Page 1 of 1 [ 2 posts ] 

goldfish21
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 17 Feb 2013
Age: 42
Gender: Male
Posts: 22,612
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada

04 Nov 2023, 11:51 pm

From my new to me 2019 16" MacBook Pro I just bought off some guy on FB Marketplace today after my Chromebook decided this morning that it wasn't going to turn on anymore. Decent value for $900cdn - relatively - compared to what else is for sale second hand or refurbished. It was barely used at all and mostly sat on a shelf as a backup for some nerd's programming work or something like that, so is essentially like new. Brand new MacBook Pros run $2-3K or so after taxes, and there are some 13" versions for a bit less money.. but when this 16" was posted up for sale locally only an hour before I saw the ad I was like "Ooooh.. bigger screen sounds like a nice upgrade." Of course it has better resolution than my $140 Chromebook did, too lol.

In the past, $900 refurbished MacBooks have lasted me ~9 years before they kicked it so I figured w/e I'll spend about double on a used MacBook what a mid-high end Chromebook goes for these days and it'll likely last long enough to cost a similar amount/year of service while being an all around better user experience.

Of course it has way more processing power & ram than I'll ever utilize because I don't do code compiling or video editing, but w/e, for web browsing/email/entertainment it'll be more than I need, annnns should I clear my backlog of BS things to get done in my life and have a clear slate & mind and start taking some online classes it'll Also be more than adequate to tackle any of that.

Gonna take a little getting used to the keyboard and scroll pad and all that again. I didn't bother turning Siri on because I never activate it or use it on my phone, either. Tried it once and it doesn't work with google maps - the only useful time you'd wanna be voice activated/hands free so f**k it I don't use it at all. The only voice activated thingy I use is the Cardo Edge comms system installed in my motorcycle helmet.. where it's actually useful because both your hands are in gloves and a little preoccupied when out on 2 wheels.


_________________
No :heart: for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.


goldfish21
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 17 Feb 2013
Age: 42
Gender: Male
Posts: 22,612
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada

05 Nov 2023, 2:15 am

Whoa.. this thing has some tech stuff I've never seen before. I don't keep up on geeky tech stuff I don't care about and am not in the market for.

Anyways, there's a little fingerprint reader for fingerprint password access - ok, seen it before on my iPhone and heard of it on computers but never used one with it. Not that big of deal or impressive, really.

The neat thing is this addition called a "Touch Bar" that looks like one long black key across the top of the keyboard with the esc key on the left and little finger print reader on the right. It's got it's own built in full colour display on this "key," that's a touch screen and it constantly changes what icons, symbols, words, functions/menus etc are displayed on it while you're typing & using different apps. It'll have little icon versions of my open tabs I can touch to switch between them, or predictive text as I'm typing so I can select the word/next word, or various settings for brightness/sound and there's a little Siri logo if I set that crap up. Way over the left if I'm typing a post/message there's a smiley icon that opens up an emoji menu across the bar etc.

Not sure how useful any of that may ever be, but it looks neat. I bet it can be customised for use within certain apps, too.. I can't imagine they'd have all these possibilities but no the ability to custom create icons & macros for them to run. Lol I typed the word "run," and glanced at the Touch Bar and there were 3 different little running guy emojis to choose from. But who knows, maybe it just operates based on how it's programmed to in the OS and it just does it's dynamic thing as you're typing.. and then if you glance at it and there's something useful to press, I guess you get used to your fingers popping up an extra row above the keys to select whatever it is you want to select as its displayed to choose from.

Maybe I'm just easily impressed & entertained by 4-5 year old technology I've never seen before. :P


_________________
No :heart: for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.