The Last PC Laptop • Hacker News Board

Re: The Last PC Laptop

#91

Post by Derbasti » Sun, Sep 23, 2012, 1:46 PM UTC

linker3000 wrote: post #23

"Want the smallest most portable device you can get away with? " "Want to be always connected to the Internet? Sure you do;" "Just try opening a laptop on a crowded subway train or bus." Someone needs to stop trying to arrange their life around their tech and try it the other way around. If you are so overloaded with work, or so keen at your work, or so behind in your work, that you need to open your laptop on the tr…

> Someone needs to stop trying to arrange their life around their tech and try it the other way around.

I work on my laptop on my commute on the train. This saves me two hours every day and allows me to live in a beautiful place.

Someone does indeed needs to stop trying to arrange their life around their tech and try it the other way around, Mr. IT Manager For a High Tech Company with a ridiculously giant phone, a netbook, a laptop and a PC.

Re: The Last PC Laptop

#92

Post by Flow » Sun, Sep 23, 2012, 1:49 PM UTC

edanm wrote: post #88

jader201 wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I need to know your secret then. About three years ago, I purchased my first Mac. It was an early 2009 iMac. Before then, I had only owned a Windows machine, and like you, I was also incredibly invested in Windows. But when I got my Mac, I just found doing simple things a challenge, and the various interfaces not powerful enough. To this day, I still struggle using Finder, mostly because there's no (native) way of br…

Like I said, I haven't done as much work yet (I bought the Air right before a vacation, so most of my use has been casual). Still, I've got one thing going for me: I'm very quick at picking up new keyboard shortcuts and habits. I'm a vim user, and every few weeks I switch around some shortcut to make things easier for myself - and it usually only takes a day to adjust. I don't know if this is abnormal or not, but a l…

There are plenty of Finder enhancements and replacements. This is one of the more popular: http://cocoatech.com/pathfinder/

Re: The Last PC Laptop

#93

Post by Derbasti » Sun, Sep 23, 2012, 1:49 PM UTC

Kudos wrote: post #49

Zak wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Train rides are kind of boring. Why wouldn't I get out my laptop on a train? I did, recently, to add depth-of-field compensation to a blurry image detector I'm writing for my own amusement. I don't think that would be nearly as fun on a stupidly-big phone.

Trains are my favourite place to get work done. I'm not sure what exactly it is about it but I can get 3 solid hours of focused work done, usually the work I've been avoiding for the previous fortnight.

I knew a guy who bought a flat-rate take-every-train-for-free ticket (ca 4000$ in Germany) instead of renting an office. Not my idea of the perfect working place, but it worked for him.

Re: The Last PC Laptop

#94

Post by SLuijk » Sun, Sep 23, 2012, 1:53 PM UTC

edanm wrote: post #89

pmelendez wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know if you would feel the same way after you code on XCode. I feel like in a cage when I have to touch code on that thing...

I plan to try working only from vim if I possibly can. Don't (yet) know how possible it will be.

There is gvim for OSX. But personally I prefer vim inside terminator or terminal. That was before I switched to Arch Linux after 12 years of using mac.

Re: The Last PC Laptop

#95

Post by drhowarddrfine » Sun, Sep 23, 2012, 1:55 PM UTC

edanm wrote: post #79

I wanted to buy a new windows laptop that was light, strong, and looked good. I really, really did. Then, because of work reasons, I ended up getting a MacBook Air instead. Now, I've been dead-set against switching to a Mac for a long time, because I am incredibly invested with Windows, more so than almost anyone I know. I didn't want to have to relearn everything, plus rewrite all the scripts I have on my Windows ma…

"...OSX has a lot of small advantages over Windows."

OSX is Unix. OSX has a TON of small and large advantages over Windows.

Re: The Last PC Laptop

#96

Post by mathattack » Sun, Sep 23, 2012, 2:00 PM UTC

Very good article. I think the leadup lends to a profound conclusion - all this work reaching perfection, and laptops may cease to exist in a few years.

Re: The Last PC Laptop

#97

Post by lttlrck » Sun, Sep 23, 2012, 2:18 PM UTC

dsr_ wrote: post #73

john_flintstone wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>but people on the train are, for the overwhelming majority, uninteresting or annoying And they're usually the same people every day, if you catch the same train.

The odds are pretty good that someone on your train works is quite interesting. For example... I happen to know that if I take a commuter line into Boston in the morning, I am likely to encounter one or more of: a senior scientist at an R&D lab, a bunch of Google programmers and engineers, a non-profit fundraising expert, or an IP lawyer. I don't know what the guy with the MongoDB sticker on his laptop does, but even…

Wow. People talk to each on the T? Never seen it.

Re: The Last PC Laptop

#98

Post by raverbashing » Sun, Sep 23, 2012, 2:20 PM UTC

abecedarius wrote: post #50

linker3000 wrote: post #23

"Want the smallest most portable device you can get away with? " "Want to be always connected to the Internet? Sure you do;" "Just try opening a laptop on a crowded subway train or bus." Someone needs to stop trying to arrange their life around their tech and try it the other way around. If you are so overloaded with work, or so keen at your work, or so behind in your work, that you need to open your laptop on the tr…

There are plenty of use cases for a portable computer. Moving to New York for 3 months for Hacker School comes to mind (it starts next week). I want the lightest one that works well. The End.

I'm gonna be that guy and say that you're probably looking for a Mac Book Air

But this Asus on the article certainly looks good if you put Linux in it

Re: The Last PC Laptop

#99

Post by calinet6 » Sun, Sep 23, 2012, 2:24 PM UTC

Derbasti wrote: post #91

linker3000 wrote: post #23

"Want the smallest most portable device you can get away with? " "Want to be always connected to the Internet? Sure you do;" "Just try opening a laptop on a crowded subway train or bus." Someone needs to stop trying to arrange their life around their tech and try it the other way around. If you are so overloaded with work, or so keen at your work, or so behind in your work, that you need to open your laptop on the tr…

> Someone needs to stop trying to arrange their life around their tech and try it the other way around. I work on my laptop on my commute on the train. This saves me two hours every day and allows me to live in a beautiful place. Someone does indeed needs to stop trying to arrange their life around their tech and try it the other way around, Mr. IT Manager For a High Tech Company with a ridiculously giant phone, a ne…

Watch your back. I know two people who have been mugged after using a laptop on a train or subway.

Re: The Last PC Laptop

#100

Post by enobrev » Sun, Sep 23, 2012, 2:27 PM UTC

brador wrote: post #3

Is this an ad or genuine? I'd trust it more if it didn't come with an amazom affiliate link.

I get what you're saying, but I don't see why adding an affiliate link to an honest endorsement makes it any less honest.

While I don't agree with everything Jeff has to say, I wouldn't call him a shill. His reviews have always seemed perfectly honest to me. I've even bought products he's recommended and agreed with said recommendations - not caring whether or not he made a dollar off said purchase.

Isn't that the underlying reason for affiliate links? No doubt, they've obviously been bastardized in thousands of ways, but the initial reason for them was to make linking to a product mutually beneficial.