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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

#431

Post by peatmoss »

sofixa wrote: post #361
dbevv wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dislike using touchpads very much. I go to great lengths to control everything with the keyboard, and fall back to a traditional mouse when I have to (I tried trackballs but I couldn't adapt). Whenever I'm forced to use a touchpad because I'm on the go or I don't have room to bring a mouse with me, I groan. That said, the implementation of the touchpad in a Macbook vs a regular touchpad in even a high end laptop is…

But there's one giant flaw on MacBook touchpads. After hearing everyone drool over them and finally getting to try one ( newly issued corporate laptop), I'm shocked that you can't independently control the scroll direction of the touchpad and mouse scroll button. There's an option in both submenus ( touchpad and mouse), but they change the same setting, resulting in a really unintuitive (for me) setup. Where's Apple'…

No amount of touch pad excellence erases the deficit of no tiling window manager and focus follows mouse in Linux. I recently upgraded to an M1 Macbook from an HP laptop running Ubuntu at work… and I’m having serious regrets.

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

#432

Post by sofixa »

peatmoss wrote: post #431
sofixa wrote: post #361

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But there's one giant flaw on MacBook touchpads. After hearing everyone drool over them and finally getting to try one ( newly issued corporate laptop), I'm shocked that you can't independently control the scroll direction of the touchpad and mouse scroll button. There's an option in both submenus ( touchpad and mouse), but they change the same setting, resulting in a really unintuitive (for me) setup. Where's Apple'…

No amount of touch pad excellence erases the deficit of no tiling window manager and focus follows mouse in Linux. I recently upgraded to an M1 Macbook from an HP laptop running Ubuntu at work… and I’m having serious regrets.

I recall discussing focus follows mouse with a colleague on macOS years ago, did they really remove the feature?

Fingers crossed that the Asahi Linux project keeps advancing as good as they have.

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

#433

Post by perfopt »

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…

I am on my thirst company supplied laptop. Thinkpad for 2 years. MacBook Pro for the next 5 and another MacBook Pro now on its third year. The next one will probably be a M1 based MacBook pro - though this one is working fine and I dont feel like going in to work just to replace it

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

#434

Post by perfopt »

varunprasad wrote: post #155
clint wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You're extremely lucky. Or maybe you change your laptops before Apple acknowledges the very real problems they have. So many of their laptops have had issues necessitating recalls, but because they were able to delay those recalls until 5+ years after those devices were released (even if complaints started way earlier), they get away with it. I've already had 2 Apple laptops where I took in a 4-5 year old device, and…

On the personal front my 2012 MBP still works. An old 2004 PPC MacMini is still going strong though it runs OpenBSD rather than the last version of Mac OS X it supported.

My experience with Macs as work and personal laptops has been very good.

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

#435

Post by supratims »

None of the machine/platform is perfect. Some have more issues than others. My mac(s) have had issues occasionally, both hardware and of course software related. But I still prefer a Mac to a Thinkpad (my second choice). In my opinion Macbooks tend to last longer and have proved to be a lot more value for money over a long time.

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

#437

Post by everyone »

postingposts wrote: post #402
Tabular-Iceberg wrote: post #401

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fuck them indeed, but I can’t wait for a competitor to come out with something that checks all six boxes without the drawbacks of Apple, I need a computer that can do those things now.

I’m giving up on laptops and sticking to desktops. The desktop I built myself has never given me any problems and it can be repaired, upgraded, and serviced on my own. I really think laptops are just trash and people are delusional about their usefulness. That’s my opinion, damn it!!!

Yeah, how often do you work in different places? Like you need a lot of other gear that is not portable, Roof / walls / window / desk / chair / paper / pens / books etc. Basically a nice office you are comfortable in and used to working in.

Desktops last pretty much forever. Almost every desktop component I've had worked perfectly until it was extremely obsolete and sold or given away.

What's crazy is that although their performance remains the same over years, their prices depreciate like crazy for no reason. I am never gonna buy new computers again. I've gotten a few 2nd hand gaming desktops recently on buy and sell websites for around €300 each (often including monitor / peripherals) and they perform perfectly, they can run AAA games fine even.

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

#438

Post by alienthrowaway »

Benlights wrote: post #290
alienthrowaway wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It'd cost way too much to redesign the product correctly. No such thing as a "correct" design: it's all about market positioning and design trade-offs. I'm typing this on a sub-$300 laptop, it's made of plastic, it bends and flexes, but it is very light, and has a 1980x1024 display, a 9-hour battery, and again - it bears repeating - cost less than $300 brand new. These factors may not be important to you, but they…

May I ask what computer it is?

It's an HP Chromebook 14.

It can seamlessly install and run Linux apps and compilers via virtualization (Crostini). I usually use vim, but I also have VS Code installed and it works pretty well. It won't win any CPU perf awards though: it has a dualcore Celeron.

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

#439

Post by pnutjam »

satsuma wrote: post #421
smackeyacky wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pay more for the corporate class laptops from HP or Dell i.e Elitebook Supported longer, better materials, better keyboards. I'd buy a second hand elitebook over a new acer or whatever any day.

typing this on a dell precision-class laptop and yeah, it's a dream. even between this and my latitude (which is still business class but one tier down) it's noticeable. there are nice quality laptops to be had, they're just expensive enough that apple becomes competitive price-wise.

True, I tend to stick to business class and buy off lease equipment. It's usually pretty durable and repairable. You can even get parts.

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

#440

Post by a257 »

uuyi wrote: post #344
wu_187 wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why should you need insurance on something that should be covered under the manufacturer warranty?

The manufacturer doesn’t know you didn’t leave half your rice lunch in the lid when you closed it.

I am confident that I treat my laptops very well. According to the article linked above, this issue has been occurring during normal use.
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