without an external monitor. I almost never open mine. There are three alternatives for the fingerprint sensor issue: - Apple Watch can replace most uses for it - One of Apple’s external keyboards has a fingerprint sensor - You can always just use your password

knallfrosch 2y ago
- I don't own the $700 Apple smartwach, since I had an Android phone at the time and it has terrible Android integration - I already owned a mechanical keyboard and was unwilling to downgrade to Apple. - I don't want to use my password (?), since passwordless is kind of the whole point of biometrics. I forgot to mention that macOS didn't recognize the keyboard layout of my USB keyboard, something that Windows has done for the last 15 years automatically. The proposed solution was, I think, editing a text file.
bzzzt 2y ago
> One of Apple’s external keyboards has a fingerprint sensor Which only works on the M1 and higher models, not the 2019 Intel MacBooks.
- macintux 2y ago
  Good point. I also didn't realize (or remember) the power requirement for clamshell operation; my laptop is being charged by the monitors it's plugged into.
  - hedora 2y ago
    The “late 2019” intel MacBooks were some of the worst computers ever built: - I had two screens fail, - The battery swelled. - It did not sit flat on my desk. - It warped a pine desk that I used during the pandemic. - At any time after a few months of using it, no fewer than 6 keys would drop or duplicate keystrokes. - It got under 2 hours battery life, when new. - under heavy use, it got about 4 while plugged into the provided charger. - If you charged it using a port on the left side, it’d throttle the CPU to 10% normal speed. - Kernel panics on resume. - They had random monitor incompatibility issues with the LG monitors Apple sold at the time. - My colleagues also had the exact same model, and mine was better than average. - no escape key - the touchbar was over sensitive, so pressing backspace would send a ghost keystroke that launched siri a few times a day. However, you could run them in clamshell mode with the monitor plugged in. It worked out of the box. (Edit: I might have the model year wrong. I used it for a long time before the pandemic. It was the last one before they brought the escape key back.)
    - rad_gruchalski 2y ago
      > It did not sit flat on my desk. Because the battery was swollen? > - The battery swelled. Ah, of course.
      - freedomben 2y ago
        That could also explain many of the other issues, such as poor battery life, slow charging, CPU throttling, etc. In general though, I have had a terrible experience with Apple's QA as well. I've had 4 Macbooks over the years and they all had multiple (usually different) things that really sucked and drove me insane.
        hedora 2y ago
        The battery swelling happened after the other issues (like not sitting flat on the desk). Also, my sample size is dozens of these laptops. My experience was typical.
        Aaargh20318 2y ago
        > The battery swelling happened after the other issues (like not sitting flat on the desk). I had 2 x86 MacBooks that had issues with batteries swelling. Not sitting flat on the desk is simply the first symptom of the problem. Once it swells up a bit more the keyboard starts to show problems. I think the main issue with those machines was thermal management. That Intel chip got too hot and that affected the battery as well. I used mine quite intensively and they regularly ran hot even with the fans running full speed.
        bzzzt 2y ago
        I used one of those for work until last year, don't know what you call typical but it did last for 4 years without major problems so maybe that was atypical. It made a noise like a hairdryer when starting Teams (but then, even my new M3 doesn't like Teams). Also, the spacebar did sometimes trigger twice but not often enough to make a fuss about. First MacBook Pro I've used that didn't need replacing something during warranty ;).
- strictnein 2y ago
  > Which only works on the M1 and higher models, not the 2019 Intel MacBooks. What? Oh man did I waste a lot of time trying to get that setup on my 2019 Intel Macbook.
  - bzzzt 2y ago
    You mean you ordered the product advertised as "Magic Keyboard with Touch ID for Mac models with Apple silicon" and expected it to work?
    - strictnein 2y ago
      No, I requested a keyboard from my employer and they sent me one.

knallfrosch 2y ago

- I don't own the $700 Apple smartwach, since I had an Android phone at the time and it has terrible Android integration - I already owned a mechanical keyboard and was unwilling to downgrade to Apple. - I don't want to use my password (?), since passwordless is kind of the whole point of biometrics. I forgot to mention that macOS didn't recognize the keyboard layout of my USB keyboard, something that Windows has done for the last 15 years automatically. The proposed solution was, I think, editing a text file.

bzzzt 2y ago

> One of Apple’s external keyboards has a fingerprint sensor Which only works on the M1 and higher models, not the 2019 Intel MacBooks.

macintux 2y ago
Good point. I also didn't realize (or remember) the power requirement for clamshell operation; my laptop is being charged by the monitors it's plugged into.
- hedora 2y ago
  The “late 2019” intel MacBooks were some of the worst computers ever built: - I had two screens fail, - The battery swelled. - It did not sit flat on my desk. - It warped a pine desk that I used during the pandemic. - At any time after a few months of using it, no fewer than 6 keys would drop or duplicate keystrokes. - It got under 2 hours battery life, when new. - under heavy use, it got about 4 while plugged into the provided charger. - If you charged it using a port on the left side, it’d throttle the CPU to 10% normal speed. - Kernel panics on resume. - They had random monitor incompatibility issues with the LG monitors Apple sold at the time. - My colleagues also had the exact same model, and mine was better than average. - no escape key - the touchbar was over sensitive, so pressing backspace would send a ghost keystroke that launched siri a few times a day. However, you could run them in clamshell mode with the monitor plugged in. It worked out of the box. (Edit: I might have the model year wrong. I used it for a long time before the pandemic. It was the last one before they brought the escape key back.)
  - rad_gruchalski 2y ago
    > It did not sit flat on my desk. Because the battery was swollen? > - The battery swelled. Ah, of course.
    - freedomben 2y ago
      That could also explain many of the other issues, such as poor battery life, slow charging, CPU throttling, etc. In general though, I have had a terrible experience with Apple's QA as well. I've had 4 Macbooks over the years and they all had multiple (usually different) things that really sucked and drove me insane.
      - hedora 2y ago
        The battery swelling happened after the other issues (like not sitting flat on the desk). Also, my sample size is dozens of these laptops. My experience was typical.
        Aaargh20318 2y ago
        > The battery swelling happened after the other issues (like not sitting flat on the desk). I had 2 x86 MacBooks that had issues with batteries swelling. Not sitting flat on the desk is simply the first symptom of the problem. Once it swells up a bit more the keyboard starts to show problems. I think the main issue with those machines was thermal management. That Intel chip got too hot and that affected the battery as well. I used mine quite intensively and they regularly ran hot even with the fans running full speed.
        bzzzt 2y ago
        I used one of those for work until last year, don't know what you call typical but it did last for 4 years without major problems so maybe that was atypical. It made a noise like a hairdryer when starting Teams (but then, even my new M3 doesn't like Teams). Also, the spacebar did sometimes trigger twice but not often enough to make a fuss about. First MacBook Pro I've used that didn't need replacing something during warranty ;).
strictnein 2y ago
> Which only works on the M1 and higher models, not the 2019 Intel MacBooks. What? Oh man did I waste a lot of time trying to get that setup on my 2019 Intel Macbook.
- bzzzt 2y ago
  You mean you ordered the product advertised as "Magic Keyboard with Touch ID for Mac models with Apple silicon" and expected it to work?
  - strictnein 2y ago
    No, I requested a keyboard from my employer and they sent me one.