Anyone else abandoning ship?

[STxMacUser]

I have been in the Apple world and have owned many Macs....including all of the available series and makes over the last many, many years. I ordered a Lenovo Thinkpad x1 Extreme recently and should receive it tomorrow afternoon.

The reason that I am abandoning ship? Easy call. The extremely poor MacBook Pro KEYBOARD. I have been so frustrated with hitting the Cap Lock button and typing sentences before realizing that I have to retype all of those words. Also, the inadvertent launches of iTunes from accidentally reaching over the top row keys and hitting that crappy Touch Bar. It is much more of a PITA that it is a help. I can no longer put up with such a poorly designed product that I paid so much money to use. I have finally given up. The keyboard may be the best thing for many people with dainty hands and fingers, but for me it is a complete deal breaker. The Apple integration between all of my items does not even work well enough to keep me on the bandwagon. I totally give up.

So, I bid a slow, separation adieu from the Apple ecosystem and move on to better keyboards and other products.
Goodbye Apple.

 

[Expos of 1969]

STxMacUser: You are far from alone. I am possibly heading in that direction but as my 2013 Macbook Pro was well designed and well made it is doing what I need it to do. However, at some point that will no longer be the case.

If you are generous with your time over the next while, I (and others I am sure) would like to hear how you are doing after having made the transition on the laptop side and start transitioning with other products such as phones, tablets, cloud services, music etc.

 

[_Kiki_]

1080 is a pretty old processor so all of the development costs have been covered. Still questionable whether RTX is worth the money because new features are still being added to the drivers. But I would have a real hard time buying a 4 year old 1070 or 1080 in late 2019.

max 3 years old for pascal in laptops, but you can buy model model with replaceable GPU and CPU they usually stronger than soldered versions, btw I still have Alienware 18 with 780M SLI it's over 5 years old and still working perfect, one 780M MXM is still worth about $200, in my 2nd Clevo I have 980M SLI if I upgrade screen from LVDS to EDP (motherboard has two sockets), I can even put 1070 MXM, the cpu is still pretty capable i7-4940MX, one 980M MXM is about $300, 1070 MXM is $500

Well, similar specs on a 15” MacBook Pro (32gb ram, 2 tb SSD, etc) is over 1k more than I paid. Did yours have over 2 tb storage, 32gb ram, and a 4K screen?

yes, I upgraded memory to 32GB DDR4 2666MHz back to January 2017 for about $200, SATA SSD 2TB I bought in 2016 for 250$, NVME SSD 512GB in 2017 for about $150, I prefer more 120Hz 1080p than 4K 60Hz

 

[ondert]

I’m still on Apple’s ship but ran away from macbook line up. The current chassis is full of tricks to cut down the cost and faulty parts.
No need to mention about the keyboard. Selling the macbooks I had and getting an iMac was the best investment for me.

And that thinness habit is really making me sick. iPhones are getting thicker and heavier every year. iPhone 11 max weights 226gr and it is over 8mm yet Apple still makes the MacBooks thinner although they turn them into overheating, expensive things.

 

[Robnsn2015]

Just received my new Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 today. We'll see how it goes...

 

[LeeW]

Two months later I am still using Windows, getting on really well with it actually, no regrets. Getting close to the point where my 2018 mac mini is probably best sold.

 

[Muyfa666]

It's strange to read about so many people getting fed up with Apple when I as a hardcore Windows PC user finally decided to make the switch to Mac. Now when the 2019 MBP13 came out I went all in on Apple with basically all products they have on offer, and so far I'm plenty happy. As for QC - I literally tried all high end PC brands and their flagships without liking any of them. Lenovo is probably the brand I'd go for if not Apple, but the quality is not even close to be honest. The main problem with many high end PC's is that almost all of them have coil whine, and I cannot stand coil whine.

 

[Nugget]

It's strange to read about so many people getting fed up with Apple. . .

It's not really that I am fed up with Apple. Mostly it's because Apple have stopped making hardware that is suitable for my needs. I can't buy a well-specced laptop that has a full keyboard any more and after decades of happy PowerMac and Mac Pro buying (including the 2013 trash can) they've priced me out of that product by a significant margin now.

I really don't want to jump ship, but I'm one hardware failure away from having to abandon ship because there literally isn't a product on offer from Apple that can realistically replace my old MacBook Pro or my old Mac Pro.

 

[Muyfa666]

It's not really that I am fed up with Apple. Mostly it's because Apple have stopped making hardware that is suitable for my needs. I can't buy a well-specced laptop that has a full keyboard any more and after decades of happy PowerMac and Mac Pro buying (including the 2013 trash can) they've priced me out of that product by a significant margin now.

I really don't want to jump ship, but I'm one hardware failure away from having to abandon ship because there literally isn't a product on offer from Apple that can realistically replace my old MacBook Pro or my old Mac Pro.

I hear you, and I don't hold it against you if that's how you feel. As things are now, I'll probably never get rid of Windows completely (I have it at work and also a NUC in my TV setup), but unless something really unexpected happens Apple will be my personal choice.

 

[LeeW]

I really don't want to jump ship, but I'm one hardware failure away from having to abandon ship

Yup, I got that failure. Like most, it is not that I want out, it is more I need to get out. The Apple of 20 years ago when I first started using them is just so different today. I mean take a look at the active repair programs. There is just so much that should not be on there but is reflective of where they are today.

If Apple improved I would jump back but I have been waiting for too long, buying new MBP's and other devices hoping that it would get better, it has not. Don't get me wrong, so many people are getting on just fine with everything they buy, but others treat their machines incredibly well and get rewarded with 2,3 or 4 faulty keyboards, bending iPad, stage lighting effect and more.

I miss macOS, I miss my MBP but I had to move on.

 

[RyawesomeU13]

I gave up on apple a few years ago. Bought a dell precision m6600, 17" business laptop (you don't really want to use it on your lap), after multiple weird failures in a year, they upgraded me to the next model up, the m6700. Niggly little issues and some driver stuff occasionally on that, kept it for a year. Then decided I wanted portable so I preordered and bought a surface pro 4. First one I got had a flickering screen at anything under 50% brightness, then they sent me a replacement refurb that had blown speakers. Sent it back and got one that worked ok but had a scratch on it, but I kept it. Used it for a year during the whole windows 10 unveiling, etc, nothing but ENDLESS headaches and software and firmware updates that would one day fix a problem, then introduce a new problem, then right when everything is working fine, another update screws everything up again. I was on forums so regularly trying to troubleshoot that piece of garbage. Decided I'm done with windows 10 so I bought a late 2013 MacBook pro in 2015, and it has worked flawlessly for me since then, I'm typing this on it now. So, I get a little concerned when I read about issues with new macs, I have a 2019 map 13 1.4 on the way, should show up any day now, to complement my MacBook pro 15, but for travel situations, however the **** show I went through both with computers from Dell, professional very high end ones, then the surface pro 4 from microsoft and the whole win 10 experience, left a very bitter taste in my mouth for pc laptops. I wouldn't even know what to select these days, I love the surface book laptops, but again, based on past experience, I'd never buy another surface product. Sounds like a hate-on tangent for PC's, but hey when i use my MacBook pro for my business daily and it just works reliably.

 

[SnoFlo]

I gave up on apple a few years ago. Bought a dell precision m6600, 17" business laptop (you don't really want to use it on your lap), after multiple weird failures in a year, they upgraded me to the next model up, the m6700. Niggly little issues and some driver stuff occasionally on that, kept it for a year. Then decided I wanted portable so I preordered and bought a surface pro 4. First one I got had a flickering screen at anything under 50% brightness, then they sent me a replacement refurb that had blown speakers. Sent it back and got one that worked ok but had a scratch on it, but I kept it. Used it for a year during the whole windows 10 unveiling, etc, nothing but ENDLESS headaches and software and firmware updates that would one day fix a problem, then introduce a new problem, then right when everything is working fine, another update screws everything up again. I was on forums so regularly trying to troubleshoot that piece of garbage. Decided I'm done with windows 10 so I bought a late 2013 MacBook pro in 2015, and it has worked flawlessly for me since then, I'm typing this on it now. So, I get a little concerned when I read about issues with new macs, I have a 2019 map 13 1.4 on the way, should show up any day now, to complement my MacBook pro 15, but for travel situations, however the **** show I went through both with computers from Dell, professional very high end ones, then the surface pro 4 from microsoft and the whole win 10 experience, left a very bitter taste in my mouth for pc laptops. I wouldn't even know what to select these days, I love the surface book laptops, but again, based on past experience, I'd never buy another surface product. Sounds like a hate-on tangent for PC's, but hey when i use my MacBook pro for my business daily and it just works reliably.

I owned both the M6600 and M6700 so I am sorry to hear about your problems. I had no issues with both Windows 7 and 10 running on them. At least you gave the other side a try: it just didn't work out for you. I am sure the 2019 13" MBP will work out just fine. Congrats on the new laptop!

 

[LeeW]

Sounds like a hate-on tangent for PC's, but hey when i use my MacBook pro for my business daily and it just works reliably.

Everyone has a story to tell, sometimes it is Apple products other times it is PC related ones. Go with what works for you is really all you can do.

At the moment I am loving being able to control what hardware my machines have and the opportunity to upgrade the RAM and NVMe in a laptop is something of a novelty

Plus I am hedging at the moment, really not sure what to think about the inevitable switch to Apple (Arm) Processors in all their devices, it will have a significant effect on the availability of software

 

[H2SO4]

It's strange to read about so many people getting fed up with Apple when I as a hardcore Windows PC user finally decided to make the switch to Mac. Now when the 2019 MBP13 came out I went all in on Apple with basically all products they have on offer, and so far I'm plenty happy. As for QC - I literally tried all high end PC brands and their flagships without liking any of them. Lenovo is probably the brand I'd go for if not Apple, but the quality is not even close to be honest. The main problem with many high end PC's is that almost all of them have coil whine, and I cannot stand coil whine.

Can I ask what you mean by quality, why do I ask? Two of many example for you..........
Half of quality is quite often, poor perception. I remember when I was younger and people used to say that you can feel the quality of a car by how heavy the door felt when you shut it. Now car manufacturers use strings and hydraulic rams and you have no idea of its weight but it can certainly be made to feel heavy.
Also I remember when the aluminium Macs were released and people said that plastic boxes meant the quality was poor, forgetting that the iMacs and iBooks etc all used to be plastic bodied. Were they poor quality back then too?

 

[Muyfa666]

Can I ask what you mean by quality, why do I ask? Two of many example for you..........
Half of quality is quite often, poor perception. I remember when I was younger and people used to say that you can feel the quality of a car by how heavy the door felt when you shut it. Now car manufacturers use strings and hydraulic rams and you have no idea of its weight but it can certainly be made to feel heavy.
Also I remember when the aluminium Macs were released and people said that plastic boxes meant the quality was poor, forgetting that the iMacs and iBooks etc all used to be plastic bodied. Were they poor quality back then too?

By poor quality I mean coil whine, uneven gaps, solid parts that are anything but rigid, dead/stuck pixels and yes, individual keys on the keyboard being "bad".

I don't care what people said or meant on QC "back then". I was not there and will not be held responsible for what other people say.

 

[H2SO4]

By poor quality I mean coil whine, uneven gaps, solid parts that are anything but rigid, dead/stuck pixels and yes, individual keys on the keyboard being "bad".

I don't care what people said or meant on QC "back then". I was not there and will not be held responsible for what other people say.

Ok. The first half of your post is great, answers my question so thanks for that.
The rest is a rant. You have no idea when “back then” was so quite likely you WERE there and again quality is something that can be manufactured by a company so let’s leave it there.

 

[Muyfa666]

Ok. The first half of your post is great, answers my question so thanks for that.
The rest is a rant. You have no idea when “back then” was so quite likely you WERE there and again quality is something that can be manufactured by a company so let’s leave it there.

English is not my native language, so some nuances may get lost in translation. No offense meant. What I meant was that I wasn't using Macs when they were plastic, and I wasn't around to hear people saying that heavy car doors was a sign of quality.

 

[H2SO4]

English is not my native language, so some nuances may get lost in translation. No offense meant. What I meant was that I wasn't using Macs when they were plastic, and I wasn't around to hear people saying that heavy car doors was a sign of quality.

It'a all good. Your original post didn't come across too well but no harm done.
Thankyou.

 

[Muyfa666]

It'a all good. Your original post didn't come across too well but no harm done.
Thankyou.

I actually understand this ”jumping ship”-feeling, but for me personally, even modern Apple has provided me with good QC (all things considered and compared to the competition), and there was a long time since I enjoyed just using a laptop, but with MBP and MacOS I really do.

 

[idonthatethemac]

I switched my job again and my employer provided me with a 2017 Macbook Pro. 16 GB RAM.

Overall a very good machine, nice balance. I kind of agree, that designwise the machine is superb. Audio is also really good. However, after using custom organized and themed Fedora for over a year, I am not really liking "customization" in OSX. Fedora may not be as fluid in animations as OSX but boy is it flexibile. Themes, Colors, arrangements of windows, dock placement, you name it and Fedora has it.. or there is some package or plugin to provide that functionality. Kind of ironic, earlier i really used to like OSX but now I am not too enthused about it.

Anyway, coming back to Macbook, I finally see why folks were hating on the Keyboard. I also do not like the shallow key travel. Also, its very clickity-klackity. Distracting really. Now I do have a heavier hand but that is not something i can change. Hopefully once the dock arrives and i am able to connect external monitors, I will start using the magic keyboard and I won't have to type too much on that disaster of a keyboard.

For my personal use, I still have my dualboot (Fedora +Windows) Dell XPS 15 with 4K monitor + external 38 inch ~4k (3840X1600) monitor. I absolutely love this setup. I mostly use Fedora and sometimes pop over onto Windows.

 

[saturnotaku]

I abandoned Mac as a personal computing platform (I still use it every day at work) back in 2015 when my 2011 MacBook Pro was getting too slow for what I needed. However, with Windows 10's latest shenanigans I've jumped back in the pool having just purchased a new-old-stock 2018 MBP 13. I'm still keeping my Windows 10 desktop for gaming, but for most every other use around the house, I'll be using the Mac. I get the hate for Apple's current laptop design, but I'm quite fond of it. I just hope the hardware holds up.

 

[MrGunnyPT]

I abandoned Mac as a personal computing platform (I still use it every day at work) back in 2015 when my 2011 MacBook Pro was getting too slow for what I needed. However, with Windows 10's latest shenanigans I've jumped back in the pool having just purchased a new-old-stock 2018 MBP 13. I'm still keeping my Windows 10 desktop for gaming, but for most every other use around the house, I'll be using the Mac. I get the hate for Apple's current laptop design, but I'm quite fond of it. I just hope the hardware holds up.

I understand this, I also have a gaming rig but do everything else on the Mac.

My 2017 is still going with 2 VMs (Ubuntu and Windows 10) so far so good

 

[davidnayzar]

Many years working with Macs for a living mostly buy bulk from businesses offloads, close out businesses or out of business start ups. Lately we had lots of problems came up after Mojave update that the people bought the devices from us started to get the "Remote management" messages. The devices were not stolen and we bought in volume as some were barely used or some were brandnew(ish) if the startups goes down.
One client had the Mac Pro trash can for over 4 years and they tried to clean up the drive with OS recovery, format the drive and the excitement to install latest OS Catalina. The remote config displayed and they freaked out but ignorant to click (Agree) or whatever, the machine was remotely locked by a company because the security guys considered it as illegal access to the system.
Later many people got panic as some of the machines showed remote management screen even the devices were from 2013!!!!!! The companies bought as volume and it must be in the record that automatically routed to the original buyer.
After two years of headache, we decided to abandon ship and not deal with the devices as people assumed stolen items and our dignity would go down the sewer.
Seem like the greed is trying to eliminate the pre-owned market to get more profit while saying "We recycle and trying to save the planet. But we will make sure there are lots of paper weights sitting around then go to trash".
We contacted the original businesses IT persons and everyone responded with the same answer "We don't have any of these devices in our system. We removed them all" or they said they have no record for the devices!

 

[sunapple]

Many years working with Macs for a living mostly buy bulk from businesses offloads, close out businesses or out of business start ups. Lately we had lots of problems came up after Mojave update that the people bought the devices from us started to get the "Remote management" messages. The devices were not stolen and we bought in volume as some were barely used or some were brandnew(ish) if the startups goes down.
One client had the Mac Pro trash can for over 4 years and they tried to clean up the drive with OS recovery, format the drive and the excitement to install latest OS Catalina. The remote config displayed and they freaked out but ignorant to click (Agree) or whatever, the machine was remotely locked by a company because the security guys considered it as illegal access to the system.
Later many people got panic as some of the machines showed remote management screen even the devices were from 2013!!!!!! The companies bought as volume and it must be in the record that automatically routed to the original buyer.
After two years of headache, we decided to abandon ship and not deal with the devices as people assumed stolen items and our dignity would go down the sewer.
Seem like the greed is trying to eliminate the pre-owned market to get more profit while saying "We recycle and trying to save the planet. But we will make sure there are lots of paper weights sitting around then go to trash".
We contacted the original businesses IT persons and everyone responded with the same answer "We don't have any of these devices in our system. We removed them all" or they said they have no record for the devices!

So you are saying that a device enrolled in the DEP can never be unenrolled? Or that the companies failed to correctly unenroll the devices (and therefore breaking Apple’s DEP Agreement)?

 

[Anarchy99]

So you are saying that a device enrolled in the DEP can never be unenrolled? Or that the companies failed to correctly unenroll the devices (and therefore breaking Apple’s DEP Agreement)?

i dont believe so, on the iMac i have but frankly it hasnt been worth my time to figure it out.

the warnings and "lockdown" only happen after a restore or clean install and you can bypass it deleting 2 files I believe they were plist files. (can't remember the names/locations at the moment, wrote them down somewhere) but since ive been doing upgrade installs on it, its a non-issue for me because its only clean installs that reinitialize the files/the check