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The best laptop ever made

marco.org

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Re: The best laptop ever made

#151

Post by goerz »

dpkonofa wrote: post #130
trb8 wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I feel like the odd one out. You're not. I have the late 2016 model. It replaced my ~2013-2014 model and I consider it an improvement. The Touch Bar / touch-id is a (mostly irrelevant) improvement over a row of keys that I never used. I think my computer would be worse if it dedicated space to a SD card slot reader. I've never used it. I wouldn't mind a USB-A port. But I have only wanted to plug something in twice…

On the USB-A port thing, what reason does anyone have for plugging their phone into their computer anymore, though? Everything about iOS and macOS now supports wireless sync and file transfer. I can't think of a single thing that I'd even need that for...

tethering while working on the train

Re: The best laptop ever made

#152

Post by dragonsky67 »

dpkonofa wrote: post #130
trb8 wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I feel like the odd one out. You're not. I have the late 2016 model. It replaced my ~2013-2014 model and I consider it an improvement. The Touch Bar / touch-id is a (mostly irrelevant) improvement over a row of keys that I never used. I think my computer would be worse if it dedicated space to a SD card slot reader. I've never used it. I wouldn't mind a USB-A port. But I have only wanted to plug something in twice…

On the USB-A port thing, what reason does anyone have for plugging their phone into their computer anymore, though? Everything about iOS and macOS now supports wireless sync and file transfer. I can't think of a single thing that I'd even need that for...

I use my notebook all the time to charge my iphone. Especially if I happen to be using the phone as a hotspot whilst out and about.

Re: The best laptop ever made

#153

Post by blhack »

dpkonofa wrote: post #130
trb8 wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I feel like the odd one out. You're not. I have the late 2016 model. It replaced my ~2013-2014 model and I consider it an improvement. The Touch Bar / touch-id is a (mostly irrelevant) improvement over a row of keys that I never used. I think my computer would be worse if it dedicated space to a SD card slot reader. I've never used it. I wouldn't mind a USB-A port. But I have only wanted to plug something in twice…

On the USB-A port thing, what reason does anyone have for plugging their phone into their computer anymore, though? Everything about iOS and macOS now supports wireless sync and file transfer. I can't think of a single thing that I'd even need that for...

>On the USB-A port thing, what reason does anyone have for plugging their phone into their computer anymore, though?

I'm a mobile dev. Also to charge it.

Re: The best laptop ever made

#154

Post by drcharris »

ytjohn wrote: post #149
dpkonofa wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the USB-A port thing, what reason does anyone have for plugging their phone into their computer anymore, though? Everything about iOS and macOS now supports wireless sync and file transfer. I can't think of a single thing that I'd even need that for...

I'm a fairly happy MBP 2016 user. I would love to have a single USB-A port. And that is because of the logitech unifying receiver[1], the Elecom wireless trackball dongle[2], or the plantronics voyager uc adapter[3]. These are all USB-A and fit almost flush with the laptop, unless you have to attach a usb-c adapter, in which case you have to stick out 2" with a ridid adapter, or a 6" flexible cable adapter. Now you'r…

I use these https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3... to alleviate the 'sticking out' problem.

Re: The best laptop ever made

#155

Post by camgunz »

platinumrad wrote: post #89
yoodenvranx wrote: post #56

For me it's the Lenovo T61 with a 14.4" 4:3 display (or any of the older 4:3 IBMs). Yes, compared to modern laptops it is heavy, slow, bulky and has a shitty display but: i) I can replace every single piece of it with a simple screwdriver and ii) 4:3 is still the best aspect ratio for reading and developing. If I am doing the latter I prefer a screen with a lot of height. A 4:3 aspect ratio gives me a tall screen whi…

Seconding 4:3 being the absolutely best aspect ratio for working with text. My X220 is amazing in a lot of ways but 16:9 is borderline unusable on any display under ~17 inches in my experience. Even 16:10 feels so much better. You may be interested in making a "T70", which is a 15.4" T61 shell with a contemporary motherboard made by a group of Chinese ThinkPad enthusiasts. I've been considering an "X62" (same concept…

Hey! I just got a couple X62s last weekend.

Quality control is an issue, but only kind of. There's a warranty and the 51nb people are super cool and helpful. Some people go all out with the backlight mod etc, but the only reason I'd do that is improved battery life; the regular backlight suits me fine.

Other than that, it's an amazing machine. I used an X60 for years and it's just like that, but better in basically every way. And relative to other comparable machines they're pretty cheap too.

Re: The best laptop ever made

#156

Post by bearbearbear »

I've had a 15" Macbook Pro since late 2013.

It was perfect in every way.

It never crashed, it was never slow and it had GNU tools built right in, but out of the way so I could enjoy the simple and practical UI.

Then one day my X key started missing a keystroke now and then.

Later it started missing strokes.

Then after a while it started to input 'x' when I wasn't pushing the key once in a while.

Eventually the entire computer became unusable because as soon as it powered on it would start to repeatedly ghost type the letter X, resulting in the OS disabling the X key at boot.

So I took it to the Apple store.

"They'll just pop the key off and replace it, maybe clean out under it" I thought. "Worse case scenario I'll have to pay $20 for a new keyboard."

Haha no.

Apple wanted $400 to fix the X key because they refused to simply fix one key. And they refused to simply replace the keyboard. No, the only way they would fix it would be to replace the entire lower deck and that would cost $400.

I had no choice. I needed my computer for business because all of my work depended on it. So I gave the $400.

My computer came back and it worked great for a while, about 8 months.

Then one day the G key started to miss a keystroke once in a while.

I think you know where this is going.

I continued to use the computer until the G key completely failed and began to ghost type G all the time.

This time I didn't have $400, so the broken key rendered my computer completely useless because my disk unlock password had the letter G in it, rendering the OS unbootable.

Even using an external keyboard didn't work because when the OS disabled the letter G at boot it disabled it on both the internal and the external keyboard.

So now I have a computer rendered useless by poverty.

If it was a Lenovo laptop, I would have called Lenovo and they would've overnighted me a free replacement keyboard, which I would have replaced myself in five minutes by removing a few screws, swapping it out and replacing the screws (I've done it on several Lenovo laptops).

I have a perfectly usable Macbook Pro sitting there in the corner rendered unuseable by a single broken key.

Re: The best laptop ever made

#157

Post by avn2109 »

sarreph wrote: post #58

I knew what laptop Marco would be talking about before I clicked on the link. Perhaps that says something about Marco, but I have the feeling it's almost certainly about how widely-lauded the old rMBP was, and still clearly is. Apple got so many things right with it, because all the design choices made sense , for exactly the reasons Marco gives. The design choices being made at the top of Apple no longer make sense.…

The late 2014 rMBP's were the last of the good ones. After that they put the stupid "force touch" trackpads in them, which have slightly but perceptibly worse mechanical response to being clicked. I still miss my 2014's trackpad all the time.

Re: The best laptop ever made

#158

Post by kn0where »

gutnor wrote: post #133
blhack wrote: post #76

This makes me so sad. My laptop is a tool that I use for close to 12 (maybe even more!) hours per day. Every single day. It is the tool I use more than any other tool . It is such an important part of my life. It's so important that it work well. I remember when I got my first MBP (it was a 2010 model). I had long been a linux user, and getting the mac was something I had done begrudgingly. I remember how the little…

> This is not the case with USB-C, evidenced by the fact that apple doesn't even use it on their own consumer electronics yet (!!!). The biggest problem IMO is that Apple decided to outsource the whole connectivity problem to third party. Apple provides no [1] cable, no monitor, no external anything that uses the ports. At the very least Apple could have done some sort of certification program so that their user are…

> 2016 is ok so far,

I think you have your years off.

Re: The best laptop ever made

#159

Post by SkyMarshal »

thijsvandien wrote: post #62

I got myself the 2012 model shortly after it was introduced. Despite the obvious risk, I made an exception to the rule of never buying a 1st gen. It was simply everything I (until then) didn't know I wanted. A machine truly worthy of the Pro label, pushing the state of the art at a fair price. I was happy to spend my money. Meanwhile we lost both the quality and the fair price. It really makes me feel sour, to the po…

Not quite following you here, are you saying the 2015 variant is not as good as its 2012 same-model predecessor? What's the difference?

Re: The best laptop ever made

#160

Post by platinumrad »

camgunz wrote: post #155
platinumrad wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seconding 4:3 being the absolutely best aspect ratio for working with text. My X220 is amazing in a lot of ways but 16:9 is borderline unusable on any display under ~17 inches in my experience. Even 16:10 feels so much better. You may be interested in making a "T70", which is a 15.4" T61 shell with a contemporary motherboard made by a group of Chinese ThinkPad enthusiasts. I've been considering an "X62" (same concept…

Hey! I just got a couple X62s last weekend. Quality control is an issue, but only kind of. There's a warranty and the 51nb people are super cool and helpful. Some people go all out with the backlight mod etc, but the only reason I'd do that is improved battery life; the regular backlight suits me fine. Other than that, it's an amazing machine. I used an X60 for years and it's just like that, but better in basically e…

If you don't mind answering how was your experience with the ordering process? Did you get them via LCDfans or did you use a proxy in China? Did you order them assembled or did you put the motherboards in X61s that you acquired separately? Thanks!
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