Ask HN: Feasible Alternative to the MacBook Pro? • Hacker News Board

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

#431

Post by gherkinnn » Sun, Oct 20, 2019, 5:46 PM UTC

vips7L wrote: post #365

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…

> 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.

Maybe “mouse acceleration” is the wrong term? Turning it on means there’s no 1:1 relationship between mouse and cursor movement. Quickly moving it across the entire screen? 2cm might equal 1000px. Slowly nudging a Rider toolbar to the correct position? 2cm now becomes 1px.

I can see how it doesn’t work with gaming but for OS use it’s great. And it works slightly better on macOS. It’s subtle, but it’s there.

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

#432

Post by gen220 » Sun, Oct 20, 2019, 5:53 PM UTC

garmaine wrote: post #100

soylentgraham wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Never used macs" maybe you should try them. I'm still using a 2013 MBP, only issue is that I had to finally replace the battery about a year ago. MacBooks used to be good. Can you still buy a 6 year old thinkpad?

Are you joking or just don’t know? Google “x222 thinkpad” for an example. There’s a whole market for classic thinkpads.

I got bit by this bug. It’s amazing what $200 will get you! I also have a mid-2012 MBP that’s going strong. The advantage of thinkpads from that era is that their parts are generally easier to replace. The keyboards of that generation of laptop are just something else :)

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

#433

Post by kraf » Sun, Oct 20, 2019, 5:55 PM UTC

cytzol wrote: post #253

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…

> 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…

Remapping keyboard is ridiculously hard for example.. I had a somewhat working solution (never 100%) and one update destroyed everything (i think it was sierra)

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

#434

Post by lars_francke » Sun, Oct 20, 2019, 5:58 PM UTC

amcrouch wrote: post #68

ThinkPads 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…

Just FYI: Should you plan on using Linux on the T490 don't get the Nvidia version. Read the forums, battery life drops to 2-5h vs. 9-11h on Windows.

I hope the next generation fixes this and/or we finally get good nvidia drivers.

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

#435

Post by spectramax » Sun, Oct 20, 2019, 5:59 PM UTC

gherkinnn wrote: post #396

spectramax wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 askin…

In no way did I mean to defend those actions. You are absolutely right. I merely tried to explain my ignorance towards them.

I know what you mean, LTSC is such a obscure thing from your average Joe who buys a Dell PC.

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

#436

Post by Joeri » Sun, Oct 20, 2019, 6:04 PM UTC

journalctl wrote: post #390

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.

I don’t... I don’t want to rebuild my kernel? I want my goddamn computer to compute. I want to get my work done, then maybe order Chipotle. At least the Mac sleeps properly when I close the lid, unlike every Linux laptop I’ve ever had.

My Thinkpad T460p on ubuntu sleeps properly when I close the lid, every time, which is better than Windows managed on the same machine. I am running a stock kernel though.

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

#437

Post by randomsearch » Sun, Oct 20, 2019, 6:04 PM UTC

If you use email a lot and don’t want to use gmail etc in the browser, your only choice is Windows. I’ve tried all the GUI mail clients on Linux, and they are all either buggy as hell, don’t support most standards, or hellish UX.

Given Windows is much much worse than OS X for tech stuff, there isn’t really an alternative. Macs have gotten worse, less reliable, design is tanking, software becoming buggy, but it’s still much better than the alternatives. So stick with the MBP and buy a stress ball and punch bags to cope.

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

#438

Post by ColanR » Sun, Oct 20, 2019, 6:05 PM UTC

SomeOtherThrow wrote: post #426

okennedy wrote: post #330

Earlier 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…

> In summary, earlier versions of OSX are perfectly fine (my one remaining mac is on 10.10), but Apple has not been doing itself any favors with the dev community in more recent iterations of the OS. The GNU/Linux community also isn't bending to my will arbitrarily either. Frustrating, to say the least. In all seriousness, people are all happy to talk about how easy linux is to customize until you broach the subject…

It seems like you're using OSes that are trying to cater to a diminishingly technical crowd. I read (somewhere, a year or so ago) that the generation now in their late 20s/early 30s was the last one that actually needed to care about how their computers worked, because their computers occasionally needed to be fixed. Generally speaking, I think that the newer generation has likely never been exposed to a computer that they could try to troubleshoot and fix themselves: everything is iPhone apps and Windows 7 / 10 and Andriod and slick websites. The information age no longer requires technical knowledge.

As a result, I'd guess that most of the purchasers of new computers are in the generations above and below the ones with technical knowlege: the new generation, without the background to even care about being a power user, and the older generation where most aren't power users anyway.

BTW, I'm using i3, and I think it would be (relatively) super easy to change the keybindings around to what you're describing. It sounds like you may need to find an OS that's designed to expose the level of customization that you want.

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

#439

Post by joeevans1000 » Sun, Oct 20, 2019, 6:07 PM UTC

My next laptop will not be a MacBook. Sadly. I've used macs for decades, but it's obvious they no longer listen to or care about the needs of developers. I think musicians will soon follow. They will discover by losing it the social value of having been the go to choice for those users.

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

#440

Post by foopdoopfoop » Sun, Oct 20, 2019, 6:09 PM UTC

randomsearch wrote: post #437

If you use email a lot and don’t want to use gmail etc in the browser, your only choice is Windows. I’ve tried all the GUI mail clients on Linux, and they are all either buggy as hell, don’t support most standards, or hellish UX. Given Windows is much much worse than OS X for tech stuff, there isn’t really an alternative. Macs have gotten worse, less reliable, design is tanking, software becoming buggy, but it’s stil…

Why haven't you tried a CLI client? Also, Office 2016 seems to be fairly well-support on any number of those wine-based compatibility layers.