* Posts by TTY

16 publicly visible posts • joined 27 May 2019

Complete with keyboard and actual, literal, 'physical' escape key: Apple emits new 16" $2.4k+ MacBook Pro

TTY

Re: non-standard OSen

The standard Windows is based on is that of sufficient ubiquity.

How bad is Catalina? It's almost Apple Maps bad: MacOS 10.15 pushes Cupertino's low bar for code quality lower still

TTY

No problems here

I'll just stop using the security and privacy features...

Farewell to function keys and swappable SSDs in the new two-port MacBook Pro

TTY

The touch bar is a gimmick no pro actually uses. Because apple has decided you shall not have actual touch or stylus support on the OS. But you can have this toy instead.

TTY

Re: Function keys are useless, good riddance

Long term user of function keys in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign. Automation using scripting and macro features is indispensable to real pro workflows. No pro I know manually clicks on menus to do things! Keyboard commands, modifier keys, function keys. Maybe the pro-wannabes do?

I don't have to save my work, it's in The Cloud. But Microsoft really must fix this files issue

TTY

(25 years ago) A design student halfway through her training had spent all morning working on a Mac in a teaching lab. Went to lunch. Came back to a class in progress. Wailed about her lost work. "What do you mean I have to Save it? I did it on this Mac and I did not turn it off." The screen saver had powered off the screen, so the next student just flicked the power switch thinking the machine was off.

TTY

Re: Nobody tells students nothing

Comes down to what the powers that be consider important. Embarrassment from bullying, yes. Kids learning the basics of an unavoidable tool, meh.

Stop using that MacBook Pro RIGHT NOW, says Uncle Sam: Loyalists suffer burns, smoke inhalation and worse – those crappy keyboards

TTY

Re: Not having a 'Plan B' is madness

On Windows, using a disk imaging software like Acronis True Image will let you image your entire disk, fast enough to use as daily incremental backup.

And it will restore to any recent hardware! Lock stock and barrel. no need to reinstall Windows or apps. Hardware died? Drive to store, buy a desktop. Run the restore, wait, and you are back up and running exactly where you left off.

Does the Time Machine restore to any Mac? Or does it only do the exact same Mac? Does it image the entire disk with OS and apps? Or just your files?

TTY

Re: "I could not imagine going back to Windows"

"If you're in the graphics industry you use Apple and there is nothing comparable AFAIK either on Windows or on Linux, so you have to stick with Apple."

Sorry no. I am in the creative industry and knows many who do. We all run Windows cos Macs are too expensive and unreliable (Apple can change ports, models, and software like FCPro at their whim; limited lifespan support for hardware parts, and price. The same priced hardware on Windows is always more powerful than that on Mac.)

All relevant industry-standard graphics, video, animation software can be found on Mac and Windows. There are platform specifics like Final Cut and Garage Band. But equivalent and often more feature rich options exist on Windows. Believe it or not, real creative professionals actually make a decent living running only on Windows. Mac is irrelevant, unless you need it as an ego boost.

TTY

Re: People are people

Even if Apple's hardware is of better quality, and that is dubious in my books (personal exp reinforced by Louis Rossmann) you are still hitching your cart to one single manufacturer. You will be subject to their design whims - touchbars, no touch on MacOS, arbitrary changing/removal of ports, changing software like FCPro for their own reasons.

What is of even more concern is Apple's move to becoming a Fashion Brand. Super profitable for them and absolutely an unfilled niche. But if you rely on Apple equipment for serious business, you are exposing yourself to huge risk as they trim and focus their hardware on the fashion market.

Remember when they summarily removed the xServer line and suggested businesses use a stack of Mac minis as their servers? That shows Apple's lack of interest in the business market. I dont blame them at all.

TTY

Re: Don't go back to Windows!

Windows 10 is very good. You owe it to yourself to have a serious go at trying to work with it for a few weeks or months. You may be surprised. I know enough people (who rely on Adobe for their livelihood) switch to Windows 10 from Mac and were astounded by the other side.

TTY

Re: No spare?

Could not agree more.

For the price of 1 MacBook these days, you can almost buy 2 Windows laptops. Or 1 good Windows laptop and a basic but decent desktop. I am still surprised many small business owners don't realize this.

You have instant redundancy.

Run Macrium Reflect or Acronis True Image regularly, and you can restore an entire setup instantly to any recent hardware. No reinstallation of anything.

But of course, you'll have to suffer the humiliation of not having an Apple logo on the back of your laptop at Starbucks.

TTY

Re: This article should be titled: How Apple lost a stupid customer! But, didn’t...

Assuming hundreds of thousands of replacements could be completed immediately is idiotic. Ignoring that, buying another MacBook when you’re not satisfied is even more so.

A business that sells and supports machines for critical business work would be set up to turn around these repairs quickly (or provide instant loans etc) - because they could be sued for causing loss of sales.

Apple is a fashion brand not set up to support critical business needs. They expect their users to wait for periods of time that would be acceptable to non-critical use, but that real businesses would not accept. Imagine if Dell, Lenovo, IBM etc telling their fleets of business users that their laptops will be out of commission for weeks or months. Or that out of the blue they have stopped manufacturing parts or supporting certain ports, or whole server lines... No sensible business would rely on a hardware manufacturer that does this.

TTY

This happened 30 years ago

Same crapple quality and service happened to me 30 years ago. With one of those Pismo laptops. Within 2 months of purchase for my small business, the internal display cable broke from opening and closing the lid. The HDD died. The battery was loose in its bay so the machine reboots when touched. Took >3 months for Apple to replace the cable, 6+ months to replace the HDD. Unable to access interior without expensive special screwdrivers (no Amazon then too!)

Bonus: Unsupportive vilification on online Apple "support" forums when I tried to seek answers. Apple finally provided a loan machined. A different generation what did not work with MacOS8 or my peripherals cos it was then USB not Apple Desktop Bus. No enough RAM to run my work apps. Useless.

In the mean time, I discovered:

* Windows NT4 and 98 we both faster smoother and significantly more stable than MacOS 8 or 9. That was a revelation coming from the Apple brainwashing.

* All the apps I needed for graphics work were available for Windows. They worked the same. Delivered same quality output. And were waaaaaaay more stable.

* For the price of 1 crappy Pismoshite, I can buy 2 better-built Thinkpads with faster CPUs, high res screens, more RAM and milspec resistance to dust and water ingress. Instant redundancy.

* I was free to buy from Dell and many other manufacturers. No more slave to Apple's inventory-limitations and crap service, or their arbitrary change to different ports with different generations.

* People on Windows and PC online forums actually acknowledged problems and provided support. Moving from a cult to a real support forum WOW!

30 years on, still on Thinkpads. The original one still boots up! And can still be used for real work.

Had a Dell briefly. Mouse button stopped working. Overnight pickup-fix-return. Compared to Apple's 3+ months for a machine that was 3x the price, this was out of this world.

Apple kills iTunes, preps pricey Mac Pro, gives iPad its own OS – plus: That $999 monitor stand

TTY

Re: Nobody mourns iTunes?

"they'd have also made our lives easier if they'd simply allowed Finder based transfer of files. "

What?!! You couldn't do this on an iPhone iPad?

TTY

Re: PowerMac (and cheese)

I bet a mouse, CD-ROM, USB floppy drive won't work on an iPhone. Those ipad keyboards that are supposed to make the iPad post-pc don't even have a touchpad.

I seem to read that direct mouse and usb thumb drive sort had just be allowed on ipads.

Apple reckons mystery new material will debug butterfly keyboard woes in latest MacBook Pros

TTY

Cheaper?

I can't quite see how a material change can fix a design flaw. Maybe nylon is cheaper?!