131–140 of 232 posts
You can drop down to the T460, but it's not made of the same premium materials, and also doesn't even come with the high-resolution screen option. People are flipping out about the escape key, but Lenovo won't sell you a 14" laptop that has both a high-res display and a battery big enough to run it!
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What are you doing that you would even notice? Honest question. I can't recall a single instance where my 2012 rMBP slowed down due to its age. I mainly code, open tons of browser tabs, and listen to Spotify. Once I got a laptop with built-in SSD, everything just seemed to run at the speed of thought. That has not changed in four years or three operating systems.
What kind of code? I live in C and C++. Processor speed matters when compiling. Of course it doesn't matter if you're writing e.g. js...
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Skype on linux works well, last I checked. Configuring a printer is pretty good, actually: for the most part, you plug it in, and it Just Works™. Networked printers are another matter, but by no meand impossible. Presentation on Linux can be handled by LibreOffice, Google Slides, or Reveal.js (which has become increasingly popular with developers of late) I've never had trouble with updating my system, and I'm on Arc…
Thanks, looks like things are better than 7/8 years ago.
Nope. They (Skype/Microsoft) have not updated skype in years. It's still version 4.3, and recently on Linux Groupcall is problematic as all the other Skype clients got upgrades.
Though digging around for a known workaround to that last problem it appears there is a new alpha-grade update for Skype-on-Linux: https://community.skype.com/t5/Linux/Skype-for-Linux-Alpha-a...
Why did they recommend the T400 over the T420?
Due to Intel Management Engine - basically a binary blob, that you don't know what it is doing. T400 is Core 2 Duo machine and works without IME. T420 is i5/i7 machine and IME is a requirement and you cannot make a BIOS replacement without it.
There are many good hardware choices at this point in order to replace a Macbook. What is entirely not clear is what software to use to replace a Macbook.
What I want: Quad-core CPU, decent-ish discrete graphics, a great screen, a somewhat compact case that doesn't weight a ton.
What I get: An endless supply of 13" ultrabooks, 6+ lb. gaming laptops with 2 hour batteries that sound like an airline taking off on startup, sub-$800 junkers, and the "mobile workstation" that still has an optical drive.
Afaik, only the XPS 15 and Razor Blade (14") really come close to the sweet spot. The XPS 15 is still awaiting its Skylake update, and the Razor, while nice, is a bit too gamey for me.
Of course, I'd want to run Linux and with the mishmash that is the current state of linux HiDPI support and uncertain future of Weyland nvidia and ati drivers, I'm not really sure where that leaves me.
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My current setup is Windows 10 on a Thinkpad Helix 2, with full-screen cygwin X11 for ssh-ing into other systems from an environment where I can use fvwm2 to manage my xterms, and a FreeBSD VM running under Hyper-V for when I need a real unix locally. I have no idea at all if that would be remotely close to suitable for you, but, y'know, have a random data point in case it turns out to be helpful.
For me Windows is fine as long as I don't have to deal with viruses, anti viruses, malwares that reconfigure your default search, and stuff like that. It's not that I'm particularly in love with MacOS UI, even if I think it's pretty good/consistent, I could adapt to anything else which is stable and works. Thanks.
So, for me, as far as I can tell, "don't use IE" plus "don't install random crap you downloaded from the internet" plus "my mail client is mutt under screen on a server" between them are basically sufficient defense these days. How far that generalises I can't really say.