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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

#421

Post by tomxor »

browningstreet wrote: post #329

Regarding Lenovo: I bought an original Macbook Air. It always worked well. As it got on to about 10 years old, I took it in to an Apple Store a couple miles from my house and asked if they could replace the battery. The battery worked pretty well, but I figured.. the machine was going strong and if they still had batteries in stock, I should grab one now and the laptop will live even longer. They replaced the battery…

> I bought a Lenovo gaming laptop for my son

These are not comparable. There are wildly different quality of laptops under the Lenovo brand. A ton of them are complete crap. Apple simply doesn't sell anything like that. The author is comparing to a Thinkpad specifically.

Additionally, the 10 years old Apple that made your macbook is a very different company from today. Although they are still a premium brand, the reliability and replaceability of parts is completely different. I have one of the first unibody MBPs from 2009, and ran it for almost 10 years (although I had to switch to freebsd and linux by the end because of Apple). That laptop was incredibly sturdy, and parts were reasonably replaceable, keyboard lasted 10 years before getting squishy. Battery was a terrible hot pocket but replaceable without screws! back then it was all SATA so I upgraded to an intel SSD from before they sold their controllers to samsung - also in a user serviceable compartment next to the battery.

None of these things are true of Apple laptops today.

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#422

Post by TheBigSalad »

Hippocrates wrote: post #366

Am I crazy? The author writes > It's not as insane of a downgrade as it sounds. And then goes on to describe assembling a Frankenstein laptop that has specs and ergonomics that pale in comparison to the MacBook's. This sounds like a truly awful computer to me, but if your only goal is to spend as little as possible and get user-serviceability then I guess this is one way to go.

I think he means the experience of using it. And the price was much cheaper.

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#423

Post by TheBigSalad »

ribit wrote: post #411

I wouldn't be able to do it. I spend a significant part of my day in front of the computer and having to deal with a poor ergonomic of a budget tool would drive me very frustrated. I also have no desire to tinker with my computer or the installation. But I think it's great to hear these stories and to know that there are people for whom these kind of decisions work.

This is how I think. People go crazy over these laptops and all I can think is "how the heck do you work on a laptop all day?"

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#424

Post by dkonofalski »

blensor wrote: post #252
prvc wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trackpoint? Keyboard quality? Linux support for most/all components and features? Easily salvage data if some other part fails or is physically damaged by removing the SSD? Price and availability of replacement parts?

I can not speak about how it would work with an MBP but the SSD replacing is a huge factor if you need it. 4 weeks ago we had to deliver a build of our game to Meta and 2 days before the deadline my laptop died out of the blue. I scrambled to buy a new one (didn't care which as long as it had enough oomph and I could source locally quickly). I went for a Lenovo Legion 5 ( or 7, I am actually not sure, it doesn't have…

With a MBP, you'd just restore from a Time Machine backup. If you don't have one, that would be on you.

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#425

Post by bittercynic »

bedast wrote: post #384
_justinfunk wrote: post #374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know why.

Elaborate.

I think it's more about Apple's hardware frequently being very fragile in certain ways that higher-end thinkpads usually aren't. They've had the crumbs-in-the-keyboard thing, that may have been resolved now, but Apple's laptops seem to have had an extreme sensitivity to moisture going back to at least 1999.

There are many advantages to Apple's laptops compared to others, but I think it's worth considering areas where they fall short when you're choosing your next machine.

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#426

Post by teaearlgraycold »

browningstreet wrote: post #329

Regarding Lenovo: I bought an original Macbook Air. It always worked well. As it got on to about 10 years old, I took it in to an Apple Store a couple miles from my house and asked if they could replace the battery. The battery worked pretty well, but I figured.. the machine was going strong and if they still had batteries in stock, I should grab one now and the laptop will live even longer. They replaced the battery…

You know what they say. Windows for your gaming desktop, Mac for your laptop, and Linux for your servers.

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#427

Post by oneplane »

So in other words, just like most "switched from X to Y" stories: it depends on a lot of factors and there is no one-size-fits-all.

In this specific case however, the issue is much easier: author wanted a collection of components, not a packaged experience. So in other words: if the device is the goal (or having a collection of components), you might not enjoy an Apple product. If you want a specific experience, then a product that is just a collection of components (and experienced as such), then you might enjoy an Apple product.

Semantics would suggest that 'anything is a collection of components', but that is not the point, the point is how the experience is different. Some components are experienced as a group/list/collection while others are experienced as a product. Which one fits you best varies from person to person and job to job.

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#428

Post by bonestamp2 »

yamtaddle wrote: post #386
browningstreet wrote: post #329

Regarding Lenovo: I bought an original Macbook Air. It always worked well. As it got on to about 10 years old, I took it in to an Apple Store a couple miles from my house and asked if they could replace the battery. The battery worked pretty well, but I figured.. the machine was going strong and if they still had batteries in stock, I should grab one now and the laptop will live even longer. They replaced the battery…

Every single laptop I owned before switching to Apple was a huge piece of shit, in hindsight—like, probably shouldn't have been saleable, just a straight-up lemon by design. ... except an IBM (yes, it's that long ago) Thinkpad that was super-underpowered even for the time. Though, it did have the ~2-3hr actual-in-practice battery life that was typical of laptops at the time, no matter what they promised, so like all…

The T series Lenovos are still great business machines -- I wouldn't buy any other Lenovo. I prefer my macbook for the most part, but sometimes you need different hardware.

It's out of my wheelhouse, but I am looking for a gaming laptop manufacturer recommendation that is high quality...

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#430

Post by culturestate »

matwood wrote: post #383
unxdfa wrote: post #377

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spot on. Comparing to Apple (I run both Lenovo and apple kit) I’ve lost two bits of hardware with apple for multiple days on repairs in the UK. A friend just got told that there’s a 2 month turnaround on his custom M1 MBP 16 which has a logic board problem. That scared the shit out of me enough to throw the money in on a Lenovo T14 gen 3 with NBD on site repairs. If I sell my apple kit I can afford to buy another ide…

It's odd to me that Apple has never offered a 24h turnaround (or cross ship) higher tier support package. This was a hold up for businesses using Apple machines for a long time. I guess enough employees started requesting Apple machines eventually getting businesses to offer them anyway.

> It's odd to me that Apple has never offered a 24h turnaround (or cross ship) higher tier support package.

They used to have an even more exotic AppleCare tier than that for Xserve customers - onsite hardware support within 4 hours if you had a problem during the business day. I don’t remember exactly how much it cost but I want to say it was less than $500.

Remarkably, the old product page for it is still up on B&H: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/283804-REG/Apple_M892...

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