I agree here. I really don't understand some of the bashing that happens every single time the Macbook Pros come up in HN comments.
I was a longtime happy owner of a 2015 15" MBP until earlier this year when I decided it was time to upgrade to a refurbished 2019 16" MBP. I was a bit nervous at first but I have to say that I have no major complaints, other than the fact that I wish I had F keys instead of the touchbar. Contrary to everyone else, I really like the keyboard.
As for solving the touchpad issue, I use Pock [1] which I read about on HN. It removes the need for using a slider every time I want to adjust the volume or brightness and lets me control Spotify and see what song is currently playing.
I also have a 2018 15" MBP for work. If you believed the comments here you'd think that I am unable to type or use the damn thing. Honestly, after 1 week of use I'm already used to the keyboard. Not having an escape key kind of sucked, but I have rebound caps lock to escape on all of my Macbooks and enjoy that even more than having an escape key.
My other complaint is that the trackpad is a bit too large - I find myself accidentally hitting it sometimes and it just seems excessive. Finally, it's a shame that you can't mess with the battery/RAM/SSD yourself but unfortunately that's more of a trend for the industry than just Apple.
Overall I'm a totally happy user on both the 2018 and 2019 Macbook Pros. I was quite nervous about the possibility of having to use a Windows PC for work when I started my new job. And don't even get me started on having to use a Pixelbook at Google.
> Contrary to everyone else, I really like the keyboard.
Lot of people like it, they just don't post about it.
Mine has a bunch of keys that print 2 or 3 times when I press the key once (the issue that everybody eventually get with the model I have) but I still prefer that flat keyboard to the old one. Takes a few days to get used to but then it's great.
I wonder how many people are informing their opinions solely from the gross incompetence exhibited by Apple with your mentioned double tapping keys issue. I seem to recall that they have fixed it in newer models, but I wouldn't be surprised if it still persists.
I hate to admit it since I've drunk the mechanical keyboard koolaid, but I like the mbp flat keyboard. I easily prefer it to the 2015 keyboard, which imo is really nothing special (at least it doesn't gunk up). I hear people say great things about the thinkpad keyboard, but from my little experience with it, I'd still rank the mbp flat keyboard higher.
With BTT and GoldenChaos you can swipe anywhere on the Touchbar with two fingers to change the volume, and with three fingers to change the brightness of the display.
I use the 2020 macbook air personally and 16in professionally and the keyboard drives me insane, to the point I bought a magic keyboard to be able to function without screaming at my computer for accidentally turning my video camera on yet again during a meeting. I really wish they would have a no touch bar option, because I could use more power but still be able to touch type. Touch bar is the worst technological "improvement" I've ever come across.
Did you know that you can change what buttons are on the Touch Bar? You can make it almost behave the same as other keyboard by having it always show F-keys.
the difficulty isn't the content but the fact you can't blindly hit the key reliably. reminds me of back in the day where you could send a composed complete text message from your phone without taking it out of your hoodie pocket in class. not the case anymore in our touch screen world without tactile feedback.
Must be finger positioning. I hit the TouchBar accidentally several times a day, each of which was infuriating, until I managed to semi-disable it by turning it into a row of inferior function keys.
My company gave me the current 16" late last year, and it's been a piece of junk: suddenly starts to roar without a reason (while plugged in to power supply) so people on a phone conference complain I should switch off the hoover.
Often freezes with not much open other than a few Chrome tabs, O365 and Sublime (not actually DOING much with any of them at the time).
The keyboard is poor, the touchbar is useless but doesn't get in the way that much, the touch pad is too large and disturbs me sometimes while typing source code. The lack of ports means without a hub the whole machine is pretty useless (and that means all users will have to buy an USB-C hub for another $100 - annoying but the real annoyance is to have that hanging of your laptop all the time, and you mustn't forget to pack it, or you're screwed).
I also dislike the 16" form factor compared to 13", as it breaks all my leather bags when I try to carry it (not so relevant anymore in the days of the home office..).
I was having issues with my 16” until I disabled Turbo Boost. I dunno if it’s specific to the i9 model, but it was running hot and processes were spinning out of control. Since disabling, it runs a lot cooler and I have pretty much zero issues.
Ok, so like a reverse Turbo button. You’re running an i4 most of the time (and that’s fine) and sometimes you crank it up to i9 (when the solo begins, to stretch this metaphor to the limit).
I don't think that's a problem with Apple. I have a Dell XPS with an i9 in it, work gave me, i don't use it because idling in Windows the fans ramp up... If I use a laptop I end up using my personal Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme (gen 1) which doesn't have fans trying to take off into space.
The original retina macbooks are still the best. :(
So what to do if a powerful working machine is needed now, buy the current MBP 16" or go to thinkpad? Disappointed they didn't even upgrade the intel CPU on MBP 16" to the newer version.
The newest one fixed it enough to satisfy me, i.e. it has a physical escape key again. I never used the rest of the function keys anyway, and I like the customizable nature of the touch bar. The lack of a physical escape key when they first introduced it was my only real gripe.
I was personally really hoping for an Intel 16" refresh today. I'm up for a new laptop at work and it's a little bit of a bummer to drop that much on a year-old machine. Not quite sure what to do at this point.
It's very similar to the 2014 models, it has scissor switches and not the controversial butterfly keys. If you ever tried a magic keyboard then it's basically that.
My work gave me MacBook 16" 2020 and probably the worst business laptop I have ever had. The screen is smudgy and glary, the keyboard is awful, touch bar is a meme, no ports and finally it literally cuts my wrists because it was designed to be looked at not used.
