Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

maxrozen.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

611–620 of 634 posts

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#611

Post by fmajid »

eertami wrote: post #448
fmajid wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Different OS (macOS Ventura vs. Pop-OS), different compiler (LLVM/clang vs. GCC), different storage (internal SSD vs NVMe M.2), different filesystem. Running with full CPU parallelism in both cases, however. In fact the test was biased against the Mac because the M1 MBA was running on battery power and the HP DevOne was plugged in. Still, 5x worse performance at a real-world task that most closely approximates my use…

All you've accomplished then is to test LLVM vs GCC, not an M1 vs the 5850U. Apple Silicon strength is in efficiency and low power draw, they're mostly slower than high end AMD/Intel chips (which admittedly, use a lot more power). In no world is the 5850U 5x worse than the M1, it's just absurd to suggest so. When I run Docker containers on my M1 MBP, tasks are 15-20x slower than my Linux laptop. Obviously it would be…

See my revised comment above. Yes, GCC is much slower at compiling p7zip on x64 laptops specifically because it is apparently triggering thermal throttling, on both Intel or AMD. It builds much faster on my old Xeon where thermal throttling is much less of an issue, and of course on the M1s.

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#612

Post by bedast »

sneak wrote: post #437
bedast wrote: post #384

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Elaborate.

It's generic Apple-bashing from someone who mistakenly believes that x32/x64 laptops with 6-7 hour battery life were the pinnacle of computing. The keyboards in the M1/M2 mac laptops are among the best ever shipped in any computers. They are absolutely not the janky butterfly ones Apple shipped some years ago. Mankind has not made a better machine than the M2 MBA, seriously.

Definitely a subjective opinion and not a matter of objective fact. I dislike the keyboard, personally, and macOS does not meet my needs for personal use (I use an M1 Pro Macbook Pro 16" for work and find it to be fine).

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#613

Post by taylodl »

fsflover wrote: post #610
taylodl wrote: post #607

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's actually more reliable than on PC's because there's far fewer hardware combinations to support and Apple doesn't use particularly exotic hardware.

Is suspend working reliably on Linux for MacBooks?

That's a global issue with Linux. There are people having problems with Linux sleep/suspend on a wide variety of makes of laptops, include Apple's. But not everybody is having a problem with every make of laptop which means it's either a distribution issue, user error, or some combination of the two.

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#614

Post by dkonofalski »

prvc wrote: post #588
dkonofalski wrote: post #582

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's definitely user error. We have a lease program through Apple and we get new machines every few months. Getting back up and running is simple and every new Mac computer asks if you want to transfer from an existing machine or a Time Machine backup. Transferring from machine to machine is a 1-cable or WiFi affair that takes less than an hour for most of our machines and any hardware issue is done from a Time Machi…

Is it appropriate to blame non-"technical users" for "user error" in such a case?

I think so. The default configuration for Time Machine is to back up everything. There's not really a way for a non-technical user to prevent it from backing up everything on the machine unless an admin changed the options in Time Machine to exclude specific folders/data.

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#615

Post by Reason077 »

ho_schi wrote: post #144
goosedragons wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

T480 weighs 3.6lb vs. 3.5 for a 14" M1. I'm surprised you noticed. 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 moved from a 2018 15" MBP to a P14s Gen 2 AMD. The speakers, screen, trackpad are worse. But I don't care. I'm not stuck using a horrible OS with miniscule amounts of storage to keep the price down. The machin…

Using still an ThinkPad X220 here with Archlinux. There two important things in any laptop, the built-in keyboard and the built-in screen. This is the I/O-Interface! Customers often do the mistake and doesn't invest in the best available screen. You cannot make this mistake with Apple, because they offer no options for the screen. Regarding keyboards, selecting a ThinkPad is always safe. I had to buy the X220 from a…

> “And while aluminium is a nice material for cars, bikes and planes it doesn't feel good with skin contact. We don't use keyboards or mice with aluminium because it doesn't feel well.”

Apple does make (desktop) keyboards and trackpads with aluminium. Not to mention phones, remote controls, and the Apple Watch. No complaints here!

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#616

Post by thoughtbag »

vlod wrote: post #530
thoughtbag wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can tell you now that 2022 was the year of Linux on the desktop with Apple+Parallels! :) I have a mini datacenter on my desk right now with 5 Debian machines running, 1 Windows 10, 1 OpenBSD machine as gateway for the others. No lag. Just now I fired up YouTube on 3 of these Debian machines in Firefox as well as one in the Windows 10 VM. All running full screen 1080p videos (a wide second display with 3 VM's, the m…

Would you mind sharing your machine spec please? Thanks!

Sure; M1 Max, 64GB RAM running Ventura 13.2.1 (and Parallels Pro 18).

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#617

Post by fsflover »

taylodl wrote: post #613
fsflover wrote: post #610

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is suspend working reliably on Linux for MacBooks?

That's a global issue with Linux. There are people having problems with Linux sleep/suspend on a wide variety of makes of laptops, include Apple's. But not everybody is having a problem with every make of laptop which means it's either a distribution issue, user error, or some combination of the two.

This is not a global issue with Linux. My Librem 15 has 100% reliable sleep. Devices designed for Linux work flawlessly. Devices with closed specifications and not providing any drivers don't work reliably, unsurprisingly.

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#618

Post by 12345hn6789 »

kuschku wrote: post #604
12345hn6789 wrote: post #579

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where at? Do you have a link?

I'd recommend modding a panel from a different thinkpad, like from the newer X1 models: https://www.ebay.com/itm/354162731881 This should, with slight modifications, fit any thinkpad with a non-touch 40-pin eDP. Not all T480 will have the right connector, so make sure you've got the right one before buying. This panel will get you full DCI-P3 color gamut at 3840x2160 in 10-bit, but only 500 nits.

Thanks for the link, this is definitely a "nicer" panel than MBP ones. Maybe it is time to jerry-rig my t420 :)

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#619

Post by justinator »

Nullabillity wrote: post #532
justinator wrote: post #332

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They do, it's called AppleCare and you would be nuts not to get it. Just factor it in for the price of the Macbook you want before budgeting and purchasing.

If they actually believed in the product they wouldn't charge you extra for the warranty.

Hey I'm not the guy setting pricing and policy, I'm just trying to be a smart consumer that has found that getting AppleCare is worth the price many times over. If someone doesn't want to get AppleCare and save a few hundred dollars on their MacBook, fine by me too.

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#620

Post by commandersaki »

rocket_surgeron wrote: post #464

Lenovo's anti-consumer behavior makes Apple look like a charity with a perfect rating on www.charitynavigator.org. It doesn't matter that he's running Pop!. Strong aftermarket sales lead to value retention which drives new sales, and Lenovo's 2023 position seems to be to generate as much ewaste as possible, especially in their workstation and server lines. Between secure boot "oopsies", rampant (and ongoing) GPL viol…

The Lenovo spyware is what made alarms go off in my head, even when I wanted a Linux laptop. I decided on a Framework instead; happily use a Framework, a 2015 Macbook Pro 13", and a 2020 M1 Air 13". All have their uses and all work pretty well; but Framework has the worst battery life of them all -- but at least it's not an evil company like Lenovo.
Post reply on HN