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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

#301

Post by mbreese »

goosedragons wrote: post #193
mort96 wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is the trackpoint really that important when you have a trackpad which doesn't suck with associated drivers and software which doesn't suck? I've never been using a Mac trackpad and felt the need for something trackpoint-like. I understand the desire for a trackpoint on laptops with non-Apple trackpads though.

Yes? You don't need to move from the keyboard at all, you get physical buttons too. Your wrist is never misinterpreted as a mouse movement either. It's just better unless your workflow heavily involves the use of 3+ finger gestures. Which I don't personally care about but seems like a necessity to not go insane on macOS.

You still need to shift your hand position. One of you hands leaves the home row, or at least that's how I always used the track point (and I started using them in the 90s). Is it as much of a shift as a trackpad? No, of course not. Is it a panacea of speed because your hands don't have to move as much? Not at all. Keyboard shortcuts are still much faster.

You like them or you don't. There's no real need to explain about it anymore than that. Honestly, on my Thinkpads, I used the trackpad just as much as the point. Maybe I'm just not very good at it, but it takes some skill to use the point. The physical click buttons are nice though.

I also don't use 3 finger shortcuts on my Mac either, so maybe I'm just crazy.

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#302

Post by EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK »

taylodl wrote: post #277

It's been 11 years since Apple first released non-upgradeable laptops. Can we get over it already? If you want a laptop that you can upgrade then don't buy an Apple. If you don't like Apple's ecosystem then don't buy an Apple. This has been the advice for over 10 years now. There's nothing new here.

I think it's also psychological. When buying a Mac, you have this warm fuzzy feeling that you are taken care of, you have been given the best, there is nothing to improve and nothing to worry about.

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#303

Post by djtriptych »

gen220 wrote: post #289

I was a ThinkPad maximalist in my personal computing life for the last 5ish years. This year, I needed to interview for jobs without having access to a "work" laptop for the task (i.e. an overspecced MacBook Pro). Faced with the prospects of subjecting my ThinkPad/vim machine to video calls, I more or less immediately decided to fork over the money for an M2 MacBook Air. Unfortunately for my identity as a person inve…

It's such a consistent experience I don't think you even need the YMMV qualifier.

Source: I also own an M2 Air and have been blown away by it's performance in "day to day ops" as you call it. It is by a wide margin the best laptop I've ever owned (previous 6-7 laptops were all personal/work macbook pros)

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#304

Post by schwartzworld »

taylodl wrote: post #285
javaunsafe2019 wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But as it’s bad for the environment it’s even more important in 2023 to keep complaining about it.

But as it’s bad for the environment Is it? Thanks to the increased reliability that non-upgradeability confers I'm still using my 2012 MacBook Pro as my daily driver. I suspect there's a lot of minutia to tease out to verify whether this claim is actually true in the global case.

2012 MVP was a solid computer. I've been supplied MacBooks at work that have all been newer and less reliable.

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#305

Post by eptcyka »

ho_schi wrote: post #224
arcticbull wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> PS: Battery replacement is a bless. Yes, built-in batteries allow for more sturdy frames but it is bad in long term. It would be enough the provide replacement batteries with a low-weight cage and screws instead of glue. I agree with this. That said, an all-in battery replacement by Apple is $199. Once every 3 years isn't going to break the bank vs. like $50 for an X220 battery. Especially when an X220 gets like 7h…

Yep. We should mention here improvements within the last decade? The X13 Gen3 (AMD) also should allow run theoretically 17 hours[1]. I think a peak was reached with the MacBook (Polycarbonate Body) or T430s which allowed to replace the battery at the device bottom with a coin, easy maintenance and sturdy frame. And good balance because the weight counteracted the open display. With "peak" I mean the situation that a…

How does one achieve 17 hours of battery life with an X13 Gen3 AMD? I can manage maybe 6.

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#306

Post by cameldrv »

Regarding the non upgradable battery, one thing a lot of people don’t know is that you can charge your MacBook with a USB power bank. The typical phone power bank only puts out 10W, but this is usually enough to maintain the internal charge while you use it on an Air, and to at least very significantly extend the lifetime on the Pro. This has come in handy for me on a long flight where I unexpectedly didn’t have power at my seat.

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#307

Post by ibz »

taylodl wrote: post #284
magic_hamster wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Obviously anyone will get the computer they want, well at least when you can. Sometimes you get stuck with a choice someone else made, like a company device. However, it is still useful to voice and especially to listen to criticism. Apple should be thankful that a lot of people are voicing their opinions. Getting this kind of feedback is priceless if they want to appeal to more people and grow their user base.

It's the same feedback Apple has been getting for 11 years now. There's nothing new here. I think Apple is well-aware that there are people who prefer an upgradeable laptop and not having to participate in the Apple ecosystem. I suspect Apple has data showing even more people prefer having a more reliable laptop (upgradeability tends to decrease reliability) and the perceived benefits of the Apple ecosystem - otherwi…

I don't see posts like this as "feedback for Apple", but as encouragement for people to look into alternatives. Sure, lots of people do indeed prefer Apple's laptop-as-a-service model, but others do not. It is this latter group that posts like this targets.

What you're saying here is more like - yes, everybody knows fast food is bad, so let's stop creating YouTube channels about cooking.

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#309

Post by Ancapistani »

iakov wrote: post #75
anonymous344 wrote: post #23

aside the hardware, when I changed from macbook (2019) to thinkpad, the biggest advantage and source of happiness is to never need to touche Finder again! It is horrible! the desktop, gui, cmd-tab, and whole user experience with 2 monitors (could not get 3 monitors to work) is just awful. With win 10 latest update it's a breeze

Interesting. I've switched from Win10 to Mac for work last summer and it's been great so far. IMO Finder and Explorer are both garbage with different colored glitter mixed in, but general experience of working on MacOs is so much better than everything my Windows and Linux boxes offered. This laptop has 16 gigs of ram (my windows workstation has 48), can run on one charge whole work day and then some, emits zero nois…

I'm in the same boat, I just got on it earlier.

My first Mac was a mid-2012 MBP. I loved it, and it lasted until my then-two-year-old poured a glass of milk into the keyboard in 2016. I used various Windows machines for a while, then bought a new MBP in 2018. I had that one for less than a year because I realized I just wasn't using it much - I always had laptops issued to me for work, and a Linux box on Linode that I could SSH/RDP into.

When the M1 came out I bought a 14" MBP. It's only got 8GB of RAM, but it's faster in actual usage for anything but graphics-heavy gaming than my (admittedly, aging) gaming desktop.

I used to be fine programming in Windows, and that was before WSL/WSL2. These days the experience is much better but it's still easier just to dual boot or SSH/RDP.

macOS, OTOH, has gotten a ton better in that time. There are a few nagging things I don't like but it generally just stays out of my way and lets me treat it like a Linux box with a nice, relatively consistent WM.

I still have my Windows desktop because it's better suited for gaming and has better support. If not for that I'd be full macOS.

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#310

Post by kitsunesoba »

ostenning wrote: post #20

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…

The battery life (and in some cases, horrifically bad TN panel screens) are what kills these older ThinkPads, Latitudes, etc for daily drivers. If I’m spending so much time at my desk that being tethered doesn’t matter I’d be better off building a desktop with modern hardware, which confers the biggest benefits of ThinkPads while also being vastly more powerful and expandable. If space is an issue, ITX builds solve that pretty neatly.

Really, somebody needs to develop power-sipping ARM motherboard board replacements (much as xyte.ch does with x86) for the various business notebook models.

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