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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?

#371

Post by skipants »

robert_foss wrote: post #299
cytzol wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In a hotel (=on Mac), everything is stylish and cared for, but you have very little freedom to change things. I've heard this over and over — that Macs are locked-down, uncustomisable machines — and I don't agree with it at all. I use replacements for almost all the built-in apps. I use a custom launcher. My editor config Git repo is approaching ten years old, and my shell config Git repo is almost eight. There are…

There's no real package manager. You can't rebuild your kernel. You can't upgrade your hardware. Once your HW is unsupported by Apple you're stuck with an old OS that is unsupported by third party software as well.

> There's no real package manager

I like Homebrew -- is it not adequate enough for your needs?

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

#372

Post by vzaliva »

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…

I am moderately happy with XPS-13. My main problem is touchpad ergonomy http://lambda-files.crocodile.org/2019/01/dell-xps-13-touchp... which I was able to alleviate a bit by "moving furniture in my home" per your analogy.

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

#373

Post by vips7L »

Tijdreiziger wrote: post #270
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…

"Learn to use Powershell and Powershell scripting language." YMMV. I tried PS for a few years and just couldn't get into it. Installed WSL as soon as that came out and haven't touched PS since.

I think this depends on whether you embrace the philosophy of "everything is an object" or not.

For me its been leagues easier to learn than bash and 20 other non-portable utilities. It feels like a regular programming language.

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

#376

Post by spectramax »

gherkinnn wrote: post #358
spectramax wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

As someone else pointed out, Enterprise versions don‘t get ads. As for teams, enterprises love teams since it comes with the Office license anyway.

Not everyone has access to Enterprise version so this is a non-starter argument.

Even better is the LTSC versions of Windows 10 but let's assume we are not pirating windows, and going to purchase a copy of windows, the users are left with a horrendous breach of privacy and a complete disregard to the user experience.

Also, I loving Microsoft Teams is a different argument than having it pushed to your PC without asking.

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

#377

Post by fortran77 »

bufferoverflow wrote: post #342
spectramax wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

What ads??? I've been on Windows for decades, never saw a single ad by the OS.

I agree! I don't see ads. I'm running the "pro" version with almost all default settings. Do they consider pre-installed "Candy Crush" an ad? And if so, why isn't MacOS "iTunes" an ad?

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

#378

Post by chaostheory »

skipants wrote: post #371
robert_foss wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no real package manager. You can't rebuild your kernel. You can't upgrade your hardware. Once your HW is unsupported by Apple you're stuck with an old OS that is unsupported by third party software as well.

> There's no real package manager I like Homebrew -- is it not adequate enough for your needs?

There’s also macports, tends to have more packages, updated more often. Maybe what he meant was batteries aren’t included?

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

#379

Post by drclau »

@ryanmccullagh, can you please specify what the problem was?

I have a MBP w/ Touch Bar, and the battery just started to swell some half a year after running out of the 2 years (European) warranty. However, I contacted Apple, they directed me to an authorised service and I got the top case with battery (it's glued in), keyboard and trackpad, and the bottom plate replaced free of charge. No questions asked. Note that my machine is not part of the recent battery recall.

It would have taken 4 days (they say up to 5 days), however I opted to pay a small fee and take the notebook home and bring it back in when the replacement parts arrived. Took 2-3h to get everything done after the parts arrived.

All things considered, I'm quite pleased with Apple service, even though they don't have an official presence here, except for authorised services.

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

#380

Post by Deinos »

K0SM0S wrote: post #273
alexandercrohde wrote: post #258

Aside from all the bitterness about ports, touch-bars, lock-in, blah-blah, I have a sincere question. Does anybody know a comparably DURABLE competitor? I have 99% confidence I could knock my macbook air off my bed (while on) 100 times in a row with 0 consequences. I've never had a key come off, had the screen flicker, had a battery problem, had an overheat. I'd be curious if anybody thinks there's any other laptop c…

ThinkPads tends to be pretty solid. When they fall, it's not uncommon there's a dent in a wooden floor, but no scratch on the laptop itself...

Dropped my x230t down a flight of stairs...slammed into the wall at the bottom...only damage was a very slight expansion in the seam of the external battery. Still in amazing shape using the same battery almost 5 years since the drop. Great little laptop!
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