Dev Life with the new 2017 MacBook Pro - a résumé

As chance would have it, a new computer was due just when the new MacBook Pro 2017 came out. Got one in July 2017, these are the specs:

• 13'' MB Pro (2560 x 1600, 2016)
• 3.1 GHz i5
• 16 GB RAM DDR3
• 500 GB SDD
• Intel Iris Graphics 550 1536 MB

I use it primarily for software development within the SAP mobility stack (hint: UI5, Fiori, node, SCP(ms), GW, ADT, iOS). Some Virtualization (VMWare). GUI Tooling ~ WebStorm, XCode, Eclipse, Visio. Terminal.app a lot.

Control-Strip/Tab-Bar/$Whatever-its-called

Generally I'm open to all kinds of improvements to the Human-Machine-Interface. Who wouldn't want to break out of the dreaded 2D-way of pushing the mouse to operate a computer?
So the Control-Strip/Tab-Bar/$Whatever-its-called (let's call it TouchThing for now) is worth a try.

In situations where the TouchThing complements interaction, it's really nice.
 E.g. quick access to a man page when typing a command in Terminal:

 Or using autocomplete when typing in text-centric input areas:

But during programming, I've yet to see a useful UX feature.
Dropping the F*-Keys in favour of the TouchThing has reduced the value of the MacBook as a tool. There's just too few haptic feedback on the TouchThing when reaching out for a LED F*-Key. Working with WebStorm a lot with utilises the F*-Keys a lot - so having the TouchThing is really cumbersome during coding.

USB-C periphery

There are no more ports on the new MB Pro other than a headphone line-in jack and USB-C ports.
(BTW: why, Apple, is there no adapter for the iPhone X lightning headphone cable -> regular headphone jack?!?!?!?!)
For USB-C, there are still too few devices out there. No more quickly using a USB-Stick. Always have to carry around (another) adapter, in addition to the ones for DVI, VGA and DP.
Please let USB-C-sticks hit the market in masses soon. Please.

Keyboard

A step back.
Plain and simple.
Compared to an older MacBook Air model that has the standard keyboard Apple outfitted MacBooks with for years, the keyboard on the new MB Pro is simply worse. Plus the occasional jamming/sticking/clamping of the Space Bar. Meh.
I don't care so much about the bigger TrackPad - use it only for navigating Spaces and uncluttering the Desktop (Five-Finger-Spread). No need for Force Feedback during development work.

Fingerprint Sensor

...for unlocking the Computer. Nice.
Even nicer: for Authorisation, e.g. when installing/upgrading Apps.
Comfort gain right there.

MagSafe power connector

Get outta here.

Various observations/remarks

• no use for Siri what-so-ever
• no more telnet on High Sierra - seriously?!?
• battery lifetime has (subjectively) decreased plenty - might be something with my local configuration; though generally I try to use as few custom settings and tools as possible in order to remain as "standards-compliant" as possible (hey, it's the SAP world after all I'm working in)
• overall performance is very good; but in MacVerse, we're spoiled anyway
• closing the lid leaves some not-so-nice spots on the display; can be wiped clean, but still
• iOS integration still awesome (e.g. make calls from contacts.app to regular phone numbers via Facetime Audio on the iPhone)

Apple Magic Mouse in Windows 8.1

Out of the box, pairing the magic mouse via bluetooth with the Windows 8.1 box works.
But scrolling by touch is missing.

So:

• Download both Mouse Driver Installer and Mouse Utility Setup from http://trackpadmagic.com/magic-mouse/download
• Run the Installer -> atencíon: the installer will download the 303 MB (!) Bootcamp 3.3
• installer automatically extracts the magic mouse driver from the bootcamp exe 
• Run the Setup -> will launch a GUI config utility also showing the battery status for the magic mouse
• Pair magic mouse with Windows box via bluetooth (if paired previously, de-pair and re-pair)

macbook pro: HDD -> SDD

just replaced the internal 320GB HDD of my mid-2010 macbook pro (13'') ...

 ...with a 256GB SDD from Samsung:

maceinsteiger.de's article (sorry, German only) provided a good guide on how to do this.

Two caveats though:

1. you'll need a size 16 tork screwdriver. Otherwise you won't get the attachment screws of the HDD frame.
2. after booting from DVD, the system didn't recognize the SDD as a volume to install OS X on.
   Don't freak out: it's because the drive simply isn't formatted and partitioned yet.
   There's access to the Hard-Drive-Utility (funny...) from the install screen top menu. So just start, format, and -voilà- you'll see SDD as a possible install target.

hth again. someone. somehow.

FYI: RAM in mid-2010 macbook pro

just a quick FYI because I searched for it without any relevant result on the internetz:

the original RAM in my mid-2010 macbook pro (13'', MacBookPro7,1) was manufactured by hynix.
part no is HMT125S6TFR8C.
it is labeled with
2GB 2Rx8 PC3 - 8500S - 7 - 10 - F2
(part no) - G7 N0 AA - C

I replaced it with 2 x 4GB from Kingston, and now OS X shows "0x0198" as the manufacturer in "about this mac".

hth. somehow. someone.

FireWire 800 vs USB 2.0

We here at MG are currently in need of running some pretty I/O-heavy apps on external storage. Additionally, it's not a small app either, but somewhere close to the half TB.
At the same time, the external storage needs to remain portable - no NAS or similar. We need to be able to take the stuff with us on the road.

Since we're an AlmostOnlyApple-Shop, the external device needs to be mucho compatible with the MacBook Pros we're carrying around. So our preferred hardware supplier HSD provided us with two 750 GB Freecom Mobile Drive Mg (5400rrpm, 8 MB) as the best trade-off between portability and performance. One disk came with a USB 3.0 Interface, the other with both USB 3.0 & FireWire 800.

So test-wise, I copied a VMWare virtual machine from the MacBook to the disks back and forth. Since the MB Pro is USB 2.0-only, the results were as expected.

Here's further specs...

• MacBook Pro6,2 ; Intel Core i7 2.66GHz ; 8 GB 1067 MHz DDR3; OS X 10.6.7
• $> du -ks vm.vmwarevm
27556532 vm.vmwarevm
• $> mount
(...snip...)
/dev/disk4s2 on /Volumes/FREECOM HDD (hfs, local, nodev, nosuid, journaled, noowners)
• $> cp -pRv "${source}" "${target}"

... and the results:

• 753 sec - fw800 - write => ~36.6 MB/sec
• 565 sec - fw800 - read => ~48.8 MB/sec
• 1254 sec - usb 2.0 - write => ~22.0 MB/sec
• 919 sec - usb 2.0 - read => ~30.0 MB/sec

So, is the FW800 performance enough for the I/O heavy appliance we're planning to run on it?
No know yet.
Will report back ;)