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Lenovo tablet forced update shows un-dismissable, un-mutable, ad notifications

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Re: Lenovo tablet forced update shows un-dismissable, un-mutable, ad notifications

#141

Post by grincho »

BoxOfRain wrote: post #130
fffad6ca80dcc wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have always liked the keyboard more. My opinion is that Apple prioritizes how the keyboard looks and how thin it is over the actual function and experience of using it. It blows my mind that people buy their desktop keyboard which is basically a laptop keyboard in small case. I believe the ability to repair or swap components has always been better with Lenovo. Apple beats Lenovo in a lot of other ways though, audi…

Finding a good Mac-layout mechanical keyboard that I liked was a total chore, I eventually got the Vinpok Taptek which I'm really pleased with but I can't find replacement keycaps for the life of me.

One good source of Mac mechanicals is Matias, e.g. https://matias.ca/quietpro/mac/. In fact, it's the only company I've found that makes a true Mac layout: that is, a full symmetric set of command, option, and control keys on each side.

Re: Lenovo tablet forced update shows un-dismissable, un-mutable, ad notifications

#142

Post by Darmody »

KoftaBob wrote: post #116

Between this, and a few other examples below, I can't help but notice a not-so-great trend among Chinese tech brands: 1. OnePlus: https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/hds41u/oneplus_has... 2. Xiaomi: https://www.androidauthority.com/remove-ads-xiaomi-miui-1019... 3. Huawei: https://www.androidpolice.com/2019/06/14/huawei-apparently-d...

Blokada blocked every ad on my Xiaomi. Even on some apps.

I've also blocked manually a lot of domains with Blokada.

It's amazing and it doesn't require rooting your device.

Re: Lenovo tablet forced update shows un-dismissable, un-mutable, ad notifications

#144

Post by throw_m239339 »

jrockway wrote: post #138
mishafb wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know it works but it just feels wrong

It feels wrong to buy a Linux laptop from the company that makes Github? The Microsoft of the 2020s is a very different company from the Microsoft of the 1990s.

> It feels wrong to buy a Linux laptop from the company that makes Github?

that bought Github, and don't worry, Github is going to morph into yet another Microsoft entity in the next 5 years and everybody will move somewhere else...

Re: Lenovo tablet forced update shows un-dismissable, un-mutable, ad notifications

#145

Post by onli »

JTbane wrote: post #36

Man, Lenovo used to produce some amazing machines, like the the Thinkpad 200 series, with great keyboards Now it seems like they are just pushing crap

Lenovo refused to repair a laptop of my wife that had a broken display (always stayed black), because the USB port was also broken. The plastic guide was pulled out by an USB device, actually another manufacturing defect. That laptop was ~6 month old. The otherwise pristine laptop was mistreated they claimed, a pure lie.

That enterprise is evil and deserves no single cent. They sell cheap junk with adware/spyware and a fake warranty.

Re: Lenovo tablet forced update shows un-dismissable, un-mutable, ad notifications

#146

Post by MrStonedOne »

acchow wrote: post #81
gigel82 wrote: post #24

Lenovo left a sour taste for me after they pushed a BIOS update through Windows Update on my daughter's Flex that bricked the device (in the middle of a school-week, while she was doing online school). There were dozens of reports of the same problem from other owners of that model, yet they refused to acknowledge the issue was theirs or offer any self-serve option (I remember most laptops nowadays can re-flash the B…

This is an invisible advantage that Apple has. Because Macs don't have a long tail of combinations of hardware, BIOS, firmware, etc they can actually recognize bugs and acknowledge them. This gives a better customer experience.

They made a design flaw (too short flex cable for monitor) on some laptops but only offered extended warranty fixes to the less expensive versions of that laptop.

Apple is not the champion you think it is.

Also they made their phone have random errors and slowness if you replaced the camera module with no error message so that you would blame the tech shop you got it repaired at for "breaking it".

Re: Lenovo tablet forced update shows un-dismissable, un-mutable, ad notifications

#147

Post by Bud »

elric wrote: post #133
sneak wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The sad thing is that they're still better than everything else out there. They haven't ever been better than Apple laptop hardware, even in Intel-land. There seems to be this common bias in PC laptop evaluation that excludes Apple machines from consideration when doing comparisons. Apple makes the best x64 laptops, and has for years. Sadly, they will stop soon.

Can I run Linux on them? Can I get them with keyboards that aren't awful? Can I get them with next-business-day-on-site warranty? Not trying to be snarky here, I haven't owned an Apple product since the iMac, so I literally don't know. But I suspect the answer is "no".

Yes, you can run the latest Linux. Linux now has native M1 support.

Yes, Apple did finally fix the awful keyboards on its laptops from 2016-2020, and their keyboards are once again quite good. The trackpad is what it has always been: the best on any computer at any price.

I'm not aware that Apple offers any kind of on-site warranty service, so that's a no, but the flipside is that you are much less likely to need it than you are with PCs. (Please, spare me the endless downvotes for saying this. I support hundreds of PCs and hundreds of Macs, and have for a couple decades now. I'm not just making this shit up for my health.)

Re: Lenovo tablet forced update shows un-dismissable, un-mutable, ad notifications

#148

Post by phatfish »

gruez wrote: post #48
gigel82 wrote: post #24

Lenovo left a sour taste for me after they pushed a BIOS update through Windows Update on my daughter's Flex that bricked the device (in the middle of a school-week, while she was doing online school). There were dozens of reports of the same problem from other owners of that model, yet they refused to acknowledge the issue was theirs or offer any self-serve option (I remember most laptops nowadays can re-flash the B…

>I remember most laptops nowadays can re-flash the BIOS from an attached USB with specific format and layout Source for this? I've seen it available on various enthusiast desktop motherboards, but I haven't seen it on laptops. I haven't even seen it on the pricier thinkpad line.

It is key for desktop motherboards, at least AMD ones where they reuse the same socket over multiple CPU generations.

I bought a motherboard and a new AMD Zen 3 CPU together recently. The motherboard wouldn't POST because the BIOS was too old to and didn't have Zen 3 support.

The only way to get it to work was to flash a new BIOS using the out-of-band update tool that works with just the PSU and USB stick attached.

Without that you would need a spare CPU knocking about...

Re: Lenovo tablet forced update shows un-dismissable, un-mutable, ad notifications

#149

Post by dTal »

lrem wrote: post #102
jessriedel wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess one could claim "companies that compete on price in some large section of the market form internal dysfunctions that cannot be reliably walled off from the parts of the companies that produce high-end products". Indeed, there's always a suspicion, perhaps reasonable, when mass-market companies produce luxury products, e.g., McDonald's McCafe or Ford sports cars. Some such companies often try to avoid this, wi…

That's a good argument. On the other hand, that's a bit counter my experience. Working in a large company, I feel like walls keep emerging spontaneously and piercing through them is the bit that requires work. Often people inside the company cannot tell apart two teams working on related things, but the teams just won't talk to each other. Much less allow any kind of convergence to happen.

The "convergence" may happen at a level of the management structure that isn't visible to the rank-and-file worker, but rather several "layers of abstraction" up in the realm of budgetary and policy decisions. For example, a "budget laptop" company that doesn't place a high priority on high quality UEFI firmware isn't going to suddenly spin up a top-tier embedded team just because they decided to make a "premium" product - it might not even occur to them as something they need to spend more effort on.

Re: Lenovo tablet forced update shows un-dismissable, un-mutable, ad notifications

#150

Post by neogodless »

elric wrote: post #29

Gentle reminder that Lenovo jumped the shark quite a while ago. The whole Superfish debacle, the spyware, the crapware, the endless stream of shitty decisions. Year after year, the hardware gets worse. Customer support gets worse. The sad thing is that they're still better than everything else out there. Which says a lot about the laptop industry in general.

Anecdote:

Over the past few years, I've owned an Asus laptop (thin/light), two Lenovo laptops, and an HP. Before that, a large Dell gaming laptop.

Most recently, I had bought the HP Omen 15, but realizing that the screen used PWM below 100% brightness, I sold it and bought a Lenovo Legion 5.

The previous Lenovo is a Y540. The Y540 is arguably "good but not great" build quality. If you squint, it looks kind of like there could be a slight curve to the bottom of the monitor where the two side hinges support it.

The Legion 5 is really well built. No unusual give, very smooth running fans, etc. It's also been super reliable, better than expected battery - really nothing to complain about.

Now I imagine if you spend $2-3k on laptops, you probably think these $1k laptops are garbage quality, but they seem better than the HP Omen 15, and certainly better than the Asus and the $1700 Dell I bought 8 years ago.

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