Sigh...new computer time (I think)

electronpirate

electronpirate

Axe-Master
So, last night playing along happily with my 17'' MacBook Pro (circa 2011) plugged into the Axe III, jamming to Gavin Degraw 'We belong together' (the JCM800 sounds great with this.)

Computer screen goes blank, sound drops. It's an old computer, so I'm thinking the battery just misread that I had 62% power left. Play time (unhappily) aborted, upstairs to plug it in. Nothing, nada, zilch. Wait 30 minutes, give it a shot. No joy.

Maybe hard drive (probably not), video card (maybe), or motherboard (most likely.)

Today I run down to my local Mac fixit shoppe and queue for 45 minutes, spend another 20 minutes while they figure out how to enter in the serial number (arg!) Finally, $40US lighter for the 'diagnostic fee' I walk away to wait my requisite 2 days before they can tell me just how bad it is.

The writing is on the wall here. It's time. I've kept a stranglehold on this laptop because they no longer make the 17' model. But 7 years later, I can say I've pulled my money's worth out of it. (I had hoped that like corduroy, paisley, and argyle...it ALL comes back into fashion eventually...they'd realize their grievous error and resume production; no dice.)

I'll wait for the final prognosis, but I'll have to get a new MacBook.

I had to vent.

</rant over>
 
I see that. Nice.

I just don't want that annoying TouchBar. Surprisingly worthless 'feature' ever from Apple (or I'm just old and don't speak emoji...)
 
i recently got the 13" MBP with touchbar. definitely get a 2017 model with the latest processor. the 2016 has a slower one and it's definitely noticeable.

as much as i didn't want the touchbar, that particular model has faster components than no TB 13", and i figured out a way to make it the least irritating and actually useful. in short, i don't need to tap multiple times to turn down the volume and do other things due to how i set it up.

i had a 17" MBP a while ago too, and before this 13" i primarily used the 15" MBP - found a fully loaded model for around $1500 :O

i do miss the screen size, but these days i need portability more than a huge screen and it's worked out great. my 13" mbp is faster than my 27" quad core imac for many tasks (other than video export). the SSD and how they designed things really makes a huge difference.

i do NOT like the current 15" MBPs mostly because of the ridiculously huge trackpad. it's way, WAY too big. i don't know what they were thinking. even with all the palm rejection on, it's literally under your hands no matter how you type because of how wide it is, and i just don't like it. a few clients of mine have them, and we've done everything to try to solve it, but it still is in the way.

if you don't need a desktop replacement, consider the 2017 or later 13" with touchbar if that screen size works for you.
 
I just got whacked $350 to fix the backlight in my MBP. I bet it was just a blown fuse.
 
I think you can still buy a refurb older model from Apple. No touchbar, no "improved" keyboard, heavy AF. I dislike touchbar as well, but for a different reason. The text editor I use requires "Esc" key to change modes. Well, I could remap it to something else I guess, but choose not to. I hope Apple dumps this retarded touchbar and I can finally buy a computer from them.
 
FractalAudio said:
I just got whacked $350 to fix the backlight in my MBP. I bet it was just a blown fuse.
Click to expand...

I don’t know. Not sure I’d pay even that much to get it back. But $350 is better than 2k+. Just feel like I’m going to have to pay it someday. I’d rather buy a hollow body. But...

Seems you’re back on the air after your jazz fusion.

-R
 
electronpirate said:
I see that. Nice.

I just don't want that annoying TouchBar. Surprisingly worthless 'feature' ever from Apple (or I'm just old and don't speak emoji...)
Click to expand...
I have a TouchBar MBPro for work. Totally useless. I really miss my physical ESC key. Had to remap caps lock to ESC. I much prefer caps lock mapped to CTRL...
 
the Escape key is definitely the most difficult part of the Touchbar. i wish they left just THAT key as a real key, then put the other stuff on the touchbar. i do agree that it really isn't what anyone wanted on a "pro" level computer. anyone remember that DJ demo when the dude would scratch and mix on that tiny strip? yeah, that's exactly what they want instead of turn tables haha.

if you do have a touchbar, try this setup: go to System Preferences, then Keyboards.

Screen Shot 2018-05-10 at 2.28.23 PM.png

with these options, the touchbar will show the functions that used to be on the hardware keys - not the F1, F2 themselves, but brightness, volume etc.

from here, you can hold the Fn key to get to the contextual items. when that is the option and not the default, i find it much more useful, and actually use it. especially for video playing in safari - i can make it pop-out and stay on top of all other apps. and other apps with other options of course. but i have 1 touch access to the essential things.

from there, i can change what's in that touchbar as well - i put DND mode on there, Dashboard access, and some other things that help me out. couldn't do that with the hardware keyboard. the trade-off is the dang Escape key. but this made it much more useful.
 
Any screen i have to look down at to use is useless. Doesn't matter what's on it. I'm a long-time touch typer who doesn't like to take his eyes away from the screen or move his fingers far from home.
 
My 15" 2011 MacBook Pro fnally took its last gasp about a month ago, and I seriously considered going PC laptop for a while there, given the outrageous $$ a new fully loaded MacBook Pro is currently, not to mention ports and etc etc., but moving everything over to Windows...way too much hassle. Ended up buying a late 2013 refurb, cheap, works great and will easily see me through for a year or two while Apple works out its current line..
 
iaresee said:
This is the year for Linux on the desktop!
Click to expand...

They've been saying this for 10 years. I've used some very good distro's. Mint, Fedora, etc. They're solid, and I use them at work. Nothing still beats the integration of all my devices I have with the Apple products. I don't have to massage anything. Sticking with that.

I spent too many years of playing with Windows (drivers, inexplicable errors) since my (then) household 'knew' Windows. When I finally went over to a Mac, I wondered after a week why it took so long to make that change.

Not a knock on Windows, since they're doing MUCH better these days, but still Mac has integration down.
 
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