News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:New 13-inch MacBook Pro by phaus on Monday May 04, 2020 @08:56AM (#23067413)
You have the last good one. My 2015 died and my employer gave me a 2017 that promptly died 3 months later. Apple Care and the genius bar were a pretty shitty customer service experience but I eventually got it back. The keyboard is worse than the rubber domes on the $200 Walmart Black friday special I got several years ago. That's not a joke. For the 2017 model Ram maxed out at 16gb which made it a laughing stock for that era. The touchpad is bigger and still good, but feels substantially worse than the 2015. After a year the battery life was a joke @ <50% brightness. It doesn't feel noticably faster than the 2015 either.

My 2015 was the best laptop I've ever used by a longshot. Thinkpads of the same era match it in build quality and have slightly better keyboards but the touchpad and the Mac workflow are something I grew to love.

The keyboard on the 2017 was so bad when a coworker with an old model was showing me how to do something on my laptop he genuinely thought it was broken.

Re:New 13-inch MacBook Pro by pivo on Monday May 04, 2020 @09:22AM (#23067707)
I have a work provided 2019 13" Mac Book Pro. I was hesitant to let them replace my 2014 MBP because of all the negative press about the new keyboards. FWIW, I now prefer the 2019 keyboard over my personal 2014's MBP, the latter's keyboard now seems mushy and imprecise. So, aside from the touchbar, which I still don't love, I prefer the 2019 MBP over the older model.
Re:New 13-inch MacBook Pro by brain5ide on Monday May 04, 2020 @09:30AM (#23067792)
That's what I've been saying as well to those who ask. The last good one. Even though it was the staingate one. Typing this on a banged up 2015 13inch. It's seen MacOS, Win for a year and now is on Kubuntu. Battery doesn't hold an hour, but I have yet to overcome the reluctance to pay for something not as good.
Re:New 13-inch MacBook Pro by skocznymroczny on Monday May 04, 2020 @09:21AM (#23067698)
It might depend on your typing style. If you hit the keys with force, you might prefer rubber domes/mech keyboards, if you flow around the keyboard just gently tapping the keys, butterfly is amazing. I would easily pay $200 for a desktop keyboard that gives the same typing experience.
Re:New 13-inch MacBook Pro by phaus on Monday May 04, 2020 @09:30AM (#23067801)
I'm fairly heavy handed so maybe that's why it doesn't appeal to me. I use Box Navy switches on one of my mechanical keyboards. Those are notoriously heavy.
Re:New 13-inch MacBook Pro by skocznymroczny on Monday May 04, 2020 @10:56AM (#23068775)
Oh man! Kailh Box Navy have actuation force of 85g – 95g. I found 50g mx blues too heavy for my fingers.
Re:New 13-inch MacBook Pro by phaus on Monday May 04, 2020 @12:20PM (#23069906)
Kailh might make something lighter than MX blues. Not sure what's out there on the light side. I'm sure cherry or someone must make something nice that still clicks. I also use linear switches around 60-70g.
Re:New 13-inch MacBook Pro by skocznymroczny on Monday May 04, 2020 @04:54PM (#23073133)
Browns are lighter. Low profile Kailhs are even lighter. Right now I am using a scissor switch keyboard and I enjoy it a lot, but I am going to give kailh low profile browns a try. I like the general feeling of mech keyboards, but I don't like blues. I hope browns will be it. If not, scissor switch works well for me too, although my keyboard has issues with polling rate, sometimes when I type fast it swaps keys around.
Re:New 13-inch MacBook Pro by PedroBatista on Monday May 04, 2020 @10:33AM (#23068525)
"you're holding it the wrong way.."