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Ask HN: Feasible Alternative to the MacBook Pro?

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

#361

Post by morphar »

kgarten wrote: post #190
morphar wrote: post #19

I am seriously considering Purism Librem 13 ( https://puri.sm/products/librem-13/ ) as a replacement for my MBP. I haven't had any hands on experience with it though, so if anybody have tried it, I would love to hear about your experience. I like the privacy first approach and I think it is becoming more and more essential to have this kind of alternative.

I'm using the 15" as I'm a sucker for 4K screens. Very happy with it.

Thanks for sharing! I'm a sucker for 4k as well, but not so much for big laptops ;) I was hoping for a 13" 4k from Purism, before reading what Zlatan Todoric had to say about Purism.

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

#362

Post by notadev »

Like someone else suggested, the Dell XPS 13 is a good replacement as it's sleek and light. As for the OS, I would recommend ElementaryOS. It is a Debian/Ubuntu derivative, but it's aesthetic is specifically targeted to Linux users who are coming from the Mac experience.

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

#364

Post by FunnyLookinHat »

hardwaresofton wrote: post #85

System76[0] makes some nice laptops (I have an Oryx Pro and i like it a lot), and there's the Lenovo X1 Extreme[1]. [0]: https://system76.com/laptops [1]: https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpad-x/X1-...

My employer provided me an X1 Extreme. Overall it's a great laptop - only real complaint is that it includes a dedicated GPU and I'd rather have integrated graphics. Sure, you can boot with just the Intel GPU with PopOS - but that comes with certain trade-offs like not being able to use the HDMI port.

Keyboard is great. Trackpoint is great. Trackpad is OK. Screen is great (I have the 4k and just run it at 1080p to simplify my life) - but the colors and brightness are amazing. Performance is great.

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

#365

Post by vips7L »

gherkinnn wrote: post #322
fortran77 wrote: post #259

Windows 10 on good hardware is very, very nice. My advice is "don't fight windows". I've seen many people try to make Windows like Unix. Don't. Use Windows versions of things, not things compiled under Cygwin or MinGW. Learn to use Powershell and Powershell scripting language. I do development (C/C++/CUDA/Erlang/Python) all day long on Windows 10 and in addition use desktop applications like Microsoft Office and Adob…

Have been working on Windows machines (C# ftw) for a while now. I hate it. Everything. Kafkaesque configuration UIs, horrible window management, mouse acceleration is off, font rendering is atrocious, the updates make me unreasonably angry, mixed design systems leave me confused, File Explorer isn’t even trying, many apps are downright insulting, and the entire thing just reeks of PMs in ill-fitting suits prodding th…

> mouse acceleration

Maybe it's the gamer in me, but who uses this? It's just going to make your mouse movements way less accurate.

If you haven't tried it yet pwsh integration with C# is amazing, I wish there was something like it for the JVM.

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

#366

Post by vips7L »

spectramax wrote: post #328
gherkinnn wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have been working on Windows machines (C# ftw) for a while now. I hate it. Everything. Kafkaesque configuration UIs, horrible window management, mouse acceleration is off, font rendering is atrocious, the updates make me unreasonably angry, mixed design systems leave me confused, File Explorer isn’t even trying, many apps are downright insulting, and the entire thing just reeks of PMs in ill-fitting suits prodding th…

Don’t forget the ads. Ads, even in the powershell. Telemetry of everything. Automatic installs of OneDrive, Microsoft Teams, etc. Fuck Windows. It sucks.

I've never seen an ad in pwsh or on my desktop. I do agree the automatic installs are terrible.

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

#367

Post by vips7L »

tootie wrote: post #353
fortran77 wrote: post #259

Windows 10 on good hardware is very, very nice. My advice is "don't fight windows". I've seen many people try to make Windows like Unix. Don't. Use Windows versions of things, not things compiled under Cygwin or MinGW. Learn to use Powershell and Powershell scripting language. I do development (C/C++/CUDA/Erlang/Python) all day long on Windows 10 and in addition use desktop applications like Microsoft Office and Adob…

WSL is miraculous. But Powershell is also very capable. I also highly recommend using chocolatey as your package manager. Makes it super easy to stay up to date with dev tools. It's nuts that the GitHub official docs still recommend Git Bash when git for Powershell works perfectly fine.

scoop is also an alternative for your package manager.

https://scoop.sh/

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

#368

Post by mattlondon »

IshKebab wrote: post #344
mattlondon wrote: post #336

I have a Dell Precision 5520 running linux that I got when I rejected the 2018 MBP touchbar that I returned to our tech team in disgust (keyboard sucks) Some observations of the 5520: - con: really really stupid web cam position: it is at the bottom left of the screen so in any video calls it is basically looking up your nose and if you are typing there are GIANT fingers on screen obscuring your face. - pro&con: feel…

> It has a little button on the side you can press which shows the rough battery charge level Not sure if you're aware, but this great feature was copied directly from Apple, who then dropped it for no good reason.

I remember seeing it on Panasonic (I think?) laptops many moons ago. Don't really care who did it first, it is useful (dare I say it, but perhaps a "pro" feature? very useful when traveling around and going in and out of a bag.... shame it is so heavy!)

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

#369

Post by justinweiss »

I wanted to dip back into Linux, and found a ThinkPad x230t for around $70. I'm amazed by how much I like it. I'm running mostly vanilla Gnome on Arch. Every piece of hardware just works. You can take the entire thing apart with just a normal screwdriver. Tablet mode has been great for reading papers and articles on the couch. It's a common enough linux machine that there are tons of setup instructions and suggestions written specifically for it. With an SSD and 8-16GB RAM, it's plenty fast.

It's bulkier. the screen is non-retina and a worse aspect ratio. The fan is noisier. Turns out none of these things bother me anywhere close to what I expected. Hardware-wise, the only annoying thing has been the terrible speakers. Then again, I'm usually on headphones. I miss USB-C ports and USB-C charging, but not too badly.

On the other hand, I had almost forgotten what a good laptop keyboard felt like, and after getting used to the trackpoint, I like it a lot.

I still use a Mac for work, but as a lot of my favorite Mac software has gone subscription-only or subscription-preferred, I've gradually moved more toward open-source options: password-store from 1Password, org-agenda from OmniFocus, etc. So the change wasn't as big or as hard as I was expecting. Decoupling from iCloud will definitely be a thing (photos, iTunes Match, etc.), but I'll figure it out.

edit: Forgot to mention matte screen! Don't know why all the manufacturers thought glossy was the way to go, but it's nice not having to stare at a reflection of the room around me all the time.

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