WWDC 2012

[ped]

What flame war?

How else do you expect them to make it thinner? They need to custom make everything to make it fit into that kind of space. I don't really mind cause the amount of RAM they are making available is enough, and the upgrade price isn't as outrageous as I have thought it was on other products.

[RC-1140]

What I don't like about Apple is, that not only their software is proprietary, but their hardware as well. Have a look at this article: http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook- ... own/9462/1
I especially like the conclusion:

MacBook Pro with Retina Display 15" Mid 2012 Repairability Score: 1 out of 10 (10 is easiest to repair).

• Proprietary pentalobe screws prevent you from gaining access to anything inside.
• As in the MacBook Air, the RAM is soldered to the logic board. Max out at 16GB now, or forever hold your peace—you can't upgrade.
• The proprietary SSD isn't upgradeable either (yet), as it is similar but not identical to the one in the Air. It is a separate daughtercard.
• The lithium-polymer battery is glued rather than screwed into the case, which increases the chances that it'll break during disassembly. The battery also covers the trackpad cable, which tremendously increases the chance that the user will shear the cable in the battery removal process.
• The display assembly is completely fused, and there’s no glass protecting it. If anything ever fails inside the display, you will need to replace the entire extremely expensive assembly.

I will stay with ordinary notebooks with Arch Linux.

[ped]

The majority of people will either use Windows or OS X on their main machine, and both are proprietary. Even if the customer doesn't intend on using the pre-installed OS, most laptops come with one or the other of those OSes installed save for a select few. So in that respect neither side is better. You can still re-install whatever you want on it.

With regards to the hardware, they are trying to make the laptops as thin as possible, which obviously comes with some sort of 'compromise'. I'd already seen that article and I don't really see it as a bad thing because I don't tend to upgrade my laptops anyway, and only opened mine after they started to overheat to clean out the heatsink. 'Ordinary laptops' I have owned are made of plastic, overheat, and break pretty easily, dying within a couple of years. If the screen broke on the new MacBook Pro then I'd just take it to an Apple store and get it fixed for free. Unless you're an idiot who isn't careful with things that cost as much as that laptop costs it shouldn't be a problem lest there actually be something faulty in the laptop.

I guess I just don't see it as being all that bad. I know that I hated my HP being incredibly hard to get to the heatsink to clean it, and that I thought they should've made it much more accessible. Since then I have changed my view in that I simply hate laptops, and only own a desktop right now. My next purchase will be a laptop from Apple, because I think that I won't hate it and that they are actually built to last. If I don't get along with those either I'll probably stay away from laptops forever.

[Findecanor]

I think it was wrong of Apple to call it a MacBook Pro. It is just an upgraded MacBook Air with sharper screen and bigger battery ...

[ped]

It's got all the same hardware you'd expect to see on a typical MacBook Pro, so I don't see your point. The only thing it's really missing is the DVD drive, but that is mostly useless anyway.

[Charlie_Brown_MX]

[…] With regards to the hardware, they are trying to make the laptops as thin as possible, which obviously comes with some sort of 'compromise'. I'd already seen that article and I don't really see it as a bad thing because I don't tend to upgrade my laptops anyway, and only opened mine after they started to overheat to clean out the heatsink. 'Ordinary laptops' I have owned are made of plastic, overheat, and break pretty easily, dying within a couple of years.

It’s not a ‘compromise’: it’s quite obviously a compromise. Speaking about it euphemistically doesn’t change the fact that they’ve quite serious impacted the useful life of the machine by making it a sealed box. Just because *you* don’t upgrade your laptops doesn’t mean other people don’t. I’ve been using Apple laptops a long time, and this is the first one that’s made me seriously reconsider buying another.

I think it was wrong of Apple to call it a MacBook Pro. It is just an upgraded MacBook Air with sharper screen and bigger battery ...

Exactly. It’s not a Pro machine when it has next-to-zero upgradability. I could accept those sort of compromises on a MacBook Air because of the nature of the device, but they’re galling on a so-called professional machine, regardless of the resolution of the screen.

[bhtooefr]

To be fair, looking at iFixit's teardown of the lid assembly, it looks to be cheaper to assemble a whole MBPR lid than it would to assemble a standalone panel, and install it in a lid. (The panel's frame *IS* the lid on the MBPR.)

Granted, Apple won't pass those kind of savings to you if it breaks...

Anyway, http://www.anandtech.com/show/5996/how- ... es-scaling covers how Apple's handling the "the letters are too small" problem. Basically, 2880x1800 panel, running in a 1440x900 equivalent by default, just like the iPad 3 or iPhone 4/4S. You also get choices for 2048x1280 (1024x640 equivalent, with warnings that could break things) and 2560x1600 (1280x800 equivalent) that are scaled up (but if you're using those modes, your eyesight sucks enough that you won't notice the difference), and 3360x2100 (1680x1050 equivalent to match the old high-res 15.4" MBP) and 3840x2400 (1920x1200 equivalent to match the old 17" MBP) scaled down.

I ordered one (with 16 GiB RAM so I never have to worry about that), and there's plenty of hacks to turn off HiDPI support, so I'll be using one of those, to get a native 2880x1800 desktop. (3840x2400 actually is available, too. Glorious, but most likely unusable in reality.)

[Findecanor]

Ars Technica has reviewed the new MacBook "Pro", and confirmed my fears about the keyboard. (emphasis below, is mine)

Its layout is identical to the current MacBook Air, including the extra key in the F13 position that serves as the power button.

The feel of the keyboard is also slightly different. The keys themselves have a very slight texture to them. Key travel appears to be slightly reduced. It's hard to quantify, but there's definitely less travel than previous Pros, or even my 2010 MacBook Air. We wouldn't call this bad, per se, but it's something you will notice and may take some time getting used to.

[bhtooefr]

I played with one in the Apple store, It's far from the best laptop keyboard I've used (that honor would go to either the Dell Latitude CPi A, or the ThinkPad X60/X61 - I haven't used a buckling rubber sleeve ThinkPad in a very long time), but it's not bad at all, and it's better IMO than many recent ThinkPad keyboards.

Honestly, I'd compare it to a very short travel (like a little longer than netbook travel) Cherry brown, almost.

[ripster]

The travel on this iPad in split keyboard mode is minimal but perceptible.

I have fat thumbs.