You've tried two models of two non-Mac brands and one Mac laptop, and have concluded that all laptops except Macs "seem" to be problematic...
What a ridiculous post.
Ask HN: MacBooks seems to be the only viable option these days
121–130 of 449 posts
Re: Ask HN: MacBooks seems to be the only viable option these days
#122Earlier quoted context omitted.
All true, but why is the culture and aesthetic of computers inherently trashy? Look at all the fields where superior quality is a completely natural criterion (whether it exists may be another question): Watches, cars, pens, paper notebooks, furniture, fashion, jewellery, architecture, bikes, coffee machines ... What's more - if you look at the visual representations of computers - i.e. marketing material, art, illus…
I think you just answered the question: All of the categories you note have both high-end and, sadly, mostly low-end options. What is surprising is that, in the world of computing, there is very little at the high end (Apple -- from going by this original thread), and almost all of it is at the low end. I guess some company could make an amazing PC that ran Windows, but the, you'd have an amazing piece of hardware th…
But you only need Windows to run the real paragon of Microsoft software development, Excel.
Re: Ask HN: MacBooks seems to be the only viable option these days
#123XPS is prosumer grade at best. You need a Precision or Latitude product (preferably a Latitude 7xxx) to get a quality product.
My Latitude 7370 is hard-capped at 8GB RAM. Because they soldered it directly to the motherboard. Real "what the fuck" moment, and I am reminded every time of this constraint because opening a Slack call freezes my computer for about a minute if I commit the heinous crime of leaving my IDE open.
Re: Ask HN: MacBooks seems to be the only viable option these days
#124Definitely look very seriously at Framework. Bought one last year and it's easily been the best computer purchase I've ever made. Solved every problem I experienced with Dell and Lenovo. I run Manjaro Linux on it. https://frame.work
i seriously considered a framework laptop instead of a 14" mbpro but the battery life seems to be terrible on them, maybe in a few years if intel or amd catch up on power consumption of their chips
Re: Ask HN: MacBooks seems to be the only viable option these days
#125Earlier quoted context omitted.
If that’s an Intel one you’re getting, I can understand it. However the M1 ones are a completely different computer. I am shocked at how good they are.
I've had a M1 Macbook pro (13-inch) display shatter on me within 10 months of purchase for no reason. The cost of repair is $800 which being around 80% of the cost of the laptop, was untenable. Since then it has been gathering dust in the storage closet for the past five months. Looking online, it seems like there was a quality issue with their displays for the first few batches of production. https://www.pcmag.com/n…
Why did you not have insurance?
99% of the time I’ve seen this sort of stuff happen it’s because there was a screen protector or someone shut some crap in the lid.
Re: Ask HN: MacBooks seems to be the only viable option these days
#126I'm on my 3rd(!) company supplied macbook in almost 2 years. Macbook Pro, 16'', 32GB. First Macbook: screen broke in the middle. Second Macbook: screen broke and MacOS is complaining that there's something wrong with the SSD. Third macbook I just received and can't tell what will break. But break it will. I only move them around the house, never on the road. When I move them, I place them in a Thule Gauntlet. I reall…
As an equally useless anecdote, I've probably owned ~10 mac laptops in my life and I've never had an issue. I literally have never used a laptop sleeve or anything I just throw it in a bag and go. Literally one of the most indestructible things I've ever owned.
Re: Ask HN: MacBooks seems to be the only viable option these days
#127Earlier quoted context omitted.
> All true, but why is the culture and aesthetic of computers inherently trashy? Because it needs to be affordable to the masses as a whole, and not just the upper middle class and up.
I find it very sad to think that masses cannot have style. Some old Swiss everyday products are affordable yet beautiful; I am convinced both is possible.
Apple and companies in general need to make a profit.
Those same "old Swiss everyday products" are most likely no longer affordable based on the modern cost of labor and materials.
Re: Ask HN: MacBooks seems to be the only viable option these days
#128I may be an outlier, but for me, the problem with non-mac machines is that they seem just careless. Steve jobs famously said "The only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste.", and this seems true to me for almost all hardware manufacturers, and to a larger degree still for software. Why does nobody care about creaking plastic? About sticky-feeling texture? About uneven weight distribution? About the sound…
Why does nobody care about the janky Bluetooth mouse that's only janky on macOS? Why does nobody care that my USB 2.0 ports on my external USB-C docks die in about 20 minutes necessitating a reboot--again, only on macOS (and only on newer macOS versions--old ones work fine). How many years did it take Apple to (sort of) fix their shittastic keyboards? How garbagey is Xcode relative to any other IDE nowadays? I can go…
I'm going to offer a dissenting opinion. I don't have the same issues you do with janky mice and USB 2.0 ports.
I owned a previous Macbook Air with a "shittastic" keyboard and never had an issue– although I'm glad I now have the new M1 with a better keyboard.
> Macbooks may look pretty, but the software has been becoming increasingly garbage.
I had the unfortunate displeasure of being issued a top of the line Windows 11 computer for work, and it was a horrible experience. Basic things that Mac OS gets right like search, recursively deleting files, and bash environments Windows either struggles with or requires workarounds.
> And, surprisingly, my experience on Linux has been better than the last year or two on macOS.
Linux is an incredible family of operating systems. Every few years I will try downloading and installing a few distros. I always run into issues with GPUs, sound cards, and WiFi. Once I get past those, I run into different sets of issues. One that sticks with me is the awful nested menus in XCFE.
Apple in some ways have allowed some behaviour in their MacOS to regress, but it is still the top choice for me. Mac OS is not garbage. I'm sorry to hear that you had an awful experience with it, but I am still very productive with it.
Re: Ask HN: MacBooks seems to be the only viable option these days
#129I have had enough faulty Macbook Pros back in 2015-17 to say that, probably, no company is immune.
I'm typing this from an old Thinkpad T470, which is still pretty adequate for development work, with an M.2 SSD and 32 GB RAM, running Linux. I don't feel constrained.
Re: Ask HN: MacBooks seems to be the only viable option these days
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's the thing. We spend a huge amount of time using computers. Considering not just the share of time but also the share of concentrated attention, they are an even more important object in our lives. Why would you not desire the tool you use to be the absolute best you can have? And if eating cornflakes is important to you, the Laguioles may be worth it. After all, they will probably last ten years or twenty. Com…
TBF Apple sold very expensive laptops with shoddy faulty keyboards for YEARS. People idolize and idealize Apple but tend to ignore the faults and failures. I truly believe Apple does not respect their customers. They have some good product and some bad ones too.
Apple stacked like 3 fuck-ups at once (going no-USB-C to only-USB-C in a single jump; the Touch Bar; the bad keyboards) but when I went looking for alternatives it seemed like I'd be cutting off my nose to spite my face (that is, they were all still a lot worse in other ways, as they were back when I first started using a MacBook). I decided to just hold off a bit on new hardware rather than switching, and hope Apple came to their senses. After a little while, they mostly did.
Apple's far from perfect—the competition just doesn't seem interested in actually competing.