Laptop Keyboards

[Ace]

Obviously not. The Surface Pro 4 has yet to be announced, much less released.

[andrewjoy]

The only aspect in which the Air is superior is it's raw power.

Raw power
Price
Larger screen ( i admit lower res tho)
more port options (can charge it and have a monitor and a keyboard)
more powerful graphics
larger battery (admittedly the macbook's processor has a much lower TDP, but at idle ? don't think there will be that much difference)

Do we know if the type c power adaptor has a mag safe style connector ? If not that is another HUGE hit for it, i would have had to replace my old macbook several times by now if not for that amazing power jack.

[Muirium]

Definitely not MagSafe on this one. The journos were complaining about it from the test area.

Oddly enough, I've never pulled a laptop to the floor by its power cable. But I have had weird MagSafe moments when the plug winds up at 45º plenty of times instead. MagSafe 2 isn't as solid as the original, right?

Anyway, all cables should be smarter than just using friction. They're inherently ugly and dangerous the lot of them!

[andrewjoy]

Indeed mag safe one is the shit.

Even the re design of the mag safe one to make it thinner and the cable come out of the back was not as good, its the same with older 30 pin cables that had proper strain relief they where mutch better than the modern crap.

[abhibeckert]

When Apple introduced MagSafe, MacBooks had one quarter the battery life they have today.

These days you just don't plug in at all if you'd have to run the cable somewhere dangerous. It's a non issue, I don't hear of anyone destroying an iPad where MagSafe would've helped.

I think modern MagSafe has the same magnetic strength but the cable changed to give it more leverage? The magnets used to be paralel to the cable instead of perpendicular.

[abhibeckert]

Also Apple has eliminate all moving parts from the electronics. So a drop is far less likely to damage anything.

[andrewjoy]

The early mag safe 1s where perpendicular and they last longer than the newer ones that are parallel. Its not just the safety its the ease of use as well and durability, i have seen far too many broken solder joints on power jacks simply from wear and tear. the magsafe was one of the best things apple has come up with and its demise indicative of the problem with some of apples design now days, form over function.

[bhtooefr]

Fuuuuuuuuck MagSafe.

That is all.

(And, many business laptops have the power input jack mounted to the chassis, and then a cable from the jack to the motherboard or I/O board.)

[abhibeckert]

Re: form over function.. that's nothing new.

Apple was a pure tech company in 1996 when they were about to go bankrupt. Steve Jobs pulled them out of bankruptcy and made Apple the most successful company in the world by making "form" a priority.

The first form product shipped two years after steve jobs returned to Apple - the original iMac which had no floppy drive, USB instead of serial ports, and a *colour* case right out of a children's book.

It started then, and they're still not finsihed - but the $17,000 watch they just released shows how far they've come from selling computers with an unusual colour that was otherwise identical to normal beige plastic.

Horace from Asymco points out, however, that it is not "form over function". Apple is about "form and function". Their success comes from Jony Ive's ability to make both work together. That $17,000 watch isn't just a fancy solid gold watch, it's also got a myriad of features nobody has ever seen in a watch before - until now solid gold watches were all truly form over funtion. The $2 LCD clock built into your microwave does a better job keeping time that an $80,000 gold watch, most loose or gain 10 seconds every day. Forget about heart rate monitors or making phone calls or third party software.

I disagree with you that USB Type-C is inferior to MagSafe. I think it's an upgrade. You no-longer need to plug in two cables when you sit at your desk (magsafe and thunderbolt, assuming you have a thunderbolt display with ethernet/usb/firewire/etc), now you've just got one cable to do all of that.

It would have been nice if USB Type-C had magnets, but magnets are expensive and having an industry standard cable is also very nice - more important than MagSafe. Again, that has nothing to do with form and everything to do with being pragmatic.

[jacobolus]

Oddly enough, I've never pulled a laptop to the floor by its power cable.

You must have no pets, never spend time around clumsy people, and never plug in at places like coffee shops, huh? If the only time you plug a laptop in is at a desk, then it doesn’t matter. But if you’re used to plugging your computer in while sitting on the couch, or in bed, or at your kitchen table, etc., it’s another story.

My brother tripped over my laptop cord in ~2006 (a 12" powerbook, used the previous round TRS-type plug), and it broke the plug off inside the jack and broke the jack in the process. Had to take literally every part out of the computer and replace the DC-in board.

Magsafe is a godsend.

Fuuuuuuuuck MagSafe. That is all.

Huh?

It would have been nice if USB Type-C had magnets, but magnets are expensive and having an industry standard cable is also very nice

Magnets definitely aren’t expensive, in this context.

But I don’t think it would make any sense to attach a connector with as many contacts as USB type C has with magnets. Magsafe works because it’s just a power cable.

[bhtooefr]

Admittedly, it's MagSafe 2 in my case, but I prefer a more secure power connection for how I use my machine. Too much unintentional unplugging with MagSafe 2.

[abhibeckert]

But if you’re used to plugging your computer in while sitting on the couch, or in bed, or at your kitchen table, etc., it’s another story.

My brother tripped over my laptop cord in ~2006 (a 12" powerbook, used the previous round TRS-type plug), and it broke the plug off inside the jack and broke the jack in the process. Had to take literally every part out of the computer and replace the DC-in board.

That PowerBook had 50Wh battery that lasted 3 hours.

Third party tests aren't in yet, but based on recent comparisons between Apple's official battery claims and third party tests, the new MacBook will last somewhere between 8 and 10 hours.

And since it's only a 40Wh battery, it charges really fast.

Unlike your PowerBook, this one never needs to be plugged in on the couch or at the kitchen table. If it's flat, plug it in while you make a cup of coffee, then unplug it and use it off battery for an hour or two. Then plug it in overnight and take it to work the next day, use it all day at the office on battery, plug it in while you have a shower, and it'll be almost fully charged.

MagSafe isn't needed anymore.

It would have been nice if USB Type-C had magnets, but magnets are expensive and having an industry standard cable is also very nice

Magnets definitely aren’t expensive, in this context.

Not expensive for a MacBook, but too expesnive for recharging the LED lights I use on my bicycle. Those will be USB Type-C one day, and they'll use the same charging cable as a MacBook.

[Ace]

I hate to bring back a dead thread, but has anyone here tried the board on the Chromebook Pixel? It looks like a DNA clone of an Apple chiclet, but those who've used it say it feels much better. Thought I'd drop in and see if anyone here considers it note-worthy.

[SL89]

New pixel or old model?

[Ace]

New pixel or old model?

New Pixel

[Ace]

I have to admit that the best feeling laptop keyboard I have used has been my Macbook pro.

If you're looking for a laptop with mechanical keys then this is the only one available to my knowledge:
http://www.msi.com/product/nb/GT80-2QE- ... o-overview


Alternatively you could just carry around a 60% board and have any laptop you want

So..............................when is someone gonna do a review of the board?

[XMIT]

I have a little V60 (very similar to KBC Poker) with DSA Dolch that I carry around with my tablet. Works for me.

[Ace]

I have a little V60 (very similar to KBC Poker) with DSA Dolch that I carry around with my tablet. Works for me.

That's pretty much what I've decided. To keep things separate. MSI's Titan (two posts above) is a combined daily driver keyboard (meaning it's something that can be used 90% of the time, with the other 10% being when I want to use a Topre or BS), laptop, and gaming PC. With new docking station graphic amplifiers, I can keep these three things separate. A 60% board, a nice gaming notebook (good balance of power/battery/size/weight/price etc.), and a docking station.

Buying the three things separate will give me a lot more freedom, and it will also end up being considerably cheaper.