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Ask HN: Is Linux for laptop worth the trouble?

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11–20 of 75 posts

Re: Ask HN: Is Linux for laptop worth the trouble?

#11
You should always have more than one machine (incase one breaks or is lost), so you can have both a Mac and a Linux laptop and switch between them.

I mostly use a Mac, but also use android and Linux devices. It helps me remain vendor neutral as I ensure all applications I use work across all of them.

Re: Ask HN: Is Linux for laptop worth the trouble?

#12
post #5

My answer has to be differentiated: I use a MacBook Air with M1 at work_1, and Lenovo ThinkPads X1 at work_2 and at home, both running Ubuntu LTS. The Mac wins regarding battery life (but deltas are shrinking) and - important when on the move - connecting with various WiFi SSDs (this can be quite critical). The Linux ThinkPads win regarding keyboard quality, and hackability (as UNIX/Linux person, I prefer Linux' dire…

>I also got an iPad Pro (the lightest/smallest), and I was shocked how heavy it is

iPad pro isn't heavy.

Do you have a heavy case on it? As many cases can weigh the same as the iPad itself or more.

Re: Ask HN: Is Linux for laptop worth the trouble?

#14
post #6
post #4

Personally I gave up on Linux laptops due to the amazing battery life m series has and the driver issues. Maybe when we get better arm laptop Linux support it might be a different story

> and the driver issues Just like with MacOS, you should choose compatible GNU/Linux hardware, and it will work flawlessly. I have no driver issues on my Librem laptop.

Many driver issues can be avoided with proper HW selection, but even if you go with a dedicated GNU/Linux vendor you can still have some. For example on my Slimbook Elemental 15 I have issues with both the keyboard backlight and the 3.5mm jack.

Re: Ask HN: Is Linux for laptop worth the trouble?

#15
It's a question of preference.

* Recent Macbooks have an incredible battery life, that's for sure.

* macOS is not Linux, and Linux is not macOS.

I personally like Linux a lot more than macOS, therefore I run Linux on my laptop. It's not a pain at all: just make sure you get a laptop that is well supported (seems a lot easier than 20 years ago, I personally run on ThinkPads).

The way you write (e.g. you see running Linux on a laptop as "a trouble"), you sound like you like macOS better but were using Linux because it was cheaper. In that case go for a Macbook if it's now affordable!

Re: Ask HN: Is Linux for laptop worth the trouble?

#16
post #5

My answer has to be differentiated: I use a MacBook Air with M1 at work_1, and Lenovo ThinkPads X1 at work_2 and at home, both running Ubuntu LTS. The Mac wins regarding battery life (but deltas are shrinking) and - important when on the move - connecting with various WiFi SSDs (this can be quite critical). The Linux ThinkPads win regarding keyboard quality, and hackability (as UNIX/Linux person, I prefer Linux' dire…

> I need a command not from the top-10,it's not there and I need to brew install it first, which sucks (this could be fixed by making a "distribution" of common commands for brew, I haven't even checked whether that exists).

Run 'brew list' to see what you have installed, then write a shell/ansible script to install these.

Save script to your cloud storage/source control and anytime you get a new machine, run the script.

Re: Ask HN: Is Linux for laptop worth the trouble?

#17

May be things have changed over the last 10 years but HN comments literally convinced me to switch to a macbook a decade ago and it was literally one of the worst experiences with a product of my life. Everyone who says mac is unix and is just as good as linux is a fool and should never be trusted. If you want, you can search my username with "macbook" and see my rants since 2015. The worst experience I had with it w…

> Everyone who says mac is unix and is just as good as linux is a fool and should never be trusted.

Seconded.

> Linux just works

While there are instances where this is the case (System76 hardware w/ PopOS for example), This is certainly not true in the general, and this is coming from someone that's been on linux since the dotcom era. It's very very important you get a well supported device or it most certainly does not "just work", and that's goes triple if you're not using some flavor of ubuntu/debian (in the past fedora generally does pretty good too but I've not been keeping up with the fedora sphere since IBM drove me away from the redhat/fedora/centOS ecosphere). Thankfully, there's never been more options or support for linux on laptop, so it's not as near as difficult to achieve as it once was.

Linux does what it's told, which is why I love it, but if you don't know what you're doing, and/or if the autoconfiguration tools/drivers aren't compatible with the hardware in question, you've got a recipe for frustration for anyone that's new to linux/not in the mood to tinker.

Re: Ask HN: Is Linux for laptop worth the trouble?

#18
post #15

It's a question of preference. * Recent Macbooks have an incredible battery life, that's for sure. * macOS is not Linux, and Linux is not macOS. I personally like Linux a lot more than macOS, therefore I run Linux on my laptop. It's not a pain at all: just make sure you get a laptop that is well supported (seems a lot easier than 20 years ago, I personally run on ThinkPads). The way you write (e.g. you see running Li…

Just to provide a counterpoint (and to show that there is no 1 true answer) I switched from my linux machine to a mac when my carefully selected hardware kept having a graphics card crash when closing/unclosing the lid. And this was the last straw, it’s an endless sequence of micro cuts (power throttling bugs, scroll being different across apps, issues with crappy hardware at a client)

On the other hand most of these microcuts can be researched, solved or scripted away. With my mac I have far fewer, but the ones you have, you’re often stuck with. Generally these are about flakiness with the automagic stuff. Like the camera feed switching to your iphone for a while (whether you want it or not), then suddenly refusing for weeks even when you do want it.

Also, the mac has no tiling wm that comes within a parsec of i3. I miss i3 daily. So. Much. Especially with multiple screens.

But then again, I enjoy opening the lid of my laptop daily as well. And being able to close the lid and put it in my bag, without first listening if it succesfully went to sleep. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I guess what I’m saying is: pick the annoyances that give you the smallest emotional response at this time in your life.

Re: Ask HN: Is Linux for laptop worth the trouble?

#19
post #14
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and the driver issues Just like with MacOS, you should choose compatible GNU/Linux hardware, and it will work flawlessly. I have no driver issues on my Librem laptop.

Many driver issues can be avoided with proper HW selection, but even if you go with a dedicated GNU/Linux vendor you can still have some. For example on my Slimbook Elemental 15 I have issues with both the keyboard backlight and the 3.5mm jack.

You can find similar examples about Windows vendors.

Re: Ask HN: Is Linux for laptop worth the trouble?

#20
I'm one of those Software Freedom nerds and I hated my experience with OSX Yosemite on an iMac back in 2016, so I can't really empathise, but I suppose you could always just give it a try and keep your older machine and if the MacBook doesn't work out for you, you can give it to One Laptop per Child.
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