MacBook

Thu Aug 25 18:26:33 MST 2016

Enough said. "Natural" scroll is an abomination.

On Aug 25, 2016 6:16 PM, "Keith Smith" <techlists at phpcoderusa.com> wrote:

>
>
> Scroll.
>
> On 2016-08-24 21:14, Victor D Odhner wrote:
>
>> I retired from my *nix work early 2013 and have left technical
>> projects for people activities. I have used a Macbook Pro since then,
>> and love it for portability and ruggedness - yay SSD!, I've fumbled it
>> a few times when running, once on concrete, keeps on ticking. I have
>> not been a developer in that environment, yet have noted several
>> little breaks in compatibility that could trip you up. I'm sure there
>> are web sites discussing that.
>>
>> I still visit my mint/mate desktop periodically as my "real home." I
>> also use a Mac Mini at church running music apps, and that was a great
>> and affordable choice.
>>
>> We have bought the extended warranty and I enjoyed several
>> consultations at the Genius Bar, for other Macs in the family; now
>> those are mostly replaced by Windows boxes, largely second hand. (I
>> use Computers&? -- "Computers And Questions" -- on Tatum south of
>> Bell, true geeks who give solid service on not-new boxes for not-rich
>> clients.)
>>
>> Remember that Mac is a culture, designed for people with a twitter
>> attention span. Apple cares not at all about making this work with
>> other brands. Like M$ and Google, they want to own you. They nag you
>> to take new OS updates, adding features for better one-ness with all
>> your other Apple toys (I have none) and possibly breaking
>> geek-critical functions. And remember how Motorola users were
>> abandoned when they switched to Intel.
>>
>
>
> I wrote a research paper on Apple in about 1989.  That was when I learned
> Apple had twice failed to be backward compatible during upgrades.  That and
> the cost kept me away from Apple way back then.
>
>
>
>
>
>> So while a Macbook *is* great in a lot of ways, doing nice glossy
>> things and looking a lot like home when you're on the command line,
>> you might want to keep a Linux system warmed up to host some basic
>> functions that Apple can't make money on and therefore won't mind
>> screwing up.
>>
>> Good luck.
>>
>> -------- Original message --------
>> From: Eric Oyen
>> Date:2016/08/24 20:22 (GMT-07:00)
>> To: Main PLUG discussion list
>>
>> Subject: Re: MacBook
>>
>> who was screaming that the post was irrelevant? I certainly wasn't. :)
>>
>> At the end of the day, Linux still needs a lot of work to be
>> considered to be a viable desktop production environment.
>>
>> can you get quicken for linux? what about Peachtree? How about a full
>> office suite that can do the same things that MS office can do? what
>> about some of the other mainstream office and production apps? are
>> there many equivalents or direct replacements? THis is the primary
>> problem I have seen with linux over the years. great OS support, but
>> lousy where it counts.
>>
>> -eric
>>
>> On Aug 24, 2016, at 5:24 PM, James Dugger wrote:
>>
>> Short answer: Regarding Business productivity - My advice go with
>>> the Macbook Pro. Also I believe you can get a 13-inch with 16GB and
>>> a 500GB SSD for less than $2k.
>>>
>>> I switched from Microsoft to Linux on all servers and desktops in my
>>> former business only to switch the desktops to Apple products from
>>> Linux. Linux just doesn't have parody in new application
>>> implementations on the desktop where it mattered. And I haven't met
>>> a business owner yet who was willing to hang out in Linux until
>>> someone got around to making it work.
>>>
>>> Regarding the cost - My experience is the any of the professional
>>> line laptops in any brand end up with a unit cost of use less than
>>> their cheaper counterparts. The MacBook Pro is no different and is
>>> comparably priced to any of these lines when you spec the stuff
>>> inside.
>>>
>>> MacBook Pro is the developers choice because at any price it is the
>>> only product on which you can easily build a development environment
>>> for any of the other environments. If your going to spend $2k on a
>>> laptop it better work in all of the possible environments in which
>>> may need to develop.
>>>
>>> A question was asked regarding the relevance of posting this to a
>>> Linux list. How about this - I love Linux and develop products that
>>> are used in the tens of thousands of Linux instances in my company
>>> everyday... but I could write a book about how frustrating it is
>>> that I don't have the option to have Linux as a viable OS option on
>>> the desktop in a business use case, ironically in a company that is
>>> central to the use of Linux in an industry.
>>>
>>> On Wed, Aug 24, 2016 at 12:31 PM, Eric Oyen <eric.oyen at icloud.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> yes, as my old 2007 whitebook can attest. unfortunately, the
>>> software and some of the apps are no longer supported and getting
>>> anything newer on here just isn't going to happen. where does this
>>> leave me? well, stuck on old hardware that is becoming less and less
>>> useful as apps and web design make it harder to cope. At some point,
>>> I just might decide to put paid to OS X lion and do a full linux
>>> install on here.
>>>
>>> SOme of the features of OS X that I will miss:
>>> keychains (this password vault has been a lifesaver)
>>> apps that "just work" without having to tweak or prod.
>>> easy to use interface for the blind (voiceover)
>>> and just about anything else not covered by the above.
>>>
>>> SOme things I am looking forward to as I transition to Linux on this
>>> device:
>>> upgraded applications capable of new and interesting things
>>> support for apps that use GTK, perl, ruby, and other
>>> scripts/programming languages that can be easily adapted for the
>>> blind (hell, all the libraries to do this are built in).
>>> enhanced performance (linux still has the lowest overhead of any OS
>>> I know of other than OpenBSD).
>>> Security (windows still can't touch this!).
>>> access to utilities and applications not readily available on other
>>> platforms.
>>> OPEN SORCE
>>> mostly free (or low cost through donation) - I am willing to pay if
>>> my budget supports it.
>>>
>>> now, I have been a long time user of Linux (really since almost its
>>> beginnings) and also a longtime member of PLUG (one of the original
>>> steering committee members here!).
>>>
>>> Still, there is something to be said for an OS/machine that "just
>>> works". I just wish apple would hop on the Linux bandwagon and offer
>>> an alternative OS for those times when OS X seems too bloated.
>>>
>>> -Eric (founder of the Technomage Guild)
>>>
>>> On Aug 24, 2016, at 9:25 AM, Alan Dayley wrote:
>>>
>>> My younger son is still using my five year old 15" MacBook Pro. It
>>> has no problems. I replaced the hard drive with a Samsung SSD about
>>> four years ago only because I wanted the improved performance. The
>>> whole system as zero problems.
>>>
>>> My older son is now using my four year old 13" MacBook Air. It has
>>> had zero problems except that the battery doesn't hold a charge for
>>> more than 2 hours any more. Normal battery wear. That notebook spent
>>> four years traveling all over with me, almost every week in my bag
>>> going and coming from somewhere. The only physical issue is a few of
>>> the keyboard key tops are scratched down from my fingernails.
>>>
>>> I have run Ubuntu and Mint on both of the systems without issue.
>>> Though I confess to spending most of my time in OS X.
>>>
>>> I now have a four month old 13" MacBook Air. Has double the RAM of
>>> my previous unit. It helps. Buy as much RAM as you can.
>>>
>>> Apple hardware, in my experience, is both beautiful and durable.
>>>
>>> Alan
>>>
>>> On Wed, Aug 24, 2016 at 12:05 PM, Anon Anon <lokotejones at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> I have a MacBook pro I use at work. It's a Mac. It'll work. It's a
>>> bastardized bsd box.
>>>
>>> I haven't turned mine off in months. If you need a Mac, buy it.
>>>
>>> Why not try running mac os in a virtual box machine to try it out
>>> before hand?
>>>
>>> On Aug 24, 2016 08:54, "Keith Smith" <techlists at phpcoderusa.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> I'm strongly considering buying a Macbook pro.
>>>
>>> I'm a LAMP (PHP) developer. Currently I use Mint on a Dell. Both
>>> laptop and desktop. I do have a Dell laptop that runs M$ 10. Was a
>>> bad move upgrading from M$7 to M$10... another story for another
>>> day.
>>>
>>> The reason for my desired move is I want something that just works.
>>> I do not have the time nor do I have the expertise to maintain Linux
>>> Mint when there is an issue. For instance Dropbox does not launch
>>> correctly. I have a work around, but do not want to have to figure
>>> this stuff out. JoinMe.com [1] does no work completely on my Linux
>>> desktop and I need it so I use my Windows laptop. I can watch but I
>>> cannot become the presenter.
>>>
>>> Moving to Mac is purely a business decision.
>>>
>>> Up to this point I have bought cheap on sale Dell.
>>>
>>> I also need Virtualbox because I need to develop using PHP 5.6 and
>>> PHP 7.
>>>
>>> In doing my research I have narrowed my search to the Macbook Pro
>>> 13.3 or 15.4 inch models. I'm leaning towards the 15.4 since it has
>>> 16GB of RAM. I suspect with the SSD drives these Macs have to sing.
>>>
>>> My shock is the $2000 price tag. Yikes. I'm used to cheap dell
>>> hardware that I pay $300 to $400 for on sale. I can see Best Buy is
>>> selling the MacBook at a slightly discounted price.
>>>
>>> If I can be just a little more productive the Mac will pay for
>>> itself in no time.
>>>
>>> The other thing I like about the Pro is it allows for driving two
>>> external monitors. At the resolution the Pro provides that should be
>>> a lot of real estate give the laptop monitor makes 3. The only
>>> downside I am aware of is with the external monitors the refresh
>>> rate drops to 30Hz. I think someone on this list brought that up and
>>> they did not like that low of a refresh rate.
>>>
>>> I think I would find iMovie and Pages useful. And I could add an
>>> iPhone to the mix and utilize those benefits.
>>>
>>> If I buy the Mackbook pro 15.4 inch with 16GB of RAM what would be
>>> a reasonable life expectancy in a production environment? What would
>>> I be able to reasonably expect working it 12+ hours a day, day in
>>> day?
>>>
>>> Any and every thought is much appreciated.
>>>
>>> --
>>> Keith Smith
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>> --
>>
>> James
>>
>> LINKEDIN [3]
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>
> --
> Keith Smith
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