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Bikeshedding, or why I want to build a laptop

geohot.github.io

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Re: Bikeshedding, or why I want to build a laptop

#61

Post by miningape »

chungy wrote: post #53
miningape wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple / macbooks seem to be doing fine

The blog is premised on the idea that Apple and MacBook are not doing fine.

You missed my point, the original comment is stating that the market for such a device doesn't exist because developers are too finicky and customisation focussed.

As a counter example - look at macbooks which are about as un-customisable as they come, but a large portion of developers use them. Meaning the market exists even if it's currently dominated by Apple (which as you/the post points out is slipping)

Re: Bikeshedding, or why I want to build a laptop

#62

Post by mrpippy »

adalacelove wrote: post #16
mschuster91 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Just run Linux in a VM on macOS. What exactly is Apple not permitting you to do? High performance GPU for VMs, for starters. And the amount of crap that even a bare-bones macOS needs to load (and that consequently hog resources like RAM and CPU time) is a goddamn joke.

You cannot uninstall Apple Music. That alone is alienating.

IMO, the benefits of an immutable OS install outweigh being able to uninstall/remove particular apps.

Re: Bikeshedding, or why I want to build a laptop

#63

Post by Octoth0rpe »

bloppe wrote: post #45

I agree about some criticisms of the framework. I think they could do away with the plug modules and just go all in on usb-c. I don't mind the occasional dongle for HDMI. I also would prefer a thinner screen bezel, even if that means it's not swappable either. But having easy access to internal hardware for upgrades is pretty huge. Rather than blowing 1-2k on a new machine every few years, it's just $200-500 for more…

> I think they could do away with the plug modules and just go all in on usb-c. I don't mind the occasional dongle for HDMI.

Strong agree. After all, their plug modules are really just dongles that are integrated into the body, which makes them worse IMO. More expensive, model-specific, etc.

Re: Bikeshedding, or why I want to build a laptop

#64

Post by sapphire_tomb »

tambourine_man wrote: post #58
MarsIronPI wrote: post #20

All I want is a thinner Thinkpad X220 but with upped specs and newer ports. Framework-style upgradable motherboard would be nice but optional. The X220 already has a perfect keyboard, a mousing system that doesn't suck (sorry, I've never been happy with a trackpad: they feel too imprecise), a beautiful form factor for a laptop (if I want a laptop, I want it to be 12-14in for easiest portability), it's practically ind…

> I've never been happy with a trackpad: they feel too imprecise Everything non-Apple is. Apple's trackpad are great and have been for decades. I’ve done professional image editing on the go even with the tiny by today’s standards PowerBook G4s trackpads. The real tragedy of our industry is that Apple got the basics right a few decades ago but seems determined to make their OS worse for pro user with every release. Y…

I see this comment about how awesome Apple Trackpads are all the time here, and just assumed I was missing out because I'd never used a MacBook. But I got given a MacBook Pro recently for work, and I'm super underwhelmed. The trackpad on it is no better or worse than any other trackpad I've used.

Re: Bikeshedding, or why I want to build a laptop

#66

Post by linguae »

jedbrooke wrote: post #43

> Consumer electronics naming is very simple. Make a good product with a simple name. “iPhone”, “comma”, “Z Fold”. Then every year or two, add one to the number of that product. If it’s a small refresh, you can add a letter after the number. “2 3 3X 4” “4 4s 5 5s 6 …” “2 3 4 5 6 7” Why is this so hard for companies like HP? Oh man I feel this every time there’s a games console launch. I still have no idea what the la…

On the flipside, there were the days of the Power Macintosh 6100, 7500, 8500, 9600, and other models. It’s very easy to look up different models using these names, and there was also logic to the naming scheme, but it was confusing for people new to Macs to figure out, and this was back in the 1990s when there were still large amounts of people in the developed world who never owned a personal computer.

Once Steve Jobs returned, he replaced the product numbering scheme with a quadrant: consumer desktop (iMac), consumer laptop (iBook), high-end desktop (Power Mac), and high-end laptop (PowerBook). The high-end models had a suffix (G3, G4, G5), but it got confusing with all the variants (e.g., Wallsteeet vs Lombard vs Pismo PowerBook G3, various revisions of Titanium and Aluminum PowerBook G4, etc.)

Re: Bikeshedding, or why I want to build a laptop

#67

Post by synalx »

Octoth0rpe wrote: post #63
bloppe wrote: post #45

I agree about some criticisms of the framework. I think they could do away with the plug modules and just go all in on usb-c. I don't mind the occasional dongle for HDMI. I also would prefer a thinner screen bezel, even if that means it's not swappable either. But having easy access to internal hardware for upgrades is pretty huge. Rather than blowing 1-2k on a new machine every few years, it's just $200-500 for more…

> I think they could do away with the plug modules and just go all in on usb-c. I don't mind the occasional dongle for HDMI. Strong agree. After all, their plug modules are really just dongles that are integrated into the body, which makes them worse IMO. More expensive, model-specific, etc.

And a major consumer of space, because they have to accommodate bigger ports even if they're only doing USB-C pass-through.

Re: Bikeshedding, or why I want to build a laptop

#68

Post by mappu »

forgetfulness wrote: post #14
jph wrote: post #5

Do you know about Framework? https://frame.work/

The author wants to buy a whole new computer every year or two max, instead of upgrading components That’s an impressive, so to speak, level of consumerism, reminds me of a self-professed minimalist that made the rounds here years ago, he practiced detachment from worldly possessions by throwing away his clothes after use and buying new ones, instead of washing them

I remember that story. I want to say it was the Soylent drink founder, but Google is steering me astray. Who was it?

Re: Bikeshedding, or why I want to build a laptop

#69

Post by linguae »

barfoure wrote: post #65

George is probably too young to remember when we thought OS X was hot shit because it was UNIX compliant. That meant a lot back then. However over the years they dropped the ball big time. Arch may be the new hotness but BSD was the once (and hopefully future) king.

Having an iBook or a PowerBook with Mac OS X was a big deal at a time when driver support for Linux was less commonplace than it is today. Even today there are driver issues with Linux on some laptops.

Part of the reason I bought a Core Duo MacBook the summer after my freshman year of college was because Apple was the only vendor I knew where I could purchase a fully-supported Unix laptop. It could also run Microsoft Office without having to dual-boot with Windows, though ironically I ended up just using NeoOffice (a Mac fork of OpenOffice), the Apple iWork suite, and LaTeX during my college years.

Re: Bikeshedding, or why I want to build a laptop

#70

Post by spankibalt »

MarsIronPI wrote: post #20

All I want is a thinner Thinkpad X220 but with upped specs and newer ports. Framework-style upgradable motherboard would be nice but optional. The X220 already has a perfect keyboard, a mousing system that doesn't suck (sorry, I've never been happy with a trackpad: they feel too imprecise), a beautiful form factor for a laptop (if I want a laptop, I want it to be 12-14in for easiest portability), it's practically ind…

> "I've never been happy with a trackpad: they feel too imprecise"

Same for me, Apple included; trackpads are just a huge waste of space to me. Have to say that my hand-eye coordination is way above that of the average computer user, and my workflows involving complementary HIDs always focused on trackballs, digtizer pens, as well as gamepads/game controllers for other, non-game related stuff.

I also don't get why people still chase outdated form factors (laptops) by preference as opposed to market realities...

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