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Ask HN: Should I get the new Macbook?

1 points by stevenjohns ↗ HN
I'm currently in the market for a new device. I'm interested in the i9 15" Macbook but I've heard nothing but bad things lately. However I'm not sure how much of that is genuine or just being unhappy with change.

I had the 2017 Macbook with the touchbar, the large touchpad and the butterfly switches and didn't find it as horrible as some people are making it it out to be. Has it gotten worse since then? Have heating issues become more pronounced?

What should I do here, HN?

9 comments

[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 39.4 ms ] thread
burlesona
I’ve got the 2018 model, 15” with most specs maxed out. It’s been a wonderful daily driver for my development work. If you liked your 2017 then it’s the same machine, just with better internals, so you’ll probably feel exactly the same about it.
PaulHoule
No. Get a Dell.
stevenjohns
If I get a Dell I'd have to opt for a Hackintosh. There are just too many little things in MacOS that I find are important to me and they're really difficult to replicate across in GNU/nix.
PaulHoule
Run Windows then.

Apple has really messed up the computer industry by selling a computer to 5% of users but 95% of developers at funded companies.

If developers were synced up with users we'd see more native desktop apps. As it is, anyone who gets venture funding is making crappy electron apps and wondering why people are using phones instead.

Apple is laughing all the way to the bank.

ktpsns
I find this is a fair point. No need to do another rant about Apple.

The one thing to consider (I am sure you do) is just what kind of non-Apple-hardware you could get for the same amount of money you are willing to spend. The difference is the entrance fee for Mac software. I am not a Mac user, but both Linux desktop and Linux-on-Windows got quite mature in the last years

vikramkr
I think the i9 used to run into some throttling and performance issues. I'm not sure if that's been fixed yet - in general an i7 might be better bang for your buck in a laptop anyway since you're going to struggle no matter what with a laptop to take advantage of an i9
stevenjohns
For what it's worth, my day job just involves writing code. I'm not doing anything too fancy on it at all.

If I do get the MacBook, should I go for the i7 or the i9? Assume that the cost difference in making the leap is half (I can get about a 40% reimbursement on the total cost).

throwayEngineer
I consider it bad capitalism. A kid if possible. But I understand if you need to hit compile on an iOS app
stevenjohns
Follow up: I got the 2019 i7.

Thanks for the feedback.