Comment by gtf21 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by gtf21 | Hacker News Reader

I have a mid-2014 Macbook Pro which I love (although given Apple's direction I may switch to linux). I haven't found any hardware that really compares with Apple's products on build quality and just the pleasure of use (from the screen quality to the responsiveness of the trackpad and everything in between).

I normally have it plugged into a 24" Dell monitor but got rid of my Apple wireless keyboard and magic mouse because actually prefer having my laptop in front of me and the larger (primary) monitor above it so I don't have to move my neck/eyes along the horizontal rotation.

As for an environment, I mostly programme with node.js and use docker to contain my databases, rabbitmq, etc.. All my config is stored in my dotfiles [1] anyway so setup is easy (and I basically live in my terminal so homebrew + zsh + tmux + vim sorts my life out perfectly).

[1]: https://github.com/gfarrell/dotfiles

Interesting response when you state that you may give Linux a try given Apple's direction and then you list what you like about Apple's laptop. I wonder why you're thinking that other then the recent 'post' by some complaining about the new Notebooks. I recently purchased a new MBP 15 (up from a 2011 MBP 13) and the build quality is still there, the design of the new laptop is really nice and the screen quality is excellent.

To top it off the new MBP have a awesome trackpad and are very quiet (least mine is I have the 2.6GHZ 16GB 256GB SSD model) and even while playing videos on Google Chrome (which use to really heat up my 13 inch) my 15 inch is quiet and cool.

My feeling is that Apple have basically decided to pursue a "fashionable" path, rather than actually considering design as they used to (and also have abandoned their professional market). (1) getting rid of magsafe is a PITA; (2) USB-C is a PITA; (3) I think my MBP is the last one in which I can replace the hard-drive (or take it out if my logic board fails).

I agree on the build quality - they are still really nice laptops, but the price increase and trajectory of bad design in general (I think that without Steve Jobs steering him, Jonny Ive is incapable of producing genuinely groundbreaking work, and is instead coming up with some really egregious rubbish) are making me feel like jumping ship.

Likewise with OSX: the main reason I use OSX (oh, sorry, macOS) is not the OS itself anymore (which I used to love) but more the apps I can't really do without (basically just Alfred and 1Password) - for everything else I spend most of my time in the terminal.

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