Can live without the glowing logo. I guess the startup chime was annoying in meetings and libraries. However, what is annoying is the removal of any sort of power indicator on MacBooks and iMacs so you can't tell if they're awake, asleep, off, in the process of shutting down or locked-up. The old "breathing" power light was classy, and functional...
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Kuo: Apple to Use New Scissor Switch Keyboard in Future MacBooks, Starting With 2019 MacBook Air Refresh
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Can live without the glowing logo. I guess the startup chime was annoying in meetings and libraries. However, what is annoying is the removal of any sort of power indicator on MacBooks and iMacs so you can't tell if they're awake, asleep, off, in the process of shutting down or locked-up. The old "breathing" power light was classy, and functional...
The light up logo felt a little cheap to me in comparison to the new machines. I did like the breathing white led light. could of put in a nice white led charging/breathing spot without too much effort. I feel like they wanted to get rid of of little detail and make it super sleek but an led indicator would of been nice.
More likely, because all the current MacBooks are tightly designed around the dimensions of the butterfly keyboard, they needed to exhaust all the possibilities for "fixing" the feel and reliability of the butterfly design before backtracking to a (thicker) scissor mechanism, which would entail substantially changing the design of 5 different MacBook models. I'm sure tooling up to produce those Unibody cases isn't cheap and that they budgeted for 3-4 years between major re-designs.
...also, they probably don't want to change the MacBook range case design until Intel finally get the 10nm chips out of the door, so they can take advantage the new (hopefully cooler-running) chips... otherwise they might have to make the new MBPs thicker to accommodate the keyboard... oh, the humanity!
(NB: I just hope they fix the Intel MacBook range before any hypothetical switch to ARM so that there's still a credible x86 option during the transition and people aren't forced to switch - or jump ship - on day 1).
Agreed. I suspect that a redesign has been waiting in the wings but it’s been reliant on a 10mn processor from intel, which will then be supplanted by an ARM solution.
Not convinced really, I would need to see them keep the Mac hardware at a decent upgrade cycle.
I think the recent Mac updates, for the most part, just bring the lineup to some level of respectability. This time last year the Mac Pro, MacBook Air and Mac mini were basically embarrassing, top dollar being charged for seriously out of date hardware.
You look at Apple these days and wonder how far down the list of priorities the Mac is. Realistically the iPhone, iPad, Watch, Services and probably a few unannounced projects are all ahead of it.
I'm waiting to see, equally Apple's already lost my professional business nor in a hurry to switch back unless Apple proves otherwise, and that will take some doing. Apple needs to step up and take the Mac seriously if it wants to hold onto it's withering reputation.
The desktop range is OK now, although some systems are way overpriced and remain overly limited. Notebook range, just no, mostly crap with icing on top; too weak, usability in the toilet, still ****** thermal management, failure on top of failure. Hardly surprising people are dumping the Mac for Pro use.
New Mac Pro is a sign in the right direction, Apple needs to do the same with the MBP and keep the pricing sensible, far too much greed and arrogance now. People in charge need to be more level headed and far more in tune with the real world.
As often stated, I've never seen so many drop the platform since the 2016 MBP release as it simply works against the user on so many levels, really poor design all for the sake of a few mm and looking pretty...
As ever "Pride before a fall" and Apple needs to fall, so it learns to value it's customers once again, as right now that's most definitely not the case...
Q-6
totally agree with this
the disastrous keyboard has finally got people's attention, but many still are ignoring the very very poor thermal design
what does this mean?
it means that you paid for an extremely expensive CPU, which you are no benefitting from because the poor thermal design means it gets too hot too quickly, and needs throttling. so you might as well use an cheaper, older CPU.
also, the poor thermal design is causing, not just huge noise, but actual damage. two examples - (1) the keyboard issue is made worse by deformation caused by overheating, and (2) in clamshell mode the overheating is causing damage to either the display or the adhesive around the display
so what's caused this? it is not lack of resources on Apple's part - they're wealthier than many countries, with a huge cash pile larger than many countries. it is priorities and arrogance. priorities means they care more about their products as desirable fashion items. arrogance means they never admit the issues and fix them.
why can my 2010 £450 cheap Thinkpad run 1080p youtube without breaking a sweat? Yet the 2017 MBP overheated and its cpu temps hit 102 degrees C with roaring fans? why can my nexus 5x smartphone play 1080p youtube without even a fan!!
that's how bad Apple has become .. and I didn't even mention the keyboard in detail in this post.
Absolutely. However, he fixed that the very next year. He would not have it any other way.
what do you want apple to do? Build a gaming machine for a macbook pro? Even pre 2016 macbook pros where not great for performance...
A notebook where the priority over everything else is not just being thinner. All it's resulted in is ever more compromises up to and including reliability. Most I'm fairly certain of would prefer greater performance, longer battery runtime, improved usability, let alone reliability...
Q-6
well of course. But the previous gens where not powerhouses either. A 2019 15" is a huge upgrade from a 2015 in terms of performance...
I highly doubt Apple giving back ports and size for slightly improved cooling. Do you really see apple increasing the size of these back to 2015 size and giving more ports back? Almost seems like going in reverse but hey you can dream about it. Just don't expect anything like that to happen.
I certainly hope Apple switches back to a scissor keyboard - the butterfly keyboard, even in 2019 guise, is still awful to type on.
What people really hate is being overcharged $400.00 for something Apple pretends to be some kind of innovation, when it is not. Many other PC laptops have already full touchscreens or way larger secondary visual trackpads at the same price of regular laptops. But Apple pretends that users will blindly overpay $400 for something that is completely useless and obsolete.
[doublepost=1562608041][/doublepost]
It seems that this is the new Apple moto. Let users beta test while paying overpriced products.
3 years to beta test the Macbook Pro.
6 Years to beta test the Mac Pro.
It is really sad that it takes Apple that long to recognize their failures.
[doublepost=1562608231][/doublepost]
It should be actually $400 less. When Apple first released the Macbooks with Touchbar the difference was $400.00
This shows how much lately Apple is trailing in innovation. Except the Watch, most of the products are trailing when many many years ago Apple was the leading company in product design and innovation.
Many other companies already have laptops with full touchscreens. And whenever they have great features such as the Mag-safe they removed it?
The External design of the Surface studio, is way much better and flexible than the iMac that it is already a 10 year old design.
The first design of the Apple pen for iPads was pathetic, having to plug it in to charge. The Surface Pro had a magnetic pen way before the iPad. Furthermore, the new just released iPad Aid, still uses the Apple pen 1 and the 2 cannot be used with it. It just shows poor product planning. When Microsoft is leading you, that speaks how much Apple put aside the innovation.
Many other companies already have laptops with full touchscreens. And whenever they have great features such as the Mag-safe they removed it?
The External design of the Surface studio, is way much better and flexible than the iMac that it is already a 10 year old design.
The first design of the Apple pen for iPads was pathetic, having to plug it in to charge. The Surface Pro had a magnetic pen way before the iPad. Furthermore, the new just released iPad Aid, still uses the Apple pen 1 and the 2 cannot be used with it. It just shows poor product planning. When Microsoft is leading you, that speaks how much Apple put aside the innovation.
Given the New Mac Pro it's not impossible, after all Apple's the one who bills the MBP as Pro. So why surprised when profeshinals don't care for reduced usability and limited thermals for the sake of a few mm. Anyway it's down to Apple if it wants to deliver...
Q-6
I agree 100% on every point you made especially the part about no one to turn down crazy design ideas over practicality.
I remember the first 4 years of the iPhone, the Android crowd was boasting about being the thinnest and I would laugh about it. The second part of the decade we got stupid thin iPhones for no good reason, it went mental when they forced it to be thinner than the camera bulge. I could visualize the horrible scene like in a movie when Ives snapped and the camera zooms in playing the American Physco shower scene sound effect
It wasn't just the updating of what is underneath the keys, it was the entire size, aesthetic, and feel of the damn keys. Simply HORRIBLE. I started with a PowerMac in the 90's and updated through the years, getting new keyboards as they came with my new Macs. The changes along the way were really nice, and I typed with ever increasing comfort and ease. But, GYAWD, the latest keyboard design is horrible: horrible feel to the typing, ears listening to loud clacking, and fingers hitting wrong keys. I bought a 2017 iMac, and Apple even did these stupid shallow, loud, fat keys on the dang extended big Mac keyboard! It is terrible. I went with my 10-year-old wired keyboard on my new iMac. I have refused to get a new MacBook because of this.
The Mac Pro is a little different than a laptop. They could make the Mac Pro big and it’s totally fine. With laptops and phones increasing sizes seems a little different. Even though they did increase the thickness of the phones last few years since the 6 line but it’s a small difference. I’m curious as to what else they could do with a redesign at this point. These laptops are already stupid thin.
Don't really agree, you open the lid of the laptop and it sees who you are and you're in. If the laptop is open you are going to need to hit a button in order to get it to wake up in which case it'll see it's you and then let you in. When you are buying something it's no different than an iPhone, you still have to click purchase before it cues you to position yourself for the face ID.
Only if you have to unlock the MacBook pro when not directly in front of it becomes a problem but that's no different than face ID on the iPhone.
It may even be a better experience because the prompt would be a clickable pop up button to click with your mouse where with the iPhone you sometimes need to reposition your hand to double tap the button.
That's the problem as the obsession with just being thinner has eroded value, usability, performance and reliability. All notebooks are compromised by nature, equally a balance can be struck. I've often said that I've never soo so many drop the Mac since the 2016 MBP launched as they had few if any alternatives as it was unreliable and overly compromised.
Q-6
An obsession with thinness is a false narrative and one which unfortunately has caught on with the haters, especially with Youtubers. The focus isn't on creating a thinner and thinner computer but refining the design of the laptop to it's bare essentials.
Oh baby, don't get me onto those camera bumps. Utterly and truly hideous. And if you believe the leaks about the next models, about to amplify that atrocity to become the most hideous design compromise the world has ever seen. No wonder Jony Ive is heading back to Old Blighty.
What if you are in a work setting and just want to lock your computer while sitting in front of the screen? (This is a common use case btw)
Or you can use the Touch ID button on the top right to take care of that. Also a lot of people such as myself use the MBP without a mouse for extended hours, so our fingers are around the keys. Repositioning is not an issue.
FaceID seems like a useless feature for a stationary user experience. It definitely complements better with a mobile UX.
Is it common use? Locking the computer but staying at the desk, why?
In any case you'd just lock it the same way you do now, I tried locking my MacBook Pro just now and it shut off the screen almost immediately so it wouldn't unlock unless you woke the computer, which BTW isn't too dissimilar from the Apple Watch feature which unlocks the MacBook simply by being near it.
So if you like something "a lot of people" do it but if you are skeptical it's suddenly a useless feature. Figures.