I can agree with this. It's especially wonderful without aliasing on an even multiple Retina display. For example, 2x on a 5k Monitor (iMac, LG Ultrafine) or MacBook Pro. It's simple, clean, tried and true.
I moved from Austin Downtown to Minneapolis for almost this reason. I didn't want to buy a car either and many if not most of the jobs are up in Round Rock or too far to bike or walk.
I now live downtown Minneapolis and it's been great, I even bought a condo and rent out my parking space for extra money ($200/month). My mortgage is less than my rent was in Austin (after my downpayment of course).
I'm still rocking an iPhone 6 and Apple stopped updates for me. I can't install iOS 13. I honestly don't have much desire to upgrade. I only use it for Music and podcasts with the occasional call or text message anyway.
I'm a developer also. I have no issues with the Touch Bar. I kind of like it. I never used the F keys anyway. I mapped my escape key to caps lock. I view it as the next iteration or evolution of the basic fingerprint reader on many PC laptops and notebooks.
I am more surprised by the hatred for it. It's extremely easily hackable [0] [1] and I was thinking all sorts of people would up with interesting ideas and uses for it over time.
It plays music, like my iPod did. As well as podcasts. I don't use any apps otherwise that don't come with it from Apple. On the rare occasion someone decides to call me it answers, sometimes (it's slow to answer, but after 3 retries, sometimes the first).
I try to answer text messages on my Mac with Messages.app. It's easier to type.
Not sure I want to upgrade. I was planning on it. I can afford it. Kind of just trying to see how long I can keep it going for fun. I think I've had it for close to 5 years now.
My iPhone 6s, with its weird turning off and on randomly at times and other funky behaviors, was (and will always be) my favorite phone I ever owned! I'm not joking :)
Same, still have mine since release. My only issue is the battery but that's cheaply replaced. I'm still deciding if i should upgrade or try to push another year or two with it.
When my 6 broke, I decided to switch carriers (from prepaid) to try out the new (at the time - earlier this year) XR. For the 1 week I owned it, there was something strange about it that I just can't describe. It wasn't buyers remorse, but it just felt wrong in my hands. I genuinely asked myself if spending 1k + 100/mo was worth it. Ended up returning the phone, returned back to my old carrier, and ended up going with a 6s making my purchase at 250 + 30/mo. No qualms.
If this persons definition of social media is only Facebook and Instagram then I removed social media for the last 3 or more years.
Removing these (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) were nothing and easy for me. I just logged out and never bothered to log in. I haven't bothered with these in years.
Now, not visiting places like Reddit, maybe Hacker News, and consider removing other similar like internet communities for a year as well was a lot harder and still is at times. So, I have delegated to limit myself for now and not make an account. At least I try.
I found myself having trouble of finding something to read while I eat dinner every night, so I try to only limit myself to reading and browsing Reddit while I eat dinner each night for example.
Coming from a Thinkpad (the standard for what makes a great keyboard), PowerBook Titanium (keyboard was bad, but nothing like the 2016/17 MacBook Pro), PowerBook 12 / 17 (my favorite), and the first MacBook Pro (still pretty great) everything starting with the unibody has been downhill. Ever since, the keyboard and I believe battery even have not been user replaceable. There was a time one could walk into an Apple Store and actually purchase the battery in a box off the shelf, take it to the counter and buy it like any other product.
I have a 2017 and 2018 15 inch MacBook Pro. The 2017 is almost unusable. The 2018 is much better relatively. I also had a 2015 13 inch. Can't say the keyboard was great on that either.
I've been tempted to try retrofit a 12 inch PowerBook with more modern parts like the devoted Thinkpad users have done.
I did well with keyboards on the old powerbook g4, and the 1st gen intel macbook pros. Once they went chiclet, I developed wrist fatigue, finger pain, and other issues. They are an ergonomic nightmare scenario for me, and are basically unusable undocked for any significant length of time. I imagine the new models will be even worse.
The pre-chiclet keyboards were okay for their era but the <=2015 chiclet design is just so much more comfortable because of the lack of sharp edges and does a much better job at keeping dust out than the old open design.
You mention the RAM and hard drive, but it irks me more my keyboard is not replaceable. It's the most used moving component of the entire unit. It's exposed and susceptible to damage the easiest. I've hated every MacBook Pro since the release of the unibody. My favorite was the PowerBook 12 and 17.
I've had a MacBook/PowerBook Pro (and Thinkpad) since Titanium and the First MacBook Pro and if it wasn't for the fact of macOS and the convenience of being in the Apple ecosystem with their iPhone, TV, HomePod(s), Watch, Music, and iCloud I would be back on Linux (I actually came from FreeBSD on my Thinkpad). I'm currently using a 2017 and 2018 MacBook Pro. The 2017 would be great except the keyboard (and of course the soldered RAM/HDD) is absolutely trash. The 2018 is much better, but nothing like a Thinkpad. I also miss the Trackpoint, but the Apple Trackpad is good.
I miss my Thinkpad (+ BSD) bad, but being an iOS / web developer and entrenched in the Apple ecosystem (which I honestly like the convenience) I feel stuck and hard to even get a secondary machine. I even leave a fully maxed out P53 and P1 (I can't decide which one I want) in my Lenovo cart ready to buy at a given moment.
What's so good about the apple ecosystem everyone hounds about? I don't see why you'd want to lock yourself into paying 5x more for every tech product you'd ever want. All of that stuff has an Android equivalent and Bluetooth now. It's not 2011.
You get more than just the eco system which is must just part of the experience. The hardware is that much better. It boils down to you get what you pay for. I value the convenience of what I need or want just working as well as the quality of the devices, especially compared to the alternatives. It's also not 5x as much, but I'm thinking you were exaggerating.
You could also walk into the Apple store. Go to the back corner. Pick up a box with a new battery in it for $119 (iirc). Buy it and walk out with a new battery. All in a single day. You could also order them online.
I also was able to solve it in a couple/few min after seeing the comment. I did have a couple issues, index was off by one, and didn't catch an issue if I had already seen the substring using a brute force nested loop, but otherwise it works (Python). Edit: I also did it without a nested loop using a dictionary. Why I didn't think of this initially I don't know.
I've also had a couple FAANG onsites and get nervous as can be, but that's just a practice more and be more confident with my abilities problem I feel. No offers though yet. Still trying and practicing.
