Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Surface Book 2 is everything the MacBook Pro should be

char.gd

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 467 posts

Re: The Surface Book 2 is everything the MacBook Pro should be

#91

Post by vancan1ty »

throwawayqdhd wrote: post #14

The Surface Book also runs something I never want to deal with again: Windows 10. I can't deal with a software that constantly gets in the way of my work. I gave Windows a lot of tries, but the latest edition was the last straw for me. Never going back.

I feel that Windows 10 has an improved file explorer and file copying dialogs over Windows 7. In every other way I feel that I still prefer Windows 7 -- system stability, lack of apparent bugs, much more coherent settings functionality, lack of resource-consuming microsoft spyware (cortana), better built-in themes, messages from system are less annoying/"cutesy", ability to fully control updates, lighter and better built-in apps.

I think 7 still remains the peak of Windows and I agree with you that Windows 10 presents a lot of motivation to stick with OSS :)

Re: The Surface Book 2 is everything the MacBook Pro should be

#92

Post by binarycrusader »

daxorid wrote: post #64
jdietrich wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FTA: Most people that I showed the Surface to were impressed by what they saw, but almost always came back to the same thing: it doesn’t run macOS. I’m increasingly frustrated by this because it’s almost always a misunderstanding of how far Windows 10 has come, and how compatible the workflow now is regardless of what you might do for a job. I suspect most people haven't touched Windows since years ago and it's time…

The biggest problem with Windows is de-facto key escrow. If you want to use BitLocker in W10, you have two options: 1. Escrow your FDE keys with Microsoft Live 2. Go through the hassle of setting up a PDC and escrowing them to your domain. There is no option to NOT escrow your keys to a very LEO-cozy company with a local account. This is an immediate deal-killer, regardless of any other features or improvements.

This does not work quite the way you’ve stated:

https://articles.forensicfocus.com/2016/03/23/bitlocker-what...

The short version is there are multiple levels of BitLocker functionality and what options are available is dependent upon hardware, group policies, and the Windows Edition installed.

Re: The Surface Book 2 is everything the MacBook Pro should be

#93

Post by oldcynic »

thinkythought wrote: post #85
admiralEyebrows wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

High Sierra has had some bad bugs, some that made my stomach churn even more than root access. One's that directly impacted my work flow make me the most angry: regular screen flickering, occasional computer falling asleep, and two times a complete logout. This is on the current model 13" Macbook Pro touchbar. I bought it in december to upgrade from my 2012 model. I keep up to date on the software, but I sincerely ho…

I've had more issues with high sierra than any release since lion, but still less than i've had with windows 10(and i even own a surface pro!). I really hate having to choose between two bad options, but it's more a borderline unacceptable option with 10 and a begrudgingly workable one with HS. I'm completely with you, and i don't understand how it seems to have peaked in reliability somewhere around 10.9-10.11 and j…

Couldn't agree more.

From a usability perspective peak Windows was 7. Despite years of use I still dislike Windows insistence on extreme flatness, and still find it counter-productive. Even with the huge gain from WSL and some other newer features of Windows the horrible privacy model, ads in menus, and a return to commonly occurring BSODs cancel out the improvements.

I could have failing memory, but I don't recall ever seeing a blue screen in 7 across a selection of machines.

Over on the Mac peak seems to have been around Mavericks, most of the changes since have been rearranging the furniture, and adding pointless flatness (thankfully not to the extreme variant of Windows). The number of minor annoyances and niggles has been growing steadily. Reliability has been trending down to the point that High Sierra during my 6 month ownership of a '16 MBP actually felt more flaky than Windows - a first I never thought I'd see. Back on Sierra with a '15 has fixed that.

Like you I'd vote with my wallet for an ESR or Mavericks with security and driver updates. I'll take dark mode on that though. :)

Re: The Surface Book 2 is everything the MacBook Pro should be

#94

Post by mamcx »

sinatra wrote: post #10

Such articles always give too much importance to the hardware (which is somewhat important, no doubt) and not enough importance to the software. Many people are looking for quality alternatives to Macbooks, Mac Mini, etc (myself included). Mac Mini hasn’t been updated for 4-5 years. So, I started setting up a Windows desktop as a Mac Mini replacement. But when it came to finding all the alternatives to the OS X softw…

Is ironic how all, Apple, MS & Google sabotage theirs efforts with the PRO crowd.

Everyone agree we are a small niche. So anything below will have a minimal impact in the so important shareholders pockets, and win a enough love for us, IMHO:

- Apple hate to give better, more powerfull hardware with enough flexibility (change SSD, Memory, so not more glue. End). Make a limited true mac pro, heck, make it semi-ugly, non-thin so most will not want that, and VICTORY.

- MS give the hardware but refuse to give away the spyware. Give a solid Windows 2000 Server alike thing without cruft, give it with a LTS edition and even ask money for it, dammit. VICTORY

- Google could give a combo chrome machine/linux with the hardware/LTS edition, stick to it, VICTORY.

Re: The Surface Book 2 is everything the MacBook Pro should be

#95

Post by singularity2001 »

owenwil wrote: post #70
sinatra wrote: post #10

Such articles always give too much importance to the hardware (which is somewhat important, no doubt) and not enough importance to the software. Many people are looking for quality alternatives to Macbooks, Mac Mini, etc (myself included). Mac Mini hasn’t been updated for 4-5 years. So, I started setting up a Windows desktop as a Mac Mini replacement. But when it came to finding all the alternatives to the OS X softw…

Hey! Writer here. I discuss the software at length in here, but as I point out in the piece I've already covered why WSL and Bash work very well at length, so didn't want to muddy the water too much: 1. How to use Bash on Windows to retain your previous setup: https://char.gd/blog/2017/how-to-set-up-the-perfect-modern-d... 2. Why WSL/Bash is good enough these days: https://medium.com/charged-tech/why-i-left-mac-for-w…

I tried Bash on Windows and it was absolutely not good enough. Not yet.

Re: The Surface Book 2 is everything the MacBook Pro should be

#96

Post by fgonzag »

singularity2001 wrote: post #95
owenwil wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey! Writer here. I discuss the software at length in here, but as I point out in the piece I've already covered why WSL and Bash work very well at length, so didn't want to muddy the water too much: 1. How to use Bash on Windows to retain your previous setup: https://char.gd/blog/2017/how-to-set-up-the-perfect-modern-d... 2. Why WSL/Bash is good enough these days: https://medium.com/charged-tech/why-i-left-mac-for-w…

I tried Bash on Windows and it was absolutely not good enough . Not yet.

What problems did you find it with it?

I've been using it for the past 6 months after dual booting and running VMs for a long time and found I haven't found a reason to boot into my VM yet.

Re: The Surface Book 2 is everything the MacBook Pro should be

#98

Post by Pica_soO »

owenwil wrote: post #70
sinatra wrote: post #10

Such articles always give too much importance to the hardware (which is somewhat important, no doubt) and not enough importance to the software. Many people are looking for quality alternatives to Macbooks, Mac Mini, etc (myself included). Mac Mini hasn’t been updated for 4-5 years. So, I started setting up a Windows desktop as a Mac Mini replacement. But when it came to finding all the alternatives to the OS X softw…

Hey! Writer here. I discuss the software at length in here, but as I point out in the piece I've already covered why WSL and Bash work very well at length, so didn't want to muddy the water too much: 1. How to use Bash on Windows to retain your previous setup: https://char.gd/blog/2017/how-to-set-up-the-perfect-modern-d... 2. Why WSL/Bash is good enough these days: https://medium.com/charged-tech/why-i-left-mac-for-w…

Have you tryied ignoring the annoyingyang major points of opinion popups with ?

The windows is dead, but the M$ Fish-trap attitude exists on in the Eco-system, being natural opposed to all things open to the source.

Re: The Surface Book 2 is everything the MacBook Pro should be

#99

Post by tomnipotent »

maxxxxx wrote: post #20
sinatra wrote: post #10

Such articles always give too much importance to the hardware (which is somewhat important, no doubt) and not enough importance to the software. Many people are looking for quality alternatives to Macbooks, Mac Mini, etc (myself included). Mac Mini hasn’t been updated for 4-5 years. So, I started setting up a Windows desktop as a Mac Mini replacement. But when it came to finding all the alternatives to the OS X softw…

Windows 10 is really annoying. Tons of notifications and random stuff preinstalled. Even on the Enterprise version. I also don't like the Edge/IE split. Now we have two half baked browsers. And on my HP blue screens are back. I thought that was a thing of the past.

> and random stuff preinstalled

It's less horrible if you buy MS hardware like the Surface - only a few games come pre-installed, unlike the misery HP & Dell inflict.

Post reply on HN