So, answer me this, what do you NOT like about your Macbook? What makes you want to take a sledgehammer to that thing?
My MAJOR complaint is that I still can't hook up 2 external displays to it without resorting to some sort of ghetto USB video dongle. Just put a 2nd mini-displayport/thunderbolt on the damn thing!
I also don't like the fact that the full-size wired keyboard and the laptop/bluetooth keyboards have different layouts because of the placement of the Fn button. I would much rather my MBP have a full-size Ctrl in the lower left and Fn be moved somewhere else.
I've tried a bunch of the "window management" apps out there and settled on a combination of Stay and Breeze. Once you spend 10 minutes configuring them the first time you're only a few keystrokes away from OCD-level window-placement perfection.
- The fact that I still have to run a Windows VM to run some of the software that I use for work.
- Lack of good support for 3 monitors (Laptop screen + 2 additional). I'm currently using a Diamond BVU195 USB video adapter for the 3rd monitor, but it's really quite useless and I use it almost 100% for my instant messaging client.
- Exchange Public folder access is pretty useless in both the Mail app and Outlook 2011. Microsoft Exchange is actually to blame for this, but it's still an annoyance.
Minor Annoyances
- Having to use Command-c, Command-v, ..etc instead of Control-C, Control-V, .etc
- Mouse tracking speed is odd if coming from a Windows environment. I use a Magic Mouse and MagicPrefs to make the mouse work more like it does in Windows.
- Click & Drag on the trackpad is a little more difficult than I'd like it to be. It gets easier with practice though.
- It's pretty and expensive and I'm afraid of breaking it. Dropping my MBP is probably one of the top 10 things I'm afraid of in life.
EDIT: 1 more minor annoyance is that at full resolution I find it hard to read the text on the screen. I'm constantly either using the zoom-in/zoom-out feature in Chrome or holding down Control and scrolling to zoom in on the screen. Everything looks terrible (fuzzy fonts, skewed icons..etc) if you run at lower resolutions, so I stay at the highest resolution. Note: I admit I probably should have my eyes checked.
I'm sure there are other things that I just can't think of right now, but overall I'm very happy with my MBP and have less problems with it than I did with my Windows PC.
Not trying to be a mac apologist here, but complaints about OS X is not being able to run apps designed for OS Y, or using keyboard shortcuts from OX Z are kind of silly. My MacBook doesn't make toast, either.
Mine does make toast though - http://store.theonion.com/product/usb-powered-toastergift-bo...
You can just remap the keys to be the opposite. Map control to command and vice versa
Edit: Don't presume this for everyone.
For example, epoll is not supported (and I haven't seen a good epoll wrapper for kqueue)
That's really the core problem; on linux, all of the software on my machine is from the open source ecosystem and it tends to follow the unix patterns and work well together. On OS X, it was a mix of open source and what comes out of Jobs' Garden. It also meant that ports to OS X package systems were always behind linux.
I can understand your trepidation when using XCode to build things, but in reality I've never had any trouble using Homebrew. The packages are updated often, and if you want to contribute something, it's super easy (I've done it myself), since they're on Github.
MBPs are also really heavy. I'm using a 15" MBP from work--can't imagine what the 17" is like! When the time comes to buy my own personal laptop, I think I will get an Air.
No USB plug on the right side.
When hooking up to a 27" iMac and running audio through to the iMac speakers, the volume controls are on the iMac and not on the MBP. Switching controls back to the laptop also switches the sound to the laptop speakers. You can't win!
The whole MiniDP/Thunderbolt BS. Adapters are expensive. Apple doesn't even sell a MiniDP-to-MiniDP adapter to support MBP to iMac! I had to buy one from Belkin.
Lack of a docking station. I plug and unplug my MBP a lot and it's so time consuming. I wish I could just dock it and instantly have all my peripherals available to me.
I always hate to plug in my display and everything else at home and at work. Still can't belive Apple won't sell me an overpriced docking station....
Lack of a docking station -> I third this.
The other problem with the weight is that if someone brushes past and snags something (a bag strap, clothing) on the display, I get really nervous that the entire laptop will go flying. With my 15" MBP, I'm just worried about the hinge breaking, or maybe if the surface is slick enough, the laptop sliding around.
The Air has changed the way I use laptops and makes a noticeable difference in the weight of my purse every day, but some days it gets pretty nerve-wracking...
In the past, Apple has tried to push the hardware world into this new standard or that, and invariably have failed, and adopted the industry standards. Appletalk gave way to Ethernet (Yes, I'm that old). Various Mac busses yielded to PCI. They gave up on SCSI and went all IDE. They eventually buckled and replaced proprietary serial ports and ADB with USB. Intel replaced PowerPC.
Don't get me wrong. I love having Firewire, and I use it for audio and video. But I'd rather have USB3, because I have massive choice in USB3, very little in FW800, none at all in Thunderbolt.
Next, and similarly: Bluray. I know this one is more debatable, but I have a large library of Bluray movies. I'd love to take them with me and play them on my Mac. I'd love even more to have a Mac Mini with a Bluray drive, so I can eliminate my standalone player in my entertainment center.
- Optical drive was unusable if you had the macbook in your lap; slight movements would cause the disc to scrape against something in the drive. Somehow when I mention this to mac owners they get into a rant about how it's unreasonable to complain about this. Forgive me for trying to use a laptop in my lap.
- Loud mooing fan and other noises that were hard to identify.
- The magnetic latch put so much pressure on the cheap plastic that it would crack it.
- The cheap plastic would get discolored after a while of use.
- Trackpad was horribly inaccurate causing the cursor to noticeably jump if you had your finger over a certain portion of it.
I'm sure I'm forgetting some other hardware issues, the whole thing just felt incredibly cheap for the price. Biggest annoyance actually came from the mac communities and how defensive they got when someone would mention these problems.
The things I do not like about the hardware:
* Once you start doing something CPU heavy it sounds as though a jet is taking off from your desk
* I've already had to return one due to overheating
* Mine makes a _super_ annoying small "clicking" noise when you torque it in any way. It sounds as though two internal pieces don't quite meet, but touching the case causes them to meet and possibly "stick" (will happen when you push down w/ your palm against the body, click the trackpad, move it etc)
* My (annoyingly located) ctrl key pops off at least once a day. This seems to be due to my torquing it slightly when using it as a modifier key. All keys may suffer from this, ctrl certainly seems to suffer the most
* the stock hard drive is _slowwww_. This can not be over stated.
* There are no hardware lights which indicate IO activity (very frustrating when you are just staring at your unresponsive computer)
* All the ports (except CD) are on one side of the body
* The space between the keys seems to be a dirt / grunge magnet.
- Keyboard. For programmers not having Home/End/PgUp/PgDown are a major drawback. Even as a Vim user I feel the keyboard is still kind of wonky.
- There's no standard for 'cycle through document windows'. Some programs cycle using Ctrl-Tab, some using Cmd-Alt-Arrows, some Cmd-Shift-Arrows.
- Small Enter key (although I guess that's mostly an American layout problem, rather than Macbook specific)
- Finder sucks, every other file manager is $30 or more
- When coming from another OS the whole 'closing the last window doesn't quit the application' paradigm is really confusing.
- Cmd-Tab-Option to unminimize a window from the program switcher is the most RSI-friendly keystroke ever
- Two USB ports? On a $1100+ notebook? On the same side? Really?
- Package management does suck indeed. Even windows has a centralized 'uninstall this crap' list. AppCleaner does a good job though.
Probably a bunch of things I'm forgetting right now. I still love it, it's just that we are going through a 'phase'...
- Since 2008, uncomfortable edges (oh how i love the older macbook pro keys and body ...)
- having to clean the screen
- uses bsd getopt rather than gnu (the difference is that if you try to something like
$ rm foo -rf
then it parses -rf as if it weren't a getopt flag)
- the apple logo (which makes you look like a hippie character vis-a-vis the "professionals" who use windows or linux)
- PITA to deal with custom USB devices (I have a delcom 904005-SB led light + switch + buzzer and had to hack together a solution because libusb doesnt work well)
- Office can't compare to windows office versions
- poor bloomberg support
- the default tab order skips drop-down menus (can be changed, but the default bothers me)
The syspref way is:
Apple -> system preferences -> keyboard -> keyboard shortcuts
At the bottom there's an item which says "Full Keyboard Access". Choose 'All Controls'
I do that twice a day. I don't want to plug in half a dozen cables every time.
There are easy workarounds for Ethernet (WiFi) and mouse/keyboard (Bluetooth), but not for the other three.
It's ironic, because Apple invented the laptop dock with the PowerBook Duo, circa 1993. (I think.)
Not to mention, I really love working from a single machine. I used to do the iMac + MacBook 13" shuffle. Even with tools like Dropbox, it's next to impossible to keep everything synced. I don't want my 30 GB Aperture library syncing in my Dropbox. It's just much more convenient to work from one machine.
When you factor in that Apple sells more laptops than anything, I'd say it's a fair argument that there are a lot of people running a MacBook (Pro) attached to an external display, keyboard, mouse, and related peripherals. The lack of a dock makes this a real exercise.
I would think that the first problem could be solved by getting a decent cooling pad. You would think that a noisy fan would prevent problem #1, but I guess not. Not much we can do about that.
As far as displays go, I would barely be able to afford the Macbook, I won't be buying two extra monitors!
Does anyone have any tips on how to fix the fan problem?
Due to Mr. Jobs' pathological hatred of fan noise, Macintoshes always seem to run hotter than their PC brethren. Consequently when it's a hot day (like only 27°C) occasionally the screen of my 2010 MBP locks solid (check the Apple Discussion Forums for the phrase "Channel Exception!" to see how widespread this problem is). Frustrating.
Also the leading edge of the Unibody design is too sharp. Pretty but not good for the palms/wrists!
Despite having paid a high premium on this thing, it still can't multitask in chrome like my Sony Vaio, which I paid only a little more for.
Automatic switching of the display doesn't occur when I plug something into the display port, I have to toggle it manually usually.
The standard HD is still 5400rpm!
He's saying that the ctrl and the fn key (used to access the function keys instead of brightness/expose/volume/etc) should be swapped. I completely agree; I never use the fn key and my pinkie ends up bending for the control key.
(On OS X, control-click does the same thing as right-click, namely pop up a contextual menu, and you can only right-click if you have a non-Apple pointing device.)
lack of pageup/pagedown on 13"
I got a new 13" last fall and didn't notice until after the 2 weeks that they'd got rid of the mic-in, and now its software toggle on that headphone port (sound out or sound in). Really annoying, and I wish the sales guy had pointed that out, as I said I'd had an earlier white macbook (which did have that). I have a useless (to me) expresscard port instead of useful mic-in :/
I've gotten used to the swiping on the trackpad for the most part, but I miss the keys :)
That, and the crack in the casing under the right palm-rest (but I assume they've fixed that by now).
No support for more than one external monitor. Hopefully Thunderbolt will fix this.
The sharp edges could be more round.
Numerous small gripes about OS X, but that's not really a Macbook gripe specifically.
I've heard that OS X has some pretty good software.
one thing I still don't like in OS X is how you can't navigate menus via keyboard like you can in windows. I know there's some keyboard shortcut to focus on the first menu, but I prefer the alt+_ shortcuts in windows.
i use my MBP 15" (mid 2010) on my desk almost every day. i didn't know the underside of one's wrists could sweat so much. i actually look forward to opening it in the morning when i know the metal will be cool to the touch.
Anyway, I upped the minimum fan speed to where I still couldn't hear it but louder than before, and that prevented the computer from getting too hot and the fan turning loud. Since then, its been fine, except when running intensive applications (say, Starcraft or Flash video), but that's always temporary and I have headphones on for those tasks anyway.