
Taika Waititi Slams Apple's MacBook Keyboards After Winning Oscar - theandrewbailey
https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/9/21130967/oscars-taika-waititi-apple-butterfly-keyboards-jojo-rabbit-academy-award-press-room
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remote_phone
To be fair I have the 16” MacBook and the new keyboard is much, much better. I
almost bought a Windows laptop but the MacBook came out just before in bought
it.

The touchbar is still 100% useless. I don’t want my keys to keep changing on
me, did no one do any usability studies on it? It’s absolutely stupid. And the
previous keyboard is pure incompetence.

But the new keyboards are better. They should really just go back entirely to
the 2015 keyboard.

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tracker1
2009-2014 iirc.. the bad ones started in 2015.

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runjake
The MacBook Pro 15 2015 still had the good keyboard. They went to the bad
keyboards in the Pro line starting in 2016.

However, the MacBook 12" had the bad keyboard from the beginning. It came out
first in 2015.

~~~
AgloeDreams
Oddly there were not any major complaints (With reliability) on the original
(2015) MacBook. It was also really quiet vs the 2016 15 Pro I had. (Low-key
loved the clack on the 2016). I think the change they made is what screwed
with it.

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post_break
I really hope Apple goes back to the previous or updates the cheaper laptops.
I have an XPS13 running OSX and it's much better to type on. Then I bust out
my thinkpad and the display is garbage but man, it's like getting massaged
while typing. Please update the Air or cheapest MBP to the old keyboard
please.

~~~
lozaning
They've got all kinds of crazy screen mods for thinkpads these days. I've got
a 51nb 2k mod in my x230, which gives it a 2K IPS display.

That x230 is a tactile pleasure to do work on and I've got like 4 spares for
backups since they can be had for so cheap these days.

~~~
post_break
I had the 1080p display and the pepe mod, but backed out and sold it since I
didn’t think it would be worth it for my x230.

~~~
lozaning
I think I might do the nitromod to one of my backups ones. The 2K display is
bitch'n, but not always worth the reduction in battery run time.

I'd kill to get my hands on one of the fully custom 51NB X330 builds.

~~~
yankcrime
You don't have to kill, you can just buy one from many places such as
[http://www.cnmod.cn/x330/](http://www.cnmod.cn/x330/)

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fortran77
About half of our consulting work is for Hollywood companies. I'm seeing more
and more people on Lenovo now. I'd say about 60% of people.

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prvc
Any reason why screenwriters don't just use Windows laptops?

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dijit
I want to answer, but people will come out of the woodwork to bash me.

The answer boils down to not only personal preference but for some cases it's
easier and more orthogonal to use. Even if that _wasn't true_ and many people
are going to shit on me for saying it _is_ true, but even if it wasn't: the
perception is that it's easier to use, more orthogonal and made with premium
materials.

Aside from the pro-sumer market, (which is still hit and miss) the build
quality of laptops and battery life is sub-par in Windows-land. Add to the
fact that unless you have a Dell support contract you're going to be fighting
your laptop vendor over random things potentially and suddenly you're not
looking at an appealing platform.

This is _especially_ true if money is literally no object as is the case for
screen writers who are probably the most well compensated people on the planet
(as roughly 30% of a movie budget goes to the screen writer(s)).

~~~
allovernow
I think there's a far simpler explanation. It's fashionable and writers are
not technical people who are aware of the differences.

~~~
robenkleene
I'm curious if you'd use the same word "fashionable" to explain the popularity
of Google Chrome or Visual Studio Code. If not, why not? What's the
difference?

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allovernow
Google chrome and visual studio are not status symbols. They are not optimized
for outward appearance. And they are purpose built tools, which either work or
not.

With a laptop, any old laptop will do 99% of what the typical user needs and
do it well enough most of the time, regardless of whether you spend $3k on a
pretty MacBook or $1k on something else.

I suspect there's a good deal of overlap between the kind of person who buys a
Macbook and the kind of person who buys Beats earphones even though for the
price they are subpar (at least earlier iterations were). It's the same
concept - status signalling with expensive and outwardly pretty tech.

~~~
robenkleene
Got it, so the difference is that Apple makes physical hardware that other
people can see, and your case is that you think people will spend
significantly more money for something that looks nicer.

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allovernow
It doesn't just "look nicer," it is a cultural symbol - no doubt thanks to
successful marketing on behalf of apple.

>your case is that you think people will spend significantly more money for
something that looks nicer.

Is this not a fact? Why do you think people buy diamonds? Are you aware that
their role as a symbol was also purely manufactured by commercial interests?
Look up the dealings of the diamond cartel in the early 1900s.

~~~
robenkleene
Fair. I should have been more specific "your case is that you think people
will spend significantly more money for _Macs_ because they look nicer".

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grzm
Earlier discussion (12 hours ago, over 30 comments):
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22286351](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22286351)

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sylens
2020 is when they are due to refresh the Macbooks (based on the four years of
the 2012->2016 cycle), but I'm afraid the improved keyboard on the 16" is all
they will change. Might have to wait until 2023/2024 to get rid of the
touchbar

