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Ask HN: MacBooks seems to be the only viable option these days

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Re: Ask HN: MacBooks seems to be the only viable option these days

#261

Post by hiyer »

I have an Asus ROG 14 2020 model with AMD Ryzen 5 that I'm very happy with - runs cool, battery life is great (easily lasts a day if I'm not gaming), has survived a few drops, and cost me half what a MacBook would have. Most of all I can easily dual boot Linux on it. The only thing missing is a webcam, but that's something I can live with as I use an external one most of the time anyway.

I would add that the quality of Asus laptops in general seems to be pretty great. I have another 9-year old Asus that was used extensively by my kid for her online classes the last couple of years. It still runs as well as it did when I bought it, and I've never had it repaired.

Re: Ask HN: MacBooks seems to be the only viable option these days

#262

Post by throw0101a »

Aerroon wrote: post #251
uniqueuid wrote: post #87

Earlier 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…

Because computers are supposed to be practical first. We're still making significant enough improvements in the performance of them that they outweigh things such as aesthetics. The things you mentioned have negligible improvements year after year and the way they differentiate between each other is the looks. This is also why good computers are affordable by almost everybody, but things like good bicycles, furniture…

> Because computers are supposed to be practical first. We're still making significant enough improvements in the performance of them that they outweigh things such as aesthetics.

Sometimes aesthetics is part of practicality: how many doors does one run into with a "push" or "pull" sign because otherwise it's not possible to tell in which direction things work?

Re: Ask HN: MacBooks seems to be the only viable option these days

#263

Post by postalrat »

dTal wrote: post #195
postalrat wrote: post #53

I dream of a device that's basically a laptop without a screen, keyboard, trackpad, etc. Just plug it into a usb-c hub it restores everything from where I left off last time. Then once I'm done put it in my pocket and go. Then if I do want a laptop I could buy a chassis with a battery, keyboard, trackpad, screen, etc, etc to dock my device above in to. Edit: Seriously considering taking the motherboard out of a steam…

You could get a GPD Micro PC. It does have a screen, keyboard and trackpad, but it's probably about as small as the device you were envisioning anyway (certainly smaller than a Steam Deck), and in any case I suspect it's a lot more practical to have some sort of built-in interface to such a thing, even if it's compromised. You could easily remove the screen and/or extract the motherboard, but you'd have a much less u…

https://valkyrie.cdn.ifixit.com/media/2022/03/18134137/Steam...

The motherboard to the steam deck near the top middle in the picture above. If that can run on its own with usb power then it would just need a nice enclosure that provides some cooling. Was thinking about having someone CNC cut me something.

The GPD Micro PC looks interesting but is still a bit of the big side. Don't need the screen, battery, keyboard, or most of the ports.

Re: Ask HN: MacBooks seems to be the only viable option these days

#264

Post by alphabettsy »

pathartl wrote: post #158
alphabettsy wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not garbage. Just replace the motherboard.

"Just replace the motherboard" and lose all of your data on it. Yes, backups are important, but there's a loss of time when you have to restore from backup or provision a new machine/motherboard with your environment. Not to mention that "just replace the motherboard" can often mean costing half, if not more, the original price of the machine. What happens if my SSD wears out? I just have to replace the entire logic…

I’m not going to argue against repairability, but a replaceable failed SSD has exactly the same problem RE data loss.

Re: Ask HN: MacBooks seems to be the only viable option these days

#265

Post by bsder »

brimble wrote: post #144
AA-BA-94-2A-56 wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> 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. I was a linux-on-the-desktop user for about a decade before switching to Mac, and like you, I try Linux out again from…

> Looking back, it only ever seemed good because I was somehow blind to how much time I was losing, and I'd learned to work around or ignore a bunch of broken stuff on my systems.

I feel this way about macOS.

How much time have I lost because the Bluetooth was screwy? How much time have I lost because the WiFi did something strange? How much time have I lost trying to do USB development and the OS got in the way? How many times have I had to blow away and reinstall all my printers because macOS got confused. On macOS, I have to install special apps to keep my laptop awake or to set it to the native screen resolution. How much weirdness have I had to debug because of App Dislocation?

It finally got driven home when I was trying to configure someone else from scratch on macOS. After the sixth "Hey, how do you deal with misfeature ?" followed by "Well, you need to download an app that does ." I realized that I'm diddling with my macOS system as much as I diddled with my Linux systems.

At that point, I might as well choose Linux so that my diddling actually helps the wider community rather than simply going into the black hole of Apple and adding to their profits.

Re: Ask HN: MacBooks seems to be the only viable option these days

#266

Post by pdimitar »

kimixa wrote: post #253
uniqueuid wrote: post #87

Earlier 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…

Also the treadmill of computer progress means that keeping devices for multiple years has significant costs in performance compared to replacing it regularly. A good watch can be passed down through generations. A computer passed on from my father would likely just be a storage and disposal cost instead of any real use. Outside of specialist enthusiasts and collectors, I suppose. But for every working Apple 1 there's…

That's a very good point, thank you.

Conversely, nowadays that is less and true though. Currently, getting a latest Ryzen 5000 APU laptop can very easily last you 10 years or more -- until something physically breaks inside. The machines themselves are very energy-efficient and fast enough for everything except special work niches.

So I suspect we're witnessing a culture shock: what used to be the best strategy no longer is, and the players (the producers) haven't adapted yet.

Re: Ask HN: MacBooks seems to be the only viable option these days

#268

Post by rg111 »

I had a very bad experience with a mid-range Dell. And so did many other people I know.

Ditched that and switched to a low-range HP. All my work was on the cloud anyway. Worked really nice and exceeded all expectations. Linux worked just out-of-the-box.

Then I owned a high-range Asus, and it was the best laptop I have ever seen or used. Loved the product.

I use high-range Asus from that point in my life. Great experience. Linux works, has NVIDIA GPU w/ CUDA, everything just works great! Couldn't complain.

Made two friends switch to high-range Asus for life, as well.

Re: Ask HN: MacBooks seems to be the only viable option these days

#269

Post by thundermuffin »

danamit wrote: post #259
uniqueuid wrote: post #24

I 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…

That's personal taste, if Apple cares can they care to have a real keyboard, a bit of ports, and a camera shutter? I am super filtered by the Mac keyboard and I don't think it is intended for professional use at all. Also "it just werks" is not true at all, Macs have a super bad reparability. If you love Macs fine, but they are not that savoir of laptops as you claim, its a brand with its own loyal fans just like the…

As someone who had to sadly use one of the butterfly switch keyboards for a while at work, the new 14"/16" Macbooks both have the "old school" feeling keyboards, finally brought Magsafe back, and have ports for SD card and HDMI again. I feel like the thickness is so close to allowing an ethernet port that they should've just bumped it up a little more, but maybe they felt the average consumer wouldn't know what that is in 2022 (kidding, haha!). Sadly, still no camera shutter which is definitely a bummer, but I road my 2013 model into the ground hoping they'd bring back Magsafe because that's a must-have feature for me, hah.

Re: Ask HN: MacBooks seems to be the only viable option these days

#270

Post by DoingIsLearning »

> Recently, I decided it was time for an update.

I recently bought a refurbished x270 from an IT supplier outlet:

- 1TB SSD

- 16GB RAM

- IPS display

- A keyboard you can _actually_ use

- for about 500$

I still have a desktop at home for heavy duty lifting, but for light tasks or doing some work sitting in the garden or at a cafe, it is the perfect form factor. It is running Debian 11 + KDE plasma 5 with no issues.

Don't underestimate the upgrade-ability of old thinkpads, they are sort of modern Theseus ships.

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