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from the renewed-interest-in-Compaq-Portable-computers dept.
Submitted via IRC for AndyTheAbsurd
The pursuit of thinner, lighter laptops, a trend driven by Apple, means we have screwed ourselves out of performance.
Over the last few days we’ve seen outcry about Apple’s new MacBook Pro, which offers an optional top-end i9 processor, and how its performance is throttled to the point of parody as the laptop heats up over time.
Sparked by a video from YouTuber Dave Lee, who demonstrates that the only way to get Apple’s quoted performance from the MacBook Pro is by keeping it in a refrigerator, the outcry has been brutal.
Thousands of comments on the video say things like “Wow if it cant even maintain stock speeds that's pretty sad” and “Apple should offer a fridge that goes with the Macbook i9,” but the sobering reality is that this practice is normal across laptops—we’re just starting to see it more often.
[...] If Pro users really were Apple’s target market, the company could redesign these laptops to use the older, thicker MacBook Pro form factor from 2015. With that available space, and improvements in processor design, it would be able to better cool the same hardware and squeeze out more performance—but it’ll never happen. Thicker laptops would mean admitting failure.
Thinner and lighter is great, and if we’re honest, we’re all sucked in by the allure. The unfortunate reality for those of us that need these machines for work is that it’s just not good enough, and we’d welcome thicker machines in exchange for hardware that isn’t constrained by heat. Apple insists these new MacBooks are for ‘pro users,’ and while it has some of the best-in-class hardware design out there today, it simply doesn’t hold up if you push them hard enough.
The MacBook Pro isn’t designed for pro users at all, it’s a slick marketing machine designed to sell to the wealthy ‘prosumer’ that wouldn’t notice anyway. That much has been clear since the introduction of the Touch Bar and death of the SD slot—and it’s making a ton of money anyway.
Source: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/9kmkve/thinner-and-lighter-laptops-have-screwed-us-all
(Score: 2, Interesting) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday July 25 2018, @06:19PM (6 children)
I'm really not. You simply don't know what a power user is.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 26 2018, @01:54AM (3 children)
What you are TRYING to say is a user who requires massive computational resources. I would argue that all the CGI folks who require insane hardware specs are probably pretty far from power users, most of them are more artistic than technical. Then there are users who know a ton of technical info, are comfortable in multiple environments and code all the time. I would call those people power users, they know their way around many systems. They don't all necessarily require the most heavy duty machines.
Researchers use actual super computers and I would consider very few of them to be power users.
So the phrase even works for business software specialists, seems that as usual you THINK you know what you're talking about but in reality you're wrong as can be. Try again little cream puff.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday July 26 2018, @02:09AM (2 children)
Thanks for (incorrectly) telling me what I'm trying to say.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 26 2018, @04:43AM (1 child)
I get it, your brain can't distinguish when it is paying too much attention to the lower rear area of your body. This causes communication errors and being a narcissist you are unable to walk things backwards to clarify anything. I blame the Russians for trolling the net so hard it seems to have rubbed off on you in ways you're still trying to parse.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday July 26 2018, @10:50AM
If you had an ass as sweet as mine, you'd pay attention to it too.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 26 2018, @07:02AM (1 child)
so what is a power user?
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday July 26 2018, @10:50AM
See below a ways.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.