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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

#371

Post by hoseja »

uniqueuid wrote: post #87
kmeisthax wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because every other computer manufacturer realized they can save on the BOM cost by shoving the whole computer under plastic gingerbread. That weight distribution? It'd cost way too much to redesign the product correctly. Flickering redraws? We don't make the OS, we just sell Microsoft's. Occasionally you do see PC OEMs that try for taste in the Windows ecosystem. Sony did that with their VAIO laptops, with the somew…

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 the prevailing engineering culture is of maximum savings, and they even see it as a virtue ("Anyone can overengineer, it takes true master to design precisely to spec etc..").

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

#372

Post by kkfx »

Let me answer with a question: do you really need a laptop? In the past and not for a little timeslice I've always favored laptops because well docked are essentially equivalent and can be easily moved if/when needed. Few years ago seen the involution of them I go for a desktop.

Essentially modern laptops, mobile workstation included, to my eyes are more and more craptops more and more similar to mobile "smart-crap". Some still need them, students for instance, hybrid workers, people who work out of an office etc. But others can accept the loss in portability to gain in quality, upgradability and comfort. A classic, self assembled, desktop with eventually caddy and 2.5" classic ssds to being able to move data, if not the entire OS, around as needed. Not as free as a laptop, but doable under certain circumstances.

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

#373

Post by adamhp »

28304283409234 wrote: post #42

I'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…

Here is some more anecdata: have had the same Macbook for 6 years with absolutely no issues, stellar reliability and battery life. Same at work. Only recently switched after 5 years at work because we had some new employee turnover and it made sense for me to get a slightly nicer machine for a new project.

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

#374

Post by pllbnk »

sofixa wrote: post #366
bzzzt wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're going to have to use an unfamiliar device it helps to just check out what it can do (e.g. explore the settings) before concluding it sucks ;) I don't really have the patience for silly stuff that annoys me and should/could be trivial to adjust. Just Google something (in this case 'macos disable animations') and you can remove a lot of friction from your daily life.

The problem is that there can be many such "small" things, sometimes with complex solutions ( remapping cmd+tab) or no solution at all ( having different scroll direction between trackpad and mouse. After some time you just get tired and accept the OS isn't for you and you stop fighting it.

Exactly how I feel, nice explanation.

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

#375

Post by gwn7 »

Foivos wrote: post #210
gwn7 wrote: post #62

It is extremely funny that people are able to come to conclusions like this from just 2 data points. "Macbooks seem to be the only viable option these days", because I had bad experiences with two non-Macbook computers. To be fair; I don't think that the author came to that conclusion only from those 2 anecdotes. But still, that is the way the argument is presented. And it really looks absurd.

These two computers are among the best windows computers though. So, you expect them to set the bar.

Indeed they should set the bar but it is irrelevant to my point. The point is that you can't make a generalized statement about a brand and base it only to a single anecdote about a single machine it manufactured.

Mistakes and problems are everywhere. What matters is the sample size. A single anecdote can't say anything about where the bar is set. It's basic statistics.

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

#377

Post by smileybarry »

black_puppydog wrote: post #81

I just got my first thinkpad in 9 years, after having spent two years on a dell xps from hell. I have to say, this is the first time in a long while I'm back in love with hardware. Got a second-hand L14 AMD G1, upped the ram and SSD (yes you can do that!) and apparently there's even an option to add another m2 ssd since the ryzen in this thing has some spare PCIe lanes that are hooked up to the WWAN slot I'm not usin…

ThinkPads are definitely nice but +1 to getting a Ryzen one. Work supplied a T15p Gen 1 with Comet Lake (GTX 1050 so GPU isn't a heatmaker) and it's basically "factory-throttling". Every single one we have just turbos to 100C (not even max clock rate) and self-throttles. There's also some critical Thunderbolt PnP bugs but I 100% blame Intel for that, it's their chipset after all.

I had to make a custom power plan and send it to everyone to keep it at sane temperatures and prevent throttling (at which point it's decent). If you look at it & the T15p Gen 2 you'll see Lenovo realized their mistake and then overcompensated on cooling by doubling thickness (blech), even on non-Quadro models.

But the keyboard is definitely nice and it's one of the sturdier Windows laptops I've seen, even has a neat hardware switch for the webcam.

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

#378

Post by neoberg »

kaba0 wrote: post #362
neoberg wrote: post #358

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But the most important thing with Apple trackpad is not the haptics imo. If Apple went back to regular buttons tomorrow I wouldn't care at all. The tracking itself is light years ahead of any competition. This is still one of the big things keeping me from using Linux (even on Macbooks). Tracking and scrolling is just unbearable. (Yes I tried that driver, the other library, the recommended macos like settings, custom…

Just for the record, may I ask you when did you try last? Libinput which wayland uses heavily improves on the previous drivers, but I agree it still won’t be as good as osx’s.

It was last summer. I bought one of the recommended laptops for running Linux just for the purpose of switching. It sucked hard.

(rant following so please don't read the rest if you don't like ranting about linux desktop)

I could probably live with trackpad not being great. But the sound stack, bluetooth stack, driving displays with different dpi (hidpi and non-hidpi) etc. are all terrible. Managing multiple displays (xrandr, xinerama etc.) even without the dpi difference is also just bad. If you like to tinker it's great but I just couldn't make the switch. It didn't give me the confidence that it will work when I need it. I tried all major distros and read almost the entirety of the arch wiki (it is so good). i3 is one of the things that would make me try again in the future. There is nothing like it on macos (some wms try but they always feel duct-taped). And systemd is good.

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

#379

Post by smileybarry »

drgvond wrote: post #106

> I strongly dislike MacOS because they force the "apple way" of doing things. Complaining about this is like complaining that cats don’t behave like dogs. macOS has its own idiosyncrasies. It may not be for everyone, but maybe this is the reason why things “just work” for the general public (and more). I’m not aware of Windows working on Apple Silicon, but there is Asahi Linux which, I hear, has done a good job with…

It doesn't boot directly on it, but you can at least run Windows 10 ARM64 VMs on Apple Silicon. With Parallels you also get some decent GPU virtualization.

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

#380

Post by jalopy »

Wow. So if this is universally true - that all non-macs are garbage - why is it that review sites like Notebookcheck rate some non-macs machines close to (albeit not matching) a Macbook?

For instance:

2021 Macbook Pro 16" gets a rating of 93 (https://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple-MacBook-Pro-16-2021-M1-P...)

Lenovo ThinkPad P1 G4 has a 90 rating (https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-ThinkPad-P1-G4-laptop-r...)

Are the reviewers just not evaluating machines on any real world basis? Grading on some ridiculous curve?

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