How and why I stopped buying new laptops • Hacker News Board

Re: How and why I stopped buying new laptops

#181

Post by neilv » Mon, Dec 21, 2020, 3:50 AM UTC

After trying many models, I found the most practical overall for me is a ThinkPad T500 (highest-res tall-screen version, modded with a transplanted T60 keyboard, and the T-series CPU replaced with P9600 or P9700), and running Debian GNU/Linux with Xmonad.

Bonus: at around $100 apiece, I can afford a few spares.

The main downside is that it's noticeably vintage, which, given current industry ageism, isn't good optics in the hands of someone already 30+ yo. So I should try to spin the vintage as a hipster fashion thing. :)

Re: How and why I stopped buying new laptops

#182

Post by Talanes » Mon, Dec 21, 2020, 3:55 AM UTC

na85 wrote: post #86

Talanes wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember some years ago when I still lurked 4chan that /t/ was all about buying old thinkpads, installing Arch on them, and showing off your i3 set-up. Prices were rising then too.

You mean /g/? /t/ is Torrents. There was a good thing going there for a while but 4chan seems to have really declined in quality of late.

Yeah, I meant /g/. It felt like things really got out of hand after the 2016 election. That's when I noticed the partisan bickering really start to take over boards that had mostly avoided it before. One side felt emboldened, and the other felt under attack, and so both of them just endlessly derailed what could have been good threads.

Re: How and why I stopped buying new laptops

#183

Post by cetaphil » Mon, Dec 21, 2020, 4:04 AM UTC

ohazi wrote: post #179

The sweet spot for me seems to be last year's thinkpad + all the parts needed for a complete refurbishment + upgrades. eBay thinkpad: $400-$800 ssd: $150 new battery: $100 (As needed) new keyboard: $50 new trackpad: $30 new plastic parts: $140 new hinges: $20 new display: $150 ram: $100 You can spend more on the laptop and skip some/all of the cosmetic refurbishment, or spend less on a junker and replace everything.…

Any specific models that you can suggest?

Re: How and why I stopped buying new laptops

#184

Post by valenterry » Mon, Dec 21, 2020, 4:09 AM UTC

sneak wrote: post #173

raunakdag wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Has anyone else noticed that when conversations about “we need x word for y concept” arise, the German language nearly always seems to be the one that has something similar or already present?

German has no word for "silly". "Funny", "stupid", et c, yes, but no "silly".

It has no 1:1 translation, but that's true the other way around too for a lot of nuanced words.

E.g.: silly, ridiculous, foolish In Germany you have: albern, lächerlich, töricht

They are quite close to the English ones, but not exact the same. It's the other way around too: English doesn't have words that match the German ones 1:1

Re: How and why I stopped buying new laptops

#185

Post by Talanes » Mon, Dec 21, 2020, 4:19 AM UTC

amelius wrote: post #110

raunakdag wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Has anyone else noticed that when conversations about “we need x word for y concept” arise, the German language nearly always seems to be the one that has something similar or already present?

I read somewhere (on HN?) that Italians speak faster than Germans because their words contain less information, so in the end they still communicate the same amount of information per minute. Italians and Germans were used in the example because they were the two extremes.

I was reading a conversation trying to work out the most information that you could fit into a one word command (the limit of the Dungeons and Dragons Command spell.) Italian was floated as the language that could be stretched the furthest, due to being able to compound verbs.

So it really depends on exactly what kind of information you are trying to package and how. Different languages compress differently.

Re: How and why I stopped buying new laptops

#186

Post by nuker » Mon, Dec 21, 2020, 4:24 AM UTC

jodrellblank wrote: post #143

nuker wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Germans are cheating a bit, they just concatenate existing words and "hey, we have a word!"

Is that so different from "downsizing", "television", "textbook", "wallpaper", "motorbike", "grapefruit", "agoraphobia", "airport", "manslaughter", "candlestick", et al?

Yup, Lebensabschnittpartner looks quite different from wallpaper.

Re: How and why I stopped buying new laptops

#187

Post by contingencies » Mon, Dec 21, 2020, 4:29 AM UTC

ClumsyPilot wrote: post #165

contingencies wrote: post #41

These days I would say just buy an rPi 4B+ ... it's tiny, it's light, it doesn't need noisy fans (the first bane of old laptops), it doesn't require ancient non-uniform battery technology (the second bane of old laptops), keyboard and screen can be upgraded when destroyed (the third and fourth banes of old laptops), it's cheap, it's fast enough for nearly anything. Invest some extra in a wireless keyboard and mouse,…

You can buy intel-nuc style computer from aliexpress for $100 and it performs much better than pi with compatability, performance, storage, thermals, etc. Like beelink line

Yes there are other options. rPi is good on power consumption, tooling, distribution network, and community.

Re: How and why I stopped buying new laptops

#188

Post by amerkhalid » Mon, Dec 21, 2020, 4:36 AM UTC

tobijkl wrote: post #116

ogre_codes wrote: post #22

This story works well for a professional writer. If you are a professional developer/ video editor/ audio professional, or any number of other professions that lean heavier on the hardware they use, it's quite different. If buying new hardware is going to substantially improve my work-day, I'm going to buy new hardware. With the pace of modern hardware improvement, the time between purchases is longer, but there is s…

At least in my bubble, even professional developers, video editors, and audio engineers use a desktop computer as their primary daily driver and do not rely on their laptop for computational power rather than as a medium for presenting their work. Some of them are even switching to tablets for presenting to clients. A desktop computer will always offer more computational power and a more straightforward and cheaper u…

This is exactly what I am doing now except my desktop is in cloud. For months, I was researching laptops, I am currently 13" MBP user but was debating switching to Windows laptop. However, if it was going to be able to run video games, it was turning into $2000+ purchase. Plus pretty big to be portable.

Then I discovered Shadow PC. For $12 a month, I have pretty powerful machine. My MBP is now a simple thin client. When it dies, I ll buy the cheapest Macbook. Also I use 21" external monitor or my TV to play games. Works great.

Also been using it for ML projects but unfortunately they will shutdown the VM if it doesn't receive user input. So long running processes require you to be sitting by the machine.

I am a big user of iPad and their iPad app is awesome. If I can figure out right dongle tobl hook up hdmi, keyboard, and mouse, I might just never buy another laptop.

Re: How and why I stopped buying new laptops

#189

Post by AtlasBarfed » Mon, Dec 21, 2020, 4:49 AM UTC

Another reason Apple is winning long term, if Lenovo and other major brands are downgrading quality.

Re: How and why I stopped buying new laptops

#190

Post by marttt » Mon, Dec 21, 2020, 4:50 AM UTC

Having owned a X60s -- how do people cope with neck pain resulting from using a 12" laptop for longer sessions? I absolutely loved that machine, but eventually sold it because of this and a mild issue of pinky finger numbness.

I have sensitive eyes, so I think the TN screen was also somewhat an issue. I do regret not buying an IPS-modded X60s I was offered at one point, though.