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> Devs generally aren't spending their days editing video or sitting in Maya and they are targeting those markets - people who need power but don't wrench into their OS internals or open a debugger when something goes wrong. Those customers are also a lot less flighty as long as their creative tools work.

But their requirements aren't much different to developers in terms of the machines. They need reliability most of all - a MacBook failing in a production location you've had to shift kit to or have performers at can be a huge concern. Dongle life makes everything harder for no benefit. They still need to type sometimes, even spaces or the letter 'e'! MacOS's development on emerging creative technologies like HDR is not exactly setting the world on fire.

I can assure you, there are a lot of creative professionals in outright dismay at the state of Apple's current laptop line.

I love Thinkpads but the trackpads, screen, and build quality leave a lot to be desired. Every Mac is the same level of assembly/quality but ThinkPads vary too much from one to another.

The prices for the high-performance models are almost as high as Apple and the power bricks are actually bricks.

I have a t490 with 500 nit display. 100% ARGB / SRGB. I haven't seen any macbook display that's sharp. Btw I have a personal 2012 Retina Macbook pro & a 2018 Macbook pro that I use for work for frontend.

How is the keyboard on the T490? I have a T460s at home where I like the keyboard a lot. I have a T470s at work, where the keyboard is a little less to my liking and I tried a colleagues T480s where it felt awesome again - so how about the T490? Can't really decide between T480s, T490, T490s or 6th gen X1 carbon.

sure, but the trackpad criticism is still valid.

The 2012 Retina displays are no less sharp than the best display on the T490. Are you sure you aren't just comparing macOS to Windows?

I'm the biggest critic of modern Apple notebooks there is, but I can't fault the quality of the MacBook Pro displays. They are, and have been for a long time, the best displays on notebooks.

> 100% ARGB / SRGB.

The T490 does 100% Adobe RGB? I'm impressed. Seems like Lenovo has been really listening to people complain about the horrendous gamut ThinkPads have been afflicted with for some time.

The modern X1 carbon does not have this problem. I’m using the 8th generation and the trackpad is very good, along with a screen that accomplishes full-on HDR, and much better color depth.

There are other issue with almost every ThinkPad, X1 Carbon included.

Speaker quality is a lottery with every model, and none of them are as good as the 2013+ MacBook Pro. Coil whine and electrical noise is almost a given from either the machine itself or Lenovo's chargers. The quality of the audio output on the machine is almost certainly not as good as that on the MacBook Pro.

Oh, and I can all but guarantee that the battery in a MacBook Pro will have better longevity than that of the ThinkPad.

You also have to pay almost MacBook Pro prices to get decent specs out of the Lenovo machines.

I bought a MacBook Air recently and the decision was really tough. Obviously the Pro has much more horse power but on the other hand: why would I need so much CPU and possibly GPU on a laptop? If I want to do some data intense task, it will be by far more convenient to run it on a remote server. The tasks run while the laptop is in my back pack and low CPU power means also longer battery life time.

Yes, the keyboards have high failure rate. But I mean Apple is not known for its conservative design. If I compare my new MacBook Air with most other laptops, especially old ones, those look like teleported from 30 years ago. The new keyboard is far better to type on and my latent RSI highly appreciates less motion necessary - slow SSH sessions punish me with double types but there are solutions, maybe Mosh (mobile shell) works.

People should also consider that progress means regress in some way. Most technologies advertised on HN have some serious flaws compared to the old school alternatives. But who seriously wants to go back to 90s computing?

I'm quite happy with the new laptop, it's perfect for development, it can be used anywhere, it can be charged with my phone charger (!) and the case is made of iPad Pro scrap, I couldn't be happier.

You tolerate a glitchy keyboard that double types? Madness. Stockholm syndrome!

Loads of ultra-portable PC laptops are perfect for development, can be used anywhere whatever that means, and charge with USB type-C making them compatible with a proper universal power standard.

Progress is not regress. Regress is regress, progress is progress. I'm sorry for saying this but it sounds like you're only convincing yourself that black is white in order to justify your purchase to yourself.

On a more positive note, Mosh was a game changer for me, integrate it into your toolchain, you won't be disappointed.

The laptop is 1-2 months old only but I had no problem with it. Indeed I had double types in an SSH session with a wacky AI cloud provider but IMHO that's a software problem. (And maybe in 2019 I should anyway rely on Job submissions, web interfaces instead of Terminal connections.)

> Progress is not regress. Regress is regress, progress is progress.

When I switched from Windows to Linux on the Desktop it was progress in terms of stability but regress in terms of application and driver support. macOS is for me better application and driver support but the choice of hardware is more limited. After all it's not just the laptop you buy but all the components, the components' abilities/driver support, the cases. I think the perfect computer only exists in the product owner's mind ;)

Have you had issues with the display or keyboard? I’ve had my display exchanged twice, and topcase exchanged 3 times now.

That's exactly it. That on top of the bling factor. Nobody buys MacBooks, all I see are MacBook Pros. Because of this Apple had to start catering the to consumers who care more about thinness and bling rather than utility. The pro device became a device for everyone.

I get why they'd like like to sell a pro device to more people. That's fine. It marketing world pro/professional seems to often equate to "better". If someone wants to spend an extra thousand to load the news a bit faster, sure. Apple will and should happily take their money, and they can repurpose product names in service of this all day.

I would like to imagine there's space in the market for a "pro" model that would feel markedly worse for the average consumer, and shouldn't be mistakable in its name for something that would serve them better.

I see this time and time again on Hacker News, and really don't understand why people seem to think that "pro" in any way equates to "developer" or to "someone who needs a lot of computing horsepower".

"Pro" means professional. The vast majority of working professionals, in the vast majority of professional fields, run Office, a mail client, a browser, and maybe a line-of-business app. Professionals regularly attend meetings, and like to be able to carry their laptop around without breaking their backs.

The needs of professionals are generally largely in line with the needs of the average consumer.

You can come up with 'professional' jobs that need more horsepower (people like traders who want to run 6 monitors, and software devs (although personally I don't understand why software devs really need more horsepower)) but those are most definitely the exception.

Yeah, but why not get a cheaper MacBook Air if you don't need the power?

Everybody needs a functioning keyboard.

< although personally I don't understand why software devs really need more horsepower

When i build test and lint the smallish piece of software i work on it can take quite a while. More horsepower means quick turn around cycle from "make change see result". Also sometimes i am running multiple VM or containers.

It really helps some developers out.

I don't think MacBook has been updated in more three years, so that might be part of the reason people aren't buying them.