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Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

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Re: Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

#301

Post by ImPostingOnHN »

z9znz wrote: post #168
adrian_b wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually I strongly hate the laptops that can be powered only via USB-C, blocking thus a very useful I/O port, unless you also carry with you a docking station. Powering via USB-C would be OK only on laptops with at least 4 or 5 USB-C/Thunderbolt ports, but such laptops are non-existent. Laptops with only 2 USB-C ports, where 1 is blocked by the charger, are useless for me. When I have access to a power plug, I usual…

It's a tradeoff for reduced laptop size (portability). If you're at home and need to connect to many things, you usually have a dock or expansion dongle. On the road, you often only need 2 ports - one for charging and one for whatever momentary things you need to plug in briefly. My Macbook Air M1 with only two USB-C ports has been just fine. I have a small but effective Anker "hub" which adds SD, HDMI, USB, and USB-…

> On the road, you often only need 2 ports - one for charging and one for whatever momentary things you need to plug in briefly.

perhaps that's all you often need, it's a little presumptuous to say so about others

Re: Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

#302

Post by telarson »

kkielhofner wrote: post #107
kzrdude wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are the problems with it in practice? I'd have ordered one if it was shipping to my country

It’s a non-stop parade of weirdness. Fixes from recent BIOS release notes include things like “Fix battery not charging when system is off.” https://knowledgebase.frame.work/en_us/framework-laptop-bios ... Again, part of me is glad I supported them. I just wish I wasn’t reminded of it several times a week when I’m dealing with one random issue or another with it. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I regret it…

I haven't had the same issues with my framework. I'm running an Intel 11-gen i5 version of a framework I bought in Feb of '22. Sure the battery life sucks for Fedora and the trackpad is a overly sensitive but overall it's worked fine for me. I complained to them about a noisy fan and they sent me a new one.

Perhaps there's some variability in the build quality between machines or batches. I've been happy with my purchase.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

#303

Post by Joeboy »

gwnywg wrote: post #106

I love my super heavy and bulky Lenovo P53. Love it for horsepower, also because Arch runs on it n without problem, and finally because tech support exceeded my expectations, doing cleaning after 2 years for free (part of cleaning was to recover from little coffe spill...). I would prefer if it was not so plasticky, but I can't have everything :)

I run Ubuntu on my P53. It's almost great, but has really bad issues with the keyboard. Occasionally a key will get "stuck" (in some non-mechanical way) and I can't use the keyboard without logging out and in again. I believe it happens a lot less frequently after some BIOS updates, but I think there's a trade-off where keypresses are sometimes missed. Sometimes I think I typed something right, but when I read back there are missing letters.

It's not quite bad enough for me to do anything radical like get a new laptop, but it's pretty bad. Maybe I'm unlucky somehow.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

#304

Post by Kamq »

janfoeh wrote: post #294

Apologies in advance for being off-topic, but — is it just my perception, or has it become increasingly common over the last year or two to end questions with _in _? I vaguely associate that with SEO spam sites, and I feel a little pinch each time I see an actual person pick up that pattern. It is as if a black hat SEO trope has invaded our consciousness.

It's common to add {year} to queries to find current answers to things. This aids in that practice.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

#305

Post by 988747 »

inawarminister wrote: post #113
srmarm wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not the person you're asking, but I thought the [-] acted as a downvote button and hid the offending content at the same time. If it isn't, why do some controversial comments get into a lighter font?

You unlock the ability to downvote posts and comments at 500 karma points I believe

Comments yes, posts no. Post downvoting either does not exist or has much higher karma threshold.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

#307

Post by samatman »

jgb1984 wrote: post #162

Laptops are all together awful. I can't imagine working on one for more than a few hours. My self built desktop blows any laptop out of the water in speed, comfort, reliability, upgrade / repair potential and ergonomics (obviously ignoring portability).

Portability is the first thing I look for in a work machine, personally.

I have a nice desktop setup, 5k2k, keeb, trackball, stream deck, my laptop runs it without making any noise, slowing down, or otherwise misbehaving.

I can easily drive to the manufacturer's authorized retail outlet in the event that it has problems, which has indeed happened twice over the nine laptops I've owned from this manufacturer in the last 15 years.

YMMV. Brand not mentioned out of respect for the aesthetics of this thread.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

#308

Post by parasubvert »

sofixa wrote: post #156
ur-whale wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For 2022 I decided to buy a "gaming" laptop and switch to 100% Linux. I researched this option before opting for an LG gram. I might research it again soon. Would you care to share exactly what gaming laptop you picked?

Not OP, but I've heard great things about the Asus ROG Zephyrus line, and that's what I'll probably get when i refresh my current Asus laptop which id approaching 8 years.

I have a 2020 ROG zephyrus g15 and it’s great other than the noise/heat which is annoying but not a deal breaker. and prior to 2022 there was a lack of camera. It doesn’t compare to the new M1/M2 laptops (I bought one for my parents and it’s incredible) but I’m satisfied for my needs, which needed to be Linux/Windows with a DisplayPort for VR.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

#309

Post by fsflover »

EntropyIsAHoax wrote: post #126
fsflover wrote: post #56

Perhaps https://puri.sm/products/librem-14 should fit well for your requirements. I'm happy with their previous model, Librem 15.

Could you elaborate about your experience more? I'm looking for a new laptop in the next few months and I'm basically debating between the Librem 14 and Framework. My criteria would be - Repairability/longevity - Privacy and security - Usability

Purism explicitly put Linux support first, unlike Framework. Suspend is flawless, any flavor of Linux should work out of the box, including FSF-endorsed distros. Default PureOS is FSF-endorsed. The devices require no binary blobs whatsoever, even for WiFi.

Purism explicitly prioritize security (https://puri.sm/security) and privacy (https://puri.sm/posts/tag/privacy/), unlike Framework. Intel ME is disabled (for Librem 15, also neutralized), hardware kill switches are really convenient. First class Qubes support, it can even be preinstalled (it's what I use).

Most important things are repairable/replaceable: battery, WiFi card, RAM, SSD, screen (I think). I heard keyboard is hard to replace though, but I had no problems with it. The keyboard is great, but the touchpad is worse than the one in Macs. I use a mouse. The laptop is thin, beautiful and powerful for my tasks.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

#310

Post by bengalister »

formerly_proven wrote: post #95

The current (2022) LG Gram come with Intel Alder Lake and dual USB4/TB4, they basically seem to be the only interesting competitors to the lightweight Apple laptops. The 14" model is 1.0 kg compared to the M1 Macbook Air at 1.3 kg. Linux compatibility is very good with current kernels (I had a few DRM/GuC restarts with 5.18, those seem to be fixed in 5.19), all hardware works out of the box. ADL-P power management is…

I was interested to buy the 14Z90Q since it ticked most of the boxes for me: lightweight, good battery life, TB4 ports, 12th gen cpu, not crazy expensive RAM upgrade, etc.

The only downside on the specs was the screen brightness only 350 nits for the latest model.

Also I read some negative comments on Amazon about CPU throttling that seems to be more aggressive than for other laptops. I don't have more information at which temperature throttling starts and to which frequency it goes, so it might be a false alarm but I would be interested to read owners comments.

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