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Ask HN: Disappointed by the new Macbook, what alternatives do we have?

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Re: Ask HN: Disappointed by the new Macbook, what alternatives do we have?

#51

Post by dom0 »

AsyncAwait wrote: post #29
eknkc wrote: post #23

I asked the same question and read replies to others. Just a quick summary; - Lenovo has decent laptops. Personally, I'd not touch anything from Lenovo after their shady stuff. (Maybe not an issue on Linux, maybe it is. I don't trust them) - Dell XPS series are really good but people complain about coil whine, worse battery life compared to MBP and hit/miss trackpad. It might not be that big of a problem. And if you…

If you don't mind Linux, https://system76.com/laptops has some great machines - the Oryx Pro is a pretty slim, aluminium laptop with much more performance per buck than the MBP.

PC Specialist, Schenker and Tuxedo sell machines based on the same barebones. These are probably cheaper for !US people.

Re: Ask HN: Disappointed by the new Macbook, what alternatives do we have?

#52

Post by Arnt »

y7 wrote: post #38
pritambaral wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Important corrections: - Lenovo's ThinkPad line has decent laptops. Lenovo's more popular line, Ideapad, which are branded just "Lenovo", are terrible. - Dell XPS series are good, but if you're looking to run Linux on them, make sure to get the Developer Editions

Can you elaborate? Why are the Ideapads terrible? Why get a Developer Edition?

The thinkpads have a long, long history of working well with linux and bsd, too long for it to be a coincidence. The ideapads... don't.

"Developer Edition" is Dell's corporatespeak for "we made sure this works with linux".

Re: Ask HN: Disappointed by the new Macbook, what alternatives do we have?

#53

Post by joefreeman »

y7 wrote: post #38
pritambaral wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Important corrections: - Lenovo's ThinkPad line has decent laptops. Lenovo's more popular line, Ideapad, which are branded just "Lenovo", are terrible. - Dell XPS series are good, but if you're looking to run Linux on them, make sure to get the Developer Editions

Can you elaborate? Why are the Ideapads terrible? Why get a Developer Edition?

I think the main difference with the developer edition is that it comes with an Intel wireless card. Also maybe some different BIOS settings. And obviously Ubuntu preinstalled.

Re: Ask HN: Disappointed by the new Macbook, what alternatives do we have?

#55

Post by jaxondu »

Opportunities:

- A Thunderbolt 3 dock that has all the missing ports in new MacBook Pro

- Lenovo, HP, Asus release properly supported notebook with Linux similar to Dell XPS Developer edition. Makes desktop Linux available across PC industries.

- Microsoft release Surface Pro and Surface Book with Mubuntu (MS version of Ubuntu, since MS already has working relationship with Canonical)

- Cloud service via emulator that allows developer to build, test and submit iOS apps without actually owning a Mac

- Google release Pixel Book which runs a brand new OS that is ChromeOS+Android hybrid.

We need:

- Adobe releases Photoshop & Lightroom for Linux

- Microsoft releases Office for Linux

- A few major games for Linux. Makes Linux a game platform.

- One or two major Mac developers develop for Linux

- More developer using Electron and React Native for Ubuntu

But we will be back to the same by spring 2017 when Apple refreshes MacBook Pro with new CPU and cheaper price.

Re: Ask HN: Disappointed by the new Macbook, what alternatives do we have?

#56

Post by dom0 »

y7 wrote: post #38
pritambaral wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Important corrections: - Lenovo's ThinkPad line has decent laptops. Lenovo's more popular line, Ideapad, which are branded just "Lenovo", are terrible. - Dell XPS series are good, but if you're looking to run Linux on them, make sure to get the Developer Editions

Can you elaborate? Why are the Ideapads terrible? Why get a Developer Edition?

The IdeaPads I had were not of low quality. They are plastic through and through, but high quality plastic. They feel reasonably solid and a reasonably priced.

Obviously they are not carved from a solid block of magnesium alloy, like ThinkPads used to be.

Re: Ask HN: Disappointed by the new Macbook, what alternatives do we have?

#59

Post by dom0 »

Arnt wrote: post #52
y7 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you elaborate? Why are the Ideapads terrible? Why get a Developer Edition?

The thinkpads have a long, long history of working well with linux and bsd, too long for it to be a coincidence. The ideapads... don't. "Developer Edition" is Dell's corporatespeak for "we made sure this works with linux".

With IdeaPads it's just totally model dependent. Some models work great with Linux, some don't work at all.

Re: Ask HN: Disappointed by the new Macbook, what alternatives do we have?

#60

Post by pritambaral »

y7 wrote: post #38
pritambaral wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Important corrections: - Lenovo's ThinkPad line has decent laptops. Lenovo's more popular line, Ideapad, which are branded just "Lenovo", are terrible. - Dell XPS series are good, but if you're looking to run Linux on them, make sure to get the Developer Editions

Can you elaborate? Why are the Ideapads terrible? Why get a Developer Edition?

> Why are the Ideapads terrible?

I was speaking from past experience and my frustration at the poor build quality, poor management, and all the creepy stuff Lenovo has done to laptops in the Ideapad line (Superfish, Win10-only SSD (which they recently backed down from) etc.)

Beyond me, others would tell you that IdeaPad is Lenovo's consumer laptop line, and as such it sees less quality put into it.

> Why get a Developer Edition?

Because those units are built for Linux compatibility, while non–Developer Edition units are hit-and-miss.

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