Quite honestly, and entirely coincidentally, I recently saw un boxings and first hands-on videos with the Google Pixelbook Go, and I couldn’t help but think “the i7 version with the UHD display would be fantastic as a Linux laptop”.
Ask HN: Feasible Alternative to the MacBook Pro?
411–420 of 628 posts
Re: Ask HN: Feasible Alternative to the MacBook Pro?
#412Lenovo X1 Carbon, long battery time, nice resolution.. And one of the nicest keyboards i've used.
Re: Ask HN: Feasible Alternative to the MacBook Pro?
#413Earlier quoted context omitted.
+1 for ThinkPads, they just work. The XPS has super annoying fans which change their speed randomly all the time (though it's possible to override: https://github.com/TomFreudenberg/dell-bios-fan-control ). Btw, Xfce is a desktop environment while Ubuntu is a distribution. Perhaps you meant to write you're on Xfce instead of Gnome?
Thinkpads come in different flavours, and the have very different quality. Either get a T-series, or X-series (X series is basically smaller version of T). Or if it's a used one, the later A-series are good as well (A series means AMD instead of Intel). The old A - series were crap. Nowadays T and X series have AMD also (if model ends with 5, it's AMD). T and X series have MIL certification. For example there's also…
Lenovo claims it has the usyal MIL certications, see Features under: https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpad-x/Thi...
Re: Ask HN: Feasible Alternative to the MacBook Pro?
#414Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've spent more time fighting with brew and the third party package manages than I have with issues in Ubuntu.
You might have had some exotic edge cases then because I’ve never run into this situation. MacOS is unix-y enough to compile your own binaries like a John Siracusa does. And if you’re a dev the Mac is still a much better platform for getting paid than any other platform (until ElementaryOS takes off...). I use a number of really cool apps to do things I would get likely for free on Linux like magnet for window manage…
> I use a number of really cool apps to do things I would get likely for free on Linux like magnet for window management
I'm not sure I understand your point here; is the fact that you need to use third-party apps for these things being described as a selling point, or is the argument just that you can still find solutions for things that might initially seem like they're missing?
Re: Ask HN: Feasible Alternative to the MacBook Pro?
#415Earlier 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
Someone making youtube videos, with > 1M subscribers has "no incentive" to put out videos that attract more viewers?
Ok sure, and the Earth is flat, Donuts are a health food, and lizard people are real.
Re: Ask HN: Feasible Alternative to the MacBook Pro?
#416ThinkPads every day of the week. I have a T430 that I have owned for about 6 years and a new P52 which is my daily work machine. Both running Linux with zero issues. I liked the comment below describing Hotels (Mac) Vs home (ThinkPads). It's true that if you can be bothered to tweak and install some stuff then you end up with something of your own. Your way. Never used Macs as old enough to remember the "no one got s…
I don't know... I own a 2013 MBP and also use a Thinkpad P52s for work, and I really hope there's a better competitor than the Thinkpads.
The Thinkpad feels cheap and poorly built compared to the MBP. The plastic creaks and it feels like it's going to fall apart when I carry it with one hand. The trackpad isn't nearly as good, and I had to dig into the X11 configuration to make it work reasonably. I've only had it for 10 months, and I'm already worried that the USB-C plug may be breaking.
Meanwhile, the MBP has sustained 6 years of abuse and still feels solid and works great.
As far as specs go, the Thinkpad is fine, but I'd be sad if I had to buy one with my own money.
Re: Ask HN: Feasible Alternative to the MacBook Pro?
#417I 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…
> 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…
"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 standard interfaces to per-application Preferences and keyboard shortcuts. When I sit down to use someone else's Mac, I have no idea how to use it!"
I run an environment, on OSX, similar to this although (I assume) much less ambitious in the customization.
My biggest problem is the lack of focus-follows-mouse. I had this in the snow leopard days with an add-on called "mondomouse" which is abandonware and I attempted to solve it with "dwellclick" but that isn't really designed for what I need and doesn't work.
Now I see that in very, very new versions of OSX there is some buried setting in accessibility that does honest-to-god focus-follows-mouse (as in, raise window as if I clicked it when I hover over) ... can anyone confirm/deny ?
Re: Ask HN: Feasible Alternative to the MacBook Pro?
#418Earlier quoted context omitted.
Once upon a time this was true. User-facing documentation was scarce (usually requiring internet searches). However, between unofficial package managers like homebrew, the excellent efforts of a few devs (LaunchBar/Quicksilver, PathFinder, Little Snitch, etc...), `osascript`, and the internet providing defaults documentation for obscure apple apps, I always felt like I could get the system to behave the way I needed…
What cmd-key shortcuts are you thinking of? FWIW every apple filepicker window I come across I can utilise the following shortcuts consistently, which is very nice: Cmd-Shift-A: Open Applications folder Cmd-Shift-H: Open Home folder Cmd-Shift-D: Open Desktop folder Cmd-Shift-O: Open Documents folder Cmd-Option-L: Open Downloads folder Cmd-Shift-L: Open Library folder Cmd-Shift-.: Toggle Hidden Files Cmd-[: Back Cmd-]…
I forget the full list, but these had been standard since I started with OS7.
cmd-s Save
cmd-n New folder
cmd-shift-s Save As
It's possible some have been added back.
Re: Ask HN: Feasible Alternative to the MacBook Pro?
#419Earlier quoted context omitted.
People always criticize the lack of customization too as though it's an inherent flaw, like things must be customizable or not be good and I disagree. I love having my Windows Desktop to tinker on, but my Macbook is my workhorse. I don't care if I can customize it to any great degree. I've paid a lot of money for that machine and I expect it to work, without troubleshooting, and without fiddling. I akin it more to go…
> Tl;dr: Customization is highly overrated. False. Adding 16GB or 32GB RAM makes real difference to any machine. But it's not profitable for Apple, they want you to buy new one.
Apple is not even close to being the only company selling laptops with soldered RAM.
All the popular competitors to the MacBook Pro have soldered RAM including the XPS 13 and ThinkPad X1 Carbon.
Really the truth of the matter is that for 95%+ of people, RAM requirements have completed plateaued in the last 5-8 years or so.
Re: Ask HN: Feasible Alternative to the MacBook Pro?
#420Windows 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 2.0 is a full linux kernel powered by HyperV and is very fast with minimal overhead. Useful for using all those Linux tools directly on the same filesystem.
> WSL 2.0...is very fast
Unless you want to interop with the Windows file system[0]