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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

#541

Post by touisteur »

BanazirGalbasi wrote: post #492
mwint wrote: post #452

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ll give you the user-serviceability point, but not the longevity point. I would bet lots of money that my 2021 14” MBP will still be very usable in 2031. (Maybe not by me, but that’s only because I’ll succumb to the urge to buy something new and shiny and tax deductible in a few years.)

> I’ll give you the user-serviceability point, but not the longevity point. I just replaced my 2012 Thinkpad T430s (which I bought second-hand!) with a 2019 x390. Part of it is that the T430 became a loaner that I have gifted to a friend who needed a laptop for light paperwork, but also the battery on it (and any replacements I could find) had a pretty short lifespan, about 2.5 hours at best. The laptop was still ver…

But the T430 us legendary like that. I have written many scrapping and alerting bots, but the only one still running is the 'find me any new refurbished T430 trove nearby' and haul ass to buy some. I love this machine so much I'd like to retire with a stock of them, praying I'll still be able to browse whatever the slow web will be then and code the night away as I've always done with this beauty.

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#542

Post by eptcyka »

sudosysgen wrote: post #470
eptcyka wrote: post #347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do not have a discrete GPU, have run TLP and Powertop and have adjusted the tweakables. Maybe it's my 1440p display.

If you use zenmonitor, what is the package power on a typical workload? It should be 2-3W maximum normally. If it's too high, it's a too common case of manufacturers setting insane tweakables, and can be remediated using amdctl/ryzenadj/zenstates (or in some BIOSes using the PBO2 setting). Otherwise, it can sometimes be a bad SSD using a lot of power.

I'll try those out, thank you for the tips.

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#543

Post by Hippocrates »

rejectfinite wrote: post #508
ribit wrote: post #419

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For RAM that's around 3x slower. I mean, if it works, it works, but it's hardly something to boast about.

RAM speed does not make up for capacity. If you need a lot of RAM for VMs or Docker or loads of tabs, getting lower capacity, but higher speed RAM is not a substitute.

For loads of tabs it does. For docker or VMs maybe not. Requiring a large amount of fully allocated RAM, like 8G+ seems like a deficiency in the software/dev environment, and definitely an edge case. In my whole career I've not needed that, but seen some poorly done dev environments configured with 4G+ VMs, so I don't doubt it can happen.

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#544

Post by silent_cal »

BirAdam wrote: post #513
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.

The main problem is that e-waste is an ever increasing problem and companies like Apple are just creating more e-waste. Every single time a new Apple device is created, so is more e-waste. With a fully user serviceable device (of any category), less e-waste is created, and the time period of use is longer for many of those components. Personally, I do not care what people choose to buy, but everyone needs to become m…

Not sure about that, there is a huge market for refurbished Apple products.

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#545

Post by yjftsjthsd-h »

wilg wrote: post #491
yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the increased reliability that non-upgradeability confers I'm skeptical of those being connected; my 2008 thinkpads and 2011 desktop (that I'm writing this on) are extremely upgradable and still work fine (I mean, the thinkpads are slow by modern standards, but that's not a reliability issue). And non-upgradeability in this sense also means that it's not reparable either, so when it does have problems the whole thi…

Theoretically, having to design the product to be modular means you'll have connectors, modules, and other parts that you have to ship on every product. At scale, you could imagine that adding 0.1 grams of weight and material to every unit nets out to be more wasteful than throwing away 1 in 100,000 entire units due to a fault.

Theoretically, maybe, but we'd need real numbers to even start to evaluate that.

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#546

Post by mariosisters »

niclo wrote: post #278
ghc wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know from extensive debugging of this issue that docker is the problem. You basically can't run docker (as of 6 months ago...I hope this will eventually be false) on an M1/M2 without causing significant heating and battery drain. Since this is the fault of the OS, maybe Asahi will eventually be the solution.

Yes, same conclusion. I wonder if people using it for writing code are running docker at all, you read so many comments on HN of how the battery life is incredible (on any thread about comparisons between any Mac and any other laptop) while in my experience a full charge Macbook Air M2 lasts about 6 hours with Docker running instead of the usual 15 it lasts when its off.

I write code full time. I run Docker as little as possible, preferring to run everything “natively”. It’s so much simpler than figuring out how to get whatever shitty webstack working with reloading etc. It’s faster. Battery life is better. There’s no downside in my experience as macOS is a good enough *nix that almost everything Just Works™.

The only time I run Docker is to test an image locally, which is in general only to debug my Dockerfile.

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#547

Post by pmontra »

ilrwbwrkhv wrote: post #420
pmontra wrote: post #404

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't say the same thing about my HP ZBook from 2014. Reason: it's snappier now after I upgraded the RAM from 16 to 32 GB and swapped the HDD for two SSDs years ago.

The Air didn't receive any hardware upgrades though, apart from a new battery.

I didn't check the specs of that Air, but is it upgradeable? If it is, maybe you could make it faster too.

Anyway, there is no reason for your Air to be slower after 10 years. The hardware is the same. Either Apple makes a slower OS for it or it will be as fast as ever.

In my case I moved to Debian two months ago after years of Ubuntu. It was fast enough but it feels faster now. The fan didn't turn on often but it's even more silent now. Maybe less stuff running in background or a newer kernel and graphic driver, who knows.

On the other side, my friend's cheap Windows laptops become slower and slower until they buy a new one. I'm not sure to know somebody with a 2000 Euro Windows laptop. Maybe it's different.

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#548

Post by kuschku »

astrange wrote: post #409
kuschku wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By whatever metrics you want, you can choose which panel to install.

You can beat a 224ppi P3 display with working auto brightness and auto whitepoint (truetone)?

Auto brightness and auto whitetone aren't features of the panel, but of the OS. Apple just mosattributes that, as always.

And yes, 200+ ppi P3 displays are easily available, Apple just buys their panels from the same suppliers that are available to you.

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#549

Post by kuschku »

12345hn6789 wrote: post #522
kuschku wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By whatever metrics you want, you can choose which panel to install.

Is it even possible to buy a panel with higher ppi than the mac pros? Genuinely asking here. I guess if you value 240hz you could run with that.

Apple usually buys their panels from LG, most of the time you can get better price/performance if you buy the same panel directly or in other assemblies.

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#550

Post by astrange »

kuschku wrote: post #548
astrange wrote: post #409

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can beat a 224ppi P3 display with working auto brightness and auto whitepoint (truetone)?

Auto brightness and auto whitetone aren't features of the panel, but of the OS. Apple just mosattributes that, as always. And yes, 200+ ppi P3 displays are easily available, Apple just buys their panels from the same suppliers that are available to you.

They are features of other hardware associated with the panel like light sensors.

And no, just because a contract manufacturer makes the panels doesn't mean they also designed them.

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