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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?

#131

Post by freehorse »

speedgoose wrote: post #121
microtonal wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Power states are completely broken. Laptop will randomly turn on when it's in my bag and rev up to ten thousand degrees. If it was in sleep - Dell themselves recommend completely switching off a laptop before putting it inside a backpack: https://www.dell.com/community/en/conversations/xps/faq-mode... For somebody who has used MacBooks the last 18 years, this is insane.

The laptops waking up in the backpack until the thermal security triggers or the battery is empty is a Microsoft Windows thing.

Ime turning windows laptops off is really hard. You tell them to shutdown and they restart for some reason, and it does not seem to be update related because it happens with laptops completely offline too. So you may think that you have shut them down, close the lid, but actually they reboot and when you get to them again they are dead. This happens with some dell laptops but I do not think it is just them. Not all the time but very randomly.

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

#132

Post by chickenimprint »

I bought a Lenovo laptop a couple of years ago and returned it immediately because it was bizarrely loud and stopped recognizing half of its ram capacity. I got an equivalent HP for a little more, and I've had much less complaints.

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

#133

Post by WithinReason »

arresin wrote: post #98
WithinReason wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

-power consumption

-display quality

-sharp edges

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

#134

Post by chickenimprint »

ahofmann wrote: post #35

Just my 2 cents: I run a tuxedo laptop, that is just a branded clevo device. It isn't as greatly build as a Mac, because nothing is. But my tuxedo works well, nothing broke, or needed any repair. Can recommend. Branded clevo pcs in Germany are used by Schenker, Nexoc, Wortmann, One Computer, MIFCON and more. Internationally, brands like System76, BTO and XNB are using clevo. I've never heard of BTO and XNB, so this m…

Linux compatibility isn't what it used to be.

AMD and Intel support Linux as a first class platform, and everything CPU and GPU from them will work perfectly. Nvidia is on track to match them, albeit on proprietary drivers, if you use the most recent hardware, kernel and drivers. Qualcomm is still basically unusable and so is Apple.

The vast majority of popular and modern wireless chipsets have at least basic drivers in tree. Webcams, touchscreens and pens mostly work. Fingerprint sensors mostly don't work.

System76 has its place. You'll avoid hassle and you'll get the full feature set. You won't have to deal with bizarre edge cases around sleep, multi-gpu, or power saving features.

But truth be told, if you buy a new x86 laptop from any major brand, chances are that everything essential will work instantly or with a bit of tinkering under Linux.

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

#135

Post by baiwl »

freehorse wrote: post #131
speedgoose wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The laptops waking up in the backpack until the thermal security triggers or the battery is empty is a Microsoft Windows thing.

Ime turning windows laptops off is really hard. You tell them to shutdown and they restart for some reason, and it does not seem to be update related because it happens with laptops completely offline too. So you may think that you have shut them down, close the lid, but actually they reboot and when you get to them again they are dead. This happens with some dell laptops but I do not think it is just them. Not all t…

To shut Windows down, press Win+R to see the Run dialog and then type shutdown /s /t 0

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

#136

Post by littlecranky67 »

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.

This. Biggest benefit of USB-C on Laptops to me is not the charger, but the docking station. I have used my 2019 Dell USB-C Dockingstation on various Macbooks AND my MacMini. Plus, modern Monitors are basically USB-C Hubs/Docks and universally compatible with each Laptop. I remember 10-15 years ago when every manufacturer had its own, proprietary dock solution.

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

#137

Post by littlecranky67 »

Telaneo wrote: post #103

I'd still be on my 2012 Macbook Pro if it weren't for the fact that I seemingly can't get a battery that lasts for it. I got a 2021 Macbook M1 Pro to replace it, and I can't imagine needing to replace it for at least another 5 years given what I usually need my laptop to do (any really heavy compute gets off-loaded to a desktop). My only worry would be the same as my previous machine: the battery. I'll give Framework…

What OS do you use on it? I have a 2014 Macbook Pro and macOS with CoreLegacyPatcher on Ventura was almost unusably slow. Older versions had issues with Safari, no modern Browser support (I found some chromium fork patched for older macOS versions but slow and no full feature support) etc. I installed Linux on it recently and it works better, use it as a secondary machine with some home-network services but would never consider it usable as a working machine.

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

#138

Post by littlecranky67 »

williamDafoe wrote: post #64
AnnaPali wrote: post #52

Top of the line laptops from e.g. 2019 are very cheap and still competitive with current hardware for realistic use. You can find one with an i9 and 64gb of ram for $5-600, you'll just need to plug it in after a few hours!

Don't go ANYWHERE near a macbook pro 2019. Piece of garbage. I had to set mine to 100% fans and it went from 100% to 0% battery in 70 mins when I was streaming a meeting PLUGGED IN WITH A 90W CHARGER! The next time I buy Intel is NEVER.

The 2019 MBP series had serious thermal issues, and a high failure rate. They became insanely hot. Mine died 3 weeks after falling out of AppleCare - just switched off and never on during usage. A friend with the same model had the same thing happending just a few months after. You hardly see any of those still in use (which might also be because people upgrade to M-Series chips which are way better).

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

#139

Post by UnreachableCode »

yownie wrote: post #93

yes. next question.

Hey bro, I saw your reply to my comment elsewhere asking if Revolut works on GrapheneOS. But I can't reply to it because the thread is locked.

Anyway, it does. https://privsec.dev/posts/android/banking-applications-compa...

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

#140

Post by ahartmetz »

adastra22 wrote: post #130
ahartmetz wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It dents and it's heavier than magnesium or fiber-reinforced plastic. You might have heard of some related changes in airplane technology.

Magnesium has a tendency to combust, and corrodes rapidly in the presence of water. Plastic feels like plastic, and doesn't conduct heat very well.

I'm personally not a fan of putting my hands on something with good heat conduction! It's nice for passively cooled cases (that you don't put on your lap), but that has pretty severe TDP limitations.
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