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Ask HN: Quality of recent gens of Dell/Lenovo laptops worse than 10 years ago?

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Re: Ask HN: Quality of recent gens of Dell/Lenovo laptops worse than 10 years ago?

#91

Post by Nursie »

sgc wrote: post #81
hatmatrix wrote: post #55

The move to USB-C is actually great for compatibility across machines. Europe has a directive for companies to implement USB-C to reduce e-waste from chargers.

At the cost of soldering new usb ports every couple of years (a couple hundred from a local tech) because they are extremely fragile. Fine for phones, I hate it on my laptop. On top of that, the gan chargers are made as small as possible and overheat all the time. Modern, sleek, enshitified - just like our software!

What do you do to machines that they need a new port every couple of years?!

I used to have issues with the oldeer micro-usb ports, but since USB C came along I don't think I've had a single failure.

Re: Ask HN: Quality of recent gens of Dell/Lenovo laptops worse than 10 years ago?

#92

Post by protocolture »

ferguess_k wrote: post #88
protocolture wrote: post #61

A few things: My G11 carbon is tolerable, but I did have a motherboard replacement in mine mid cycle. Known issue with charging just giving up. I like my carbon, but its a lot of money. I have a gen 1 carbon, a gen 7 carbon and a gen 11. I still think the G1 was best in a lot of silos. The keyboard especially. The G11 is performing better than the G7 overall, the G7 had the shittiest case so far. Recently did an anal…

Thanks, looks like you know a lot about laptops. Do you have a review blog or something similar? I really need to read more reviews before my next purchase. I'm especially interested in the used market.

I dont have a formal blog or anything, but I will take the assumption as a compliment.

My first G1 carbon traveled several hundred thousand kilometers with me, getting bashed around in airport security etc.

My G7 keyboard keys were falling off, having rarely left my office.

Brands arent as consistent as we would like them to be. Make sure any reviews you turn up are for the specific product you purchase.

Re: Ask HN: Quality of recent gens of Dell/Lenovo laptops worse than 10 years ago?

#94

Post by Telaneo »

sgc wrote: post #82
estimator7292 wrote: post #59

I recently got a new Thinkpad for work, can't recall which model. I think L series? The build quality is nicer than my T530. The bottom cover doesn't have access panels anymore, but it's got just a few captive(!!) screws and the whole bottom comes off. Everything is neatly exposed and you don't need to access the top of the board at all. The bottom cover has plastic clips along with the screws, but they're spring loa…

I had the same xps nightmare. I fixed it by getting a PTM7950 phase change thermal pad for cpu and gpu, and swapping to Linux (which I would have done anyways). Went from 100c to 49c idle. PTM7950 is incredible.

On the one hand, PTM7950 is really good. On the other hand, a 50 degree temperature drop can't really be explained by anything other than something being terribly wrong to begin with. That thing might unfortunately be Dell, but I'd imagine if more than three brain cells were involved in temperature management design of that machine, it wouldn't have been quite as catastrophic.

Re: Ask HN: Quality of recent gens of Dell/Lenovo laptops worse than 10 years ago?

#95

Post by sgc »

Nursie wrote: post #91
sgc wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At the cost of soldering new usb ports every couple of years (a couple hundred from a local tech) because they are extremely fragile. Fine for phones, I hate it on my laptop. On top of that, the gan chargers are made as small as possible and overheat all the time. Modern, sleek, enshitified - just like our software!

What do you do to machines that they need a new port every couple of years?! I used to have issues with the oldeer micro-usb ports, but since USB C came along I don't think I've had a single failure.

1. I have kids and they don't know how to deal with them well. They are not at all aggressive, just a very slightly clumsy as kids tend to be - and the tech is unforgiving. They are human beings and the tech should work for them too.

2. I have a usb-c right here, and the weight of the cable is absolutely distorting the port. It will need to be replaced soon just based on its own self-damage. The cable is not even that heavy. I see all kinds of used devices advertised with the caveat - one usb-c not working. It is very common.

Re: Ask HN: Quality of recent gens of Dell/Lenovo laptops worse than 10 years ago?

#96

Post by ferguess_k »

danans wrote: post #90

Lenovo has tons of options that you can configure to your delight including with Ubuntu pre-installed, well below your $2000CAD price limit. I'd be surprised if you can't get one with USB-A ports: https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/d/linux-laptops-desktops/ And as I often state here, Chromebooks have a Debian Linux distro 2 clicks away, including the ability to run X11 GUI programs like VSCode and Cursor for software devel…

Yeah you are right. Just checked out Lenovo ThinkPad L16 Gen 1 with 32GB ram and it costs 1,143 CAD (it's a deal but the original cost is still < 2,000 CAD). I was thinking more about workstations back then, but I probably don't need one TBH. I guess my X1 Carbon experience kinda tarnished my view of Lenovo laptops.

Re: Ask HN: Quality of recent gens of Dell/Lenovo laptops worse than 10 years ago?

#97

Post by ThatPlayer »

_ea1k wrote: post #69
ferguess_k wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing is, everything I bought don't use those ports. I have to buy a new keyboard and a new mouse (wireless mouses also need a driver dongle) for the ports. And what is worse? New laptops have less ports than the older ones. That 5550 only has 3 ports and 1 is for charging. If I want to mount an external hard drive, I need to bring a hub. What again, looks like everyone is doing that, so yeah, better embrace it.

The port count is a real problem on modern laptops. I like USB-C, but why are there so few of them? Having to have a hub for basic things is really annoying.

USB-C ports have so many features that require extra connections, which makes them costly. And then adding extra ports without those features gets confusing to the end user if it can't properly communicated.

Imagine having 4 USB-C ports, but 2 of them are USB 2.0 only. Like that but more complicated because it's a feature on a separate controller. Video out, which requires additional connections to the GPU. Power input, done through a USB-PD controller. PCI-E tunneling, taking up PCI-E lanes from the CPU.

Even looking at the Framework Laptop: https://frame.work/laptop16?tab=specs , only the Nvidia GPU USB-C port supports charging while the AMD one doesn't. Look at the section on the "6x user-selectable Expansion Cards" where they list the capabilities of the individual ports. I think different specs for those USB-C ports are less egregious because the idea is to install an expansion card, but giving 6 different USB-C ports like that to a regular user sounds like a bad idea.

Re: Ask HN: Quality of recent gens of Dell/Lenovo laptops worse than 10 years ago?

#98

Post by arresin »

WithinReason wrote: post #29
1970-01-01 wrote: post #6

Are you really complaining about old battery packs and USB C ports as bad engineering? I think you should try the framework laptop because then you have no excuses about the trivial things.

George Hotz is unpacking his new Framework right now and he's not happy: https://www.twitch.tv/georgehotz

I can imagine the complaints: - screen wobble - battery life - track pad - rigidity

Re: Ask HN: Quality of recent gens of Dell/Lenovo laptops worse than 10 years ago?

#99

Post by Telaneo »

sgc wrote: post #81
hatmatrix wrote: post #55

The move to USB-C is actually great for compatibility across machines. Europe has a directive for companies to implement USB-C to reduce e-waste from chargers.

At the cost of soldering new usb ports every couple of years (a couple hundred from a local tech) because they are extremely fragile. Fine for phones, I hate it on my laptop. On top of that, the gan chargers are made as small as possible and overheat all the time. Modern, sleek, enshitified - just like our software!

Never had either of these problems across phones or laptops. What kind of GaN charger are you using that has problems with overheating?

And even in that case, USB-C chargers and cables are available everywhere, unlike proprietary laptop chargers, If the ports are dying on you though, I don't know what to tell you. They seem fine on phones, so I can't see what the problem would be on laptops, unless there are specific models that just have horrible ports.

Re: Ask HN: Quality of recent gens of Dell/Lenovo laptops worse than 10 years ago?

#100

Post by nickpsecurity »

estimator7292 wrote: post #59

I recently got a new Thinkpad for work, can't recall which model. I think L series? The build quality is nicer than my T530. The bottom cover doesn't have access panels anymore, but it's got just a few captive(!!) screws and the whole bottom comes off. Everything is neatly exposed and you don't need to access the top of the board at all. The bottom cover has plastic clips along with the screws, but they're spring loa…

You actually have three, AI accelerators: the CPU's SIMD, the NPU, and iGPU. Using them simultaneously could be interesting. It might require custom work, though.
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