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Those that have bought new MacBooks lately - How do they stack up to machines from 2013 or thereabouts? I've a late 2013 quad core i7 (2.3) with 16gb. It's always been more than capable, and still runs really, really well except for the fact I can no longer call it a laptop. The battery only holds a couple of hours of charge and it runs super hot - as in, will literally burn your legs hot. |
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elstoof 28,126 posts
Seen 7 hours ago
Registered 16 years agoI’ve got the same late 2013 i7 with 16gb, still use it and the kids use it pretty much daily. There’s a few things about it I prefer to the 15” I bought last year, and for everyday stuff it’s almost as snappy as the newer machine. The screen is just as good in real terms. The new trackpad is comically massive but you get used to it, then the old one seems absolutely tiny. The sound from the speakers is much improved, usb C isn’t much of an issue any more, but you’ll still need a dongle for the foreseeable future. Only you’ll know if you need the extra power or battery life, but if I didn’t need another laptop last year I’d still be more than happy with my late 2013 for another year or two -
@elstoof Have you noticed any of the heat issues at all? I'm wondering if my battery has just given up the ghost (despite the charge cycles being well within limits).
My kids have been using the MacBook for school work too, especially since lockdown, and it has shone a light on my thoughts on what I should get in terms of tech in the near future. At almost 10 years old, the eldest is certainly going to have a requirement for homework on a mac/pc soon and I'd rather pass on old gear to them and get myself something shiny, that's for sure.
I was pretty convinced I wanted to go the iPad Pro/keyboard/Pencil route, but the cost is the same as a 13" macbook pro... -
Fake_Blood 11,093 posts
Seen 1 day ago
Registered 12 years agoelstoof wrote:
It's only a small thing, but regarding the extra click to adjust volume and brightness, when you click to select the brightness or volume controls you can just keep your finger down in that spot even though the slider pops up more to the left.
TheSaint wrote:
Not really, the novelty wore of fairly quickly. All it really does is offer another way to do something on screen like switch tabs or scrub through video, except when your eyes are on the screen and finger is on the pad it takes longer to move your hand and eyes to the touchbar than it does to just move the cursor. Worst thing about it is it takes an extra click to adjust volume and brightness, I get the sentiment behind it but it’s a solution looking for a problem tbh, I’ve set mine to display the old-fashioned control strip permanently so it’s just an expensive set of oled buttons
Does anyone actually use the touchbar? It just seems totally pointless. My MacBook Pro is starting to get a bit old but I’m really not sure what I would replace it with. Quite tempted to mix it up and go for a surface. -
Phattso 27,426 posts
Seen 8 hours ago
Registered 18 years agoYeah - it really depends on your use-case. There are shortcuts around a lot of the commonly complained-about elements (like the extra tap for volume and brightness), and small tweaks to workflows can make it a lot more useful.
The most recent revision that has the hardware ESC key, however, is clearly what they should've done from the start. I've made my peace with it, but it was needless.
Where it really pays off for me is on a multi-monitor setup, where actually it is very much NOT less effort to get the cursor to where it might need to be. I can tab to the app I want and access the shortcut bar much faster. Admittedly I'm a dev most of the day, which is a specific use case, but it makes the abominations that are Android Studio, Xcode, PyCharm et al far smoother.
For day to day office style tasks, and people who spend most of the day in a single app, then sure - there's probably not much benefit. -
elstoof 28,126 posts
Seen 7 hours ago
Registered 16 years agobinky wrote:
Can’t say I’ve noticed heat on either, but I rarely use a laptop on my lap. My kids do and they haven’t mentioned it, I’ll see next time I have a session on it - I don’t really use a computer for work.
@elstoof Have you noticed any of the heat issues at all? I'm wondering if my battery has just given up the ghost (despite the charge cycles being well within limits).
My kids have been using the MacBook for school work too, especially since lockdown, and it has shone a light on my thoughts on what I should get in terms of tech in the near future. At almost 10 years old, the eldest is certainly going to have a requirement for homework on a mac/pc soon and I'd rather pass on old gear to them and get myself something shiny, that's for sure.
I was pretty convinced I wanted to go the iPad Pro/keyboard/Pencil route, but the cost is the same as a 13" macbook pro...
I always like the idea of an iPad but the one I got a few years ago was hardly touched and lives in a drawer, my phone is my most used device by far and I’d rather surf the net using that than a laptop or tablet. If I have to do any proper tasks then it’s full computer as I just know how they work in terms of file locations etc, how to upload to web hosts and all that shit, an iPad seems to me to have all the downsides of each without any of the benefits.
Also, that iPad 3 I got in 2012 was replaced 6 months later and they stopped supporting it in 2016 which is a bit shit when I’m used to getting at least 7/8 years out of a MacBook
Edited by elstoof at 13:24:56 05-05-2020 -
Derblington 35,161 posts
Seen 2 days ago
Registered 17 years agoiPadOS is the game changer for bridging the laptop/tablet gap. It still won’t suit people that need full laptop functionality but if youve ever thought about the benefits of a tablet and it wasn’t close enough (which it really wasn’t) then it’s worth having a look at. -
Armoured_Bear 31,234 posts
Seen 1 day ago
Registered 10 years agoerasr wrote:
Why is it better browsing on an iPad pro than on a Macbook?
My iPad Pro 2018 has had more use than my phone or MacBook for browsing. I also used to think the iPad was a waste and much preferred my phone.
iPad Pro changed that. It’s the best Apple device over ever owned, and I’ve had a lot. The new iPhone will be using the same design. It’s beautiful to hold. Browsing the net on it is so much better than phone or MacBook. . -
Zerobob 3,019 posts
Seen 7 hours ago
Registered 12 years agoArmoured_Bear wrote:
I'd also be interested to know why. I'm not saying the iPad isn't better, but it surely depends on what you're doing. General lightweight browsing of news sites, social media and the like, yes, I imagine it could be better than desktop. Using a form-heavy site with lots of typing - such as booking flights - or anything that requires constantly switching between multiple tabs, and I'm a little doubtful.
erasr wrote:
Why is it better browsing on an iPad pro than on a Macbook?
My iPad Pro 2018 has had more use than my phone or MacBook for browsing. I also used to think the iPad was a waste and much preferred my phone.
iPad Pro changed that. It’s the best Apple device over ever owned, and I’ve had a lot. The new iPhone will be using the same design. It’s beautiful to hold. Browsing the net on it is so much better than phone or MacBook. .
I personally find the iPad Pro quite cumbersome to use. It's well built and solid, and the screen and touch input is fantastic - as with all Apple devices - but it's a bit of a lump that you constantly have to keep propped up. I prefer a Macbook that's roughly the same weight but naturally can self-support itself, whether it's on a desk, coffee table, or sitting on top of you on the sofa. -
elstoof 28,126 posts
Seen 7 hours ago
Registered 16 years agoI guess the magic keyboard solves a lot of those issues, but at that point it’s just a kind of gimped laptop -
Derblington 35,161 posts
Seen 2 days ago
Registered 17 years agoIt really depends what your usage is.
There’s nothing I can’t do on my iPad/magic keyboard that I used a laptop for, but I get the tablet functionality too, so it’s more of a pimped laptop.
The only thing that I’m slightly hindered with right now is Remote Desktop, but I would expect that to change shortly when they update for the trackpad.
Edited by Derblington at 13:00:41 07-05-2020 -
Tonka 31,980 posts
Seen 20 hours ago
Registered 18 years agoHow well does Figma or TinkerCad work with the magic keyboard? -
Derblington 35,161 posts
Seen 2 days ago
Registered 17 years agoThat’s why I like the magic keyboard. The iPad is held in place by strong magnets, so the transition from “MBP” to iPad is seamless when I want, which is mostly reading comics and sketching. If it want to type or browse (with trackpad) or watch Netflix it goes back onto the case.
I took a look at the design software Tonga mentioned but didn’t sign up. I can’t see why they wouldn’t work though, unless you’re heavily dependent on F keys for some reason.
There’s definitely a little learning curve to iPad-as-a-laptop use as you do still rely on the touch screen or physical buttons for a couple of things (volume and mute, mainly) but it’s super simple after a couple of minutes. -
Tonka 31,980 posts
Seen 20 hours ago
Registered 18 years agoBoth figma and TinkerCad were hopeless without a mouse. But I like them both as they are 100% webapps. No installation needed, everything stored in some server farm. All accessible from anything that has a decent browser.
It's the kind of future I'm hoping for and iPads are popular, so if they run with the keyboard then that future becomes more plausible. -
Derblington 35,161 posts
Seen 2 days ago
Registered 17 years agoThey’ll run exactly the same as on a MBP/Air. If the trackpad isn’t good enough then you’ll need to pair a mouse. -
ozthegweat 2,977 posts
Seen 11 hours ago
Registered 10 years agoDerblington wrote:
You can move the cursor to the top right corner (where the battery icon is) and continue moving it upwards past the screen edge to open Control Center, where you can change the volume.
you do still rely on the touch screen or physical buttons for a couple of things (volume and mute, mainly) -
Derblington 35,161 posts
Seen 2 days ago
Registered 17 years agoSame with swipe over on the side of the screen but It’s much quicker to just reach for the buttons on the top of the iPad.
There are options though, yeah. -
Armoured_Bear 31,234 posts
Seen 1 day ago
Registered 10 years agoI'm patiently waiting for the new iMacs, expecting to be utterly disappointed with a shitty speedbump but I'd love, love, love it to look like this -
elstoof 28,126 posts
Seen 7 hours ago
Registered 16 years agoAbout as much chance as them bringing back the G4 Cube -
beastmaster 22,373 posts
Seen 2 days ago
Registered 17 years agoWhen would the new iMacs launch? I’ve had mine a good few years now and the latest ones don’t seem like too huge of an improvement. -
Armoured_Bear 31,234 posts
Seen 1 day ago
Registered 10 years agobeastmaster wrote:
They're well overdue an update, WWDC is in 5 weeks and the order time for iMacs is long so there are lots of rumours about an imminent update.
When would the new iMacs launch? I’ve had mine a good few years now and the latest ones don’t seem like too huge of an improvement.
It'll just be a speedbump no doubt. -
Zerobob 3,019 posts
Seen 7 hours ago
Registered 12 years agoThere are always rumours about future updates to Mac products, and there's nothing to guarantee the new product, that you've diligently waited for, will be better than the old product.
There's also nothing to guarantee Apple will drop the price of the old product... When Apple introduced the 2016 Macbook Pro they simultaneously ruined the product and put their prices up across the range.
My philosophy is always just buy whatever's good now (if there is a product you like currently) rather than wait for what might be around the corner.
Apple really surprised me with the 16" MacBook Pro, which improves over the old 15" in many different ways, with no controversial design decisions in sight, although a chassis refresh was long overdue, and the previous 15" had a multitude of issues, an not worth buying in my eyes. This could be a sign that Apple are starting to take their Mac lineup seriously again though.
If the iMac is due a chassis refresh, and has widely reported issues (ie. there isn't one worth buying at the moment) then you've got nothing to lose by waiting. Otherwise, I'd just buy a current iMac.
Edited by Zerobob at 11:16:32 11-05-2020 -
elstoof 28,126 posts
Seen 7 hours ago
Registered 16 years agoYou’d be a mug to buy an iMac right now, it’s been 419 days since the last release with an average of 383 days between updates -
beastmaster 22,373 posts
Seen 2 days ago
Registered 17 years agoToday from 6pm.
I do think the redesigned iMac won't have that "wow" factor. It'll just look like an iPad Pro. I'm really hoping they'll do something extremely swish with it though. I'm using the standard magic keyboard with my iMac but I'd love one which was backlight.
Maybe get a new version of the Apple TV with a new remote.
Other than that, I don't really care. -
Derblington 35,161 posts
Seen 2 days ago
Registered 17 years agoApple TV would interest me. -
smemma 789 posts
Seen 9 hours ago
Registered 13 years ago@beastmaster apparently they’re not showing any new hardware today - change of plan! Really hope that’s wrong though, as new iMacs are so long overdue -
Armoured_Bear 31,234 posts
Seen 1 day ago
Registered 10 years agoThis format is so much better , no whipping and hollering.
A lack of cock so far. -
What exactly do people want in a new Apple TV that the 4K doesn’t do?
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