MacBook Pro (2016) disappointment pushes some Apple loyalists to Ubuntu Linux

By Brian Fagioli

The new Apple MacBook Pro looks to be a wonderful laptop, but understandably, not everyone is impressed. The "Pro" moniker literally means "professional", and there are some concerns from that segment. Some photographers, for instance, will be very hurt and disgusted by the lack of an SD card slot. More importantly, the computer maxes out at 16GB of RAM -- many pro users want 32GB or more, which is not possible on the new machine, sadly.

While you might expect some of these disappointed Apple loyalists to turn to a Windows machine -- and I'm sure some will -- some are turning to an unexpected alternative -- Linux. You see, immediately after the Apple Keynote, famed Ubuntu laptop and desktop seller, System76, saw a huge jump in traffic from people looking to buy its machines. The traffic was so intense, that it needed to upgrade servers to keep up!

"We experienced much more traffic than we had prepared for, the website didn't go hard down but experienced slowness. We had to scale up to return to normal. It was a pretty big surge, I don't have the details in front of me at the moment but I've not really heard of anything like this before. People being so underwhelmed by a product that immediately following a new product release they actively seek out competitor's products", says Ryan Sipes, Community Manager, System76.

ALSO READ: Canonical explains Ubuntu Advantage benefits -- could your business switch to Linux?

I decided to compare specifications and pricing on my own, so I headed to both Apple.com and System76.com to compare. Apple's new 15-inch MacBook Pro starts at $2,400. This machine has a Quad-core Sklyake i7, maxes out at 16GB of RAM, has an NVMe 256GB SSD, and a Radeon Pro 450 with a paltry 2GB memory.

Alternatively, I headed to System76 and configured its 15-inch Oryx Pro (you can do so here). I closely matched the MacBook Pro specs, with a Quad-core Sklyake i7 and NVMe 256GB SSD. Instead of 16GB of RAM as found on the Apple, I configured with 32GB (you can go up to 64GB if needed). By default, it comes with a 6GB Nvidia GTX 1060. The price? Less than $2,000! In other words, the System76 machine with much better specs is less expensive than Apple's.

Had website issues due to all the traffic following the #AppleEvent. This year rocks! #Linux #Ubuntu #YearOfTheLinuxDesktop :)

— System76 (@system76) October 30, 2016

Obviously we aren't comparing apples to apples (pun intended). If you absolutely need macOS for certain software or licenses, an Ubuntu machine will not meet your needs. Also, the System76 machine does not have Apple's revolutionary Touch Bar.

ALSO READ: Bodhi Linux 4.0.0 Ubuntu-based distro now available with Moksha 0.2.1 environment

Still, the Oryx Pro can be configured with specs far beyond the MacBook Pro, and at a very competitive price -- it is not hard to see why System76 saw a huge jump in traffic following the Apple Keynote. It is worth noting that both the Oryx Pro and MacBook Pro can run Windows too.

Are you surprised that some Mac users are jumping to Linux? Tell me in the comments.

[UPDATE] To celebrate the huge number of people switching from macOS to Ubuntu, System76 is offering a free-shipping promotion as seen below.

To celebrate the awesome traffic we've been getting, if you add #SwitchTo76 to your order notes, we'll waive your ground shipping! #Linux pic.twitter.com/jxUQEvEEyd

— System76 (@system76) October 31, 2016

betanews.com/2016/10/30/macbook-pro-2016-disappointment-pushes-some-apple-loyalists-to-ubuntu-linux/

Other urls found in this thread:

blog.elementary.io/post/152626170946/switching-from-macos-the-basics
phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=macos-sierra-ubuntu&num=1
zdnet.com/article/windows-10-unequivocally-better-than-os-x-on-apples-new-macbook/
phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=apple_osx1094_ubuntu&num=1
twitter.com/SFWRedditGifs

They typically use USB3 card readers since the speeds are much faster than a built in card reader on USB2 bus and it can read CF cards or they plug in the cameras since most of them are USB3 nowadays. When you got to move dozens of gigs around it makes a huge difference.


Couldn't you boot OSX in a VM using PCI passthrough? These laptops have an integrated GPU in the CPU alongside a dedicated GPU.

kek

Is it available for any purchase? How are they going to know I am not just dodging their shipping fee?


Be careful with that meme magic user. You don't want something unexpected to happen, do you?

Pure cancer
B-but muh workstation GPU. Though anyone with 2 braincells knows workstation graphics in laptops are a meme.

FAGIOLI FAGIOLI GIVE ME THE BOTNETOLI

I remember my 2008 MBP being in the 1000s, the fuck happened

why did this make me laugh

fam that's a highler level task most mac users will bot be able to into

...

This guy is a good writer.

Elementary OS is also jumping on the bandwagon.

blog.elementary.io/post/152626170946/switching-from-macos-the-basics

You can do that for private use. But if you try to use this for commercial things then you can get sued because OSX TOS allows only usage on Apple hardware.

...

Actual discrete GPU, or Optimus? I've always heard that you can't use an Optimus card for PCI passthrough.

But it is innovative. Innovative for how much time they wasted on a stupid gimmick while the rest of their hardware lineup languishes to the point where even macfags are looking to other brands.

Brian Fagioli here


Do you think this exodus of macfags to gahnoo/loonix is going to bring it down due to insane faggotry and demands of those said macfags. Is not this a danger to freedom?


Thank you.

there's also a fingerprint scanner

I like the feature where you have to buy a dongle to be able to plug your Applel iPhone into it, and the other feature where they didn't remove the headphone jack from the MBP so the expensive new headphones you have to buy for your iPhone won't plug into it either.

That's kind of a neat feature -Me in 2008

pretty neat.
Don't see the place for macOS as a thing.
It's a mutant *nix that is a hodge-podge of ripped off stuff and proprietary addons, and it gets outperformed on it's own hardware by both windows and linux.
The only required architectures imo are nixes and NT OneCore.
And linux is full of hispters and "i'm just so much better than everyone else for my software and hardware choices. look mom, no viruses" so they will fit pretty well.

WEW
E
W

It has been discussed on and off every time the topic of the Loonix desktop comes to light.
I personally hope they stay contained in their own distro, without said distro dragging everything down with it (e.g. most software breaks if you don't use it, or proprietary software becoming the norm on Loonix).

Hopefully they'll learn why software freedom and not getting cucked by companies is important. Otherwise they'll learn the hard way when they get $5000 heating bills from their 'smart' thermostat getting hacked thanks to the manufacturer's negligence, or when their 'smart' TVs get bricked by a failed forced update, or when they get v& because their insecure chink IoT crap was used to DDoS someone.

topic of the year of the Loonix desktop*

Still, not good enough for me to bypass the MBP for it - Me in 2008 looking at lenovo

source?

What in the actual fuck?

I buy brand new Lenovo computers with a few options put in.

...

phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=macos-sierra-ubuntu&num=1
zdnet.com/article/windows-10-unequivocally-better-than-os-x-on-apples-new-macbook/

Here is an older test, just so you dont think it's a new thing.
phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=apple_osx1094_ubuntu&num=1

It's very difficult to leave the adobe ecosystem because of weak raw file importers that only do the bare minimum and throw all the additional data away.

Inflation brought to you by the ((( Federal Reserve )))


It's the prettiest Linux for all the Apple users.

They realized eventually that fanboys and consumer whores will buy anything with their brand on it, no matter what the price. They're taking advantage of stupid people with too much money to spend.

AMERICA

Linux has more stable wifi than El Capitan does on my work macbook.