My faith in Apple would be completely redeemed if they took the 2015 Macbook Pro, put current gen hardware in it, maybe add a couple USB-C ports, and call it the 2019 Macbook Pro. My personal computer is a 2015 and my work is a 2017, and there are zero features from the 2017 that I prefer.
I recently upgraded from the 2015 to the current gen.
2015 pros:
* Better battery life
* Way better keyboard
* More robust
* More useful port selection
* Trackpad is a more reasonable size
2018 pros:
* Way better speakers
* Slightly better screen
* Lighter
* Faster
* Trackpad is not mechanical
* Finger print login is useful
I'd really love a proper "pro" macbook pro, that sacrificed a bit of the thin-and-lightness for an actual professional level of stuff (better cooling, more ports, bigger battery, no touchbar)
Well, there's no way that's going to happen. I'd put more money on them replacing all the mechanical keys with capactive touch and removing the headphone jack.
I upgraded from a late 2015 to a 2018 earlier this fall.
I don’t really miss anything, especially not the weight or the keyboard.
The touchbar has never been of use to me though. It doesn’t annoy me much, but the user design for changing volume requires more clicks than the non touchbar, so it’s obviously terrible design.
I don’t miss any of the ports, I thought I would, but it’s not like there was an Ethernet port so I still needed a dongle for the 2015 version.
There’s certainly room for improvement, but the 512gb 13” version isn’t crazy expensive for what you’re getting compared to other laptops, at least not in my country.
I have an early 2009 17" mac book pro - still the best one out there. Running great (now on an SSD), although stuck at El Capitan. On 2nd display and 3rd battery, but still humming along. Wish they'd bring back the 17", with tons of ports and no touch bar.
My faith in Apple would be redeemed if they actually lived up to their hype. LG makes 15inch metal cased laptop that weights 2.1 lbs (specs similar to a 15" MBP but weighs less then a Macbook Air). Apple should be able to do the same.
I also recently got a 2018 MBA to try replace my 2014 MBP but unfortunately my eyes suck so 13 inches is turning out to be an issue. It's not enough screen space to do my normal dev without having to be constantly opening and closing panes.
Examples would be trying to us VSCode with 2 panes and the project panel open. The 2 panes are two small so I have to keep opening and closing the project panel anytime I want to switch files.
Another example is trying to debug JavaScript I need both the page and the devtools visible and there just isn't enough screen real estate to do it comfortably.
Jacking up the scaled rez to 1680 mode I get my space back but my eyes aren't good enough to focus at that rez
It is also super notably slower than my 2014 MBP. As an example if I run pretty much any WebGL page and try to view a detailed PDF in another window in the browser it's practically unusable. My 2014 MBP had no issues multi-tasking.
Also connect it to a 30inch 4k monitor at my office and it just doesn't feel up do it. Just switching apps often takes long enough it feels super sluggish.
If Apple would get rid of the touch bar I'd have gotten the MBP again though am really loving the weight so really disappointed Apple can't match or beat LG in that.
I accidentally dropped my work 2015 MBP a few months back and broke the screen. Actually, I'm not even certain the screen was dead, but the display wouldn't turn on any more. Unfortunately, work wouldn't let me keep/fix it (which is super annoying), but they did offer me the choice of a new MBP or a slightly loved older 2015 MBP. I chose the latter.
For my home laptop, I'm finally getting around to replacing my mid-2009 MBP and decided to go with a Lenovo X1 Carbon Extreme. I'm so annoyed at Apple at this point that I figure it's time to go back and give Linux another shot.
I prefer everything about my 2018 to the 2012-2015 generation, keyboard included, but I can see how the lack of ports would be a bummer to some people. I hook it up to a dock and LG 5K at work though, so it's not an issue.
I'm happy with my MBP 2018. I'm neutral to the touch bar, keyboard, big touchpad. I don't see them neither as a nuisance nor a useful innovation. We can argue about details but it's a great machine. I don't see myself switching to a non-apple laptop yet.
This is why I upgraded from a 2010 thinpad to a 2017 macbook air. Sure for a designer this screen might suck but I do music and web development. Turns out having usb A ports built in is very very handy when you can just plug your DJ and midi controllers straight into the laptop instead of diving into dongle hell. It still has the amazing magnetic charger, sure not usb C but its more robust when you're playing a live show compared to a small, potentially easy to break usb c slot when you're playing in a nightclub with poor lighting where its easy for someone to step on your power cable by mistake.
This. If I could give you more points, I would. Enough said. Also take back the old Final Cut Pro to really compete with Adobe, and some of the quality of life features they used to have, but oversimplified away.
Agreed, I want my late 2014 13 inch Macbook Pro with the latest hardware. Also:
- swap the SD port for UBC C (1 regular USB; 2 USB C)
- move the microphone from the side next to the camera (when I'm talking to someone a slightest move makes loud noise for the other person)
- round the front edge (next to the trackpad)
- add 0.5mm "jump" ot the keys
If someone would make that with OS X or Ubuntu I'd buy it on the spot.
Stuff all that new hardware into an old Lombard case, with two removable battery bays (10 hours of life on a pair, and hot swappable) and great airflow, and I'd be happy as a clam.
I'm 2015 and 2018 and I generally agree... with one exception, the 2018 is a little lighter which I do prefer. But, I'd go back in a heartbeat if that meant I could have the better keyboard and some more universal ports. Yes, I'll use USB-C for a lot of stuff and continue to buy new USB-C devices. But that zero-year transition time was a little short.
I have an early 2011 mbp, swapped the hdd for an ssd, got 16 GB of Ram and a new battery and the only thing I'd like is a higher res screen. Other than that the thing is pretty perfect. As a bonus I can still read and burn DVDs.
I upgraded my 2016 MBP w/Touch Bar to a ThinkPad P1.
For the same price, I get a far superior machine.
For less than what I paid for the maxed out '16 MBP I get:
* Hexacore Xeon CPU
* 64GB of RAM
* 2TB NVMe SSD
* Nvidia Quadro P2000.
* a keyboard that is nice to type on again, instead of the butterfly SH!T that is on the 2016+ models.
I had concerns about switching my dev workflow from macOS to Windows 10, but WSL is fantastic.
Can't help but think Apple doesn't make macOS a priority anymore. The experience with High Sierra was just the straw that broke the camels back.
I sold my MBP for much less than what I used to get on resale. They don't hold their value like they used to. I wonder if this is lost on Apple management. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
If anyone is thinking about switching from macOS to Windows… unless you're doing {mac,i,watch}OS dev, I say jump on in. The water is nice.
Sorry, but Windows 10 is absolute dogshit. Even if you're using a Linux compatibility layer, you're still running a Windows host and being subjected to all the bullshit that comes with it including spying, forced updates (bringing forced restarts!), ads, and general worse performance.
Luckily, it takes all of 30 minutes to just wipe your hard drive and install Ubuntu on your ThinkPad and you'd be much better off for it.
I'm still sitting on my Macbook pro 2012 (non-retina). I have postponed upgrading to new macbook for the last 2 years (16gb ram, 2x250GB SDD in raid-0) During that time I easily replaced battery, replaced broken LCD, replaced broken hdd. However I'm slowly considering moving to Thinkpad P1 because I don't see any macbook that would be suitable for me.
The biggest concert is I'm an iOS developer. I consider to move to programming either Android or cross-platform with Qt framework. Then either jailbreak my iphone XS and compile code on it (iphone XS is more powerfull than my macbook i7) or go virtual machine or hackintosh road just to do app sideloading while testing or real iphone devices. Or switch even to android device.
I really like Thinkpad P1 that it gives lots of room for future upgrades with 2x ram slots and 2x m.2 ssd slots so I don't need to max out my rams or ssd now.
The final straw for me on new macbooks is that they soldered SSD and even removed backup port. I'm contracting so I'm loosing money if I have to wait 2 weeks for repairs. Besides I often work from developing countries in south east asia - where you would have to wait even longer instead of picking up off-the-shelf ram or ssd. Keyboard reliability issue also scares me a lot in new macbooks.
WSL is still missing a lot of stuff. For example, there's no straightforward way to mount NFS shares in the Linux environment. I'm not even sure if it's possible, last I checked I don't think it is. It's a huge issue for me since I connect to some NFS shares for development.
From my time with it, I ultimately concluded that I'd be better off just running Linux. If I had to use Windows, I'd setup a VM and avoid using WSL.
I absolutely despise Windows 10. I only deal with it for some gaming. What is your development workflow like? Any terminal? When I used the Ubuntu subsystem or whatever they call it, it was so slow pulling down some dependencies that it was unusable.
I had a Sufrace Pro 4 for about a year, until I ditched it for a Dell XPS 13 running Linux (the Surface wouldn't run Linux properly). It happened when the x-org server suddenly stopped supporting retina/high DPI, and I couldn't figure it out after a couple of hours of fiddling. Definitely not something I want in my life.
The reason I needed an x-org server is that I use IntelliJ for my editing, and it doesn't support running stuff in WSL. So I had to run IntelliJ under WSL too, meaning I had to run an x-org server on the win10 side. It did work quite well really, except from the high DPI issue. And bad file system performance..
Currently experimenting working directly on win10 for a side project, that works quit well, actually. The tech stack is Rust and ClojureScript, both seems to work fine on windows so far at least.
I ordered a machine similar to that a few days ago. Went with the i7, 64gb of ram, Nvidia 1050 ti, and 1tb of nvme ssds. Cost me only $2700, which is significantly less than what I'd get with a mbp. I'm pretty confident that I can swap over to Linux if I really need to, but I doubt that will be necessary. I'm going to be doing a lot of work with ionic, android, and virtual machines, nothing too crazy.
I also though about going with one of the system76 machines, but the terrible battery life spooked me away. I'll probably still get one early next year, though.
I ditched my Macbook pro non touch bar for an XPS 13 with 8th gen i7 for $900 and shoehorned high sierra on it. I've got 5-8 hour battery life, full sized usb ports and USB C, 1080p 13" display with almost no bezel, and a modern cpu. I say modern because when I bought it even macs didnt have 8th gen. Apple pretty much doesn't make a laptop I want and the few that I might want are double what I paid. I know not everyone can hackintosh but it's getting easier.
Interesting experience. Personally, I'm moving closer to ditching my personal MacBook Pro for an 12.9" iPad Pro. I highlight personal to emphasize that I don't expect to be doing development work on it (although the more I look into ways it could be done, the closer to "never say never" I get). But in a lot of ways, the iPad paired with a Magic Keyboard is just a better combination. More portable, terrific battery life, at least as powerful, better keyboard, better screen, even better speakers.
It's kind of strange, really: all the complaints you may have read about iOS holding the iPad back at this point are absolutely true; there are a lot of nitpicks I personally have with it (mostly relating to automation, scripting, and system-level text editing capability); there are slightly questionable hardware decisions (did you really need to take out the headphone jack from something this large? is this just a vendetta against headphone jacks? did a headphone jack kill Jony Ive's pet poodle?). But when I pick up my iPad I keep thinking this is the best computer I've ever owned. I'll see if I'm still thinking that six months from now, to be sure, but so far I'm surprised at how much I do not regret this purchase.
For those who have as many complaints about the Touch Bar as I do, here's a great FOSS application that provides a small amount of haptic feedback when you press the Touch Bar, giving you at least a sense of having pressed a key.
> The bevel is back, baby. – one of the best things about this machine is the nice slope that doesn’t hurt my wrists while typing. This was one of the biggest things I noticed when I switched from my original MacBook Air to a MacBook Pro, and I’m happy to return to a comfortable typing environment.
I don't own a Macbook Pro, but when I use one for testing or use a friend's, this is one of my chief complaints. It seems idiosyncratic—why aren't more Mac users complaining about the sharp deck edge against their wrists? Presumably not many people actually rest their wrists on the surface. It's probably bad ergonomics to rest your hands in such a way. But I do, and it hurts on the Mac.
I recently made the switch from a macbook pro to a windows machine for personal use. My work machine is a 15 macbook pro with touchbar and I loathe that machine. It has no usb ports ( only type c) so plugging in my DAC and other peripherals is a pain. The keyboard feels like somebody has pasted keys on the chassis and I really miss the function keys. Apple also did away with the shiny logo at the back.
I recently bought a lenovo machine for personal use and I love it.
- It's light at 1.6 kgs
- Upgradable RAM which i upgraded to 16GB
- The keyboard has travel and is brilliant.
- HDD + Intel Optane - Intel Optane is a caching layer which sits in front of a traditional HDD. So you get SSD level performance from a normal HDD. It also means that I can install Win+Linux+VS+Android Studio+Ableton+Games on it and still have 500+GB to spare. Also it's an NVME module, so i can swap it with an SSD anyday.
- Can play PUBG and Overwatch and proper games on it.
- 8520U CPU, which has 4 cores and 8 threads.
- Windows + WSL ( Arch Linux ) + Dual Boot(Arch Linux). WSL Is brilliant because it allows me to run a copy of Arch inside of windows without virtualization. pacman is a much better package manager than brew.
I've been thinking about it it too. I was really enamored with the touch bar until I received my current laptop, and I essentially never use it. The one killer feature is putting the lock screen button right next to the finger print reader so unlocking and locking is a breeze.
The reality is that when I'm at work, I'm logged in to a super beefy server. When I'm at home, I'm logged in to a moderately sized server in GCE. I don't use an IDE, essentially the only apps I use are Firefox, Spotify, and Terminal.
What's holding me back is the screen size. I'll take the biggest screen I can get. More screen == more panes. I absolutely love the 15" inch pro screen. Not sure if I could live with the 13" on the air.
One thing I found to make the touchbar less annoying is go keyboard -> Touchbar shows "Expanded Control Strip". At least then you get a full strip of useful buttons that aren't constantly switching with the application.
The main issue though is with "Expanded Control Strip" the touchbar locks up (while holding a key down) about 2 or 3 times a week (which can only be fixed by a restart or: "sudo pkill TouchBarServer")
The whole thing is pretty inexcusable for such an expensive machine, but I like the macos ecosystem.
I bought a MacBook Pro 13" earlier this year as a replacement for my 2014 MacBook Pro 15". I kinda wanted to smaller version for travel.
But about a month ago, the screen broke down. Had to get repairs. And the service center told me I'd have to wait 2 weeks to get it fixed. That would mean I wouldn't be able to work for 2 weeks which would cost me money. So I bought a 27" iMac and worked on that ever since.
My MacBook Pro is repaired, but I will probably sell it soon. The screen breaking down so soon got me worried, since in the past I had an iMac with a faulty motherboard and it died on my 3 times - not willing to take the risk of the screen dying multiple times.
I also really don't like the keyboard. I am quite concerned the keys might get stuck at some point. And even though before I didn't mind the Touch Bar that much, I really prefer just normal function keys that I can feel.
So my plan is, when I visit The Netherlands next week to visit some family and friends, will sell the MacBook on the Dutch equivalent of eBay and buy an iPad for travel. I live in Thailand on the country side and I believe in this area the MacBook Pro would be too expensive for most people, so it'd be a hard sell over here.
I have to admit, I feel Apple is going in the wrong direction with the MacBooks and especially with regards to the keyboard quality. Though I've read that the 3rd generation keyboards should be decent I am not willing to try them out (I believe my MacBook Pro still has a 2nd gen keyboard).
I'm glad the Air line is back for those who prefer the portability. But, make the pro great again. Give it better cooling and expandibility even at the expense of size.
Agree Touchbar is the most worthless feature ever invented. Just give in and add a touchscreen already Apple!
What is new with Air keyboard that makes it better? The old school MBP had the best keyboard before these butterfly switches.
Never had issue with battery in the new MBP. I have the 2018 i7 w/ 6 cores and I can work pretty much all day (8 hours). I use VMware Fusion and Chrome which are battery hogs.
As for the size, I was happy with the MBP 2015 where I could replace parts. It was the perfect size for the expandibility it provided. I'm not a big guy and I never thought this MBP is heavy.
Who remembers when Apple came out with the 512K "Fat Mac"? Well I would love a "Fat MacBook Pro" with LOTS of batteries and LOTS of air conditioning and an escape key. I don't need it razor blade thin, I need it to not run out of power, and to not overheat, and to not be hard to escape.
Ditched Mac completely and went back to Windows after they removed magsafe, added that dumb touch bar, and introduced dongle-gate. I lost faith in their ability to innovate and understand their users.
I found the Touch Bar so objectionable that I sold a 6 month-old 2017 MacBook Pro at a considerable loss to be rid of it. After nearly 30 years as a user, I’m done with Apple products until they stop with the user-hostile gimmicks.
My favorite bug is having it plugged in to an external monitor, unplugging it to take it home, and then the computer still thinking it’s plugged into the monitor so it stays on & the battery runs out. After, you have this really hot dead laptop.
Apparently the fix is to unplug it & put it in sleep.
The Touch Bar is one of the most annoying things added to a laptop that I never asked for. To top it all off you have to pay for the privilege. My main complaints are that I'm accidentally hitting something on it which disrupts my workflow.
I know I'm in the minority but I really wish they had kept the 11' Macbook Air, it had a wonderful compact form factor, super light but could still pack a mean punch as you put an i7 in it. I know the Macbook is meant to fit that slot, but it's just way too underpowered/expensive. My 2014 MBA 11 with an i7 and 8GB is neck to neck performance-wise with the current Macbook, so what's the point of upgrading.
I would even consider the 13 MBA if they offered an i7 configuration. It feels like that was purposefully omitted in order to push buyers towards the Pro.
I hope that both the macbook and new Airs take a similar trajectory to the original Airs. The first iterations (2008-10) were quite weak performance-wise, it was more about Apple planting a flag and saying "this is what the future laptop will look at" and iterating under the hood till they reached it.
After buying a pro and returning it, then seriously eye'ing the new airs, I've fallen back to...buying a new battery for my old 11 Air.
Lately I've been wondering about the reasoning behind these hellish flat keyboards, and then I thought of the Touchbar and the following popped into my head: the ultra flat keyboards are just a segue into a new form factor with a full screen, tablet-like glass bottom half replacing the keyboards altogether. The current situation is just apple's way of getting everyone one step closer, while they work their way up (or rather down) to that goal.
I was worried about losing the Magsafe too when I upgraded to a USB-C Pro, but it turns out it’s a total non-issue.
Firstly the USB-C power cable seems to be designed to have a very light grip on the port, so it slips out easily if anything snags on the cable. (If anything, the worry is that a slight tug can make it slip out unnoticed and stop charging).
Secondly, because it’s got plugs at both ends of the cable, it can pull out from the wall end just as easily as from the MacBook.
[+] [-] nicolashahn|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknownsavage|7 years ago|reply
2015 pros: * Better battery life * Way better keyboard * More robust * More useful port selection * Trackpad is a more reasonable size
2018 pros: * Way better speakers * Slightly better screen * Lighter * Faster * Trackpad is not mechanical * Finger print login is useful
I'd really love a proper "pro" macbook pro, that sacrificed a bit of the thin-and-lightness for an actual professional level of stuff (better cooling, more ports, bigger battery, no touchbar)
[+] [-] brian-armstrong|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] eksemplar|7 years ago|reply
I don’t really miss anything, especially not the weight or the keyboard.
The touchbar has never been of use to me though. It doesn’t annoy me much, but the user design for changing volume requires more clicks than the non touchbar, so it’s obviously terrible design.
I don’t miss any of the ports, I thought I would, but it’s not like there was an Ethernet port so I still needed a dongle for the 2015 version.
There’s certainly room for improvement, but the 512gb 13” version isn’t crazy expensive for what you’re getting compared to other laptops, at least not in my country.
[+] [-] microtonal|7 years ago|reply
4k@60Hz. The MacBook Pro 2015 with Intel Iris (I don't know about the Radeon GPU) only supports 4k@30Hz, which is terrible.
(My wife has the 1st gen MacBook 12", which has the same downside.)
[+] [-] dougdonohoe|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tokyodude|7 years ago|reply
I also recently got a 2018 MBA to try replace my 2014 MBP but unfortunately my eyes suck so 13 inches is turning out to be an issue. It's not enough screen space to do my normal dev without having to be constantly opening and closing panes.
Examples would be trying to us VSCode with 2 panes and the project panel open. The 2 panes are two small so I have to keep opening and closing the project panel anytime I want to switch files.
Another example is trying to debug JavaScript I need both the page and the devtools visible and there just isn't enough screen real estate to do it comfortably.
Jacking up the scaled rez to 1680 mode I get my space back but my eyes aren't good enough to focus at that rez
It is also super notably slower than my 2014 MBP. As an example if I run pretty much any WebGL page and try to view a detailed PDF in another window in the browser it's practically unusable. My 2014 MBP had no issues multi-tasking.
Also connect it to a 30inch 4k monitor at my office and it just doesn't feel up do it. Just switching apps often takes long enough it feels super sluggish.
If Apple would get rid of the touch bar I'd have gotten the MBP again though am really loving the weight so really disappointed Apple can't match or beat LG in that.
[+] [-] Patrick_Devine|7 years ago|reply
For my home laptop, I'm finally getting around to replacing my mid-2009 MBP and decided to go with a Lenovo X1 Carbon Extreme. I'm so annoyed at Apple at this point that I figure it's time to go back and give Linux another shot.
[+] [-] kevinherron|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] diogenescynic|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] yodsanklai|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jSully24|7 years ago|reply
(ed: spelling)
[+] [-] ryanbertrand|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] shams93|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kebman|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ed_balls|7 years ago|reply
- swap the SD port for UBC C (1 regular USB; 2 USB C) - move the microphone from the side next to the camera (when I'm talking to someone a slightest move makes loud noise for the other person) - round the front edge (next to the trackpad) - add 0.5mm "jump" ot the keys
If someone would make that with OS X or Ubuntu I'd buy it on the spot.
[+] [-] DonHopkins|7 years ago|reply
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerBook_G3#PowerBook_G3_Seri...
[+] [-] bonestamp2|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kilroy123|7 years ago|reply
FaceID on the Mac would be a cool addition. Lighter would be nice.
[+] [-] foobarian|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hvs|7 years ago|reply
My personal MBP circa 2014 is still chugging along wonderfully and will probably continue to do so until Apple comes up with something better.
[+] [-] teekert|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] viburnum|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] akulbe|7 years ago|reply
For the same price, I get a far superior machine.
For less than what I paid for the maxed out '16 MBP I get:
* Hexacore Xeon CPU
* 64GB of RAM
* 2TB NVMe SSD
* Nvidia Quadro P2000.
* a keyboard that is nice to type on again, instead of the butterfly SH!T that is on the 2016+ models.
I had concerns about switching my dev workflow from macOS to Windows 10, but WSL is fantastic.
Can't help but think Apple doesn't make macOS a priority anymore. The experience with High Sierra was just the straw that broke the camels back.
I sold my MBP for much less than what I used to get on resale. They don't hold their value like they used to. I wonder if this is lost on Apple management. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
If anyone is thinking about switching from macOS to Windows… unless you're doing {mac,i,watch}OS dev, I say jump on in. The water is nice.
[+] [-] swebs|7 years ago|reply
Luckily, it takes all of 30 minutes to just wipe your hard drive and install Ubuntu on your ThinkPad and you'd be much better off for it.
[+] [-] pzo|7 years ago|reply
The biggest concert is I'm an iOS developer. I consider to move to programming either Android or cross-platform with Qt framework. Then either jailbreak my iphone XS and compile code on it (iphone XS is more powerfull than my macbook i7) or go virtual machine or hackintosh road just to do app sideloading while testing or real iphone devices. Or switch even to android device.
I really like Thinkpad P1 that it gives lots of room for future upgrades with 2x ram slots and 2x m.2 ssd slots so I don't need to max out my rams or ssd now.
The final straw for me on new macbooks is that they soldered SSD and even removed backup port. I'm contracting so I'm loosing money if I have to wait 2 weeks for repairs. Besides I often work from developing countries in south east asia - where you would have to wait even longer instead of picking up off-the-shelf ram or ssd. Keyboard reliability issue also scares me a lot in new macbooks.
[+] [-] x3sphere|7 years ago|reply
From my time with it, I ultimately concluded that I'd be better off just running Linux. If I had to use Windows, I'd setup a VM and avoid using WSL.
[+] [-] throwaway98121|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] augustl|7 years ago|reply
I had a Sufrace Pro 4 for about a year, until I ditched it for a Dell XPS 13 running Linux (the Surface wouldn't run Linux properly). It happened when the x-org server suddenly stopped supporting retina/high DPI, and I couldn't figure it out after a couple of hours of fiddling. Definitely not something I want in my life.
The reason I needed an x-org server is that I use IntelliJ for my editing, and it doesn't support running stuff in WSL. So I had to run IntelliJ under WSL too, meaning I had to run an x-org server on the win10 side. It did work quite well really, except from the high DPI issue. And bad file system performance..
Currently experimenting working directly on win10 for a side project, that works quit well, actually. The tech stack is Rust and ClojureScript, both seems to work fine on windows so far at least.
[+] [-] lovehashbrowns|7 years ago|reply
I also though about going with one of the system76 machines, but the terrible battery life spooked me away. I'll probably still get one early next year, though.
[+] [-] randomsearch|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] openplatypus|7 years ago|reply
1. How did you set it all up?
2. What stack are you using?
3. Do you have to use (gasp) Docker?
4. Performance issues?
[+] [-] post_break|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chipotle_coyote|7 years ago|reply
It's kind of strange, really: all the complaints you may have read about iOS holding the iPad back at this point are absolutely true; there are a lot of nitpicks I personally have with it (mostly relating to automation, scripting, and system-level text editing capability); there are slightly questionable hardware decisions (did you really need to take out the headphone jack from something this large? is this just a vendetta against headphone jacks? did a headphone jack kill Jony Ive's pet poodle?). But when I pick up my iPad I keep thinking this is the best computer I've ever owned. I'll see if I'm still thinking that six months from now, to be sure, but so far I'm surprised at how much I do not regret this purchase.
[+] [-] lostgame|7 years ago|reply
https://github.com/niw/HapticKey
[+] [-] bhauer|7 years ago|reply
I don't own a Macbook Pro, but when I use one for testing or use a friend's, this is one of my chief complaints. It seems idiosyncratic—why aren't more Mac users complaining about the sharp deck edge against their wrists? Presumably not many people actually rest their wrists on the surface. It's probably bad ergonomics to rest your hands in such a way. But I do, and it hurts on the Mac.
Compare the following decks:
A. The deck of the Macbook Air that Brad is discussing appears subtly chamfered for the entire width of its front edge and then chamfered further for a notch in front of the touchpad: https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/13390447/v...
B. By comparison the MacBook Pro's deck is chamfered for only a narrow bit in front of the touchpad: https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/60364845/...
C. Microsoft uses a chamfered edge and Alcantara on the Surface Laptop: https://img-prod-cms-rt-microsoft-com.akamaized.net/cms/api/...
D. On larger decks, Microsoft (and others) usually at least chamfer the entire width of the touch pad, as is seen on the Surface Book: https://img-prod-cms-rt-microsoft-com.akamaized.net/cms/api/...
[+] [-] me551ah|7 years ago|reply
- It's light at 1.6 kgs
- Upgradable RAM which i upgraded to 16GB
- The keyboard has travel and is brilliant.
- HDD + Intel Optane - Intel Optane is a caching layer which sits in front of a traditional HDD. So you get SSD level performance from a normal HDD. It also means that I can install Win+Linux+VS+Android Studio+Ableton+Games on it and still have 500+GB to spare. Also it's an NVME module, so i can swap it with an SSD anyday.
- Can play PUBG and Overwatch and proper games on it.
- 8520U CPU, which has 4 cores and 8 threads.
- Windows + WSL ( Arch Linux ) + Dual Boot(Arch Linux). WSL Is brilliant because it allows me to run a copy of Arch inside of windows without virtualization. pacman is a much better package manager than brew.
[+] [-] ilovecaching|7 years ago|reply
The reality is that when I'm at work, I'm logged in to a super beefy server. When I'm at home, I'm logged in to a moderately sized server in GCE. I don't use an IDE, essentially the only apps I use are Firefox, Spotify, and Terminal.
What's holding me back is the screen size. I'll take the biggest screen I can get. More screen == more panes. I absolutely love the 15" inch pro screen. Not sure if I could live with the 13" on the air.
[+] [-] unknownsavage|7 years ago|reply
The main issue though is with "Expanded Control Strip" the touchbar locks up (while holding a key down) about 2 or 3 times a week (which can only be fixed by a restart or: "sudo pkill TouchBarServer")
The whole thing is pretty inexcusable for such an expensive machine, but I like the macos ecosystem.
[+] [-] wsc981|7 years ago|reply
But about a month ago, the screen broke down. Had to get repairs. And the service center told me I'd have to wait 2 weeks to get it fixed. That would mean I wouldn't be able to work for 2 weeks which would cost me money. So I bought a 27" iMac and worked on that ever since.
My MacBook Pro is repaired, but I will probably sell it soon. The screen breaking down so soon got me worried, since in the past I had an iMac with a faulty motherboard and it died on my 3 times - not willing to take the risk of the screen dying multiple times.
I also really don't like the keyboard. I am quite concerned the keys might get stuck at some point. And even though before I didn't mind the Touch Bar that much, I really prefer just normal function keys that I can feel.
So my plan is, when I visit The Netherlands next week to visit some family and friends, will sell the MacBook on the Dutch equivalent of eBay and buy an iPad for travel. I live in Thailand on the country side and I believe in this area the MacBook Pro would be too expensive for most people, so it'd be a hard sell over here.
I have to admit, I feel Apple is going in the wrong direction with the MacBooks and especially with regards to the keyboard quality. Though I've read that the 3rd generation keyboards should be decent I am not willing to try them out (I believe my MacBook Pro still has a 2nd gen keyboard).
[+] [-] mmgutz|7 years ago|reply
Agree Touchbar is the most worthless feature ever invented. Just give in and add a touchscreen already Apple!
What is new with Air keyboard that makes it better? The old school MBP had the best keyboard before these butterfly switches.
Never had issue with battery in the new MBP. I have the 2018 i7 w/ 6 cores and I can work pretty much all day (8 hours). I use VMware Fusion and Chrome which are battery hogs.
As for the size, I was happy with the MBP 2015 where I could replace parts. It was the perfect size for the expandibility it provided. I'm not a big guy and I never thought this MBP is heavy.
[+] [-] DonHopkins|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] legohead|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] symfoniq|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] suhail|7 years ago|reply
Apparently the fix is to unplug it & put it in sleep.
[+] [-] Yhippa|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] retromario|7 years ago|reply
I would even consider the 13 MBA if they offered an i7 configuration. It feels like that was purposefully omitted in order to push buyers towards the Pro.
I hope that both the macbook and new Airs take a similar trajectory to the original Airs. The first iterations (2008-10) were quite weak performance-wise, it was more about Apple planting a flag and saying "this is what the future laptop will look at" and iterating under the hood till they reached it.
After buying a pro and returning it, then seriously eye'ing the new airs, I've fallen back to...buying a new battery for my old 11 Air.
[+] [-] oliv__|7 years ago|reply
Does this make sense to anyone else?
[+] [-] Reason077|7 years ago|reply
Firstly the USB-C power cable seems to be designed to have a very light grip on the port, so it slips out easily if anything snags on the cable. (If anything, the worry is that a slight tug can make it slip out unnoticed and stop charging).
Secondly, because it’s got plugs at both ends of the cable, it can pull out from the wall end just as easily as from the MacBook.
[+] [-] sprite|7 years ago|reply