If you are a developer compare the screens - my T420 is pain for the eyes and the screen ratio sucks for coding.
My next PC is going to be MBP or MS Surface Pro. No more crappy screens.
Ask HN: MBP or Thinkpad
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Re: Ask HN: MBP or Thinkpad
#12Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is no Apple premium; that is a tired myth. You simply get a lot more, and you do pay for it. The MagSafe connector alone will save your laptop... and you don't need to hack it yourself with a Dremel and epoxy. Battery design and power management, unibody strength, big touchpad, beautiful sound system, Thunderbolt, resale value, hand-me-down value... when you factor everything in, MBP is a no brainer and it's th…
It isn't a myth, it has been well documented that buying upgrades from the Apple site is significantly more expensive than elsewhere.
only idiots buy upgrades from the apple store (unless its soldered on RAM like in the new mbp's).
Re: Ask HN: MBP or Thinkpad
#13I was also looking for a new laptop, and bought my first mac a week ago. It's a bit more expensive (bought apple care too), but I hope it'll be worth the price.
I picked the MBP because of the screen / resolution, batterij, and the hinges. Wobbly screens make me go bananas.
A comparable laptop makes you choose between either screen or battery, for about the same price.
Re: Ask HN: MBP or Thinkpad
#14Thinkpad every day of the week, MPBs are horrible to do hardware maintenance on. You can also get static electric shocks from the chassi and they don't have a DVI/HDMI connection
They aren't particularly easy to take apart, but with todays hardware packing I'm not sure any of them are. But the MBP Retina I'm typing this on certainly has an HDMI connection.
Re: Ask HN: MBP or Thinkpad
#15Sounds like you really like the new ThinkPads. Linux will run on either machine. One thing to consider (countering my point elsewhere in the thread) while I don't believe Apple products are more expensive when all the features are considered, Apple sure does overcharge for one thing, and that is memory. So, depending on how much memory you want to get, that could make your decision. Linux runs fine in VMs for me on t…
And because you can't upgrade the RAM, get the biggest amount possible.
Re: Ask HN: MBP or Thinkpad
#16I attempted to install Ubuntu 14.10 x86_64 on the new X1 Carbon this weekend, and so far it has not worked straight out of the box. I am guessing it has to do with the i5500 gfx adapter, but it's all a guess until i figured out what went wrong.
For running Linux on laptops it's usually best to get last year's model. Then the software support will be there.
I had to compile my own kernels for over a year, before Ubuntu supported my hardware out of the box.
Re: Ask HN: MBP or Thinkpad
#17If you are a developer compare the screens - my T420 is pain for the eyes and the screen ratio sucks for coding. My next PC is going to be MBP or MS Surface Pro. No more crappy screens.
Screen, keyboard and touchpad are super important. It's what you use most in a laptop after all.
Lenovo offers different screens for the same models. Be careful to pick the better one.
Re: Ask HN: MBP or Thinkpad
#18Thinkpad every day of the week, MPBs are horrible to do hardware maintenance on. You can also get static electric shocks from the chassi and they don't have a DVI/HDMI connection
Funny that you mention it, I've got static shocks from my MBP 2,1 quite often. Hated it.
Switched to a ThinkPad and I'm happy working with a quad core T530 now. I've also tried the T540p, but I didn't like the trackpad at all. Also, I found the FHD screen from my T530 to be of better quality than the FHD screen of the T540p.
Personally, I will never buy a Mac again.
Re: Ask HN: MBP or Thinkpad
#19Thinkpad every day of the week, MPBs are horrible to do hardware maintenance on. You can also get static electric shocks from the chassi and they don't have a DVI/HDMI connection
They aren't particularly easy to take apart, but with todays hardware packing I'm not sure any of them are. But the MBP Retina I'm typing this on certainly has an HDMI connection.
I haven't opened the "new" Thinkpads(with chiclet keyboard) , but the T200-series etc are very easy to maintain. For example, the memory slot is just one screw in a special hatch
And guess i was wrong about the HDMI, I've only had MPBs with DisplayPort
Re: Ask HN: MBP or Thinkpad
#20Thinkpad every day of the week, MPBs are horrible to do hardware maintenance on. You can also get static electric shocks from the chassi and they don't have a DVI/HDMI connection
Funny that you mention it, I've got static shocks from my MBP 2,1 quite often. Hated it. Switched to a ThinkPad and I'm happy working with a quad core T530 now. I've also tried the T540p, but I didn't like the trackpad at all. Also, I found the FHD screen from my T530 to be of better quality than the FHD screen of the T540p. Personally, I will never buy a Mac again.
I have a Lenovo T530 from work and personally owned 2013 Retina MacBook Pro. The things I don't like about the T530 are:
* I miss keystrokes on the keyboard when typing and the quality is low. The laptop, cushioned in a bag, rolled from a chair onto the floor and the H key broke off: I superglued it back into place.
* With my glasses prescription, the screen is difficult to read (chromatic abberation). A co-worker with the same model laptop experiences the same problem, and my manager also dislikes the screen on her T530.
* Unlike ASUS and MSI laptops, there's no default keyboard option to disable the trackpad. I'll regularly and unexpectedly move the cursor or pointer when typing.
Otherwise, the hardware was well supported in Linux (RHEL 6.5, company standard, with NVidia drivers) and even with an older Linux, the battery life is reasonable. For software development I use an external 26" monitor and a mechnical keyboard to get around my gripes. I much prefer the keyboard and screen on my three year-old T420s, and do much of my daily non-development work and all my personal programming on the MacBook.