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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

#551

Post by taylodl »

fsflover wrote: post #485
urda wrote: post #415

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> by enforcing planned obsolescence This simply isn't true, as Apple supports their devices from phones to laptops far-far-far longer than their competitors. It's why iPhones last longer in the wild. They have demonstrated clear support to their customers through their actions.

GNU/Linux-supported devices receive updates far-far-far longer, both laptops and phones.

Then run Linux on your MacBook when you no longer have an Apple-supported Mac OS, which is 10 years. Lots of people have.

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#552

Post by jodrellblank »

howinteresting wrote: post #455
jodrellblank wrote: post #450

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It isn't Apple who's suffering the criticism, it's us who has to wade through low value, uninteresting, repetitive comments on HN which won't make a blind bit of difference to how Apple does anything, who suffer from it. Is https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34879574 worth upvoting because "Apple can take the criticism"?

As long as everyone else has to suffer through the endless parade of praise Apple gets on here, yes.

You don't have to, you can close thread. Instead of shitting in thread, then closing it.

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#553

Post by softfalcon »

taylodl wrote: post #476
softfalcon wrote: post #462

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Practically, I agree with you. If you don't need upgrade-ability, buy an Apple. These are the market options, choose and get on with your life. Ideologically, I disagree with you. If we keep allowing the removal of upgrade-ability to retain a foothold in our devices, we will be worse off in the long-run. My gut says we need to keep beating the drum and taking a stand or it will be bad for our future. But then again,…

IDK. I think Apple's take is these are appliances. Do you worry about upgrading your refrigerator or microwave? That's where computing has gone. Back when every 3 years or so there were significant performance improvements necessitating an upgrade then the ability to upgrade was important. Now you can go 5-10 years before you find your performance lacking - which is also the lifetime of the hardware. Apple has made c…

If it's an appliance, it should last as long and not become obsolete the same as my appliances do. Examples include:

- Kenmore Dishwasher (12 years of age, still running perfectly)

- Danby Deep freezer (9 years of age, still running perfectly)

- Whirlpool Washer & Dryer (21 years of age, still running perfectly, minor self-service repairs)

- Kenmore Refrigerator (11 years of age, still running perfectly)

I have barely had to service these items, but when I did (washer and dryer) the parts were readily available and I was able to do the repair myself.

When I compare this to my iPhone X, it is quite different:

- 1 year in, needed a screen replacement due to a factory faulty digitizer

- 3 years in, needed a battery replacement

- 4 years in, phone is starting to get slow, heats up a lot when in use

If I had to compare this to a "device" I own and use regularly, I would say it feels a lot more like a car and a lot less like my refrigerator. Based on what I'm reading, it would appear the lawyers and courts see it similarly and the only folks disagreeing are Apple/Microsoft/Google/John-Deere. Folks who don't want right-to-repair, which funnily enough, we have for cars and most appliances.

Odd that all the sudden they want it otherwise when it's a "computer" but also... is now an "appliance".

I wonder why they're so keen to make seem like it's an appliance? Is it perhaps advantageous for them to do so?

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#554

Post by DrThunder »

heavyset_go wrote: post #324
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.

Just because Apple wants to increase their profit margins, by enforcing planned obsolescence and creating e-waste on scales that are beyond comprehension, does not mean that everyone else should just ignore it and shut up about it. It's not Apple's way or the highway, there is room for criticism and change. There are also millions of Apple customers who have no idea that Apple is actively going out of their way to en…

"Ignoring" it means you buy an alternative product. As OP states there are plenty of alternatives. Capitalism works and money talks. Put your money elsewhere. If someone provides a better alternative than apple, the problem fixes itself. This is best course of action for you to change apple.

Unless you're talking about some forced government legislation to make apple do things the way you want... and that's fraught with all sorts of other issues.

These companies aren't going to listen to your whining. They just want your money. Give it to them or don't. Not everything is some social justice activity.

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#555

Post by IshKebab »

freedomben wrote: post #368
sockaddr wrote: post #342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do they create more ewaste though? Like many others report my experience is that apple products routinely last multiple times longer than other tech. I only just last week retired a MacBook bought in 2013, and it still worked just fine. Now someone else bought it and is using it. Things like PCs and android phones usually have some combination of cheap materials, bloat/crap ware or poorly designed software stacks…

> How do they create more ewaste though? Like many others report my experience is that apple products routinely last multiple times longer than other tech. Compared to some other tech, you're correct that the e-waste is comparable or better. However, the comparison above is Apple to Apple. The other tech companies are irrelevant for this. Apple has full ability to dramatically lower the amount of e-waste their produc…

The only things that are easily repairable in most laptops are the SSD and RAM, but those very rarely fail anyway so it makes essentially no difference to e-waste.

It's annoying. But that's about it.

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#556

Post by arcticbull »

Vrondi wrote: post #496
arcticbull wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> MBP doesn't have a trackpoint. Still can't run Linux as well, lacks USB A so still requires constant dongles despite improved port selection. I've never wanted a nipple mouse, but to each their own and I know some people love them. What I have wanted is a giant 6" diagonal multi-touch trackpad. Linux is very much a non-goal for me, and if I want to, I can always SSH into a remote instance or run a VM. I don't miss…

By the time you have a giant 6" trackpad, then a touchscreen just absolutely makes more sense, but oh, yeah, right, Apple insists on being a decade+ behind the times on laptop hardware features while insisting they're better.

I actually disagree. It's all about ergonomics. Holding your hand/wrist up to the screen all day is unnatural and tiring - not to mention smudgey and annoying. The large trackpad being planar with the keyboard allows you to use without physical stress for extended periods of time.

Their position is if you want to fing on something, fing on an iPad.

If you want to type, point and gesture, get a MacBook.

I'm very ok with that and personally satisfied that Apple didn't jump on that bandwagon.

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#557

Post by wingspar »

goosedragons wrote: post #515
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 think you got exceededly lucky with your MBA repair. And honestly it's a bit tough to believe they replaced the motherboard for free 3ish years after they typically refuse to stop servicing the device entirely for anything besides the battery and have declared the device obsolete. Had it hit the 11 year mark they probably would have offered to recycle it and maybe give you $50 off a new one. I've had extremely bad…

Had an OLD iPhone that needed a battery. Apple ended up replacing the whole thing with a refurb, as apparently the replacement battery process went sideways and broke the circuit board.

They broke it and made it right.

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#558

Post by yenda »

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…

A personal anecdote, I've had the the complete opposite experience with Asus and Lenovo laptops lasting forever, not even needing any sort of repair, while my 2007 MacBook pro died because of a known flaw on Nvidia GPU after less than 4 year and the fix costed as much as a new laptop

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#559

Post by wilg »

yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #545
wilg wrote: post #491

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Sure, I'm just pointing out from an environmental/waste standpoint it's not obvious that repairability is a win.

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#560

Post by gigel82 »

I don't really use laptops so have no horse in this race; but during the pandemic I was forced to set up a separate WFH desk and I used a Windows laptop and an (i7) MacBook Pro side-by-side, hooked up to 2 external monitors and sharing a keyboard / mouse with Barrier.

Despite the machines having similar specs, I find the Windows machine snappier (even with all the Intune / VPN / spyware bullshit built-in) and really only use the mac as a browser box.

Anecdote: browsing was super slow on the mac even though it's sitting right next to the Asus laptop and using the same WiFi network, so I bought a couple of USB Ethernet dongles. I found it surprising in 2021 that I need to download drivers and reboot the macOS machine to install an USB Ethernet dongle; Windows just picked it up in seconds (yes, it wasn't an Apple branded Ethernet dongle, just sorted by most popular on Amazon and with advertised macOS support).

If I ever need to purchase a laptop for myself (though I don't have a reason for it), it will most definitely not be a mac.

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