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Ask HN: What does one look for in a laptop these days?

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Re: Ask HN: What does one look for in a laptop these days?

#351

Post by 52-6F-62 »

foobarbaz33 wrote: post #119

> if I'm missing on any new developments since 2015 Yes, you missed something huge. Apple Silicon M1 or nothing. It's just too good. Low power consumption allows the laptop to actually be used as a laptop. The power use-to-performance ratio is unmatched by anything on the market. Apple is breaking us free from decades of stagnation on the hardware front. Nothing else on the market comes close. I expect this to change…

I just bought one and have to agree. I was aiming for the i9 because audio production tools hadn’t migrated fully but it wasn’t available anymore so I went with an M1. inside of a month any of the tools or plugins I’ve bought in the past have all updated for the m1. Including Waves plug-ins now.

Outside of software work I run Logic as my primary DAW and it’s like there are no limits. It’s fantastic.

Re: Ask HN: What does one look for in a laptop these days?

#352

Post by mike_pol »

goatherders wrote: post #312

While we are here, can anyone recommend a laptop with a crazy bright screen and a good battery? As in "I am sitting by the pool for a couple weeks and need to work, too." Will be Chrome and Office so most every other spec is secondary.

iPad Pro 13 with the keyboard accessory? A bit pricey for what it is but I run my whole workflow away from my workstation on one of these. Super bright high resolution screen with excellent colours and iSh can be used with tmux on a vps if you need some light code editing.

Re: Ask HN: What does one look for in a laptop these days?

#353

Post by mkr-hn »

LindyTalker wrote: post #339
grandpoobah wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Was going to post the same thing (albeit far more poorly explained). Isn't Microsoft embarrassed about this? This has been an issue for my last two laptops over the last 5 years. How is it acceptable for this problem to still exist? My Lenovo supports S3 sleep, but I didn't discover it until probably a year into having bought it, so at that point my battery's ability to hold charge had already been sufficiently degra…

Visual studio running on Mac? I’ve been using visual studio code on it for years no problem. I’m now realizing there’s a difference between the two. Care to explain a little more why you use VS and not VSC?

Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code are completely different things. VSC can do a subset of what VS can do, but some people really need the full power of a traditional IDE. VS vs VSC is like the difference between a smartphone camera and a full camera platform. You can rig up an iPhone (VSC) to do everything a D6 (VS) can do, but it won't be as usable.

Re: Ask HN: What does one look for in a laptop these days?

#354

Post by jabroni_salad »

bo1024 wrote: post #317
mavidser wrote: post #257

It feels like I have no laptop to choose form right now in the market, but here's what I'd like: 1. WiFi+Bluetooth and graphic cards which don't suck on Linux. No Broadcom or Nvidea. 2. Good body without any deck flex, and no flex in the trackpad either. Love the taptic keypads on macbooks. 3. Good power management. Since I expect to lose some battery performance running Linux, I'd prefer to have the laptop be slight…

I respect #5 but what even exists at non-16:9 besides Framework and Apple?

the current batch of dell XPS has a pretty nice tall screen.

Re: Ask HN: What does one look for in a laptop these days?

#355

Post by davefp »

tendencydriven wrote: post #60
qwerty456127 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it's awesome in this aspect. I want one. But it's both US-only (AFAIK, I may be wrong) and pre-order. So I would have to both deal with the customs (extra time, money and papers overhead) and wait long.

It's US only currently, but they are looking at a global rollout (I'm patiently waiting in the UK).

It's available in Canada too

Re: Ask HN: What does one look for in a laptop these days?

#356

Post by Smithalicious »

foob wrote: post #302
Smithalicious wrote: post #166

0. Linux compatibility, I am not super picky about getting everything to work perfectly but I should be able to trust that the software I prefer to use will run and my laptop will connect to wifi and play audio properly and so on. 1. IPS screen (mostly a given nowadays, but this wasn't always so) 2. Trackpoint, I hate trackpads. Pretty rare option so I could possibly be convinced otherwise if the trackpad is particul…

My tastes are fairly similar to yours. I'm curious which boxes aren't ticked by the more recent X200 series Thinkpads since the X230 in your view? I recently purchased one, and I did a bunch of research before deciding which to get. I settled on an X270 because it's user upgradeable, supports two SSDs, has two batteries, has hardware VP9 encoding/decoding, includes a USB C port, and is hopefully much closer to the ru…

I feel like the X-series Thinkpads after the X230 are an unhappy compromise, somewhat better in some ways and worse in others. The further away in time you get from the X230 the more they sacrifice things I care about.

The X270 feels more like a side-grade, trading in a certain amount of ruggedness and maintainability for a better screen and better battery life, but a pretty minor performance improvement.

Re: Ask HN: What does one look for in a laptop these days?

#357

Post by robocat »

jillesvangurp wrote: post #128

- decent design; no gamer laptops, blinking led monstrosities, etc. for me. - decent performance; I'm an engineer. I actually lose time when things run slowly. Lots of time. Kills my flow and I bill a premium rate. - decent screen. I look at this thing for the better part of a day. Also, I dabble with photography once in a while and occasionally some frontend stuff. So, HDPI/250 dpi or better. - Decent ssd storage. I…

> HDPI/250 dpi or better > Linux compatible

I would not recommend getting a 4K. I have the 4K Dell XPS 15” and I wish I got the normal screen instead. Too much time wasted on resolution problems with some apps on Linux, and it only came with a touchscreen gloss finish - bad mistake.

Re: Ask HN: What does one look for in a laptop these days?

#358

Post by [deleted] »

can16358p wrote: post #187
allwein wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and if Visual Studio ran on Mac I'd probably switch my PC out also Not sure if it supports all the features you need, but it exists. https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/vs/mac/

Note that if OP expects anything like the "real" Visual Studio that runs on Windows, this is really nothing compared to it. I'd even go further and actually prefer Vscode with the right extensions compared to this "Visual Studio".

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: What does one look for in a laptop these days?

#359

Post by Smithalicious »

dorfsmay wrote: post #331
Smithalicious wrote: post #166

0. Linux compatibility, I am not super picky about getting everything to work perfectly but I should be able to trust that the software I prefer to use will run and my laptop will connect to wifi and play audio properly and so on. 1. IPS screen (mostly a given nowadays, but this wasn't always so) 2. Trackpoint, I hate trackpads. Pretty rare option so I could possibly be convinced otherwise if the trackpad is particul…

ApparentlyApparently 3rd party manufacturers are looking at building keyboards with trackpoint for the Framework laptops.

That would definitely incline me towards it a lot more, but I'd have to see it first.

Re: Ask HN: What does one look for in a laptop these days?

#360

Post by tim333 »

Underphil wrote: post #134
foobarbaz33 wrote: post #119

> if I'm missing on any new developments since 2015 Yes, you missed something huge. Apple Silicon M1 or nothing. It's just too good. Low power consumption allows the laptop to actually be used as a laptop. The power use-to-performance ratio is unmatched by anything on the market. Apple is breaking us free from decades of stagnation on the hardware front. Nothing else on the market comes close. I expect this to change…

Like so many people, I love the hardware but hate the software. Hoping that once Linux is solid on there, I'll be able to get one.

From a practical point of view the software works pretty well (I've got M1 Air, Big Sur) but I can understand if people want independence from Apple.

It seems that virtualized Ubuntu with UTM works ok: https://youtu.be/hnwK-nkXolc

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