New 13-inch MacBook Pro

Re:New 13-inch MacBook Pro by Waterluvian on Monday May 04, 2020 @08:53AM (#23067384)

I haven't owned a mac in a while since employment now supplies me with a laptop. But my experience with this point of view is that it's about holistic vs. non-holistic thinking. When someone points at specs and tells me that X is better than Y for price, they're getting to that conclusion by ignoring a whole bunch of variables. To take this to the extreme, I had a friend genuinely say, "Why did you spend $90 on a baby monitor? You can just get a RPi, Camera, microphone, and wire it together for like $45."

I have an xps-15 for work and it's... it's okay. It's decent hardware. But I want a mac because I need a non-Windows environment and I'm just dead tired of all the jank in Ubuntu. I no-longer try to undock it because doing so is either a full reboot or the resolution/scaling gets messed up and video memory corrupts (my fonts became colour vomits).

For me, buying a Mac is basically, "here's a ton of money. Now I don't have to think about these things for 7 years." (except the last few macs questionable hardware absolutely ruined this peace of mind...)

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:New 13-inch MacBook Pro by spuz on Monday May 04, 2020 @09:09AM (#23067569)

But, nothing about the Apple ecosystem prevents them from also adopting the latest hardware. The only reason it could that I can think of is that it genuinely takes them 2 years to test the latest Intel CPU in each new laptop.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:New 13-inch MacBook Pro by ashtonkem on Monday May 04, 2020 @09:20AM (#23067689)

Compatibility with low power mobile ram is usually the thing with Apple; they care more about long battery life, especially long sleep times, than raw CPU performance.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:New 13-inch MacBook Pro by bilalq on Monday May 04, 2020 @09:41AM (#23067905)

I've been feeling a lot more of this jank from MacOS than my other devices at this point. I have a 2017 15" MBPtb and a custom desktop that dualboots Windows 10 and Ubuntu 18.04.

Frustrations I've had to deal with in MacOs that have just not been pain points in other OSes (yeah, not even on Ubuntu):

* No DisplayPort MST support[1]. I spent a large chunk of money on a monitor that had MST so I could daisy chain across two monitors and charge my laptop all with one cable and no separate dock sitting on my desk. I was heartbroken to see that it JustWorks™ on Windows 10 using the MacBook or desktop, but not on MacOS. I ended up needing to buy another expensive dock and sacrifice some desk real estate.

* If you use bluetooth audio headsets, the sound balance randomly shifts to the right if you change volume while the CPU is under load[2].

* No built in window snapping or hotkeys is kind of ridiculous in 2020. Yeah, I have paid for apps like BetterTouchTool and Moom, but it's ridiculous that this is something users have to buy standalone. I often end up assisting coworkers on their machines, and it sucks when they don't have anything setup for snapping.

* Turning WiFI off and back on quickly sometimes results in the second action being ignored. That's such a ridiculous bug to still be there.

At this point, the only killer MacOS exclusive apps I still use are iTerm2 and Homebrew (and I guess XCode out of necessity for iOS/Mac target compilation). If Apple keeps on the trajectory they've been on, I feel like I'll shift away from MacBooks for my next machine.

[1]: https://medium.com/@sebvance/everything-you-need-to-know-abo...

[2]: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/280145/macbook-pro...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:New 13-inch MacBook Pro by dylkil on Monday May 04, 2020 @08:55AM (#23067410)

>I'm just dead tired of all the jank in Ubuntu.

im thinking about moving to ubuntu, what sort of jank is annoying you?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:New 13-inch MacBook Pro by Waterluvian on Monday May 04, 2020 @09:12AM (#23067602)

I need to run three monitors and it was a nightmare to get resolutions and scaling all correct. Even now, if I undock it might never wake up or have corrupt memory. I also had to shut off the graphics adapter switching capability so it always runs off Nvidia and therefore I have maybe 2 hours battery life in a text editor.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:New 13-inch MacBook Pro by conradfr on Monday May 04, 2020 @09:47AM (#23067997)

I had the same problems with Dell and Ubuntu ... four years ago. I guess some things don't change.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:New 13-inch MacBook Pro by Tenoke on Monday May 04, 2020 @09:09AM (#23067559)

All OSs have their issues. I use Windows and Ubuntu daily and have had work macbooks. In a lot of cases it does come down to what you are used to, as there are design differences that aren't necessarily worse or better but when you get used to one the other feels janky.

At any rate, in Ubuntu's case things like display support are worse - especially multiple different DPI screens (yes, there are workarounds). UI is less slick in places. Some software is better supported while some have worse support. Things like that.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:New 13-inch MacBook Pro by ikeboy on Monday May 04, 2020 @09:18AM (#23067660)

I've seen this mentioned a few times now on HN as a drawback of Ubuntu. Are multiple monitors really that much of a benefit that so many people use them?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:New 13-inch MacBook Pro by tapland on Monday May 04, 2020 @09:31AM (#23067808)

I would run Windows Vista if it was the only OS with multi monitor support. Its absolutely crucial for my productivity.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:New 13-inch MacBook Pro by leetcrew on Monday May 04, 2020 @09:32AM (#23067818)

absolutely. I find a pretty common workflow for me is writing code in one window while having documentation (or a header file) open in another. it's not the end of the world if I have to alt-tab back and forth, but it's much more efficient if I don't have to.

a 24-27" monitor suitable for coding is only $200-300. if you code for money, it seems like a no brainer to just get two.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:New 13-inch MacBook Pro by jki275 on Monday May 04, 2020 @10:09AM (#23068247)

Crucial.

I've got an entire monitor (really a 55" 4k TV) devoted to all the chat windows and communications I'm running for my team, another 4k monitor that I actually use to code, and then my laptop sits to the side as an auxiliary monitor where I can look things up and what not.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:New 13-inch MacBook Pro by ashtonkem on Monday May 04, 2020 @09:23AM (#23067726)

Yes, they are that much of a benefit.

Until this pandemic forced me to make do with one monitor at home, I rarely used the built in screen on my work laptops; I counted on the dual monitors on my desk. The idea of using a laptop display alone is baffling to me.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:New 13-inch MacBook Pro by jfkebwjsbx on Monday May 04, 2020 @09:42AM (#23067924)

It is an improvement, but not as much as some people claim. The issue is you need to move your eyes/head too much.

If you have a wide or ultra wide monitor, it is better. Otherwise, a good desktop manager with virtual desktops helps a ton.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:New 13-inch MacBook Pro by geerlingguy on Monday May 04, 2020 @09:54AM (#23068076)

I've tried multiple monitors a number of times through the years, and it's only been a net benefit when doing things like streaming and/or presenting via video conference (so you can have a preview monitor / live chat separate).

Other than that, my brain and neck both work a lot better with one large 4K display (currently 27" but I've been thinking about going 32").

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:New 13-inch MacBook Pro by akulbe on Monday May 04, 2020 @10:41AM (#23068623)

I made this switch. After a couple years of a single (but larger) display, I can enthusiastically say I like it much better. I have the Dell UP3216Q.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:New 13-inch MacBook Pro by graywh on Monday May 04, 2020 @11:13AM (#23068996)

and this is why I still use two 20-inch 4:3-ratio monitors in portrait mode (combined screen is 2400x1600) -- I can look at each monitor with minimal neck movement and the viewing angle for each half is independent. when i've tried a single, curved ultra-wide I still felt like the outer third on each side was a tilted away too much

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:New 13-inch MacBook Pro by thedevelopnik on Monday May 04, 2020 @11:35AM (#23069260)

I have one horizontal monitor and one vertical one. Code lives on the vertical, everything else on the horizontal.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:New 13-inch MacBook Pro by danogentili on Monday May 04, 2020 @09:08AM (#23067538)

Install arch i3

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:New 13-inch MacBook Pro by hckr_news on Monday May 04, 2020 @09:09AM (#23067562)

I was given a 2019 16in Macbook by work. My only complaints are the fan noise and heating issues.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:New 13-inch MacBook Pro by enaaem on Monday May 04, 2020 @09:44AM (#23067960)

In engineering we say option X is objectively better than Y, if X is superior on all metrics. This is generally not true, so wether X is better than Y is going to subjective. So we will always end up with endless discussions with "yes but this.. yes but that..".

[ Parent | on HN ]