lorin schultz

pscooter63 said:

KITA said:

[chest thumping]

No one living in the Mac Pro world gives a shit about the spec porn of some Windows gaming machine that’s also incidentally not as highly customer rated (see Amazon).

Right. As Apple users we've come to expect that having the kind of construction quality and inter-device integration Apple offers means also having to accept paying higher prices for equivalent performance because Apple enjoys higher margins that its competitors and having to wait for some newer technologies until Apple decides to offer them (or announce that they never will, like Blu-Ray back when it was relevant).

Apple users don't bother comparing specs because it's a futile exercise. We get what we get. Some of what we get is cutting edge, some of it is outdated. There's no point comparing to Windows alternatives unless one is willing to switch.

roundaboutnow said:
Isn't it possible to make the function keys display permanently in Touch Bar when using Protools? 

Yes. After I typed that I remembered the reason I carry a keyboard is for the number pad, for navigating memory locations.

Still, for reasons I don't completely understand, I have trouble with virtual keys. I quit using my iPad and picked up an old MBAir to use in its place because I found typing on the iPad so awkward. I seem to have the same problem with the F keys on the Touch Bar. I constantly miss the key and wind up with either the wrong selection or no selection at all.

That may be just me though, and not necessarily an argument against the Touch Bar. Personally I'm indifferent towards it. It doesn't particularly bother me that it's there, but I wouldn't miss it f it went away.

macxpress said:

CheeseFreeze said:

Really disappointed not seeing the 16" being upgraded to the 10th gen processors, ATI, or a better GPU. 
The 13" is a weird product. To me it seems you're better off buying the Air, because a "Pro" machine with integrated graphics doesn't really seem appealing at all.

Here we go with the what does Pro mean shit. Ever think that not everyone needs a dGPU? Even "pros"? If they did, they could always use an eGPU at their desk if they happened to need more GPU performance and also have a nice light travel laptop at the same time. 

Maybe it's the work I do, but I've never understood that reasoning. The whole point of buying a laptop instead of a desktop computer is to be able to work wherever I happen to be. The demands of my work do not magically become lighter just because I'm away from my primary work station. What I need the computer to do stays the same whether I'm in the studio or on a client site. To me, buying a machine that only performs well when "docked" seems self-defeating.

randominternetperson said:

neilm said:

ap1971 said:

Quick question. I need a Macbook Pro without Touch Bar.  Is any model available now? 

"Need"?

No, other than maybe old stock in the retail chain, or possibly a refurb — either of which would mean settling for the old keyboard. Not a good idea. 

Other than price, there's no obvious reason to prefer the non-TB version of the MBP. If you don't like the TB, just ignore it. It's not in the way. And with the TB you get the fingerprint reader, which is well worthwhile, and with this new MBP the physical ESC key has now been restored, which matters to some people.

Maybe he spends all his time emulating a VT-220 terminal and is addicted to those physical F-keys.  I'm sure there are 2 or 3 users out there with that use case.  Yes, Apple has "abandoned" those (niche) users.  Oh well.

As someone else mentioned, it's common for production software to make extensive use of the function keys. My bread-winner app, Pro Tools, uses them for switching editing modes, something I do almost as often as hitting "play." Not having them would significantly impact my workflow and productivity.

cgWerks said:

I can understand that all developers aren't going to want to go through the App Store, so if this is a move towards that, I get the concern. But, why not want to sign an app?

One reason may be the specific coding structure Apple requires for approval. It’s not just a case of submitting an app for Notarization, the app has to meet a bunch of conditions relating to how it’s written. Depending on how an app was developed, meeting those requirements may involve a lot of work.

Another reason may be that an app does something that Apple will never approve, no matter how it’s coded. MakeMKV comes to mind as a possible example. It converts Blu-Ray discs to MKV files. Apple is probably not going to provide its blessing to an app like that, so Notarization may not be an option.