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"Hello Again" Apple holding mac-centric media event October 27th 10am PST

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jts

...hate me...
I bought a new Macbook Pro last year and spilled coffee over it a few months ago. It's dead. I decided to wait for updates and use my ancient Macbook Pro from 2009 in the meantime. That was a nice machine, you could upgrade the RAM and HDD and Apple even told you how to in the manual! I put in 4x the RAM and 4x the storage years later and it felt like I was using a new system. Unthinkable for the Apple of today. But I need something new and I'm very unimpressed by the crap Apple showed yesterday. Apple computer is dead, they are simply iOS Apple now.

I'm thinking of switching to Windows but have no idea about what's good in Windows land. What are some good manufacturers of good Windows laptops? The Razer Blade Stealth looks neat, is Razer good? Microsoft's Surface stuff looks very nice, too.

I don't know if switching is a good idea though, I've been using the same user library on OSX for 10 years, I just transferred it to any new system I bought. It will be a pain to clean all that up for a different OS...
You know, I don't know how much coffee you spilled on it and how FUBAR it is but I have a similar story. MBPr 2014, spilled wine on it. Reversed it as fast as I could, turning it off simultaneously, cleaned it, dried it, waited weeks before trying to turn it on again... it didn't.

Apple official repair confirmed that it was messed up, quoted me basically its price when new. Obscene amount of parts they wanted to replace, including the case itself etc. Stupid, but whatever. I didn't accept it.

I set it aside, managed however I could, until months later I plugged it on and it... turned on. And it's working with no faults so far since (except for the few keys I sort of broke trying to clean it). It's amazing.

So don't give up on it, unless you know the logic board actually fried. And even then, it may be worth to replace the logic board, if it's the only damaged part. Apple's hardware protections likely saved my MBP and stopped it from booting when it still had some residual moist (as why Apple Repair wouldn't be aware of this is beyond me).
 

Xun

Member
Longtime Apple fan. I have bought some great kit from Apple over the years, all of which gets daily use from me:

- 2012 Mac Mini (which I've upgraded with an SSD and 16gb RAM over the years)
- iPhone 6S 64gb (best phone I've ever used)
- iPad Air 2 64gb (best tablet I've ever used)
- MacBook Pro 2015 (my all-time favourite laptop)
- Apple TV 64gb (me and my girlfriend like its simplicity and UI)
- Apple Watch Series 1 (has definitely helped me lose weight, and I really like abstracting some of my phone's functionality - in particular notifications - to my wrist)

I have found utility for all these devices, and some of them are quite recent, so I'm not gonna be writing Apple off completely, but I'm not seeing the elegance any more. They keep making these bizarre design decisions that make me scratch my head:

- Apple Pencil charging method (it's dumb)
- Magic Mouse charging port at the bottom (how did they justify releasing that?)
- Butterfly keyboard on the MacBook (it is shit)
- Removing the 3.5mm headphone port
- Gimmicky touchbar on the MacBook Pro (the only thing of value on that entire bar is TouchID)
- The fetishisation of thinness above everything else
- Butterfly keyboard on the MacBook Pro (you can justify it on the smaller Mac, but on the Pro - professional device - they are insane)
- Using Lightning on the iOS devices, and USB C on MacBooks, instead of taking the opportunity to unify the ports on their devices.

I could go on...

Luckily, I have all great equipment that I'm really happy to use, and I still think OS X is the best desktop/laptop operating system out there for my needs. But if I had to replace all my kit tomorrow, not a single bit of it would be Apple.

They have made too many compromises for thinness, and to mitigate those compromises you need to carry the bulk of dongles and accessories around with you, which in turn makes the thinness of the device irrelevant. The recent removals aren't like removing firewire or the optical drive because hardly anyone used them, but more like cutting your balls off because your trousers are too tight.
Same thoughts as me.

I'm actually tempted to get a "Hackintosh" in a few years or even just straight up move to Windows.
 

Admodieus

Member
This year's problems with Apple can be traced back to last year, when they unveiled the iPad Pro with a lightning port, more dongles for power user accessories, and that ridiculous method of charging the Pencil. That was their chance to begin rolling out USB-C to the iOS line, and market it as being a feature for Pro users who bought the more expensive iPad Pro model. With the promise of most of their iOS devices eventually using USB-C, you wouldn't worry about never having a cable to charge the pencil (eventually).

The rollout would've continued with the iPhone 7 this fall, where it would have softened the loss of the headphone jack by at least standardizing on the same port as Android devices and future computers, as well as their Macbook (and now Macbook Pro) line. But as it currently stands, they're stuck with lightning for at least a few more years because they've let people buy up lightning accessories for the iPad Pro as well as lightning headphones for the iPhone 7. So this whole "I can't plug my phone into my Macbook without a dongle" thing is something that will most likely continue for years.
 
Can anyone recommend a laptop with a trackpad on par with the Macbook Pro line? I simply can't justify £3000 on a laptop, especially with that keyboard.
 

Auctopus

Member
Longtime Apple fan. I have bought some great kit from Apple over the years, all of which gets daily use from me:

- 2012 Mac Mini (which I've upgraded with an SSD and 16gb RAM over the years)
- iPhone 6S 64gb (best phone I've ever used)
- iPad Air 2 64gb (best tablet I've ever used)
- MacBook Pro 2015 (my all-time favourite laptop)
- Apple TV 64gb (me and my girlfriend like its simplicity and UI)
- Apple Watch Series 1 (has definitely helped me lose weight, and I really like abstracting some of my phone's functionality - in particular notifications - to my wrist)

I have found utility for all these devices, and some of them are quite recent, so I'm not gonna be writing Apple off completely, but I'm not seeing the elegance any more. They keep making these bizarre design decisions that make me scratch my head:

- Apple Pencil charging method (it's dumb)
- Magic Mouse charging port at the bottom (how did they justify releasing that?)
- Butterfly keyboard on the MacBook (it is shit)
- Removing the 3.5mm headphone port
- Gimmicky touchbar on the MacBook Pro (the only thing of value on that entire bar is TouchID)
- The fetishisation of thinness above everything else
- Butterfly keyboard on the MacBook Pro (you can justify it on the smaller Mac, but on the Pro - professional device - they are insane)
- Using Lightning on the iOS devices, and USB C on MacBooks, instead of taking the opportunity to unify the ports on their devices.

I could go on...

Luckily, I have all great equipment that I'm really happy to use, and I still think OS X is the best desktop/laptop operating system out there for my needs. But if I had to replace all my kit tomorrow, not a single bit of it would be Apple.

They have made too many compromises for thinness, and to mitigate those compromises you need to carry the bulk of dongles and accessories around with you, which in turn makes the thinness of the device irrelevant. The recent removals aren't like removing firewire or the optical drive because hardly anyone used them, but more like cutting your balls off because your trousers are too tight.

You share my thoughts exactly. Love my current products but hate the direction that the company is moving in now and will probably be making a Hackintosh or moving to Windows if I have to end up replacing.
 
Apple aren't designing for a good reason and it shows.

Even if you don't prefer Windows, Microsoft and others are thinking does this make sense, is this useful, how do we make this better to use, what can we bring to the table that is different but needed. Apple is the polar opposite. Just watching them demonstrate the strip was hello McFly, anybody there! does nobody think this is obtuse and pointless to use.
I find it sort of amusing that the concept behind the Surface Dial is to help keep your attention on the screen, while the Touch Bar does the exact opposite.
 

Nipo

Member
Same thoughts as me.

I'm actually tempted to get a "Hackintosh" in a few years or even just straight up move to Windows.

I just moved to windows last year after 10 years on OSX. I actually didn't mind the change. Playing games is obviously easier. I used Office 365 so that was unchanged. It made me realize i can get by pretty easily with a desktop and tablet at this point in my life and not feel like i'm giving up anything.
 

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
The recent removals aren't like removing firewire or the optical drive because hardly anyone used them, but more like cutting your balls off because your trousers are too tight.

The TB3 USB-C ports on the MBP are the most versatile and powerful ports on any consumer electronics device...and there are four of them. No castration going on there.

Lightning just needs EOLing. It's now an uncomfortable standards clash in the Apple product ecosystem.
 

leng jai

Member
After doing some research I've come to the realisation that there isn't actually much out there as alternatives that are reasonably priced. Fuck.
 
You know, I don't know how much coffee you spilled on it and how FUBAR it is but I have a similar story. MBPr 2014, spilled wine on it. Reversed it as fast as I could, turning it off simultaneously, cleaned it, dried it, waited weeks before trying to turn it on again... it didn't.

Apple official repair confirmed that it was messed up, quoted me basically its price when new. Obscene amount of parts they wanted to replace, including the case itself etc. Stupid, but whatever. I didn't accept it.

I set it aside, managed however I could, until months later I plugged it on and it... turned on. And it's working with no faults so far since (except for the few keys I sort of broke trying to clean it). It's amazing.

I did the same things you did but with no luck. Repairs would have been almost the same price as a new machine. Months later it still wouldn't turn on. I could save the SSD with all my data at least. I'm using it as an external drive now.
 
I can't take anyone seriously that says removing the 3.5mm is connected in anyway to this weird narrative of apple "losing the plot" when that is in fact the most apple thing that has occured in many years.
 

Nozem

Member
As a web developer I'm so pissed off I have to use Macs for it.

Well I don't have to, but it's either a Mac or a Linux machine which doesn't have Photoshop and Illustrator.

I just wish the web world wasn't so dependent on bloody Macs.

Eh, I have plenty of webdev colleagues who are perfectly fine with Windows.

I really like OS X so I can't see myself making the switch. Too bad Linux is not an option, because of Adobe.
 
Eh, I have plenty of webdev colleagues who are perfectly fine with Windows.

I really like OS X so I can't see myself making the switch. Too bad Linux is not an option, because of Adobe.

Yeah I have used Windows to do the web dev I'm doing now, it's just so much more convenient on Mac or Linux because everything is UNIX based.

I don't mind switching between Mac OS and Windows for general computer usage, they both are good. Just web dev can be a pain on Windows.

Just wish I didn't have to depend on Mac hardware. It's too expensive.
 

NekoFever

Member
Yeah, these UK prices are obscene. I need to upgrade my 2011 MBP in the not too distant future but I'm basically priced out of the 15" models now.

Difficult place because I really don't like Windows (I use it every day at work) and even if I was happy to compromise there, I still need to buy an expensive premium laptop to match the build quality, trackpad, etc that I'll get from Apple.

My options are basically drop to 13" or go for last year's model, which also isn't exactly cheap now because of what cunts have done to our currency.

Or I might take the money I had earmarked for a new MacBook Pro and use it on that nice 4K TV I've got my eye on.
 

EmiPrime

Member
I can't take anyone seriously that says removing the 3.5mm is connected in anyway to this weird narrative of apple "losing the plot" when that is in fact the most apple thing that has occured in many years.

It is Apple losing the plot given they are persisting with Lightning. If they had gone with USB-C on all iOS devices from the 13" iPad Pro onwards it would have made a lot more sense to get rid of the headphone jack on the iPhone 7 this year. Instead you've got the idiotic situation whereby the new MBPs have headphone jacks and you can't use the Lightning earbuds that come with the iPhone 7 with the new MBPs. USB-C is the future and they could have used it across their entire product line but they didn't have the courage (hoho).
 

tanuki

Member
The whole pricing situation is a shitshow, but the rest it is entirely in keeping with what Apple is all about. They've been obsessed with having the thinnest, lightest, most portable laptop for years now, at the expense of whatever they can remove from the machine

And as for the USB-C ports, it will become a standard in the next few years, especially the way Apple is embracing fully. Anyone buying into the MBP ecosystem this generation gets to be an early adopter of the technology. Same with the touch bar, give it a few years and it will be standardised in all MacBooks.
 
A lot of things I've seen of Apple recently really feels like they're making products for themselves, and not what's best for their core audience.

I've been feeling this way since Apple Music. Apple likes to say music is in their DNA, yet nothing I've seen of Apple's initiatives for Apple Music, quality and considerations of audio in their hardware products feel like they have any real care for music anymore.

And by extension, I'm seeing the same for whatever they consider "Pro" for their lineup of products. They feel more concerned of their vision of Apple rather than whatever prosumers really want out of Apple.
 

grmlin

Member
Yeah I have used Windows to do the web dev I'm doing now, it's just so much more convenient on Mac or Linux because everything is UNIX based.

I don't mind switching between Mac OS and Windows for general computer usage, they both are good. Just web dev can be a pain on Windows.

Just wish I didn't have to depend on Mac hardware. It's too expensive.

Well, I'm doing this 8hrs a day, at least, and I don't care what the machine costs I use for the next 3-4 years. (Of course I do care, but 1.000$ more shouldn't be a reason to use something inferior)

It has to be the hardware that I'm most productive with, and if it's a Mac you have to pay for it or suffer the whole time instead.
 

Blackhead

Redarse
Man I still can't get over the price increases in the UK

£450 increase on the base 13 inch pro

https://web.archive.org/web/20161019005849/http://www.apple.com/uk/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro

http://www.apple.com/uk/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro

£300 increase on the old 15 inch that they're still selling!!!

http://www.apple.com/uk/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro/15-inch

GnA51GN.jpg


Goddam. Apple doesn't play around with getting their money/margins in full.
 

Tobor

Member
It is Apple losing the plot given they are persisting with Lightning. If they had gone with USB-C on all iOS devices from the 13" iPad Pro onwards it would have made a lot more sense to get rid of the headphone jack on the iPhone 7 this year. Instead you've got the idiotic situation whereby the new MBPs have headphone jacks and you can't use the Lightning earbuds that come with the iPhone 7 with the new MBPs. USB-C is the future and they could have used it across their entire product line but they didn't have the courage (hoho).

The lightning EarPods are transitional, they aren't Apple's answer long term answer for iPhone audio. They are pushing wireless, and their wireless solution works on every new iPhone and iPad and Mac.
 

Gaaraz

Member
I've always found Dells to be really poor in terms of trackpad quality (though now worse than any other non-Apple trackpad) however I have heard good things about the XPS so would go into it with an open mind.

Agree that the SurfaceBook trackpad is fantastic but they're also quite expensive. We tried a Lenovo 710 which is the closest I've seen to Apple quality in terms of screen, trackpad etc and really liked it.

Haven't used this but it's supposedly great: http://www.razerzone.com/gb-en/store/razer-blade-stealth
 

NekoFever

Member
I don't have a problem with the move to all USB-C ports. It's possibly a minor pain now, but it's an open standard and I would bet money that in 3-5 years all laptops will be doing the same thing. One port that can charge, carry video, carry data, etc just makes sense. The cables are cheap and more and more accessories are coming with USB-C as standard - I have a flash drive on my keyring that has USB-C and USB-A on opposite ends.

There's an argument to be made over the headphone jack on the iPhone, for sure, but I'm confident that switching to USB-C for everything will be proven prescient in a few years, just like Apple was in dropping floppy drives, optical drives, VGA, etc.
 

Mindwipe

Member
I'm glad everyone is beginning to agree with me that Lightning is a horrible idea that needs strangling as soon as possible.

Using Lightning to charge desktop Mac accessories will remain one of the great baffling decisions ever. I don't understand how that hit the market without someone saying "what the fuck are we thinking?"

We talk and talk about stuff Jobs would not have allowed, but I honestly think he wouldn't have let this shitshow happen (not necessarily in a good way - he might have pushed Lightning over USB-C, but the two standards at the same time? No.)

A *general* move to all USB-C ports is fine, and good. But I think you should look at reality. Would the machine be objectively more useful with 3 USB-C devices and one USB-A? Yes. Because thumbdrives are not going away for five years. Would the machine be objectively more useful with an HDMI port and an SDCard reader? Yes. Those again, are not going away in the lifetime of those devices.
 
After doing some research I've come to the realisation that there isn't actually much out there as alternatives that are reasonably priced. Fuck.

Yup. Surface book is just as expensive. Too bad Apple decided to raise the prices of even the old models in Canada by $100. FFS.
 
All this "what has happened to Apple?" and "Steve Jobs is rolling in his grave" talk is funny. For better and for worse, cutting shit to encourage a closed platform has been the philosophy of Apple going back to Apple II. From Macworld 1998:

133334-original_imac.jpg

Considering all these amenities, the most shocking part of the iMac isn’t what it offers, but what it lacks. The iMac has no floppy drive, which might be forgivable if there were a Zip drive or other removable-media option, but there isn’t.

And most dramatically, this new consumer offering has no SCSI port, no standard serial ports, and no ADB ports. Apple has opted to replace these familiar connections with USB, a high-speed serial architecture that has suffered from slow adoption on the Wintel platform despite its technical advantages (see the sidebar “USB: Ready for Prime Time?”). Currently, no USB devices exist for the Mac.

It doesn't even address the shitty hockey puck mouse...which maintained Apple's baffling one button approach.
 

EmiPrime

Member
The lightning EarPods are transitional, they aren't Apple's answer long term answer for iPhone audio. They are pushing wireless, and their wireless solution works on every new iPhone and iPad and Mac.

That is scant consolation for anyone buying their products now who want to be able to use the same earbuds on their laptop and phone and who don't want to or can't spend £160 on Apple's wireless earbuds that will inevitable get lost and need to be replaced.

It used to be that with Apple products you'd get everything you'd need in the box and everything would work seamlessly together. My PowerBook G4 has a huge array of ports and a PC express slot and Apple still bundled it with a bunch of dongles just in case you needed VGA out or whatever. What happened to that Apple?
 

Doc Holliday

SPOILER: Columbus finds America
Apple really is turning into the Leica of computers.

Hey look we released a new camera with no lcd screen.... It's so pure! Give us 8 grand for it!

Why not release a MacBook that can use that lovely Pencil?
 
People fucking whinged non stop for months about Apple changing to lightening from 30 pin and there were obvious benefits.

You think the average joe is not going to flip their shit about changing again to something that looks 95% the same. When all computers have USB-C then they will change it.
 

Servbot24

Banned
Losing the Esc key seems like a really silly thing to complain about. Complete non-problem with plenty of potentially workarounds. And it gains you what seems to be some pretty cool functionality with the oled strip. Loss of USB is a more reasonable complaint, but even that is going to be worth it in a mere year or two.

However the price given the specs seems ridiculous. Got my 5k iMac nearly maxed out for a few hundred dollars less, and that's obviously way more powerful with a much bigger screen.
 

offshore

Member
NekoFever said:
Yeah, these UK prices are obscene.

Oh it's crazy. I've never seen anything like this in my life. A fully maxed out MBP at over £4000. You can get PC laptops for half the price that curb stomp all over it.

screenshot2016-10-28az1u2w.png


Bonkers.
 

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
Escape is on the left side, just not in those screenshot. Another minor issue is that the on screen f-keys are not aligned as they used to be, esc being the worst offender.
Yeah. They need to be aligned more with the numbers below them. At least it could be fixed with an update, but not until people start to complain about it once they start shipping and getting usage.

I look forward to all the reviews. When will they start arriving at peoples and reviewers homes?
 
I got the 4k xps15, its great by windows standards, but the initial bios not so good, and the tb3 ports are flakey with certain accessories. The battery life about 6hrs for work use.

Was comparing with mbp back then, and bought xps15 cheaper with 4 yrs pro support warranty. The new mbp prices seem to have increased by 20%... makes it easier for me to choose xps15 now.

Why get a 4 year support warranty? I would sell off the laptop by the end of the year and save the money by not getting the extended warranty.
 
The 12" could be amazing if it wasn't limited by its miniaturization and the single port. It's way too young to ever replace any model of Air. I was so sure it would get an update today that would give it a nice significant boost. But alas no.

Yeah, kind of odd since the power class of processors it uses still needs all the help it can get. Even with Kaby, I have a feeling we would hit performance barriers. As soon as we hit 10nm, however, I bet the MacBook will be powerful enough for like 95% of the market.
 

borghe

Loves the Greater Toronto Area
Taking the daughter to Apple tomorrow. She insists she wants the 13" one but also does movies. Her previous 2011 was dog slow. If the 13" is good enough for her I'm fine with that, but a loaded up 256GB 13" is only like $200 under the base 15" (talking with toolbar). Not sure what to do.
 
That oled bar is the most pointless gimmicky shit I've seen from Apple so far. I've always been a huge fan of the MBP trackpad (or the one on my '13 rMBP at least) because it's genuinely useful and feels indispensable once you learn the gestures.

This though?

Scrolling through an arrangement on Logic Pro (for example) is easy enough with the trackpad, I don't need a full colour tiny screen to perform the same task, and certainly not for the eye-watering price hike either. Ditto for transport controls - space bar is pretty handy for that. I've also never used an emoji in the Mac version of iMessage and thought "this is cumbersome, I wish I had a touchscreen strip to help me with this task".

And yes, I get that my country was stupid enough to vote for Brexit and tank our currency, but it's not like Apple never took the piss with pricing when the pound was stronger.

I never thought that I would be looking into potential Windows and Android upgrades for my current devices, but here we are.
 
Taking the daughter to Apple tomorrow. She insists she wants the 13" one but also does movies. Her previous 2011 was dog slow. If the 13" is good enough for her I'm fine with that, but a loaded up 256GB 13" is only like $200 under the base 15" (talking with toolbar). Not sure what to do.

What do you mean "does movies"?

Also, all Touch bar MBP ships in a few weeks.
 

Floex

Member
Longtime Apple fan. I have bought some great kit from Apple over the years, all of which gets daily use from me:

- 2012 Mac Mini (which I've upgraded with an SSD and 16gb RAM over the years)
- iPhone 6S 64gb (best phone I've ever used)
- iPad Air 2 64gb (best tablet I've ever used)
- MacBook Pro 2015 (my all-time favourite laptop)
- Apple TV 64gb (me and my girlfriend like its simplicity and UI)
- Apple Watch Series 1 (has definitely helped me lose weight, and I really like abstracting some of my phone's functionality - in particular notifications - to my wrist)

I have found utility for all these devices, and some of them are quite recent, so I'm not gonna be writing Apple off completely, but I'm not seeing the elegance any more. They keep making these bizarre design decisions that make me scratch my head:

- Apple Pencil charging method (it's dumb)
- Magic Mouse charging port at the bottom (how did they justify releasing that?)
- Butterfly keyboard on the MacBook (it is shit)
- Removing the 3.5mm headphone port
- Gimmicky touchbar on the MacBook Pro (the only thing of value on that entire bar is TouchID)
- The fetishisation of thinness above everything else
- Butterfly keyboard on the MacBook Pro (you can justify it on the smaller Mac, but on the Pro - professional device - they are insane)
- Using Lightning on the iOS devices, and USB C on MacBooks, instead of taking the opportunity to unify the ports on their devices.

I could go on...

Luckily, I have all great equipment that I'm really happy to use, and I still think OS X is the best desktop/laptop operating system out there for my needs. But if I had to replace all my kit tomorrow, not a single bit of it would be Apple.

They have made too many compromises for thinness, and to mitigate those compromises you need to carry the bulk of dongles and accessories around with you, which in turn makes the thinness of the device irrelevant. The recent removals aren't like removing firewire or the optical drive because hardly anyone used them, but more like cutting your balls off because your trousers are too tight.

Another one to echo this, like yourself I have found myself engulfed in their eco system quite frankly is great to use but I cannot accept their recent decisions. I'm not going to bankrupt myself to keep up to date with the next Apple prized pig. I thought I'd never go back to Windows yet here I am thinking my options through.
 
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