Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480 • Hacker News Board

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#631

Post by sneak » Fri, Feb 24, 2023, 8:57 AM UTC

bedast wrote: post #612

sneak wrote: post #437

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

Nothing forces you to run macOS on these machines any longer. I am speaking only of the hardware, anyway.

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#632

Post by kdtsh » Mon, Feb 27, 2023, 1:40 AM UTC

LtWorf wrote: post #241

kdtsh wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've got a 2012 MacBook Air which I bought second hand (maybe third or fourth hand, or more?) for $300 a couple years ago. The hinge is floppy probably due to being dropped several times, the FaceTime is busted, I replaced the battery but it still runs out in less than 2 hours, and I don't think macOS even gets security patches for the version it's running - but install Linux and it's _fine_, plus it's tiny. I could…

Basically it's unusable but it still turns on? Is this what apple users consider as "durability"?

I replaced the battery with a non-OEM so the battery situation isn’t unexpected. It’s very usable, it’s just banged up. I was even running Ableton Live on it before I got a new MacBook. How many other 10 year old laptops treated with the same care as a school textbook still work?

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#633

Post by bombolo » Mon, Feb 27, 2023, 12:10 PM UTC

domh wrote: post #107

kylec wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While this is true, it's not really Apple's fault, most game makers just don't care about making their games Mac compatible. They don't even have to be Apple Silicon compatible, Rosetta does a surprisingly good job making Mac games for Intel playable on M1.

It annoys me that I have a bunch of games on my Steam account for 32bit only macOS (Half Life 2, Team Fortress 2 etc) that just cannot be played on a modern mac. To be fair, Apple have gone through two CPU architecture changes since I bought them (Intel 32bit -> Intel 64bit -> ARM). Is this Valve's fault for not rebuilding the games, or is it Apple's fault for not making it work through Rosetta?

Didn't apple also drop opengl support? It's not just a matter of recompiling the same source. It needs platform specific changes.

Probably the investment isn't worth it for game makers, since apple might require them to do it all over again next week, potentially.

Re: Replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a ThinkPad T480

#634

Post by ghostpepper » Thu, Mar 02, 2023, 4:20 AM UTC

xeonmc wrote: post #323

ghostpepper wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve had thinkpads for years, first a T420 and now an X1C (and I use vim a lot) and I can’t seem to integrate the track point into my workflow. Either it’s too fast and it overshoots, or it’s too slow and it distracts from what you’re trying to actually do. How long did it take you to become proficient with it to the point you prefer it over a mouse / trackpad?

About 5-minutes into first trying a ThinkPad ever The trick is to use the stick as a Force sensor, instead of treating it like a capacitive Position stick on console controllers. In other words, you use your skin to "pull" the stick transversely so that the shearing force maximizes the feedback to your fingertip's cutaneous nerves. The common mistake for those who gave up after 5 seconds of trying is attempting to "p…

Thanks for the detailed explanation - you've inspired me to give it another shot.