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Ask HN: Disappointed by the new Macbook, what alternatives do we have?

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Re: Ask HN: Disappointed by the new Macbook, what alternatives do we have?

#131

Post by soulnothing »

creshal wrote: post #72
pedrocr wrote: post #21

Just got a Thinkpad T460s. Practically the same dimensions and specs of a X1 Carbon but with replaceable memory and disk. Can easily be made to have 20GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD, and if someone makes a 32GB DIMM could potentially go up to 36GB of RAM although that's not advertised as supported. Everything works in Linux just fine and the 2560x1440 screen looks great.

T460s only has partially replaceable memory, some of it is soldered on. And god help you if that fails outside warranty, spare Thinkpad mainboards usually cost more than a new laptop.

I'm curious about the mother board comment. I have a t430, and rebuilt it the motherboard cost me 30$ via ebay. Searching for the t430s I'm seeing about 40 -> 80 on ebay. I'd think that by the time you need to replace the mainboard, it'd be at more attainable levels on the second hand market.

Re: Ask HN: Disappointed by the new Macbook, what alternatives do we have?

#132

Post by mlwarren »

creshal wrote: post #127
pedrocr wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems slightly bulkier and 20% heavier, but that's not too bad. I wonder if the T460s panel works fine in the T460 if you're willing to do the swap.

It will, but you'll void your warranty, and it's annoying that Lenovo doesn't offer it themselves – all their notebooks are built to order anyway, so they're actively hurting themselves by artificially constraining their customers.

What about the T460p? Looks like it has the WQHD option but I can't seem to find info regarding the RAM (soldered or not).

Re: Ask HN: Disappointed by the new Macbook, what alternatives do we have?

#133

Post by azurelogic »

threeseed wrote: post #32

Massive tip if you decide to stay with a Open up the laptop and reapply the thermal paste on the CPU with something high quality like Arctic Silver. It really needs redoing after 1-2 years. This will result in a significant improvement to overall performance. Why ? Because when OSX detects that the laptop is overheating it schedules a dummy task e.g. secd or kernel_task to throttle the CPU. Cool the laptop and the th…

This. This. This.

I have "refurbished" 2 MacBook Pros now, and this is part of my process. Max out the RAM, install SSD, replace battery, reapply thermal paste, clean with canned air. When I did this to a 2009 13" MBP that got me through grad school (already had max RAM and an SSD), I found that it ran cooler than I remember it running when I first bought it. Recently, I bought a used 2011 15" MBP (no HDD, swelled up battery, popped out trackpad, missing case screws) for $100. I used an SSD from my desktop that recently became a media server, then spent $110 on 16 GB of RAM, a new battery, and screws. That machine is killing it.

This is one of the things that saddens me about everything after the retina MBP transition: we can no longer do all of these kinds of major performance enhancements on our own, and some of these repairs have become much more difficult.

Edit: I use Noctua NT-H1 because it has excellent thermal characteristics and it isn't electrically conductive so it won't kill your hardware if you get it somewhere you shouldn't.

http://noctua.at/en/nt-h1.html

http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/noctua_nt_h1/5.htm

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Noctua/NT-H1/4.html

Re: Ask HN: Disappointed by the new Macbook, what alternatives do we have?

#134

Post by mikhailt »

Maran wrote: post #95
Faaak wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My first thought. Do you really need to change because you broke your macbook, or do you want to change because its "trendy" ?

Few problems: CPU is slowing down lately, even switching tabs in Chrome sometimes takes a 1sec to actually render the page. Disk is getting too small. I use a lot of VMs for work and I never have enough space to run them all. Laptop is dead, if I replace it I will be without a laptop for weeks according to Apple. I let it drop once making the fan very noisy, not really a problem just annoying.

So, you've dropped the laptop and the fan became noisy, which would also lead to CPU throttling because if the fan isn't working right, CPU is going to overheat and your laptop is going to suffer as the result of this.

Did you even take the back off to try to reseat it or clean up the laptop? You can try to take it to an authorized Apple repair shop to see if they can re-seat the fan/clean up the fans for you.

I have same '12 rMBP and the performance is just as snappy as it was back in '12 and I've never reinstall OS either, so it's all consistent and snappy.

I have no plans to upgrade this because there's nothing else that comes close to replacing it right now, not even '16 rMBP.

As for the disk, I put my VMs on external SSDs, works great. Certainly cheaper than replacing the laptop and easier to upgrade every year to more storage.

Re: Ask HN: Disappointed by the new Macbook, what alternatives do we have?

#135

Post by dom0 »

Arnt wrote: post #101
dom0 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With IdeaPads it's just totally model dependent. Some models work great with Linux, some don't work at all.

I really wish I could find anything at all that works well with linux, has at least 4G RAM (better 8 or 16), doesn't have a heavy screen , and is no wider than 28cm. Buying laptops has become really, really difficult.

28 cm width essentially excludes the 11.6" to 13.x" category, which are typically at least ~29 cm wide.

So you're probably looking at a 10.6" netbook.

Re: Ask HN: Disappointed by the new Macbook, what alternatives do we have?

#136

Post by viraptor »

NietTim wrote: post #26
viraptor wrote: post #7

If you want more power Lenovo T. If you want something closer to air, Lenovo X.

I'm really skeptical about Lenovo because of the proprietary software issues they've had, even read things about bioses with sketchy stuff in them which couldn't be flashed and such.

Op asked about a laptop with linux compatibility. I'm assuming that's going to be installed from scratch without any marketing/upselling software from Lenovo.

Re: Ask HN: Disappointed by the new Macbook, what alternatives do we have?

#137

Post by bosie »

Jayakumark wrote: post #122
eknkc wrote: post #23

I asked the same question and read replies to others. Just a quick summary; - Lenovo has decent laptops. Personally, I'd not touch anything from Lenovo after their shady stuff. (Maybe not an issue on Linux, maybe it is. I don't trust them) - Dell XPS series are really good but people complain about coil whine, worse battery life compared to MBP and hit/miss trackpad. It might not be that big of a problem. And if you…

Was waiting more than an 4 years for replacing MacBook Pro 2012 which is the last MBP you can upgrade on your own. and finally after seeing the event - went with dell outlet new latitude E5470 with Core i7 6820HQ the same processor used in 15" MBP version selling at $2399 . It has 8gb Ram and SSD for $635. Will add additional 8gb for $40, will receive it tomorrow . I probably would never buy MBP again since there is…

do you mind providing a link? I can only find the E5470 with 8GB but not 16GB

Re: Ask HN: Disappointed by the new Macbook, what alternatives do we have?

#138

Post by Jayakumark »

bosie wrote: post #137
Jayakumark wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Was waiting more than an 4 years for replacing MacBook Pro 2012 which is the last MBP you can upgrade on your own. and finally after seeing the event - went with dell outlet new latitude E5470 with Core i7 6820HQ the same processor used in 15" MBP version selling at $2399 . It has 8gb Ram and SSD for $635. Will add additional 8gb for $40, will receive it tomorrow . I probably would never buy MBP again since there is…

do you mind providing a link? I can only find the E5470 with 8GB but not 16GB

Looks like 16gb is out of stock i dont see it too, you can buy another 8gb one and upgrade to 16gb for $40 from newegg.

Re: Ask HN: Disappointed by the new Macbook, what alternatives do we have?

#139

Post by chillacy »

icebraining wrote: post #50
chillacy wrote: post #6

You might want to be more specific, about the "pro" part that you want which is no longer in the MBP. For instance others have pointed out that the 16GB limitation is in all notebooks which use the same intel chipset and low voltage ram, so you'll have to sacrifice battery life for more memory. That's fine for some folks but not for others.

you'll have to sacrifice battery life for more memory Or get a bigger battery. Not all laptops are stuck with a non-removable battery that must fit a certain size.

Then you're sacrificing space. Look, that's a perfectly fine tradeoff, but OP didn't mention what tradeoffs he was willing to make.

For me: I would rather have a smaller and lighter computer since I travel. The battery doesn't have to last more than 5 hours since I'm either out and traveling or at home and plugged in, but if it is plugged in it has to be able to drive pixels on an external monitor.

Re: Ask HN: Disappointed by the new Macbook, what alternatives do we have?

#140

Post by pareidolia »

CalRobert wrote: post #67
noyesno wrote: post #58

What is so special about iTerm? Features, font rendering? For features and portability, I can warmly recommend SecureCRT[0], you won't find a more capable terminal app anywhere. [0] https://www.vandyke.com/products/securecrt/index.html

I like the ability to easily have multiple panes without having to learn tmux.

Try Byobu (http://byobu.co/) it's a convenience package on top of tmux or screen, your choice.
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