
RIP Apple MacBook - Keverw
https://sheep.horse/2016/11/rip_apple_macbook.html
======
AndrewStephens
Wow, sheep.horse is my site. I never expected it to reach hackernews.

I wrote "RIP Apple MacBook" in reaction to the barrage of over-the-top
criticism bandied around in the wake of the MacBook Pro announcement. A lot of
the complaints seemed ridiculous to me, I wrote this piece as my attempt at
Swiftian satire.

For the record:

* replacing function keys with the touch bar is a great idea, a real step forward in usability

* MagSafe is a great loss but possibly made up for with standard charging ports

* No HDMI or SD port, at worst a minor inconvenience

* Thinner and lighter - I travel with a 2013 MacBook Pro everyday, there is no such thing as too light.

I am not in the market for a new laptop but the new MacBook would meet all my
needs perfectly. Expensive though.

------
nicky0
Warning: this is satire. (I know a lot of you have difficulty with the
concept.)

~~~
mosselman
Haha yes, it is shocking to see all the people taking this so seriously. If I
am not mistaking there is still a version without the touchbar right? What is
the big deal?

~~~
hobarrera
The version without the touchbar still requires a bagfull of adapters (which
clearly nullify any size benefits), and has no magsafe.

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corecoder
> Gone is the fantastically useful SD Slot enabled the people who still use
> discrete cameras to occasionally transfer photos.

This is the only thing the author really didn't get: the SD slot is for
Raspberry PI.

~~~
pmx
And professional (or hobby) photographers!

~~~
dingaling
Top-end 'pro' DSLRs primarily use CFast cards with SD only as a backup or
omitted entirely.

------
Keverw
Randomly found this article, so shared since it's relatable. I find it a bit
crazy the new MacBooks cost more and require a $15 adaptor for many basic
things...

I get that tech changes over time but seems crazy how fast ports keep changing
and having to reinvest in buying all new things to work with it or adaptors if
whatever you buy doesn't natively support the newer stuff.

Then on top of that Apple solders everything. So no ram or storage upgrades
after your purchase. Seems like they are try to turn the Mac into just another
iPad.

iPad is cool but more content consuming. I feel like there pro products are
starting to lack.

Then ram is limited to 16GB. More than enough for most of the population. But
be super useful for devs running multiple VMs testing things. Idk I like macOS
a lot, so it breaks my heart a little bit that it seems like the Mac is being
turned into just another client.

~~~
jobvandervoort
> How ever will we maintain our 18000 lines of code per day average in vi now?
> The situation is intolerable.

It sounds a lot like satire to me.

I think the new MBPs are a great step forward. Four ports that can drive an
amazing amount of things with ease. This makes these machines much more
flexible than anything that came before it.

Touchbar seems like the logical first iteration in the future of keyboards.

~~~
hobarrera
Professionals don't usually look down at their keyboards.

I also use my laptop for videogames, and I'd hate to have to pause and look
down to find F4/F5 instead of using touch typing (ironically named, nowadays).

------
ikt
It was really good up until the end.

"I am throwing out my 3 year old MacBook and will be buying a Inspiron
forthwith."

He's implying that all other laptops are a joke, however the Dell XPS 13 and
HP Spectre both comparable to the Macbook Pro in features, styling, weight,
etc.

~~~
tonyplee
Except in OS. The new Windows 10 is ....

~~~
tdsamardzhiev
The OS is a matter of taste. After 8 years of Linux and macOS I switched to
Windows 10 and I find it great so far.

~~~
tonyplee
You don't have issues of force upgrade, reboot every week?

All of my linux desktops/servers have system uptime measures in months and few
in years.

------
Hondor
Good riddance to function keys. They're slowly being pushed out of reach on
many computers but my fairly new PC laptop still has sysrq and break keys.
That's pretty objectionable.

~~~
oneeyedpigeon
If you're referring to the 'Fn' functionality, I totally agree - I'm not even
sure what any of those are used for on OSX. If you're referring to the keys
themselves, which control things like volume, media playback, and brightness,
as well as offering a very convenient shortcut to the Launchpad (which I
personally use frequently), I find them incredibly useful.

I can see some uses for contextual keys, but I can also imagine some pretty
annoying inconveniences with this implementation. For example, if I'm in an
application that 'takes over' the function keys, is it possible to still
access media playback controls? Do I have to switch to whichever app is
currently playing audio to access them? Is it possible to disable the
contextual keys altogether and have a static, traditional set? Or is there a
hotkey to toggle between app-specific and 'global' function keys?

~~~
H4CK3RM4N
As best as I can tell. While playing audio an icon comes up you can tap to
open up audio controls.

------
jamesjguthrie
Unsure if satire or not as most of the points made are perfectly valid.

------
willvarfar
(Complete tangent, but isn't that a beautiful domain name?

How does one go about getting arbitrary names like this these days?

~~~
onion2k
It's one of the _many_ new top level domains (.ninja anyone? . vodka?). Any
decent registrar will register one for you. I can recommend iwantmyname.com,
but there's plenty of others. They have a list here:
[https://iwantmyname.com/domains/new-gtld-domain-
extensions](https://iwantmyname.com/domains/new-gtld-domain-extensions)

------
MatthewWilkes
> Gone is the wonderful HDMI port that enabled you to display several screen
> modes, none of which matched the native display

Replacing the port hasn't solved that problem, though. A very common port that
people struggled to configure has been replaced with an uncommon port that
people struggle to configure.

~~~
H4CK3RM4N
A _now_ uncommon port.

~~~
MatthewWilkes
A port that is unlikely to be common for the expected lifetime of this
machine. I very much approve of adding USB-C ports, but I think the removal of
HDMI happened too quickly. If, in three years time, most TVs and monitors have
USB-C ports that's one thing. I suspect that what we'll actually see is a
large number of dongles for years to come.

------
mantask
I dont' buy that. A serious VIM user will have <CapsLock> mapped to <Esc>
anyway.

------
fatamorgana
I'm pretty sure this is satire ...

------
willvarfar
The one thing I will give the new MBP is losing the function keys.

That its not faster nor better than the old MBP I already have is why I won't
be buying one though.

------
wyclif
_How ever will we maintain our 18000 lines of code per day average in vi now?
The situation is intolerable_

Oh, I dunno, by pressing Ctrl + [ instead?

~~~
oneeyedpigeon
Yeah, that's as easy, quick, and memorable as pressing ESC.

I realise there are alternatives - I personally have caps lock mapped to
escape, but I'm yet to get into the habit of using it - but that's not really
the point. The point is that ESC _is_ in common use, probably enough use to
justify a real physical key on the keyboard, unless there is a reason to
remove it.

------
mona3000
Extremely fast laptop? Did Apple GHz and Apple GFlops gain in value when I
wasn't paying attention?

~~~
mcv
GHz is only the clock speed, and only one of the factors related to processing
speed. So it is entirely possible that they gained value. GFlops is processing
power, though.

~~~
mona3000
Whoosh

------
gjvc
control + left square bracket

------
EJTH
I know this is satire, but I really don't get the snark. All the claims are
pretty valid imo. Satire or not, but having 15$ adapters for EVERYTHING simply
cannot be seen as anything else than a massive fail and nuissance. HDMI is one
of the features I use most on my MBP and tbh I would probably have to buy a
new HDMI adapter every other month because I would likely loose it on a
regular basis.

So all in all I actually agree with everything stated in this article, despite
the obvious snarky and satirical tone. Pretty sure that apple is going to kill
their laptop game with this MBP bullshit move.

~~~
H4CK3RM4N
But we're heading towards a future where Thunderbolt 3/USB-C can do
everything. It's like complaining about HDMI replacing VGA, or USB A replacing
an inbuilt CD drive.

~~~
EJTH
Yeah, but why not wait till the day where accessories are actually sold with a
USB-C to kill off the alternatives? Why not start out with just a few USB-C
ports in 2016, and then when the market is matured enough, you kill off the
unused ports?

The only way this move makes sense is in the scheme of apples 'proprietary
lock in' strategy where they try to force the user to stay in the apple eco
system with bullshit like this.

~~~
matt4077
How is there lock-in? Every new PC sold has USB-C as well.

~~~
EJTH
You don't think that there is even the slightest chance that the decision to
use FB3 / USB-C is based on the fact that consumers would have to replace
their entire collection of USB accesories?

~~~
matt4077
No , I don't. Nobody would pay 200$ for a new external SSD just to avoid the
adaptor. For anything with a cable, you can also just replace the cable.

And, most importantly: Apple barely makes any money from the sale of
peripherals. Their own products have mostly moved to bluetooth anyway.

I can understand people who don't like the switch, although I tend to
disagree. But the idea that they have a profit motive in doing so I find
absurd.

I've also seen it all play out before:

"I'm a professional, I need a floppy drive!", "Amateurs may be ok without a
CD-drive, but I'm a professional", "They're just trying to push their WLAN
base stations, it'll never catch on. Professionals like me need a real
network".

~~~
EJTH
> Apple barely makes any money from the sale of peripherals.

Well that is going to change now, since everyone and their mom now needs a few
extra USB adapters + USB SD card reader + HDMI adapters etc.

> "I'm a professional, I need a floppy drive!", "Amateurs may be ok without a
> CD-drive, but I'm a professional", "They're just trying to push their WLAN
> base stations, it'll never catch on. Professionals like me need a real
> network"

You don't think that having to use an adapter for something as generic as a
USB thumb drive will kind of be an obstacle in the day to day business of the
casual user?

