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Comment by WnZ39p0Dgydaz1 | Hacker News Reader

Do not go back to a Macbook. I've been using Macbooks for ~10 years and their quality has been going consistently going downhill the past few years. I usually buy a new one every 1-2 years. I'm currently on a maxed out 16 inch Macbook Pro. Can't even connect an external monitor because of heating issues. Unless I mod the whole thing with cooling pads.

The last two times I bought a new one I thought "Not happy, but let's give Apple one more chance because they used to be good and everyone makes mistakes" - Regretted it every time. Keyboard issues (went to the Apple store 6+ times), Touchbar issues and it's annoying as a whole, overheating, GPU issues with external monitors, Bluetooth issues, and more. Next time will be the first time (really!) that I'm not buying a Macbook anymore.

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If you’re having heat issues on the 16” MBP (or, IIRC any of the USB-C models) try plugging the power in on the right side. I know it sounds crazy but it makes a difference.

Also, since we’re on the topic, if you get weird wake from sleep issues with external monitors, I’ve found the solution (at least for my setup) is to always wake the computer from the Touch ID button.

With all of that said, obviously these are not perfect machines. But in truth my 16” (BTO, max RAM, lowish specs on basically everything else) is the best computer I’ve ever owned.

Whereas the MacBook Air is still amazing. Has a good processor now, good sized hd, no Touch Bar, Touch ID, light, great battery. Lack of ports is a thing but good thunderbolt 3 docks are about. Still the best laptop for me I’ve ever used.

I agree so long as you're talking about the new 2020 model wherein they moved towards the magic keyboard.

Did the airs ever change their keyboards to the bad style? In either case, yes the 2020. My main beef with airs before was the speed but the new ones, while not blazing, are perfectly fine for daily use. Hardly any waits foe the cpu whereas with previous airs, was a bit skimpy there. Also only talking about the best processor they’ve offered as that’s the only one I’ve bought because uhhh work was paying for it. :)

Yes, the second-most recent model had a butterfly keyboard. I’m blanking on the year, it was either 2018 or 2019.

My 2018 Air is great (except...keyboard). Don't rely on the review of the haters. If Apple has fixed their keyboards then you've got a chance to buy another great product IMHO.

Cooling on new Mac laptops is nearly-nonexistent. I'd wait for ARM (if that will even be usable for you) or go for a PC if you plan to do anything except editing text files and using SSH.

In case it helps: I had some initial problems when using a USB-C -> HDMI cable that seemed to go away when I changed to a USB-C -> DisplayPort cable. Might be worth a shot.

Why would you buy a new one every 1-2 years? My work MBP is a "mid-2014" i7 that I still see no reason to request a replacement for.

Heating problem only occurs when I use Chrome (a chrome problem maybe), debugging in a simulator, watch videos, play games. Text editing and emails are fine. I guess Macbook Pro is just a very productive machine :)

Just to contrast our experiences, I have a maxed out 16 inch MBP that I keep connected to 2 big external monitors for 8+ hours a day. Never any heating issues for me.

Me too, two 27 inch 4k monitors, although thats with the MacBook itself closed. I tried running with the MacBook open for 3 monitors and it started drawing much more power and the fans revved up and became audible.

From looking at the threads this is a known issue running the internal and external monitors together can cause excessive power draw even with just one external monitor, something to do with mismatch refresh rate between the built in and external display and the Radeon GPU power management [1].

I also had kernel panics coming out of sleep with external monitors connected and window manager restarts although they seem to have gone away in the last Mac OS release or two [2].

Also MacOS still doesn't support display port MST so usb-c hubs with two display ports only can mirror not two independent monitors.

Overall pretty happy with latest 16 inch MacBook but MacOS has had more power management issues than I am used to, very surprising and annoying, with the usual non-acknowledgment from Apple of problems.

1. https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/16-is-hot-noisy-with-an...

2. https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/constant-kernel-panics-...

Same here. All the problems I had initially with my MBP 16" and external monitors are now completely gone.

The fan does come on sometimes when connected to a single 4K monitor (my 2016 MBP 13" never had that problem). I understand it's because of the discreet GPU kicking in. I really wish we could opt to use the integrated GPU with external monitors connected.

Other than that though, this laptop has been exceptional.

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