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The Last PC Laptop

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Re: The Last PC Laptop

#111

Post by rsync »

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…

Here is my bag of tricks that I apply to OSX/Finder to make it a more usable UI (and by usable, I mean more like ion/ratpoison/etc.)

http://blog.kozubik.com/john_kozubik/2009/11/making-the-mac-...

... although who knows how well any of this works on Lion, etc. - I am a "once snow leopard is EOL, I leave OSX" kind of user...

Re: The Last PC Laptop

#112

Post by rsync »

raverbashing wrote: post #98
abecedarius wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Even if you are eschewing OSX (as I will when I upgrade my current MBA) you should probably get a MBA.

Re: The Last PC Laptop

#113

Post by bpatrianakos »

xtracto wrote: post #108
kayoone wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i work with multiple monitors and always hated this on OSX. The Menubar is only on the main screen, no matter where program is located (there are tools to replicate it to the second monitor but still) and i hate the OSX dock. The windows taskbar with a multimonitor enhancement like UltraMon or DisplayFusion is just unbeatable when having many open windows imo, on OSX it always takes more time/clicks to find the windo…

I am a virtual desktops fan (I think they are called Spaces). Unfortunately, the way Alt+Tab works in Mac, which shows the list of all open programs, instead of the ones with windows in the current virtual desktop, is a loser for me. Also, the fact that when you make a window "full screen" (with the arrows int he top-right corner button) you lose one monitor when using two monitors setup. And also, regarding shortcut…

See, I, the exact opposite when it comes to Alt+Tab. At work I have to use Windows and I hate the fact that if I have multiple Windows of one program open I may have to Alt-Tab several times just to get to the window I want. I prefer how it is on the Mac where if I switch between to programs, both of which have multiple windows open, it'll just show me all the windows stacked on one another in the order they were used. To me, doing this then clicking into the stack to get the window I want is much faster than trying to see which window looks closest to the one I want using the Alt Tab icons in Windows. They're just too small for me and often multiple windows of the same program look exactly alike at the size Windows shows the previews. Same with the task bar on Windows. I hate clicking program icon and instead of just showing me the windows I have to once more hunt for what looks like the one I want before it brings it to the fore.

I've never used OS X With multiple monitors but I do use dual monitors at work and I can bet it definitely would be frustrating to lose a monitor just to have one app full screen. Hopefully they fix that. For now I'm good with Spaces. Actually I think Spaces are gone since Lion and they're something else now.

Re: The Last PC Laptop

#114

Post by Tyr42 »

xtracto wrote: post #108
kayoone wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i work with multiple monitors and always hated this on OSX. The Menubar is only on the main screen, no matter where program is located (there are tools to replicate it to the second monitor but still) and i hate the OSX dock. The windows taskbar with a multimonitor enhancement like UltraMon or DisplayFusion is just unbeatable when having many open windows imo, on OSX it always takes more time/clicks to find the windo…

I am a virtual desktops fan (I think they are called Spaces). Unfortunately, the way Alt+Tab works in Mac, which shows the list of all open programs, instead of the ones with windows in the current virtual desktop, is a loser for me. Also, the fact that when you make a window "full screen" (with the arrows int he top-right corner button) you lose one monitor when using two monitors setup. And also, regarding shortcut…

There's a $15 program that will replace ⌘-tab and it has an option to just look in the current space. http://manytricks.com/witch/

Re: The Last PC Laptop

#115

Post by utku_karatas2 »

cturner wrote: post #70
abecedarius wrote: post #15

Along with this, I'm considering the Thinkpad X1 Carbon or the Samsung Series 9 -- they're all advertised as lightweight, powerful, and with more vertical resolution than the usual piddling 768px. Anyone tried them and want to weigh in? http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/08/a-worthy-ultrabook-ap... (edit: previous discussion at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4428262 ) I'm leaning towards the Thinkpad since I g…

I've installed ubuntu on the x1 carbon this weekend after hacker news recommendations about thinkpads for linux. UK model with US-English keyboard, i5 processor. Seems to be flawless with ubuntu. All drivers worked out of the box. Wireless, audio, suspend, wake up, volume keys on keyboard, battery warning. I've been able to use 'CompizConfig Settings Manager' to hack unity to be the way I want. I found a way to disab…

Can I ask if you can plug in 2 external displays to your X1 on Ubuntu? (my latest Thinkpad did not allow that and I had to switch to something else because it's kind of a show-stopper for me.)

Re: The Last PC Laptop

#116

Post by anykey »

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…

Shift+click the "plus" button and it'll maximize. I've been using BetterTouchTool's window movement abilities to set hotkeys to maximize and halve windows. It'll also do an aero-snap-esque thingy. Pretty useful

Cmd+tab is pretty nice, keep in mind you can use Cmd+` to switch between windows of the current application. It's a bit different than the way Windows does it, but once you use it for a little bit you get used to it and Windows feels a bit awkward ;)

Re: The Last PC Laptop

#117

Post by cturner »

utku_karatas2 wrote: post #115
cturner wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've installed ubuntu on the x1 carbon this weekend after hacker news recommendations about thinkpads for linux. UK model with US-English keyboard, i5 processor. Seems to be flawless with ubuntu. All drivers worked out of the box. Wireless, audio, suspend, wake up, volume keys on keyboard, battery warning. I've been able to use 'CompizConfig Settings Manager' to hack unity to be the way I want. I found a way to disab…

Can I ask if you can plug in 2 external displays to your X1 on Ubuntu? (my latest Thinkpad did not allow that and I had to switch to something else because it's kind of a show-stopper for me.)

(I didn't order the dongle for this, and don't know. Hopefully someone else does.)

Re: The Last PC Laptop

#118

Post by pja »

jawngee wrote: post #30

Interestingly, I'm having the opposite thing happen. Due to this MacBook Pro Retina (I have the fully spec'd version), I firmly believe that my Mac Pro will be the last desktop computer I own. While the Mac Pro (about a year old) still smokes this laptop in a lot of areas, it's not enough smoke that I find myself turning it on half as much as I used to after I got this laptop. Occasionally, if I'm doing some heavy du…

The Mac Pro is woefully out of date at this point: It's almost as if they've abandoned that line of hardware altogether. Has Apple actually said that they're going to bring the hardware up to date?

Re: The Last PC Laptop

#119

Post by Zak »

linker3000 wrote: post #43
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.

Glad you enjoyed yourself. Can't fault that. Point is, I don't feel the need to be laptopped-up and my work/life balance doesn't demand it. Sound's like this was an optional activity for you too. On a very long train journey, I'd listen to the radio, read the news, watch a video (on the phone's 5.3" screen), talk to people, check my email - do anything I want too.

It was an optional activity, and was the most enjoyable thing I could reasonably do on the train.

Reading the news, watching a video and checking email all seem like more pleasant tasks on a laptop than a smartphone of any description. Perhaps we have different preferences.

Re: The Last PC Laptop

#120

Post by w1ntermute »

cturner wrote: post #70
abecedarius wrote: post #15

Along with this, I'm considering the Thinkpad X1 Carbon or the Samsung Series 9 -- they're all advertised as lightweight, powerful, and with more vertical resolution than the usual piddling 768px. Anyone tried them and want to weigh in? http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/08/a-worthy-ultrabook-ap... (edit: previous discussion at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4428262 ) I'm leaning towards the Thinkpad since I g…

I've installed ubuntu on the x1 carbon this weekend after hacker news recommendations about thinkpads for linux. UK model with US-English keyboard, i5 processor. Seems to be flawless with ubuntu. All drivers worked out of the box. Wireless, audio, suspend, wake up, volume keys on keyboard, battery warning. I've been able to use 'CompizConfig Settings Manager' to hack unity to be the way I want. I found a way to disab…

> I'd recommend against buying it for Windows use. I tried it for a couple of days just to see what it was like. It comes preloaded with lots of rubbish (including aggressive Norton popups) and no install media. Awful. The base installation took up half of the 128GB hard disk, which seemed crazy. I uninstalled as much junk as I could, and it worked OK for a bit but later my VPN client stopped working.

I think that any hackers who are going to use a Windows laptop should be familiar and OK with doing a clean install. Nowadays, it's an extremely easy process. You can get an ISO via direct download straight from Microsoft's servers[0] (the one you want is probably "English x64: X17-59465.iso"). You would be surprised how nice a clean Windows 7 install is.

You may also want the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool[1], which will let you install Windows from a USB drive.

I'm pretty sure you can use the OEM key to register the clean Windows install, but I've always just used the Windows 7 Loader[2]. It's fast and easy, and always works.

0: http://www.mydigitallife.info/official-windows-7-sp1-iso-fro...

1: http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/html/pbPage.Help...

2: http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/24901-Windows-Loade...

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