[OSX-Users] "Great for hackers" Surprise view on MacBook Pro

[Chris Andrews]

My problem with the new MacBook Pros isn't the USB-C ports (it's going to
be a painful transition but we have to move with the times) but things like
this:
- The USBC/TB3 ports on different sides of the 4xTB3 MBP have different
amounts of PCIE bandwidth. The left side is faster than the right, so you
can only run a 5k display from the left. This from the company that derided
PC notebooks for having a combination of USB2 and USB3 ports.
- The touchbar contains a secure enclave for the Touch ID sensor that is
used as a power button. If the power button fails mechanically you need a
new logic board.
- The baseline for a (cut-down) USBC MBP is now about £1500.
- The baseline for a USBC MBP with touchbar is about £1800.
- The cheapest Mac notebook of any kind is a £1000 MacBook Air.

And a very personal one:
- The key travel on new Mac notebooks is now so shallow that I can't use
them for more than a few minutes due to lingering RSI issues that were
caused, at least in part, by shallow-travel keyboards.

(Regarding price whinges - I know that GBP is down against USD but for the
new models the prices have gone *up* in USD and the excellent value
entry-level 11" Air is now gone.)

On the subject of other Macs, here's an interesting article about the
possibility that Apple is having corporate culture problems:

http://www.vox.com/new-money/2016/11/27/13706776/apple-functional-divisional

It does present a possible explanation for the world's most valuable
company being unable to update the niche-but-flagship Mac Pro or the
niche-but-has-a-cult-following Mac Mini. The other explanation is that they
just don't care and the machines are still on sale whilst they run down
inventory and milk every last penny from those models before they go away
forever.

Chris

On Mon, 28 Nov 2016 at 15:17, m.c. schraefel <mc at ecs.soton.ac.uk> wrote:

> http://boingboing.net/2016/11/28/new-macbook-pro-great-for-ha.html
>
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