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New The MacBook Pro I had for work was a gem
I'm not a gamer, don't do video production, spent most of my time in office apps and a browser. The UI was always crisp and responsive, the display was excellent, the external monitor was gorgeous and had amazing sound, the desktop remembered it's settings as I docked and undocked from various displays, the magic mouse did what it said on the tin, and it had lightning, USB, HDMC and an SDHC slot.

All of that seems like it should be table stakes for a business system, but it's not.
--

Drew
New And you (or your employer) paid for it
That particular vintage of MBP, which as you rightly observe was likely the ne plus ultra of Apple's mobile computing experience, cost roughly twice as much as a respectable Windows laptop. Of course it was superb. It was designed and executed properly, and priced accordingly. That's the Apple I loved. Premium pricing for premium kit. The Apple Cinema Display was a thing of wonder (although we should note that high-end panels from other manufacturers are now as good or better than the panels you get in iMacs and MacBooks, but at the time this certainly was not the case).

People will say "oh get a dongle for your sd card" but pro photographers are the sorts of people who carry multiple multi-kilodollar cameras to avoid fucking about changing things as far as possible. Any dongle is a massive "eh, fuck you and your workflow, we gots to make it thin!" to them.


And the magic mouse was shit, just like every Apple mouse before or since. Scratchy runners on the bottom instead of smooth-gliding teflon pads, a low profile that meant only people with hands like Donald Trump were comfortable with it, a touchpad instead of a wheel - great, only you had literally no way of knowing where it started and ended (and it did start and end). Still, at least it didn't have that stupid ball or squeezy sides of its predecessors.

God, I hate Apple mice.
New The biggest annoyance should be the easiest fix
And it should be more in MS's wheelhouse than Apple's: multi-monitor support.

People in offices dock and undock constantly. It's clearly possible for the system to remember different setups and where my windows should be. Every time it doesn't, it reminds me I'm using a second-rate OS.
--

Drew
New Come now
It's not like macOS is free from things that drive you mental.

And the multi-monitor thing is fixable in software. Ain't no-one can code me up an SDXC slot. Not even with the most kanbaniest, scrummiest, agile-iest web 3.0.js frameworks there are.

And this:

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/yw9qk7/macbook-pro-software-locks-prevent-independent-repair

This is some spectacular bullshit, right there. And Apple solders your fuckin' hard disk to the motherboard. Say that out loud.

I'd switch to Linux, but...

...fuck. Have you USED Linux lately? You got two choices of desktop: some weird shit that makes no sense (oh hai Ubuntu, didn't see you there) or a Windows XP knockoff (KDE, how ya doin? Been a while!) or some reductionist thing that lets you 'pute like it's 1995 (Open/flux/blackbox! My MAN!) or another Windows XP knockoff (Cinnamon, you're looking well!). And then you get to use a CLI that was designed in 1970 and looks like it.

Computers are all shit.

Burn them all to the ground.
New I know it's fixable in software, that's why it's mind-boggling that they don't
Don't get me wrong, I'm fan-boi-ing on the current raft of bullshit they're peddling. Just saying that I've seen the mountaintop, and I'm frustrated that no one seems to be serving that up any more.
--

Drew
New MacOS is the only usable desktop UNIX
And TBH I don't notice the ports issue since I never, ever use SD cards.

Well, that's not 100% true: I have an old MOTU MicroLite with the original Firewire connection, but I'm not going to be able to attach that to anything modern without a dongle of some kind or other.

Other than that my two monitors have USB-C connectors permanently attached, the mouse is wireless, and my work keyboard has a tiny USB adapter on the end of its cable. Not especially burdensome.
Regards,
-scott
Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson.
New Good point
If you've got USB-C to the monitor, and the monitor has ports, does it matter what's on the laptop?
--

Drew
New Not quite what I have
I have a DVI->USB-C adapter on both monitors. A monitor with USB-C onboard that could convert to other ports would be useful as well.

I bought a multi-port dongle thing for my MacBook Pro (it has HDMI and a few older USB ports on it) but I don't use it at all, except maybe when I have an extra USB thing I want to attach and I need 5 ports.
Regards,
-scott
Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson.
New Yeah, but that's kinda the point
USB-C is like tits on a fish to a pro tog, you know, the kind of halo user that Apple wants to be able to point at and say "Hey! you, there! you with all the gear and no idea! actual pro photographers use our stuff! You should, too!"

I completely understand that a software dev doesn't give a stuff.
New Our creative people don't care either
Video and art production don't really need all of the ports either, at least here. Dunno about people making actual reels though.
Regards,
-scott
Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson.
New Never thought much about this before this thread, but ...
I prefer a dock has all the ports, so I only have to pick up and go. I don't want to plug everything in to the laptop. Most of the Windows lappers I've gotten at work have a dock port on the bottom. I've never seen that on a Mac. Does that exist?
--

Drew
New I wish Macs had docks.
I've used Dell laptops with docks and it works so well. Obviously a lot of people agree because Dell and others have been making them for a long time! Current Dell USB-C one seems to have a zillion sockets of all shapes and sizes.

Not Apple, though. My work one has power, two displays and an external keyboard. It's mildly annoying. Some people are in and out of meetings so much they never use more than the power supply at their desk.

Wade.
New OTOH...
I have a Dell E7450 laptop that's may main machine, with docks at home and work. I've had irregular problems with the one at work - the dual monitors will suddenly go black, the machine will reboot, come up saying "something's wrong, let me repair Windows or reboot?" (I always choose Reboot), then things are fine.

Until it happens again.

I think I figured out yesterday that the laptop angle in the dock wasn't quite right and putting some shims under it seems to have fixed the problem.

Isn't Apple's philosophy to have a USB port to allow a USB hub, and a Thundermumble port for a dock for everything else? It should be more robust than the eleventy thousand tiny pins used in typical PC laptop docks.

We've got a USB hub for peripherals for J's MBP in her office. It works fine (scanner, keyboard, mouse, etc.).

Presumably all this stuff is going to be wireless one of these days anyway (especially stuff from Apple).

Cheers,
Scott.
New Re: The MacBook Pro I had for work was a gem
My 2009 MB Pro, with its original RAM quadrupled and its original HD swapped out for a nice SSD, is a real workhorse. To this day, it does everything I need it to on the road. Of course, retired as I am, I seldom have to call upon it. But damn, for an elderly platform, it certainly rewards me the original and subsequent expenditures.

cordially,
     macOS Mojave ver 10.14 is available. - (a6l6e6x) - (19)
         Are they getting faster? -NT - (static) - (1)
             Not anything noticeable. -NT - (a6l6e6x)
         I picked the Dark profile as well - (Bman)
         Metal deficiency - (rcareaga) - (15)
             Annoying but inevitable - (pwhysall) - (14)
                 The MacBook Pro I had for work was a gem - (drook) - (13)
                     And you (or your employer) paid for it - (pwhysall) - (11)
                         The biggest annoyance should be the easiest fix - (drook) - (10)
                             Come now - (pwhysall) - (9)
                                 I know it's fixable in software, that's why it's mind-boggling that they don't - (drook)
                                 MacOS is the only usable desktop UNIX - (malraux) - (7)
                                     Good point - (drook) - (1)
                                         Not quite what I have - (malraux)
                                     Yeah, but that's kinda the point - (pwhysall) - (4)
                                         Our creative people don't care either - (malraux)
                                         Never thought much about this before this thread, but ... - (drook) - (2)
                                             I wish Macs had docks. - (static) - (1)
                                                 OTOH... - (Another Scott)
                     Re: The MacBook Pro I had for work was a gem - (rcareaga)

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