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Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

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Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#101

Be careful grabbing it by the corner like in the picture, it can flex the motherboard and cause the RAM to unseat https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comments/mh974q/for_everyo...

It doesn't always happen. I learned that the Thinkpad I just bought is prone to that behavior, but after months of not-so-delicate use it never actually happened.

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#102
post #69
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Care to elaborate?

Ok here's the thing. I used to build PCs, and I'd tinker with linux distros on laptops. Things would be flakey, need maintenance and upgrading and that was fun. That's fine when you're laser focused on your career and are in 'career as personality' part of your life, which is essential imo and I'm not sneering at it by making reference to it in that way. But ultimately, I now need to get to my desk just on time, know…

and I totally agree, I used to work on macOS because everything would just work.

Except Pop!_OS 22.04 worked entirely out of the box. I didn't need to even open the terminal to do anything except clone my repos.

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#103
post #21

> 1366x768 that's a really weird choice especially when you want to doa comparison with a macbook. > Windows also suboptimal in my opinion. thinkpads are fantastic linux machines. i'm running Mint xfce on my 480 and really wouldn't know what could be better about the experience. there are only three things i like better about macbooks: screen, switching workspace with 3 finger swipe, speakers

In the article I mention that I upgraded to a 1920x1080 screen, and Pop!_OS...

why do you even mention it then?

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#104
I have both T480 and M1Pro 14", and let me tell you once you go Mac, you don't want to go back. I am keeping the T480 for some Linux/Windows workloads, but that is it. MBP is just better in every regard. And even though I have maxed out batteries (plural) with 98% health on '480, MBP has twice the battery life.

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#105

I've owned an upgraded T480 since they were released, run archlinux on it. It was a decent computer, but despite having upgraded the battery to the largest possible configuration and using all the tricks in the book to maximize battery life in linux - it sucked. The reality is these Intel processors are just a big inefficient hot mess. I ended up upgrading to the 14" M1 Max, and there is literally no way you can make…

>, build quality, screen quality, weight, battery life, single core & parallel processing, speakers, trackpad - everything

Strangely mac fanboys always make sure to carefully avoid the subject of their crappy keyboard.

It is worth using a lenovo over a Mac for the keyboard only. Who cares about a trackpad one barely use on a decent desktop. Mac users overly rely on a good trackpad because their desktop is terribly user-unfriendly. I spend all my time on the keyboard, not the trackpad.

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#106
post #59

I got an M2 MacBook and the battery life is insane. As for any maintenance issues, get AppleCare and live a happy life. I run my macs for 6+ years and only retire them when apple stops releasing OS updates for them.

I’m in the same mindset. My 2009 MacBook got regular OS updates until 2017, then security updates until 2019. I replaced that one with an M1 Air and it’s been smooth sailing.

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#107
post #55
post #18

The thing that annoys me the most about M1 Macbooks is the lack of gaming ability. Even a basic windows laptop can play games like DOTA, Age of empires etc and so did the older macbooks. With M1, almost none of my games work.

While this is true, it's not really Apple's fault, most game makers just don't care about making their games Mac compatible. They don't even have to be Apple Silicon compatible, Rosetta does a surprisingly good job making Mac games for Intel playable on M1.

It annoys me that I have a bunch of games on my Steam account for 32bit only macOS (Half Life 2, Team Fortress 2 etc) that just cannot be played on a modern mac. To be fair, Apple have gone through two CPU architecture changes since I bought them (Intel 32bit -> Intel 64bit -> ARM). Is this Valve's fault for not rebuilding the games, or is it Apple's fault for not making it work through Rosetta?

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#108
post #54

I've owned an upgraded T480 since they were released, run archlinux on it. It was a decent computer, but despite having upgraded the battery to the largest possible configuration and using all the tricks in the book to maximize battery life in linux - it sucked. The reality is these Intel processors are just a big inefficient hot mess. I ended up upgrading to the 14" M1 Max, and there is literally no way you can make…

> screen quality > battery life > speakers > trackpad All things you can replace with the T480. Which I've done, and can just recommend. There's much better options than the ones shipped by default, including trackpads rivalling the M1, a screen that beats the M1, and a battery that has 20h+ capacity and can be swapped with a second one to double the capacity in seconds.

> a battery that has 20h+ capacity and can be swapped with a second one to double the capacity in seconds

Any computer that can be charged with a usb-c connection doesn't need additional proprietary external batteries, you can just use a generic battery pack, which is why the T480 was the last TP with an external battery.

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#109
post #54

I've owned an upgraded T480 since they were released, run archlinux on it. It was a decent computer, but despite having upgraded the battery to the largest possible configuration and using all the tricks in the book to maximize battery life in linux - it sucked. The reality is these Intel processors are just a big inefficient hot mess. I ended up upgrading to the 14" M1 Max, and there is literally no way you can make…

> screen quality > battery life > speakers > trackpad All things you can replace with the T480. Which I've done, and can just recommend. There's much better options than the ones shipped by default, including trackpads rivalling the M1, a screen that beats the M1, and a battery that has 20h+ capacity and can be swapped with a second one to double the capacity in seconds.

can you actually link to the ones you recommend then?

Because I am quite interested then in figuring out the economics side of obtaining one

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#110
post #54

I've owned an upgraded T480 since they were released, run archlinux on it. It was a decent computer, but despite having upgraded the battery to the largest possible configuration and using all the tricks in the book to maximize battery life in linux - it sucked. The reality is these Intel processors are just a big inefficient hot mess. I ended up upgrading to the 14" M1 Max, and there is literally no way you can make…

> screen quality > battery life > speakers > trackpad All things you can replace with the T480. Which I've done, and can just recommend. There's much better options than the ones shipped by default, including trackpads rivalling the M1, a screen that beats the M1, and a battery that has 20h+ capacity and can be swapped with a second one to double the capacity in seconds.

Which battery is required for 20+ hour capacity?

And which track pad are you referring to?

The track pad has always been the hardest part about moving away from a MacBook. Love my XPS, but I HATE it’s track pad. Battery life is another reason, but swappable batteries would be amazing (not on XPS)

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