[hidiegomariani]

I've a macbook pro 13' 2017 - It's the worst laptop I've used in the past 10 years. It continuously gets smoking hot lot of fan noise and very often kernel panics. I have lost faith in apple macbook especially when price to hardware ratio is higher than anyone else in the industry I expect the machine to just work seamlessly. I'm very soon disposing the laptop and buy a dell or a thinkpad. I'm not looking at apple again for a very long time at least for macbooks

[whywhywhywhy]

I have same model at work and even ignoring the keyboard the thing has been awful to use. The two ports are a complete nightmare making you have to juggle between power/screen and reliable storage (Tried 5 dongles, none can hold a drive reliably under heavy use).

Kernel Panics on waking from sleep almost every day, bluetooth chip crashes and requires restarts to get working again.

Not to mention the disgustingly low storage in the base model that my company thinks is fine makes the thing almost unusable for any semblance of "Professional" work other than being a journalist.

The design doesn't even feel modern and the bezels are janky compared to whats normal now on the windows side. I understand the new model fixes some of this, but they still thought this thing was absolutely fine to ship for several years now speaks volumes to me.

[corywright]

> Tried 5 dongles, none can hold a drive reliably under heavy use

This is something I've had a problem with as well on my late 2016 13" MBP, 2 usb-c port model. I have two external drives that I sync via rsync occasionally (1 local, 1 offsite). No matter what type of dongle I use, one of the disks always ejects shortly after beginning the rsync. Even with the Apple dongle, when I plug in one of the external disks via usb-a, and plug my usb-c power to the dongle, then plug in the 2nd external disk directly to the only other usb-c on the mac, it fails every time.

What I have been doing instead is unplugging the power cord and syncing the disks while running on battery. This seems to work, but the odd thing here is that about 50% of the time when I do this I lose my wifi connection as soon as I begin the rsync from disk to disk. Nothing I can do makes the network work again until after I unmount the external disks.

Having only two ports on the computer, one of which is also used for power, has turned out to be far more annoying than I imagined.

[akudha]

I don't understand why Apple doesn't give more ports. They removed the headphone jack in their phones, everyone else copied them (Samsung after making fun of it for a while). Apple makes repairing their machines hard by soldiering everything, others follow.

I hope other manufacturers don't start removing ports just because Apple does. Really annoying - why not just copy the good stuff from Apple, instead of their arrogant choices...

[artursapek]

They already are. My father in law's Microsoft Surface has one fucking USB port.

[bambataa]

I have the same and it’s making me want to move to a Linux laptop.

With the bluetooth chip, do you get an error when it crashes? Airdrop basically never works on mine and I was wondering if it might be a related problem.

[whywhywhywhy]

Nope it's completely silent failure, only thing noticeable is I think if I toggle it on and off in the menu a few times it will freeze coming back on. But rebooting fixes it.

But yeah AirDrop wont work in the state so it's likely the same issue because on a long enough uptime the chip crashes without fail.

[ilikejam]

Don't know if you're aware, but if you click the bluetooth icon in the menu bar with Shift and Option held down, you get a debug menu that lets you reset the bluetooth module - might save you rebooting.

[caribousoup]

Same impression with the 2018 15" MBP. Topcase was replaced twice, and a full exchange for the third repair, all within the first year. The screen is now pressure damaged everywhere... by gently wiping with a damp microfiber cloth? I'm certain it's a manufacturing defect, but I can't seem to find similar complaints anywhere.

I've been buying Macs for 20+ years, let's be honest... I'm not rage quitting and moving platforms. The productivity hit would be too much. So now the game becomes: waiting until the next full redesign to see if they fixed everything. The 2015 era was great.

For anyone on the fence, avoid all of these.

[70jS8h5L]

Same issue for me with the screen. It's been meticulously cared for and only ever wiped with a clean damp microfibre and there's small micro scratches, as well as marks from what I assume is it resting on the keys whilst closed. I could tolerate such issues with the old models safe in the knowledge that a replacement glass was fairly cheap - not the case anymore.

And then there's the degradation of reliability software wise. Way more regular crashes, bugs etc. Dodgy Bluetooth issues, WiFi issues, a bricked iMac after a software update, and way more (including the MacBook keyboard issue, which I'll need repairing).

And the support. I've had good experiences with Apple in the past, but a recent issue with my iMac has led to it being repaired twice, and still it's broken. I've been dealing with this since January. I've experienced faulty diagnoses, lies about consumer law rights for replacement (which they've since confirmed was incorrect on multiple occasions), they forgot to put my RAM back in, they scratched my screen, and now it clearly hasn't been assembled correctly as the speaker causes something to reverberate in the case, as if a screw's lose. My most recent interaction with a senior support advisor was the most awful of my life, and I've never dealt with such a confrontational customer support person. After finally getting a replacement machine authorised (for the second time in 2 weeks), it's been cancelled a further 2 times for "unknown reasons", leading to more delays. It's been a real nightmare.

Purely anecdotal of course, but I've had that many negative experiences with my Mac's in general recently, both hardware and software, that I feel it is not coincidental. The MacBook and Mac lineup in general is moving towards being too expensive for the joy and stability it gives me, and I'm very close to moving back to Linux after what has up until relatively recently been a very positive experience for almost a decade for me.

I really hope that the new keyboards are a sign of better things to come, but I'm not holding my breath.

[wusel]

In regard to the display: Yes, those marks come from the keys pressing against the display. Be careful how much you fill in your backpack with the MBP. My display looks very bad around the space bar (that is the 2018 "improved display"). Noticed that way too late. An Apple Genius recommended me to always have a microfiber cloth between display and keyboard when traveling. Not on a $3000 device thanks.

Heating/fan issues, double typing keys, too many "-gates" to count. I never had so much buyers regret.

[caribousoup]

Interesting to see your screen issue.

Mine in particular: bright white splotches. There are 12 of them at random locations. I get a new one every couple of months.

If you were to press your fingernail forcefully into the LCD, to purposely damage it, that's what it looks like. But I obviously don't do that... gentle circular patterns with a clean eyeglasses cloth, dampened with water.

[npalmer76]

Still on a early 2015 13" Mac Book Pro because I have hated everything they have done since then. I even bought one with a touch bar but found it so annoying and I hated the keyboard so I returned it and stuck with my old laptop. At least they fixed the keyboard now, but the touch bar I still don't want.

[caribousoup]

It's exemplary of how out-of-touch Apple has become. Most people either vocally dislike the Touch Bar, or don't care about it, because it offers such little value to overcome the real world inconvenience.

Same with external displays. People have wanted standalone retina displays for what, 5 years? Then 4 years later, we get a $5,000 display made only for a single market. All anyone wanted was the iMac sans computer.

Just, like... why? I don't understand their product choices. On any level.

[whywhywhywhy]

> $5,000 display

Ahh yeah the display that when you criticize the price people cried it was a great deal because it was up to spec with $30,000 screens. Then when tested it can't actually function where you would use one of those because it's not quite up to spec you get told "What do you expect? It's $5000 not $30,000"

So what do we have? Just an overpriced screen that can't be used for the professional work it was claimed to be for for YouTuber tech reviewers to show off with.

[mns]

I also have a 13" from 2018. No issues with it, keyboard works fine and used daily, having a shitty no name 40 Euro 9 USB port dongle, no errors, maybe 3 reboots in all this time. Love it for the portability and somehow like the keyboard. I also have a 16" at home, more powerful, love the screen on it, might seem weird, but I'm not sure which keyboard I like more at this point, I kind of got used with the butterfly. The only issue I had and it's a bit frustrating is with the sound since upgrading to Catalina, after a while it goes wild and connects and reconnects the sound device, especially with headphones.

As a long time user of a Dell XPS, I would never go back to that (poor bluetooth and WiFi support after 2-3 years, battery sucks after a while).

[dkmar]

I hope your MBP remains that way. I have a 13” 2018 MBP myself and felt similarly up until a week ago.

After evading all the issues that have plagued the butterfly-switched keyboards, I started seeing my “e” key repeating itself every so often.

I made the relevant changes in settings to minimize this, but I’m now seeing occasional repeats on both the “e” key and the “i” key (maybe once every 30 presses). Livable, but it worries me.

I think I’m going to look into their keyboard repair program later today

[whywhywhywhy]

Yeah the butterfly keyboard works absolutely fine, until it doesn't. Then one day your keys have dead zones, repeat or are unresponsive and all it takes is one dust particle.

This isn't a case where some are faulty some are fine it's a fundamental flaw in the design of the mechanism and it will happen to your laptop some day we know this because it was grandfathered into the replacement scheme.

[limograf]

Yeah - I've a MPB 15" 2017 and it is also the worst laptop I've ever owned. And it was to replace the MBP that was recalled (long after Apple had denied to me there was any problem and I'd sold it for parts on eBay). Nothing works on this machine! Bits literally fall off! I've got Applecare so the (horrible) keyboard has been replaced, the motherboard, the screen - on and on and on. Laptop of Theseus. I think it's compounded by how it's a MAJOR hassle to get things fixed. They can't even tell you how long it will take (except that it's weeks and there's no courtesy machine, pick up, or indeed anything remotely resembling customer service). I had to make four cross-county train trips to get it fixed last time. You basically have to buy 2 laptops and switch them out.

I've put off buying a new MBP because I just cannot face putting down three grand for something that probably will be even worse than this piece of junk.

I've had an Apple computer since I was 8 years old. I thought I was pretty much in for life but as soon as I can jump ship, I will. :(

[GloriousKoji]

I have the same model and mine is also riddled with problems, and I have trouble finding stable work arounds for.

With older laptops (PC or mac) if enough parts break I could either go remote headless server or tee-pee it on the ground with an attached and pretend it's a desktop.

Every part of the MBP has some sort of problem so nothing works. I just have to deal with something eventually failing after an hour or so of use.

[limograf]

I still can't get over the part where multiple keys just fell right off the keyboard. And you can't put them back on - the whole top case has to be replaced.

Sometimes you get a lemon - that's one thing, but this is a whole generation of machines. That seems new... Well, saying that: I had a 2006 iBook - the black one - and the battery ran so hot I still have the scar on my thigh (geek trophy!). Apple denied there was an issue with that machine, too, and the recall came way too late. So I guess it's a pattern and not a new thing, really.

Maybe the new thing is that I am actually genuinely tempted by the Surface. In 2006 there were no contenders.

[fab1an]

Same issues here with a basically maxed-out MacBook Pro 15" 2018. Worst laptop I've ever owned.

Sadly I feel pretty invested in Mac OS as an operating system.

[cactus2093]

Lots of piling on the hate, but I will add my own experience - no problems here with 2018 15” MacBook Pro at work. No keys have broken, though I know that is common, glad they’ve fixed it. Never kernel panicked, though my old 2012 MacBook Air used to occasionally, that’s still the only time I’ve seen the Apple gray screen of death. Doesn’t run particularly louder or hotter than I’d expect, if the fans are blasting it’s generally because the cpu is actually being maxed out, sometimes because I’m compiling something and sometimes because I’ve clicked a link to an average news article in chrome, but that’s a different problem and not the hardware's fault.

Overall, for me there's been no big dramatic declines from the laptops of yore in terms of day to day productivity and reliability.

[caconym_]

My work machine is a 15" MBP and I dislike it for similar reasons. The design is just totally unsuccessful at managing the heat generated by its components.

On the other hand, my personal laptop is an Air (2019, I think) and I have no such complaints—it's very stable and only heats up when I'm putting it under heavy (relative to its power) load. It also lacks the execrable Touch Bar.

I would guess that Apple's drive toward replacing Intel's processors with their own has a lot to do with heat. Will be interesting to see how that goes, but for now it seems like their reach exceeds their grasp.

[owenwil]

Same problem here on the damn late 2019 MacBook Pro I was issued at work – and now I'm stuck with it for 3+ years. Sigh.

[MemoryLeaker]

ThinkPad X1 Carbon is my dream I wish I wasn't poor :(

[jahlove]

I bought a pre-owned one a few years back for $425 on eBay. Except it was clear once I got it that no one had ever used it. If you look, there are a lot of business-class laptops on eBay that have minimal usage.

My Thinkpad is not as fast as the latest and greatest ones, but it's a pretty sweet device and I'm happy with the purchase.

[fluffything]

I have one sitting on a closet. It sucks too.

I am honestly astonished at how bad hardware companies are at incrementally improving their products. Every new "improvement" (new CPU) comes with a huge completely-unrelated drawback for no reason (horrible keyboard, touchbar, .......)

[artursapek]

The newer ones had heat issues, but my X1 Carbon from ~2017 is amazing and I have not felt any desire to upgrade from it.

[lighthammer]

Aside from my 2015 Macbook Pro, I have a Lenovo X230 right next to it running Linux. The older Lenovo Thinkpads are treasures.

[redisman]

I have the same one from work and I was wondering why it feels so much slower than my old 2015 15" and its because it has two CPU cores. I have no idea how they can pass this off as a Professional laptop.

[jherdman]

I'm in the same boat and agree completely. I haven't owned a machine this bad since the last Dell laptop I bought in the early 2000s.

[neop1x]

I still find it interesting that IT professionals are such "i-Sheeps". I mean Apple software is awesome, macOS, useful functions of Preview like adding a signature or notes to pdf, many other apps are polished and feel nice - but does it really give you an actual production improvements? I doubt it.

And HW is sooo bad in contrast. It looks like a toy. Overheating, it's either too hot (so some had to drill holes at the bottom), or cold to touch if powered off, pain to use due to bad ergonomics, hard corners, stupid ideas like touchbar, too tiny key travel, no upgradabity (RAM soldered), battery glued. Many decisions made just for the "keynote marketing show", to make it thinner again, one or two ports because wireless revution (like XDR monitors over WiFi?!). Overpriced slow and throttling CPU, every model looks almost the same, aluminium casing easy to bend, scratch, make dents.

Are you really purchasing those overpriced SSDs direct from Apple? Do you know you can easily buy and replace SSD? I even replaced the screen on my HP Elitebook G6 easily to get better sRGB coverage.

And then I see people saying "you can get used to it". Get used to dongles and lack of ports. Really, why would I need to get used to some bad design decisions on such an expensive machine, doesn't make sense to me.

Maybe they like CMD+C shortcut in the terminal. Ok... But something like that is possible on Linux too with Autokey and two lines of Python code to detect a terminal window (I use it myself). And I guess similar hotkey app can be set up on Windows.

I am sorry but I can't help myself. I see Macbooks more like a fashion item for not very technical people than the professional hardware.