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The Surface Book 2 is everything the MacBook Pro should be

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

#291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The first thing I always do on a new laptop (or install) is go into Power Settings and change the Closing Lid action from putting the computer to sleep to just turning off the screen. It's surprising how many people never change the settings on their computers. Whenever I saw someone with the taskbar icons combined, I always asked them if they liked it that way, and they would say "No." So I always offered and they a…

> The first thing I always do on a new laptop (or install) is go into Power Settings and change the Closing Lid action from putting the computer to sleep to just turning off the screen. Or you can get a Mac laptop, where getting the computer to sleep when you close the lid and start again fast when you open it just works. Why would you let the laptop keep running, waste battery, risk overheating and endanger any spin…

> Or you can get a Mac laptop, where getting the computer to sleep when you close the lid and start again fast when you open it just works.

With the added compromise of a touch bar instead of function keys. And a horrible typing experience. And a default OS with a recent history of downright laughable security issues.

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

#292
post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I spent a minute trying to figure out what PRO stands for.

Care to spare other people some time?

I think they thought it was an acronym, but the commenter just meant "pro," i.e. a dev or designer.

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

#293
post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about stuff like defragmentation, Windows registry issues, malware, adware and all the other stuff I vaguely remember? 10 years ago, I used to be a power user at Windows before that (as a gamer/kid) but really though I forgot what time I needed to put into the laptop just to keep it up to performance.

Have you not used a Windows computer in 10+ years? > defragmentation No longer an issue. I'm honestly not up to date on why not, but nobody ever mentions it anymore. > Windows registry issues What issues? I haven't gone into the registry for anything in a long time. > malware, adware Not an issue as long as you run a modern browser and avoid going to sketchy websites and installing random things from them. If you hav…

> No longer an issue. I'm honestly not up to date on why not, but nobody ever mentions it anymore.

SSDs, primarily. Depending on who you ask, defragging an SSD ranges between only slightly beneficial, totally pointless, and actively harmful.

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

#294

It’s 2018 and I still see people walking around with Windows laptop lids open because they presumably have no confidence in Windows’ ability to sensibly preserve state after closing the lid. Software matters, and how it integrates with hardware. And I keep waiting for them to fix just the basics in Windows 10. Not utterly losing both the sizes and positions of all windows just because the laptop was undocked. Not fai…

Not spying on me and not transmitting unknown to me personal information to unknown parties would be a killer feature. I treat any windows machine as if it has a keylogger and submits all my activity to all major governments (maybe only one today and “all” in a few years when my data gets sold, shared or stolen). This is a serious issue for me.

disclaimer: MS employee, this is solely my opinion

Does the GDPR do anything to put your concerns on this issue to rest?

(By those regulations, MS is required, under penalty of very large fines, to not do what you are accusing them of doing.)

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

#295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It’s 2018 and I still see people walking around with Windows laptop lids open because they presumably have no confidence in Windows’ ability to sensibly preserve state after closing the lid. At my workplace it's about 60:40 Windows to Mac user ratio. Regardless of the machine, nobody closes the lid when moving in the office between desks and meeting rooms. So, I'd say it's probably not that.

Probably don't want to lose their ssh connections.

Modern Standby/Connected Standby in Windows 10 won't lose any network connections while in standby.

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

#296
post #138
post #12

Has anyone managed to get Linux booted on this thing and working well? I've been debating purchasing one, but I am afraid that I'll be stuck with Windows, which, for what I work on, makes hacking pretty difficult. EDIT: Just as a note, I know about WSL (I use it at work), but I would greatly prefer to have Linux working on root. I have a lot of custom systemd setups, and I've become somewhat dependent on XMonad.

I've been using Linux on my Surfacebook 2 13" since about January. Most of the hardware features work decently (including touchscreen), but overall it's still not great despite the excellent work put into a modified kernel for it, here [1]. IMO, the most notable items missing full support are: - the battery[2][3], charge or capacity status - "performance base" dedicated GPUs 1: https://github.com/jakeday/linux-surfac…

Don't worry, these will all get resolved now because Microsoft loves open source.

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

#297
post #262

It’s 2018 and I still see people walking around with Windows laptop lids open because they presumably have no confidence in Windows’ ability to sensibly preserve state after closing the lid. Software matters, and how it integrates with hardware. And I keep waiting for them to fix just the basics in Windows 10. Not utterly losing both the sizes and positions of all windows just because the laptop was undocked. Not fai…

Yeah, I saw a dude in the elevator (this year) because his Windows 10 started installing updates when he shut it down, but he needed to leave the office. I get so much crap when I say this online, but Windows is a complete shit show. Yeah, there are issues with macOS, but it is lightyears better. Yeah, I know Apple has dropped the ball on hardware, but my 5 year old MBP is just fine.

> Windows is a complete shit show

I have more problems with my late 2016 MBP now than I do with any of the Win10 machines I use, and I've been using both OSs for 25+ years. The whole" Windows is a shit show" feels like the tired diatribe of people that want to crap on Microsoft but haven't actually used the OS themselves in years.

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

#298
post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I spent a minute trying to figure out what PRO stands for.

Care to spare other people some time?

My assumption is Pro, as in professional. Why it's in all caps is beyond me.

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

#299
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I have the same problems as most people: it's a separate subsystem, which means you either need special integration or simply can't do what you want to do. The filesystems aren't the same, the devices aren't the same, the networking isn't the same, and all three are pretty much needed for daily work. I suspect that most things that you can do in mingw64 will work the same in WSL, but things you need to do beyond that…

Can you provide some examples? I've used the fs and networking without issue, so I'm wondering where you hit issues. I can host a server in WSL and hit it from windows via localhost. I can download a repo in windows and access it from emacs, I can download a repo using Linux git into a windows file system and edit it from either OS. Is it that some parts of Berkley sockets aren't implemented fully (or weren't last time I took it for a spin last year)?

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

#300

It’s 2018 and I still see people walking around with Windows laptop lids open because they presumably have no confidence in Windows’ ability to sensibly preserve state after closing the lid. Software matters, and how it integrates with hardware. And I keep waiting for them to fix just the basics in Windows 10. Not utterly losing both the sizes and positions of all windows just because the laptop was undocked. Not fai…

Mac has similar issues. Keeps losing bluetooth connections with mouse & keyboard, sometimes have to restart to recognize the display. Still does not have simple way to hide icons on desktop or to dock multiple windows and resize them without using a third party solution.

Which desktop items? Using Preferences in Finder, you can hide any automatic ones (disks, servers), and everything else is just a question of whether you put files in the Desktop folder.
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