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

Ask HN: Feasible Alternative to the MacBook Pro?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

231–240 of 628 posts

Re: Ask HN: Feasible Alternative to the MacBook Pro?

#231

Post by the8472 »

yoloClin wrote: post #12
emilsedgh wrote: post #8

X1 Carbon is a really nice device. Its pretty reliable, Linux friendly and has no spyware installed like some other Lenovo lines. But no matter what laptop you pick, its gonna take you a couple of weeks until you are comfortable with it. But it will happen eventually. Laptops have the same interface after all. Switching the entire software stack from Mac to any other OS is probably the main struggle. Try a couple of…

I used an X1 for a few months. It took me a fortnight of rage before I discovered you can switch fn and ctrl in BIOS. after that I really liked it. I'm going to be in the market for a new <= 14" soon but want more ram than the X1 carbon offers. A T490 caps out at 40gb and has decent specs on paper, I'd be interested to hear others' thoughts on the model though.

> A T490 caps out at 40gb

48 according to the spec sheet.

Re: Ask HN: Feasible Alternative to the MacBook Pro?

#232

Post by chapium »

xfr wrote: post #201
dotancohen wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I compare the experience to living in a hotel vs. living at home This is very apt. If we've all grown out of our parents' basements when we left /., then let me share my own analogy. When SSHing into different servers I used to bring my .vimrc and .bashrc along with me, because how could you live without them? Likewise for switching computers, you bring along your config files. When a new job required me to be at l…

This is straight up misogynistic and is a great example of why women are driven away from our industry, because of language like this.

I don't think so. If you swap gender roles in the text its not demeaning and is still a cheeky commentary on married life. Mentioning a woman or their relationship to a man (in this case) doesn't automatically make it offensive.

Re: Ask HN: Feasible Alternative to the MacBook Pro?

#233

Post by chapium »

xfr wrote: post #218
computerex wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While it is a very unusual metaphor, I don't see how it is misogyny or derogatory against women. This is wildly off-topic but I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

Yes it is a strange metaphor but language like “I might stumble a bit and touch her in ways she doesn't like” is rapey and comparing women to config files is just weird. The whole comment feels like it is objectifying women

You're right, you have a good point there.

Re: Ask HN: Feasible Alternative to the MacBook Pro?

#234

Post by timwaagh »

My current Acer laptop has always been reliable. So are other windows/pc manufacturers like Lenovo, Toshiba, basically any brand. Reliable laptops are a commodity. I am surprised an Apple product would not be reliable. I'd be hesitant to recommend Dell. They crash. But that might be because i only encounter them as corporate laptops, which get reused a lot and carry additional risks like the corporate 'onboarding' software.

I'd recommend just sticking with windows and not overwriting it with ubuntu unless you have some very specific needs. Some important desktop applications like photoshop do not work on ubuntu and WSL takes care of almost everything ubuntu can do.

Re: Ask HN: Feasible Alternative to the MacBook Pro?

#235

Post by mgamache »

mherrmann wrote: post #48

I switched from MBP to a Dell XPS 13 with Ubuntu. I compare the experience to living in a hotel vs. living at home [1]. In a hotel (=on Mac), everything is stylish and cared for, but you have very little freedom to change things. At home (=on Linux), you need to do the dishes yourself but there's no external agenda. It's simply yours. I'm very happy with the switch. Though I'm on (Debian+) Xfce now instead of Ubuntu…

FYI they fixed the nose cam in the new models

Re: Ask HN: Feasible Alternative to the MacBook Pro?

#236

Post by hombre_fatal »

computerex wrote: post #224
stephenr wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean the same supplier that buyers of Apple, Dell and HP laptops collectively sued? But sure, blame Apple. https://www.computerworld.com/article/2524868/apple--dell--h...

Louis Rossmann made a video highlighting a lot of the engineering problems with Apple laptops. His whole business is about repairing Apple laptops so he has all the reasons and incentives to defend Apple and downplay their issues. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUaJ8pDlxi8

> His whole business is about repairing Apple laptops so he has all the reasons and incentives to defend Apple and downplay their issues.

How does this follow? He has developed a following around posting these types of videos which seems like a pretty sweet incentive for making them.

Not to say he's being dishonest or something, it just seems like a stretch to say that some random repair guy somehow has more to gain by (A) hoping 0.000001% more people buy Apple products by forgoing these videos so that he can repair a few more Macbooks than by (B) making these popular videos that net him subscribers and attention.

Re: Ask HN: Feasible Alternative to the MacBook Pro?

#237

Post by mgamache »

ryaniscool wrote: post #173
cranium wrote: post #71

It saddens me that Apple used to make (almost) perfect laptops – price aside – and it's no longer the case, leaving a bunch of geeks looking for a replacement. In 2017 after searching the market, filtering on required specs and reading reviews, I came to the conclusion that there are no perfect laptop: every time there's a compromise to be made. For me, I had requirements that were previously met in the MBP: good bat…

Here is an anecdote on Dell laptops. I have an XPS 15. I too had a swollen battery and I got it replaced while it was in warranty. It swelled again about a year later. Seems to be a design flaw in either their laptops or their laptop batteries.

me too, I purchased a 3rd party battery from amazon and so far so good... https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0748BRHH4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b...

Re: Ask HN: Feasible Alternative to the MacBook Pro?

#238

Post by awalton »

MatekCopatek wrote: post #54

If you're in the market for an ultrabook, I recommend the Huawei Matebook X Pro. Fully aluminum, solid build quality, a keyboard that matches the old MBPs and a 3:2 screen ratio. Downsides are a terrible webcam and all the scandals surrounding Huawei.

> Huawei Matebook X Pro

Yeah I have no idea why other manufacturers haven't looked at this machine and taken away just how good it is. I'd buy a Dell or Lenovo version of the Matebook X Pro in a heartbeat, if they were smart enough to stick to some of its design principles and refine them.

3:2 is a wonderful display ratio for laptops. It's a very nice compromise between widescreen and the venerable 4:3 ratio, and makes it a much more usable machine for hackers and writers alike. I own an older Chromebook Pixel that I still use for travel purposes, and even despite its tininess, it's still one of my favorite machines just for the display aspect ratio, even if it spent several years being a pain in the ass thanks to Google not upstreaming the Linux drivers and not putting enough flash memory onboard despite it being a "premium" machine...

The Matebook X Pro features an Macbook-like touchpad, a chicklet keyboard that actually feels decent and is reliable at the same time, but maybe has a little less refinement than the Macbook Pro in some areas too - putting both its USB-C ports on the same side so you can't charge it from either side, as an example, and people are pretty hit/miss on the idea of having the webcam in the keyboard (not something I personally mind; I prefer having a hideaway camera over a piece of electrical tape on my machine).

However, the real killer about the Matebook X Pro now is that its design is a little over three years old. It's two Intel mobile CPU revisions out of date, and its nVidia MX150 chip wasn't great when it was new in early 2017 - Intel's Iris graphics are more compelling for the power budget on these machines (yes, the nVidia chip is still a little faster at the top end, but at the cost of 2.5x the power usage). And just from all of the various improvements made over the past few years, you're going to be able to squeeze out a couple extra hours of battery life from the platform alone, which is really still a killer feature for laptops.

So quite frankly, if we're talking about buying machines as out of date as the Matebook X Pro... why wouldn't you buy the all-around better machine: a new old stock Macbook Pro from before the butterfly keyboard disaster?

Re: Ask HN: Feasible Alternative to the MacBook Pro?

#239

Post by coldtea »

>However, Apple has demonstrated their inability to be reliable. I bought my MBP in January of this year (2019) and tomorrow I’ll pick it up from its 3rd repair.

Well, I've had 5 or so MBs and MBPs since 2003 and hardly ever needed a repair (I had to repair an iMac once). So what happened to one machine, which could have been part of a faulty production run is not necessarily indicative.

In general, the fact the MBPs have higher satisfaction rates, and command higher second-hand prices and maintain them longer should be an indicator that (again, in general) they are more reliable rather than less.

That said, if they do fail (which they still can), Apple is hardly the faster company to give you a replacement machine, or to fix your old one. And in countries without official Apple Stores even more so.

Re: Ask HN: Feasible Alternative to the MacBook Pro?

#240

Post by coldtea »

oarsinsync wrote: post #171
mpol wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I made a conscious choice to stop customising my desktop (and then later, mobile) experience away from the defaults as much as possible, as I was fed up of having to document and then re-deploy all of my customisations every time I had to reinstall for whatever reason. I just copy my home-dir settings everywhere I go. I have a different setup on my desktop and laptop. It is mostly .config that I need. But when movi…

> Happily living on the same config files for 20 years now I just wanted to draw more attention to this particular snippet. That's a remarkable achievement, and you should be proud of yourself and your working environment. Regardless that most other people (myself included) are unlikely to be able to replicate what you've done, the reality is you've done it, and it works for you. Good job.

>Regardless that most other people (myself included) are unlikely to be able to replicate what you've done, the reality is you've done it, and it works for you. Good job.

It's more about personal psychology (willing to stick to something that works and not tinker, or even willing to do with less and not seek improvements all the time), than some technological feat (e.g. achieving some "perfect" config).

Post reply on HN