1. The two new models are equipped with about 14-inch and 16-inch displays, respectively.
2. In terms of casing design, the new models cancel the curvy design of existing models’ top and bottom parts and adopt a flat-edged form factor design similar to the iPhone 12 .
3. The MagSafe charging connector design is restored.
4. The OLED touch bar is removed, and the physical function buttons are restored.
5. There is no Intel CPU option for the new models.
6. They are equipped with more types of I/O, and most users may not need to purchase additional dongles.
The only problem with that is that it won't be able to reliably carry Thunderbolt 4 speeds. Most of those connectors are "USB-C" which is achievable, but I haven't seen any (verified) Thunderbolt 3 magnetic connectors, even.
That's important for Pro Display XDR users, or Thunderbolt dock users, who only use one cable to plug their Macbook in (power+thunderbolt).
Or, screw it, we end up with a charging only breakway USB-C port.
I mean, if they change the current USB-C to USB-C charging cable to a magnetic breakaway one, I imagine they'll increase the price of the cable if bought separately.
And if they move to the iPhone MagSafe charging puck design, I imagine they'll sell those separately.
I really hope they keep USB-C charging. It's my favourite thing because allows me use to use one cable with external monitors and be able to charge my laptop from both sides.
Reading this, it feels like the MacBook Pro of 2015 is finally getting an upgrade.
Took them 5 years to go back and restore the old school.
Great to hear a couple iterations ago they restored the keyboard. Now with dropping the touch bar and bringing back mag safe. My 2015 daily driver might see retirement.
The touchbar is a whole bunch of tech they manufacture that seems to add little value. I expect it to cut cost and complexity in the most obvious way (literally just shave off 65 dollars from the laptop, regain some space if possible). Make the function keys super small and increase track pad size, or add more vents.
^ This might be the first iteration setting up for the end state of what will be the long term vision.
Exciting, love seeing them grind out the little (but ambitious) improvements on what most companies would consider ‘perfect as is’ product.
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For Apple at this point, I think, getting people to buy a 1100 MacBook + AirMax headphones is better than trying to get them buy not-so-obvious high end $1600 laptop.
Always felt like a bit of marketing to me. Nobody would buy the laptops if they said "this thing is 10x slower than a random desktop cobbled together from parts purchased on Ebay, and gets hot enough to burn your lap when you use it as a laptop", so they kind of had no choice but to add some sort of whizbang wowie zowie add-on to stand out from PC laptops (that also used the same slow and inefficient CPUs). Now that their laptops are as fast as desktops and use very little power, they can sell them on computing power alone, meaning they don't need to inflate the BOM with gizmos and gadgets. One less thing to break. Good riddance, I say.
When the 2016 line came out, I told colleagues that I didn't see it as a 'professional' device. Thinking in particular for photographers who depended on the SD card slot.
And hoped that Apple would release a 'classic' line one day.
I’m very dubious about the ports rumor. What ports would that be? USB-A makes no sense. HDMI would, but would it fit? If they add Mini-hdmi then you’d need a dongle anyways. As it is I think the only good candidate is a SD card reader.
That would be welcome. Although I must say that I very very much enjoy the 'one cable' lifestyle. All peripherals either hang off my screen when at home or off a single dongle when on the go (in the latter case I use a separate power cable)
> Took them 5 years to go back and restore the old school.
I'd view it differently. It took them 5 years for customers to be happy to see nothing more than the most regular and boring update while paying even higher premium on it than before.
In other words, because it took them so long to deliver a regular spec update, customers are now happy to pay higher margin prices.
While i do like the typing feel very much, the mechanism is unreliable. Every few weeks i get some random key stuck where i will need to press it really hard to engage. So far all stuck keys loosen up after 1-2 days, but it is very annoying.
Exactly what I was thinking. I have been seriously dreading the day my 2015 Pro finally gives up on me. This news couldn't have come at a better time, I just hope it's true!
Ah, I thought the whole bringing back of the Scissor mechanism had brought the glory back.
Reminds me of a blog post (via HN of course) that discussed how Apple is hurting itself by being obsessed with making devices smaller (Ugh, can't find the link).
A friend was grilling his boss who was fan boying over a particular iPhone release. Where the device was 10% thinner. In the real world it was a 1mm difference.
Except that they make them thin at the expense of sturdiness, so everybody needs to get a case for their iPhone to avoid breaking the thing if they drop it more than a couple of feet.
Hm, I was under the impression that the sturdiness was mostly tied to materials, mainly usage of glass instead of plastic. A lighter phone should at least in theory be less breakable. Bendiness is another thing though.
I personally prefer the 2020 keyboard over my previous 2013 one. Just feels nicer to type on, for me personally. I really hated all of the butterfly keyboards.
The comparative overall height of the keyboard modules is more than 0.3mm different, and the new computers are dramatically thinner and lighter than the previous ones. The overall effect is a substantial improvement. I don't use the touchbar too much, but it is a moderate improvement over F keys for me (I appreciate the return of a physical escape key).
Subjectively these two keyboards are pretty similar (I slightly prefer the previous ones). Scissor switches are all pretty mediocre; the shape to fit in a laptop just forces very sharp compromises on the design.
I also think making the key tops larger was a mistake, but it is also a relatively marginal difference in practice. Part of the goal may have been to increase the space available for international legends. (That's why IBM and every other vendor increased desktop-keyboard keytop size and switched from a spherical to cylindrical shape in the 1980s.)
In terms of typing experience alone, I like the Apple laptop keyboards from circa 2002 better than any of the laptop keyboards since. And the Mac Portable keyboard from 1989 is way better. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_Portable
* * *
Edit: in response to: > TrackPad, being too large in Post 2015 models causing much higher false positives
Moving your left hand slightly left and your right hand substantially to the right relative to a typical US-ANSI keyboard will keep you from accidentally palm-swiping the trackpad.
For someone who has worked as a travelling consultant for almost ten years, I couldn't care less about thinness. Obviously I don't want to carry any bricks around. But the thickness of 2013 models was totally fine for me. It allows for even more battery packs and room for cooling, as well as an Ethernet port. Shocking. There used to be laptops that actually included Ethernet ports, without any Thunderbolt dongles, that become finicky if you plug and unplug them everyday. /sarcasm off
Personally I think the versions with 4 USB type-C ports are great and can't wait for peripheral devices to catch up; several versatile ports is much better overall than the mishmash of different types of special-purpose ports for peripherals, displays, networking, charging. Anything that needs a particular legacy port can be done just fine via dongle. It is unfortunate that some laptops have only 2 USB type-C ports though.
The batteries are bottlenecked on FAA limits, not laptop thickness. And in future Mac laptops with ARM chips, cooling is no issue.
Which is what the parents meant. We dont need thicker laptop for bigger battery because we already hit that limit. And with lots of battery improvement coming in the next 5 years they could have made the same 100Whr battery smaller without sacrificing other features.
When everything is connected via USB type-C you have to trust way more. Currently, I don't have to trust the outlet in the wall, since it only has two or three connectable lines, and I plugin my vacuum cleaner, I am pretty sure it will only transfer energy, no data. But in a speculative future with USB type-C connected vacuum cleaners and USB ports installed in the house, I'll always wonder whether there is some backdoor somewhere in the house, that infects the firmware of my vacuum cleaner. I know this sounds like paranoia, it is not. I used to know that a sd-card connected to the sd-card reader doesn't send key strokes to my computer or uses my network to phone home. In a world where everything is connected via USB type-C those kinds of assumptions are pure speculation. And don't get me started on the different kinds of cables for USB type-C.
Barring the reliability issues, the butterfly keyboard is my favorite, even over the 2015. That said, they are all good and don’t matter enough to sway what machine to buy.
>the butterfly keyboard is my favorite, even over the 2015. That said, they are all good and don’t matter enough to sway what machine to buy.
That is exactly the problem!
There are people who love the butterfly, they seems to prefer the mushy key typing experience. That is fine, but those same people dont hate scissors either.
But there are enough people hate the butterfly keyboard. To the point of hoarding 2015 MacBook Pro. You dont need any Internet forum to judge, we can judge the market by 2nd hand MacBook Pro pricing. There are demand for good quality 2015 MacBook Pro simply because of the keyboard.
The same goes with Trackpad, some people love larger trackpad, but they wont go mad with a smaller one. And then there are people who have palms that couldn't even use the new MacBook Pro.
Basically both of these are the wrong trade offs and compromise.
And both of these design decisions were all post Steve Jobs' making.
I wonder about the amount of memory they will support. Based on this article and reviews of the M1 so far, this looks a lot like a “take my money ASAP” situation.
My macbook has terrible sharp edges that dig into your wrist, the usb-c ports are so close together I cant put 2 plugs in as they hit each other, one of the keys is faulty because its a butterfly model, it has wizz bang touch bar but no physical mic mute button, a few key caps have worn off as they are laser etched rather than double shot, the giant touchpad sometimes zooms while typing at random if my palms hit it in some combination it assumes is a zoom gesture.
Overall his designs are great for the showroom but suck for usability.
Jony Ive always needed someone as a critic to keep his designs in check. That person used to be Steve Jobs. It's pretty well known that Tim Cook is hands off when it comes to product design. And Jony Ive used to have heated arguments with Scott Forestall - until he was fired because of the whole Apple Maps thing.
So for a good chunk of time Jony Ive had no one to rein him in and the result was minimalism run amok. Not that minimalism is bad but I think you all know what I'm getting at.
The article states: "5. There is no Intel CPU option for the new models.", so it would have to be Apple Silicon. But of course this is just rumors, it sounds maybe too good to be true.
I hear they found a team in the basement. It's a G5 running Copland. CyberDog is replacing Safari and the new AppleWorks 7 transparently imports documents from iWork.
I did this too, one downside though is that it's become such muscle memory for me at this point that using someone else's computer always results in my hitting caps lock instead of escape the first few times.
I’ve mapped it to ctrl for a while now and I’ll never go back either. In vim I use ctrl—[ for Esc, which I only started to do when the MBP added the Touch Bar.
Touch Bar would have been more useful had they have an external keyboard with it. Almost no developers supported it because it was only available on a subset of devices. And then only in the case when people actually use the internal keyboard. I guess this excludes a lot of people who hook their computers to an external keyboard, screen and so on all the time.
It’s quite like 3D Touch in this sense. (But I actually liked 3D Touch, unlike the Touch Bar)
Yes! Apple sells ~18-21 million Macs a year. Out of those no MacBook Air, no iMac, no Mac mini, no iMac Pro, no Mac Pro, and some models of 13" MacBook Pro have the Touch Bar. Apple never went all-in on it. Though I'm happy if they're indeed going back to physical function keys.
I agree after a year or so with my 16" MBP. My first attitude was that it was useless after hearing years of complaints. This machine has the physical escape key and I believe that combination really works.
I'm not using the Touch Bar constantly, even when typing on the built-in keyboard. Discovery is slow because you have to become familiar with which options are available in specific applications and for specific contexts. This is a legitimate problem. Over time I've built up a decent number of uses that I know are there and make life better.
The negativity is unreasonable to me. It would be very interesting to know how much a Touch Bar increases the cost of each MacBook. To me it seems Apple took a section of the keyboard very, very few users used and replaced it with something that probably can be helpful to most users at least some of the time.
This is the laptop I want to buy, but I find it really hard to believe. They just released a new ARM Macbook Pro with a touch bar at the bottom end of the Pro lineup, which didn't used to come with a touch bar (I have ~2017 pro without). If they wanted to drop the touch bar they could have done it without much fanfare on that model and I'm not sure why they wouldn't do so.
It was probably easier for them to keep the touch bar there as the enclosure is pretty much identical to the previous model. Maybe they had a stock of them to finish while retooling?
Feels like they're doing only one change at a time - they keep the same chassis which is already proven, and they change the internals only. The next iteration can update the design of chassis while the internals remains the same.
Good point.
Most people are going to be using this for presentations or for connecting to a TV. If you're going to need an adapter since most cables are full sized hdmi, then why not just use an adapter from usb-c?
I know it's from Kuo, but these leaks don't pass the smell test for me. It makes no sense for them to add the touchbar to the base model 13" MBPs only to remove them from the higher end versions. It makes even less sense to add more ports which aren't USB-C, as the bits about MagSafe and no dongles imply. Further, I don't understand what is meant by "iPhone 12 like" non-curvy design - I have a 2018 MBP 15", and the sides of this thing are pretty flat and not curved.
I mean, these features sound like a dream come true, but I'm having a hard time believing them.
I have the feeling that it's not going to be on the charging cable. Benson Leung often comments that extensions and modifications to USB-C cables are not compliant with the USB-C standard, which Apple helped write.
What I could imagine though, is if the charger itself incorporates MagSafe.
I was under the impression that the "no connectors/extensions" wasn't so much around power delivery, but around the high data rates (40 Gbps) and signal integrity.
A charger cable, that only does PD, could have a magnetic break in it without issues.
In my experience, MagSafe 2 did a fine job at staying attached when pulled directly from the port, and came unstuck easily (as intended by design) when pulled from an angle.
I don't remember ever having problems with the charger popping out when it wasn't supposed to. But I also always used it on a desk, rather than sitting it on my lap.
I haven't tried more extensive tests (e.g. video out) but I don't see any real reason why Apple couldn't make a more official (i.e. USB-C certified) version. As the sister comment says, if it's for power only then it is simpler.
I'd imagine rather than adapters like this, you would plug in a cable that has a magnetic joint somewhere near the end that can 'break' if pulled.
And power users here doesn't mean only IT people, but anyone who uses some application all the time for some kind of work. Someone processing photos may not be able to touch type but they'll learn the keyboard shortcuts for their stuff in no time.
Even professionals who don't learn to touch-type should at least use an external screen if they use a computer all day, at which point they'll likely use an external keyboard without a TouchBar again.
A lot of power users look at their keyboards. Touch typists are a very small minority, even among power users. At least pure touch typists (people who only touch type).
And these computers are not purely for power users.
If they're grouped in blocks of 4 it's reasonably doable, especially for the ones at the edges of the blocks (for example F4 and F5 are popular buttons for IDEs and even browsers or other common applications).
I used to be able to touch type the speaker volume and mute F keys. With the slider or volume mute buttons, I often have a hard time hitting them correctly on the Touch Bar. This is after having it for years.
I was personally very excited when they announced the touchbar but having lived with it for 5 years now, I hate it. And I do a lot of media work, mostly in Ableton Live but also Adobe Lightroom and others.
I just bought a new Macbook Air and I was very happy that the feature of not having the bar was cheaper as it was something I would have gladly paid money for.
For photoshop, which I'll admit I use infrequently, it's very handy.
I also use Ableton and Lightroom a reasonable amount (neither are my day job though), and am constantly left wishing that they integrated with the touchbar. I have a midi controller that I use for sliding controls in both when at my desk, but I don't take it when I'm out and about, which is where having the ability to adjust analog controls (sliders/dials) with the touchbar would be incredibly useful.
I don’t hate it, I just ignore it. Most of the time my laptop is closed and attached to my monitor, so it’s unavailable. On the rare occasions I use it as a laptop, I might use the Touch Bar to adjust the volume, but not much else, if anything.
Those were F keys before, which I could put my finger on and use without having to hunt for the correct featureless spot on the Touch Bar every time I needed to step.
I spend hours a day in FCP and Photoshop. The ONLY thing it's useful for is scrubbing, but even there, I have other tools that are more helpful and don't take away F keys I can use as macros.
Many times more useful are tactile programmable keys like what I get on an Elgato Stream Deck, or other dedicated hardware. The touch bar is useless since it's one solid strip. Creatives don't like staring at their keyboards either.
It's for people who look at the keyboard when they type. I think it would be a godsend for the low end machines. Instead they put it on the high end machines and left it off the entry level ones -- completely backwards.
I personally never used the F keys for anything so don't really care if they are there or not (I use them just for brightness and mute) but the Touch Bar was too sensitive. And while I initially thought it would be cool to have an extra status display, a display someplace nobody ever looks is pretty useless.
True - but multimedia folks can buy separate controls for their specific needs; (for example, I use a separate volume control knob; just to have a handy way to control volume; mainly because my external keyboard's volume buttons require fn-key which is annoying when I need to respond quickly to change volume or mute.
So the touch bar might be great for SOME purposes in multimedia, not for others; but a variety of VERY CHEAP peripherals are available for these purposes - no need for a one-size-fits-all integrated approach.
It's for people who look at the keyboard when they type.
That's a pretty narrow view.
I've been a touch typer for many decades now (had to pass a minimum WPM score on an IBM Selectric to get my journalism degree), and I find the touchbar quite useful.
The problem is that you have to customize it. And the tools Apple supplies are inadequate.
In my case, I have a bunch of "keys" on the touchbar that trigger various macros.
Building a major change for one small set of users ("people who look at the keyboard") isn't how Apple does things.
For me, the problem is that programs have a habit of putting buttons that do important things in the natural resting area of where my hands go.
Zoom, for instance, puts the mic, camera, and share desktop buttons right where f1-f3 should go. If they were actual keys it wouldn't matter, but since they're touch sensitive, I have to suddenly be very conscious of where I rest my hands or else risk sending content I do not want to a meeting.
MagSafe on the cable would work poorly because people would leave the laptop end in the port and stick it in their backpack and bump and ruin it. Apple wouldn't go for a design like that (same reason they have the charging port on the bottom of the mouse - people would leave it plugged in all the time and wear out the cable/port)
It seems clear to me that they're going to incorporate the exact same Mag Safe charger as they did on the iPhone 12. Same magnetic paddle, but it will attach to the lid or the back or something.
Hope it's the bottom. Then you can "dock" your MBP without any latches. Some people might make a desk or tabletop that would allow the On the screen back would look bizarre.
Now imagine if MagSafe could also be a data channel...
In the case of the 16", which draws 96W at full bore these days, more than six times that. I've heard speculation that the new MBPs might not wirelessly charge themselves... but could have an integrated wireless charger in the palmrests for iphones/etc.
That would be sad, I really like the touchbar, and I've seen people use it as makeshift sliders for audio and a mini-midi keyboard, and the context-sensitive recommendations are so much more useful to me than F-keys, I'm just way too lazy do memorize multiple layers for different apps. I really do hope they don't go back to plain F-keys only.
> It makes no sense for them to add the touchbar to the base model 13" MBPs only to remove them from the higher end versions.
Well keep in mind that the first generation Arm MacBooks are basically the same old Intel laptops with their guts replaced. The next generation is probably going to be a completely new design.
Exactly, Thats how they did it before. First revision is the same as the old Macs with the new Arch, then once they are happy with everything they create a whole new design.
But there were old gen Intel 13" MBPs without the touch bar. They added those into the M1 macs that replaced those old models. Clearly, they could simply have... not, if they were indeed thinking of removing the touchbar entirely.
But why didn't they revive the 2018 version of the Intel MBP that didn't have the TouchBar? It would have fit perfectly as it was also a two-port model. Maybe it has to do with the keyboard being broken in the 2018 model, but (to this layman) it sounds easier to fix that than to add support for the TouchBar on Apple Silicon for a single (!) temporary hardware model.
Now they have to keep that TouchBar code around in AppKit even after they inevitably drop Intel support. Extremely curious decision.
i'd wager it's either a hardware requirement (reusing existing components) to not have to build a different design prior to a full refresh with the new arch, or kind of a trial run for Apple to see how many would prefer a slightly cheaper design without the touchbar. The differences of the Pro vs Air are quite minimal. Where I do like the fanless design, I was concerned of thermal concerns on the Air, but there was no way that I'll ever buy a touchbar product from Apple ever again, so I took a shot with the Air. Pleasantly surprised with heat/energy/battery, and couldn't be happier to have the physical F key row back. M1 Air is hands down the best MacBook I've used since the 2015 MacBook Pro.
Looking at the design of the iPads and iPhones starting with the 12 it seems clear that there's been a change in design decisions at Apple.
There'd been a drive to remove ports and to make devices as thin as possible, even if it meant losing functionality (no SD slots, USB-A ports, shorter battery life) or increasing complexity (dongles, battery packs).
That seems to be reversing to some degree. Whether this was all Jony Ive or not, it's nice to see more of a balance. It should be possible to have a functional device but not include every I/O port under the sun.
For non-curvy design think "Pixelbook" which has two totally flat halves that come together with a cool hinge. Not saying that's where they're going, but that's a modern laptop design that reminds me more of an iPhone 12
I wonder if removing the Touch Bar has something to do with prepping up the line for gaming. I personally don't dislike the Touch Bar except when I'm playing video games, and Apple Silicon is on a trajectory to be able to run games on a Mac with fairly decent graphics.
I think the first batch of M1 macs should be seen as continuity machines, they made the processor the only differentiating factor in order to make the transition trivial for consumers.
About the sides, i was confused at first but I think the idea is that they will do what they did to the ipad. Compare the first ipad to the ipad pro, the pro lies flat on the table but the first one (and to some extent all ipads before the 2018 pro) has a curved bottom like a boat.
> It makes no sense for them to add the touchbar to the base model 13" MBPs only to remove them from the higher end versions.
Perhaps the idea is that those who buy the base model - regular consumers - like the touchbar, and those who buy the higher-end versions, that is, professionals - don't.
I'm sure some pricing specialist figured that out. Say what you want about Apple, but their sales department knows how to squeeze as much revenue from their customers as they can.
But then why add the TouchBar to the MBP and not the MacBook Air instead? I actually think that the TouchBar would be more popular if it was a consumer thing instead of a "Pro" differentiator.
I can't be the only professional who ordered a cheaper M1 MacBook Air specifically because I want to avoid the TouchBar. If the pricing specialist is playing 4D chess then I don't get it.
Perhaps the new MacBook Pro supports USB-C charging AND wireless charging? MagSafe in this context could be referring to wireless charging. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MagSafe
The quote from Kuo specifically mentions MagSafe charging connector design, but he could have mistakenly assumed his source was still referring to the wired connector if they mentioned MagSafe.
Curious about changes to I/O ports. I would expect additional (more than two) USB-C ports, but unsure which I/O types may be considered a "standard" need for pro users at this point. Perhaps video output and/or legacy USB?
The touch bar is visually appealing and likely great for most consumers, but the bar has not been as functional as physical function keys during my time touch-typing/ programming due to lack of tactile feedback. I frequently have to look at the bar, else I tap the wrong button. I often trigger the bar unintentionally while hovering over number keys. I am thankful the M1 Pro has an Escape key. I would be very likely to upgrade to a higher end MacBook Pro to have physical function keys again.
I use solar power. Also, in nearby San Jose, California, they have banned NG in all new construction except commercial or multi family residences taller than 3 stories.
> I know it's from Kuo, but these leaks don't pass the smell test for me. It makes no sense for them to add the touchbar to the base model 13" MBPs only to remove them from the higher end versions
Looking through that list, there's several predictions about late 2020 that didn't happen and most predictions he's made were far enough out to still be pending. In addition, lots of "correct guesses" were pretty basic things.
Not saying this won't come to be, but his actual accuracy where it counts seems much lower than indicated.
In his defence I would say that is pretty close to perfect.
His sources isn't some made up contact from within Apple like all those Youtubers, or leaks from China WeiBo and then turn into some news. His sources are from Supply Chain, and if you look at it from that perspective it has been pretty dead accurate.
For Example, most of his Red ( Wrong ) are either Apple Release Date, or Pricing. Both are those are unpredictable by Supply Chain. Apple could change their pricing strategy at any min. But those Release Date and Pricing were derived from possible Production Schedule and Total BOM cost reduction. Both have been insanely accurate.
There are other derived conclusion. Like Longer battery life, which was derived from having lager Battery capacity and better Display energy efficiency, except Apple implemented other features so battery life stays flat.
Things like iPhone having same water resistance, from his point of view none of the water resistance steps had any make over. So no change in water resistance from 2018 were exactly correct. It is just that Apple felt confidence enough the same process could now be advertise with better water resistance capacity. i.e They were too conservative with the iPhone XS water resistance claim.
Not even sure why Pro Display XDR going Mini-LED in 2019 is suggested as wrong either.
Of course there are things he would be wrong. Especially those small volume products. With iPhone you cant really hide, after all there are hundreds of companies working to make sure a product shipping a 100M unit annual volume. Leaks in supply chain are bound to happen.
Sides are flat, but there's a curve into the screen and the bottom. There's already a sharp edge in that transition, though, which.. is sharp. I'm not sure it would be wise to turn the device into a total brick with 90 degree edges all around.
He did specifically mention high power charging on Non-USB C.
One of the problem with High Power, USB-C charging is the higher probability of frying the MacBook. As it has been since post 2015 MacBook Pro. From a reliability stand point this isn't any good at all. The insane amount of MacBook Pro with this problem on Louis Rossmann channel
Not all USB-C Cable are capable of charging up to 100W, most are only 28W. You need specific 100W, thicker cable to charge it. Of course HN have no problem with this but majority of people will charge it with whatever USB-C cable they have lying around. i.e Smartphone low power cable.
But HN seems to value charging everything with USB-C over everything else. And seems to take a world view anyone who dont know enough about USB-C cable or do not buy all USB-C High Power Cable as "mis-informed" if I had to word it politely.
>And the sides of this thing are pretty flat and not curved.
He meant the top and the bottom. Currently being slightly curved on the lip and the bottom edge of the machine.
If they do this I won't be able to resist buying one. I want to resist though and be one of those people who uses a laptop with libreboot and OpenBSD.
... We are Apple. Lower your principles and surrender your dollars. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile.
I will happily resist - between price and performance, the combo MBP 2016/iphone XS was one of the worst investments of my life. Next laptop will be be a Thinkpad or some other Linux-friendly device, I might have to mess with it a bit more but at least I won't feel like a cow being milked.
Why is it that software engineers can understand the idea of software ports and adapters, but collectively seem to lose their minds when the idea of physically manifest?
USB-C is the one port to rule them all, and is here to stay.
Every single dongle I’ve used, without fail, runs stupidly hot and inevitably has random failures within ~6 months (display channels drop out, network adapter disappears, USB devices chug) and concentrating all peripheral load into one port almost always leads to thermal throttling issues (https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/363337/how-to-find...).
My take is that with few exceptions, USB-C is basically for connecting to non-apple stuff. And non-apple stuff is not at the bleeding edge.
Apple stuff is basically wireless.
A decent apple system that would be helpful instead of courageous would have: a USB-A port, an HDMI port and a headphone jack. Then go crazy with USB-C, fine.
If anyone from Apple is reading, let me just say – this is exactly what I want. Magsafe charging. Function keys instead of the touchbar. 15-16" screen. M1 CPU. 32GB Memory.
I also prefer the 2015 keyboard, but it's not a dealbreaker.
I'll pay for the kickstarter now if it means it'll come out in the next 18 months. Please make it happen.
As powerful as laptops are now, yes, lots of of creatives use laptops. There's entire industry (well, were before covid) of doing fast turn time on-site on video/photo editing. Lugging desktops around in giant cases paying surcharges for heavy and extra bag charges on airlines is incredibly expensive.
yes, but also the damn trackpad. I feel like i'm getting carpal tunnel just trying to avoid swiping the damn thing with my palm it's so freaking huge. Been 3+ years still feels like it's designed specifically to get in the way of my work.
I hear you. I have the same thoughts. Touchpads on most laptops have sufficed for my use. People swear by the touchpad on Macbooks, but to me it never really was that big of an improvement. My bias could be due to the fact that I don't use the touchpad exclusively and always attach a mouse when I can.
Bought a mid-tier HP Pavilion recently and cannot _stand_ the touchpad on it. I carry around a USB mouse for that laptop. I largely prefer the mac touchpad because it allows you to click everywhere on the surface, not just the bottom.
HP until recently didn't use precision touch drivers.
When looking for a new laptop it should be the first thing you check in the reviews - if it doesn't have precision touch drivers it goes in the do not buy list.
The X1 isn’t low end. Low end trackpads on windows laptops are still abysmal in most cases.
Anecdotally, there’s a store near me which arranges laptops by price. I often start at the high end and try the keyboard and mouse, working my way to the low end. Somewhere in the middle it changes over from “this is fine” to “it feels like nails on a chalk board”.
Gesture support is also incredible on macOS. It's the little things -- if I start the motion to "show desktop" by spreading my fingers apart on the touchpad, windows will seamlessly start the motion with my fingers. If I decide to abort the gesture with my fingers, windows on the screen match my motion exactly. I can also customize gestures like expose, mission control, desktop switching, etc. to my liking by assigning different gestures to different commands -- I've never used a Windows laptop or any kind of linux environment with that kind of customization, though I'm sure with sufficient work you could get linux to do something like that.
Personally I find gesture support annoying and its functions are better done with keyboard shortcuts - if you want to show the desktop pressing windows-D is much quicker and easier. The first thing I do on a new laptop is find the touchpad settings and turn everything off.
I find it ironic that Apple used to push the one button mice narrative as 2 buttons were overwhelming, yet now you are supposed to contort your fingers into doing a million different gestures on a touch pad.
Odd, I rest my palm on mine all the time without issue. I believe it has palm detection and is smart enough to ignore the larger surface area of your hand.
Non-Apple laptop user: "It's that ridiculous concept of only being able to enter a right click in a specific area of a track pad. Also, can only scroll by swiping on certain parts of the track pad as well"
2005 called, they want their jokes about PCs back.
Dedicated touchpad areas for right clicking and scrolling haven't been a thing since Windows introduced precision drivers and gestures. IIRC even most linux DEe have the same features.
And yet, the person I replied to in 2021 is still complaining about the size of a right-click area of the track pad. It may be an old joke style (so is saying a year in the past is calling), but it is still valid.
Yeah, of course, you can still find shitty laptops with these issues if you look in the discount bin at Wallmart but for a fair comparison, most new laptops in the MacBook price range (1000+ Euros) don't have touchpads with segmented zones anymore like the ones you're describing.
There you have it. If it doesn't exist on the hardware "I'm" using now, then it's not a problem that should be discussed. I'm Chuck Norris, and I round house kick to the head any laptop that doesn't meet my certifications.
That is unfortunate, and probably a sign of a feature that nobody at Apple (and few external users) bother with. Everyone I know uses two-finger right click and a very small subset of friends use ctrl+click.
Agreed, I much prefer the 2X smaller trackpad of the last generation.
At max sensitivity in MacOS you could move so much faster and with less strain on the wrist.
It’s too bad they never adjusted MacOS to compensate for the new massive trackpad, max sensitivity should be higher. It’s like the right hand never told the left what it was doing. But not surprising, considering Apple’s entire organization is built around secrecy and people NOT collaborating.
Unfortunately not, the sensitivity increases don't work like they used to. You can also marginally increase the sensitivity in terminal directly, but again, not enough to compensate for the 2X bigger trackpad.
A touch screen serves a different role than a trackpad. They could replace the trackpad by a touch screen, like asus’s screenpad, but that comes at the expense of battery life.
You can see the point though, right? I’m personally ok with the trackpad, but compare it with the “nipple” from the old IBM laptops. You could scan across the entire screen with the barest movement of your finger. The minimalism in that design was impressive,
The trackpoint/nipple was awful. It's fetishized now because of anti-apple counterculture but it's a truly horrid pointing device that was only ever popular because early trackpads were that much worse.
Maybe I just have big hands or a weird typing posture, but my wrists usually sit either side of the trackpad. Even if they didn't, my trackpad doesn't register my palms as a touch (pretty sure this is a standard feature in most modern laptops).
I haven't used a physical mouse for work in about 5 years, and every time the trackpad gets larger, I'm even less inclined to get a mouse.
I think more people need to stop using their laptop keyboard at their main desk. While I agree that Apple’s ergonomics are especially poor, laptop keyboards and trackpads are fundamentally crippled from the get go due to size constraints.
If you’re working from the same desk every day, buy a real keyboard and external trackpad/mouse for the sake of your own wrists. Save the built in keyboard for when you actually need the mobility.
I use a dedicated ergo keyboard (Ergodox EZ) 99.9% of the time, and my wrists thank me. But I also have the dedicated space for that.
I also find it gets in the way with doing everything with a keyboard in my editor and then suddenly my cursor focus is changed by my palm touching the touchpad.
At the same time having the extra spacer on the laptop as a wrist rest is pretty good, imo ergonomically better than a standard external keyboard (opinion informed by countless physio visits to sort out RSI). Also the built in trackpad is substantially better than moving hand position to an external mouse.
This is one of the most profitable businesses on the planet (large margins / overpriced products on a giant volume), they really don't need or care about any kickstarter.
You want to influence the company - get > $200B worth of shares to agree with you and then get a board seat. Anything else won't matter (and even then it won't be easy due to the track record of current management).
Edit: Anyone care to explain what's wrong with the above?
Thanks. I've got Magic Keys install which does the same thing however it is a bit hit and miss unfortunately. I'll check this out though it seems to not be maintained anymore.
I solved this issue by simply getting a few USB-C cables for my keebs. I even managed to find a USB-C to miniUSB cable for my HHKB. It has to be a fairly specific type of cable mind you. Anything marketed at USB 2.0 should work great.
And, honestly, I'm glad with their push for USB-C, no audio jack etc. Most companies are stuck in the status quo due to the chicken-and-egg problem but Apple is willing to be the first mover.
Audio jack is another one. I have some nice open-back headphones and they don't have USB. I think it's actually fairly unreasonable to expect the entire audiophile headphone market to convert to digital; it makes more sense to do the DA conversion on the phone/computer, especially since some audio sources are analog anyway.
Yup. All I want is a 2014-or-so form factor——forever. Update the tech guts year after year, but keep the old design. It’s perfect and requires no more innovation.
While you’re at it, Apple, just keep High Sierra forever and just do bug fixes and security patches. No new features!
Amen, there is such a thing as "perfect design" if you are talking about the narrow envelope for designing a laptop. A screen, a keyboard, there's not a ton of headroom for adding widgets or decreasing sizes in the physical domain. Plus, there is such a thing as "timeless design", and you can see that Apple has already achieved it by the fact that most other laptop vendors are converging on their MacBook designs that are a few years old now. Apple itself took inspiration from timeless, modern and functional industrial design found in things like Braun appliances from the 1960s which, by the way, still look modern today.
When I moved from my 2014 to my current 16" MBP, I immediately fell in love with the smaller and sleeker new design. Its lighter and has a bigger screen - how are those not improvements?
I was a huge MagSafe fan, but USB-C interoperability is just too good to give up IMO. I hope they still support charging via USB-C PD even if they do have MagSafe.
I know you didn‘t mean this literally but the idea of apple doing a kickstarter is hilarious. It would be the logical conclusion of established, VC backed companies like ROLI doing them.
Also can the function keys be grouped in groups of 4, with extra space between groups? I am forced to use an external keyboard already because of the touchbar and the 2017 keyboard, and it solves all of my problems except that the function keys are hard to hit especially during debugging. It's the little things!
Didn't they already do this though? The mid-2020 MBP got the new keyboard which moved away from the super thin keys and back to a thicker switch. It's still thinner than the 2015 keyboard, but it's the exact same functional design.
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[ 3.6 ms ] story [ 302 ms ] threadNot believing that for a second.
That's important for Pro Display XDR users, or Thunderbolt dock users, who only use one cable to plug their Macbook in (power+thunderbolt).
Or, screw it, we end up with a charging only breakway USB-C port.
For maximum trolling they should charge $29.99 for this feature..
And if they move to the iPhone MagSafe charging puck design, I imagine they'll sell those separately.
Took them 5 years to go back and restore the old school.
Great to hear a couple iterations ago they restored the keyboard. Now with dropping the touch bar and bringing back mag safe. My 2015 daily driver might see retirement.
Another rumor: https://www.macrumors.com/2020/12/29/apple-researching-keybo...
^ This might be the first iteration setting up for the end state of what will be the long term vision.
Exciting, love seeing them grind out the little (but ambitious) improvements on what most companies would consider ‘perfect as is’ product.
——-
For Apple at this point, I think, getting people to buy a 1100 MacBook + AirMax headphones is better than trying to get them buy not-so-obvious high end $1600 laptop.
And hoped that Apple would release a 'classic' line one day.
I'd view it differently. It took them 5 years for customers to be happy to see nothing more than the most regular and boring update while paying even higher premium on it than before.
In other words, because it took them so long to deliver a regular spec update, customers are now happy to pay higher margin prices.
Did a little research regarding replacing the disk. A more performant drive costs around $120 USD. And the steps too replace it do not seem to tricky.
Magic Keyboard was only introduced in mid 2020. And they are still not as good as MBP 2015 in terms of typing experience.
Magic Keyboard Key Travel - 1mm
MacBook 2015 Key Travel - 1.3mm
Key Spacing as well. They are tiny in Magic Keyboard Layout and it is harder to "sense" the keys apart.
>Took them 5 years to go back and restore the old school.
TrackPad, being too large in Post 2015 models causing much higher false positives ( touching the trackpad and moving the cursor )
On the Good side at least they are listening.
Reminds me of a blog post (via HN of course) that discussed how Apple is hurting itself by being obsessed with making devices smaller (Ugh, can't find the link).
A friend was grilling his boss who was fan boying over a particular iPhone release. Where the device was 10% thinner. In the real world it was a 1mm difference.
That is exactly what I like about it. Typing Feedback!
The comparative overall height of the keyboard modules is more than 0.3mm different, and the new computers are dramatically thinner and lighter than the previous ones. The overall effect is a substantial improvement. I don't use the touchbar too much, but it is a moderate improvement over F keys for me (I appreciate the return of a physical escape key).
Subjectively these two keyboards are pretty similar (I slightly prefer the previous ones). Scissor switches are all pretty mediocre; the shape to fit in a laptop just forces very sharp compromises on the design.
I also think making the key tops larger was a mistake, but it is also a relatively marginal difference in practice. Part of the goal may have been to increase the space available for international legends. (That's why IBM and every other vendor increased desktop-keyboard keytop size and switched from a spherical to cylindrical shape in the 1980s.)
In terms of typing experience alone, I like the Apple laptop keyboards from circa 2002 better than any of the laptop keyboards since. And the Mac Portable keyboard from 1989 is way better. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_Portable
* * *
Edit: in response to: > TrackPad, being too large in Post 2015 models causing much higher false positives
Let me highly recommend getting a Japanese language keyboard, which looks like this: http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/#/gists/da70b0140c8a29...
... and then remapping the letter keys to be wider separated, along the lines of: http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/#/gists/a578960e19e2c9...
Moving your left hand slightly left and your right hand substantially to the right relative to a typical US-ANSI keyboard will keep you from accidentally palm-swiping the trackpad.
The batteries are bottlenecked on FAA limits, not laptop thickness. And in future Mac laptops with ARM chips, cooling is no issue.
passengers may also carry up to two spare larger lithium ion batteries (101-160 Wh) https://www.faa.gov/hazmat/packsafe/more_info/?hazmat=7
100Wh internal battery like the 16” MBPB + 2x160Wh, I don’t see an issue with FAA rules.
Which is what the parents meant. We dont need thicker laptop for bigger battery because we already hit that limit. And with lots of battery improvement coming in the next 5 years they could have made the same 100Whr battery smaller without sacrificing other features.
That is exactly the problem!
There are people who love the butterfly, they seems to prefer the mushy key typing experience. That is fine, but those same people dont hate scissors either.
But there are enough people hate the butterfly keyboard. To the point of hoarding 2015 MacBook Pro. You dont need any Internet forum to judge, we can judge the market by 2nd hand MacBook Pro pricing. There are demand for good quality 2015 MacBook Pro simply because of the keyboard.
The same goes with Trackpad, some people love larger trackpad, but they wont go mad with a smaller one. And then there are people who have palms that couldn't even use the new MacBook Pro.
Basically both of these are the wrong trade offs and compromise.
And both of these design decisions were all post Steve Jobs' making.
They were like hen's teeth when I bought mine second-hand. Daily workhorse.
I never thought they'd add more ports again either - I could actually see myself getting one of these.
My macbook has terrible sharp edges that dig into your wrist, the usb-c ports are so close together I cant put 2 plugs in as they hit each other, one of the keys is faulty because its a butterfly model, it has wizz bang touch bar but no physical mic mute button, a few key caps have worn off as they are laser etched rather than double shot, the giant touchpad sometimes zooms while typing at random if my palms hit it in some combination it assumes is a zoom gesture.
Overall his designs are great for the showroom but suck for usability.
So for a good chunk of time Jony Ive had no one to rein him in and the result was minimalism run amok. Not that minimalism is bad but I think you all know what I'm getting at.
Touch bar, ports and shallow keyboard is what kept me from buyng Mac for years.
And the ability to set custom apps inside it with iterm, and not have to loose a key on the board itself
I spend most of my time in vi when in terminal, and never had a “I’m missing an escape” ever
https://www.apple.com/macbook-pro-16/
It’s quite like 3D Touch in this sense. (But I actually liked 3D Touch, unlike the Touch Bar)
One thing that have helped my tendinitis was getting used to the Ctrl-C shortcut instead of the Esc (both are defaults to enter normal mode).
I'm not using the Touch Bar constantly, even when typing on the built-in keyboard. Discovery is slow because you have to become familiar with which options are available in specific applications and for specific contexts. This is a legitimate problem. Over time I've built up a decent number of uses that I know are there and make life better.
The negativity is unreasonable to me. It would be very interesting to know how much a Touch Bar increases the cost of each MacBook. To me it seems Apple took a section of the keyboard very, very few users used and replaced it with something that probably can be helpful to most users at least some of the time.
I mean, these features sound like a dream come true, but I'm having a hard time believing them.
https://www.macrumors.com/guide/ming-chi-kuo/
He has a pretty good track record.
Mag safe is going to be on the charging cable and not the computer. Like on old game consoles with wired controllers.
What I could imagine though, is if the charger itself incorporates MagSafe.
A charger cable, that only does PD, could have a magnetic break in it without issues.
However, as opposed to magsafe there's a tiny dongle that stays in the usb-c port. Also, the magnet is weaker than in the old apple magsafes.
I don't remember ever having problems with the charger popping out when it wasn't supposed to. But I also always used it on a desk, rather than sitting it on my lap.
https://a.aliexpress.com/_BSorDx
I haven't tried more extensive tests (e.g. video out) but I don't see any real reason why Apple couldn't make a more official (i.e. USB-C certified) version. As the sister comment says, if it's for power only then it is simpler.
I'd imagine rather than adapters like this, you would plug in a cable that has a magnetic joint somewhere near the end that can 'break' if pulled.
Personally I think key with screens on them sounds interesting / novel / fun, at least for a week or two, maybe longer.
And these computers are not purely for power users.
However, it's quite handy when doing multimedia work with applications that integrate with the touchbar (Logic Pro, Final Cut Pro, Photoshop)
I was personally very excited when they announced the touchbar but having lived with it for 5 years now, I hate it. And I do a lot of media work, mostly in Ableton Live but also Adobe Lightroom and others.
I just bought a new Macbook Air and I was very happy that the feature of not having the bar was cheaper as it was something I would have gladly paid money for.
I also use Ableton and Lightroom a reasonable amount (neither are my day job though), and am constantly left wishing that they integrated with the touchbar. I have a midi controller that I use for sliding controls in both when at my desk, but I don't take it when I'm out and about, which is where having the ability to adjust analog controls (sliders/dials) with the touchbar would be incredibly useful.
The hypothetical advantages of that usecase are negated by the lack of physical F-keys, which are critical to start/stop/step through code.
Many times more useful are tactile programmable keys like what I get on an Elgato Stream Deck, or other dedicated hardware. The touch bar is useless since it's one solid strip. Creatives don't like staring at their keyboards either.
I personally never used the F keys for anything so don't really care if they are there or not (I use them just for brightness and mute) but the Touch Bar was too sensitive. And while I initially thought it would be cool to have an extra status display, a display someplace nobody ever looks is pretty useless.
Computers are for more than essays and coding.
So the touch bar might be great for SOME purposes in multimedia, not for others; but a variety of VERY CHEAP peripherals are available for these purposes - no need for a one-size-fits-all integrated approach.
That's a pretty narrow view.
I've been a touch typer for many decades now (had to pass a minimum WPM score on an IBM Selectric to get my journalism degree), and I find the touchbar quite useful.
The problem is that you have to customize it. And the tools Apple supplies are inadequate.
In my case, I have a bunch of "keys" on the touchbar that trigger various macros.
Building a major change for one small set of users ("people who look at the keyboard") isn't how Apple does things.
Zoom, for instance, puts the mic, camera, and share desktop buttons right where f1-f3 should go. If they were actual keys it wouldn't matter, but since they're touch sensitive, I have to suddenly be very conscious of where I rest my hands or else risk sending content I do not want to a meeting.
Now imagine if MagSafe could also be a data channel...
A single iPhone MagSafe charger pushes 15w on a great day. A MBP is going to draw about four times that.
The 14" MBP will be the new 13", so if that rumor is true, it will be the end of Touch Bar.
Well keep in mind that the first generation Arm MacBooks are basically the same old Intel laptops with their guts replaced. The next generation is probably going to be a completely new design.
Now they have to keep that TouchBar code around in AppKit even after they inevitably drop Intel support. Extremely curious decision.
There'd been a drive to remove ports and to make devices as thin as possible, even if it meant losing functionality (no SD slots, USB-A ports, shorter battery life) or increasing complexity (dongles, battery packs).
That seems to be reversing to some degree. Whether this was all Jony Ive or not, it's nice to see more of a balance. It should be possible to have a functional device but not include every I/O port under the sun.
About the sides, i was confused at first but I think the idea is that they will do what they did to the ipad. Compare the first ipad to the ipad pro, the pro lies flat on the table but the first one (and to some extent all ipads before the 2018 pro) has a curved bottom like a boat.
Perhaps the idea is that those who buy the base model - regular consumers - like the touchbar, and those who buy the higher-end versions, that is, professionals - don't.
I'm sure some pricing specialist figured that out. Say what you want about Apple, but their sales department knows how to squeeze as much revenue from their customers as they can.
I can't be the only professional who ordered a cheaper M1 MacBook Air specifically because I want to avoid the TouchBar. If the pricing specialist is playing 4D chess then I don't get it.
The quote from Kuo specifically mentions MagSafe charging connector design, but he could have mistakenly assumed his source was still referring to the wired connector if they mentioned MagSafe.
Curious about changes to I/O ports. I would expect additional (more than two) USB-C ports, but unsure which I/O types may be considered a "standard" need for pro users at this point. Perhaps video output and/or legacy USB?
The touch bar is visually appealing and likely great for most consumers, but the bar has not been as functional as physical function keys during my time touch-typing/ programming due to lack of tactile feedback. I frequently have to look at the bar, else I tap the wrong button. I often trigger the bar unintentionally while hovering over number keys. I am thankful the M1 Pro has an Escape key. I would be very likely to upgrade to a higher end MacBook Pro to have physical function keys again.
I believe modern wireless chargers are around 75% to 85% efficient.
That sounds bad at first, but I believe most ac-dc charging bricks are in the 80% to 90% efficiency range, so it's actually not much worse at all.
And if it really is magsafe, the "secret sauce" there is the magnets will align things almost perfectly every time avoiding unaligned charging coils.
What if the new model had a touch screen?
https://appletrack.org/ming-chi-kuo/
Not saying this won't come to be, but his actual accuracy where it counts seems much lower than indicated.
His sources isn't some made up contact from within Apple like all those Youtubers, or leaks from China WeiBo and then turn into some news. His sources are from Supply Chain, and if you look at it from that perspective it has been pretty dead accurate.
For Example, most of his Red ( Wrong ) are either Apple Release Date, or Pricing. Both are those are unpredictable by Supply Chain. Apple could change their pricing strategy at any min. But those Release Date and Pricing were derived from possible Production Schedule and Total BOM cost reduction. Both have been insanely accurate.
There are other derived conclusion. Like Longer battery life, which was derived from having lager Battery capacity and better Display energy efficiency, except Apple implemented other features so battery life stays flat.
Things like iPhone having same water resistance, from his point of view none of the water resistance steps had any make over. So no change in water resistance from 2018 were exactly correct. It is just that Apple felt confidence enough the same process could now be advertise with better water resistance capacity. i.e They were too conservative with the iPhone XS water resistance claim.
Not even sure why Pro Display XDR going Mini-LED in 2019 is suggested as wrong either.
Of course there are things he would be wrong. Especially those small volume products. With iPhone you cant really hide, after all there are hundreds of companies working to make sure a product shipping a 100M unit annual volume. Leaks in supply chain are bound to happen.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-15/apple-mac...
Perhaps they’ll make Touch Bar an optional extra.
One of the problem with High Power, USB-C charging is the higher probability of frying the MacBook. As it has been since post 2015 MacBook Pro. From a reliability stand point this isn't any good at all. The insane amount of MacBook Pro with this problem on Louis Rossmann channel
Not all USB-C Cable are capable of charging up to 100W, most are only 28W. You need specific 100W, thicker cable to charge it. Of course HN have no problem with this but majority of people will charge it with whatever USB-C cable they have lying around. i.e Smartphone low power cable.
But HN seems to value charging everything with USB-C over everything else. And seems to take a world view anyone who dont know enough about USB-C cable or do not buy all USB-C High Power Cable as "mis-informed" if I had to word it politely.
>And the sides of this thing are pretty flat and not curved.
He meant the top and the bottom. Currently being slightly curved on the lip and the bottom edge of the machine.
2016 still going "strong" after the keyboard replacement in 2019 but I am not going to expect it to last pass 2021...
... We are Apple. Lower your principles and surrender your dollars. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile.
USB-C is the one port to rule them all, and is here to stay.
USB-C isn’t there yet.
Apple stuff is basically wireless.
A decent apple system that would be helpful instead of courageous would have: a USB-A port, an HDMI port and a headphone jack. Then go crazy with USB-C, fine.
I also prefer the 2015 keyboard, but it's not a dealbreaker.
I'll pay for the kickstarter now if it means it'll come out in the next 18 months. Please make it happen.
Devs running docker with 69 machines are not Apple's customers. Can we just finally understand and move on?
But here, it seems, people are in love with it.
I find my carbon X1 touchpad nicer to use than my 15" macpro.
Although I am impressed how well they made the haptic tap feel like a real button on the mac.
When looking for a new laptop it should be the first thing you check in the reviews - if it doesn't have precision touch drivers it goes in the do not buy list.
Anecdotally, there’s a store near me which arranges laptops by price. I often start at the high end and try the keyboard and mouse, working my way to the low end. Somewhere in the middle it changes over from “this is fine” to “it feels like nails on a chalk board”.
I find it ironic that Apple used to push the one button mice narrative as 2 buttons were overwhelming, yet now you are supposed to contort your fingers into doing a million different gestures on a touch pad.
Non-Apple laptop user: "It's that ridiculous concept of only being able to enter a right click in a specific area of a track pad. Also, can only scroll by swiping on certain parts of the track pad as well"
Mac User: You accept that?
Dedicated touchpad areas for right clicking and scrolling haven't been a thing since Windows introduced precision drivers and gestures. IIRC even most linux DEe have the same features.
At max sensitivity in MacOS you could move so much faster and with less strain on the wrist.
It’s too bad they never adjusted MacOS to compensate for the new massive trackpad, max sensitivity should be higher. It’s like the right hand never told the left what it was doing. But not surprising, considering Apple’s entire organization is built around secrecy and people NOT collaborating.
I haven't used a physical mouse for work in about 5 years, and every time the trackpad gets larger, I'm even less inclined to get a mouse.
If you’re working from the same desk every day, buy a real keyboard and external trackpad/mouse for the sake of your own wrists. Save the built in keyboard for when you actually need the mobility.
I use a dedicated ergo keyboard (Ergodox EZ) 99.9% of the time, and my wrists thank me. But I also have the dedicated space for that.
At the same time having the extra spacer on the laptop as a wrist rest is pretty good, imo ergonomically better than a standard external keyboard (opinion informed by countless physio visits to sort out RSI). Also the built in trackpad is substantially better than moving hand position to an external mouse.
You want to influence the company - get > $200B worth of shares to agree with you and then get a board seat. Anything else won't matter (and even then it won't be easy due to the track record of current management).
Edit: Anyone care to explain what's wrong with the above?
And, honestly, I'm glad with their push for USB-C, no audio jack etc. Most companies are stuck in the status quo due to the chicken-and-egg problem but Apple is willing to be the first mover.
I doubt any Macbook Pro will ever have an M1. I would expect significantly more and faster cores.
EDIT: I'm stupid - there is a shipping M1 MBP today.
I typed this comment with one :)
I'm curious: why did you buy it?
While you’re at it, Apple, just keep High Sierra forever and just do bug fixes and security patches. No new features!
One can only dream.......,
When I moved from my 2014 to my current 16" MBP, I immediately fell in love with the smaller and sleeker new design. Its lighter and has a bigger screen - how are those not improvements?
Well it would be perfect if they could bring that back.