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How and Why I Stopped Buying New Laptops (2020)

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Re: How and Why I Stopped Buying New Laptops (2020)

#101

Post by em-bee »

bhouston wrote: post #79
em-bee wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

cloud syncing a large disk (which today is at least 1TB or 2TB, but will grow in the future) won't ever be suitable.

Why not? Here in Canada true fiber to the home is available in most urban centers at up to 8Gbps speeds. You only make small changes usually if you are a normal person so not problems at all. The only issue is cloud costs which are high for 2tbs in the cloud at this point.

ok, true. let me rephase that. there will always be places and situations for which cloud syncing is not a feasible solution. as a frequent traveler and digital nomad i am quite frequently in such places and situations and therefore i prefer to maximize my recovery options by not relying on cloud sync. (i do have a self-hosted cloud backup, but it is not a replacement for other recovery options)

Re: How and Why I Stopped Buying New Laptops (2020)

#102

Post by em-bee »

cowboylowrez wrote: post #86
em-bee wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

a cloud backup for a 2TB disk is too expensive or to slow. an offline backup is not automatic and only current the moment i run it. a combination of both is more complex. an always synced full backup is difficult to achieve. it is possible when the only places where i use the laptop are at home and at the office. as soon as i add traveling and using expensive mobile data my backup becomes unreliable or to expensive t…

if you have a backup but can't rely on it, is it really a backup?

it's reliable in the sense that the data is there and won't get lost, and i can always access it to download bits and pieces if i need them. it is not reliable in the sense that i could always do a full restore from it without cost. having an unsoldered SSD reduces (but doesn't eliminate) the risk of me having to do a costly full restore from that backup.

Re: How and Why I Stopped Buying New Laptops (2020)

#103

Post by em-bee »

nuancebydefault wrote: post #70
scarface_74 wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In 2025, I expect my laptop to be lightweight, fast, 14 hours+ on a single charge, silent and run cool. I care more about all of those features than the replaceable parts.

Do you work 14 hours in a row?

not the same person, but i don't. however my laptop for sure does because even when i am not working it is used as a communication and entertainment device. and when traveling those hours go by fast. unfortunately battery run time is one of the issues that linux hasn't cracked yet. i wish i could get 14 hours of battery time out of my laptop

Re: How and Why I Stopped Buying New Laptops (2020)

#104

Post by em-bee »

vouaobrasil wrote: post #55

I gladly buy lots of used things but laptops aren't one of them. The reason is that, at least from my experience, laptops only last between 5-8 years before they become more trouble than they are worth (either they become too slow as was the case with my previous Macbook or they stop working for some unknown reason, or the battery life sucks). I've also noticed laptops get beat up easily -- the vast majority of used…

it depends on how you use them. for my kids which are not as careful, i get more mileage out of a used laptop, because they would break a new one just as fast as a used one. (current x270 which i got used for $150 lasted about 2 years. a new one would have cost 2-3 times as much but in the hands of the kids it would not have lasted 2-3 times as long)

buying used hardware is also hit or miss. i got another used laptop for $250 which is decent, but it has some strange hardware issues that i can't pinpoint. unfortunately the choices for used hardware are limited and i could not find any comparable devices in the same price range. (any alternatives would have cost more than twice as much)

so generally, when i can afford it, i do the same as you. get something new with a good price/performance ratio and use that as long as i can.

Re: How and Why I Stopped Buying New Laptops (2020)

#105

Post by em-bee »

scarface_74 wrote: post #98
em-bee wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

backblaze doesn't support linux or any kind of unix at all, which makes that a non-starter. and i could not find which countries they can ship to, but i am pretty sure they won't be able to ship to china without me having to pay import tax on the disk and cost of shipping back. and i wonder if they can even ship worldwide. i also have to install their proprietary software on my computer which means that despite encry…

That’s fair. But soldered versus non-soldered is a secondary issue to you not having up to date backups somewhere that are easily accessible. But even then there are backup solutions for Linux that backup to S3 and S3 Glacier is cheap. I have 3TB and my AWS bill is $4 a month. And “RAID is not backup”

i do have a cloud backup. as i said the cost of that itself is not the issue. the cost of accessing it is. the raid protects against the "dead SSD" failure mode.

Re: How and Why I Stopped Buying New Laptops (2020)

#106

Post by em-bee »

josephcsible wrote: post #61

I'd have four concerns with such an old laptop: 1. Lack of USB-C ports means I wouldn't be able to safely use any USB-C only peripherals (since the USB spec explicitly bans adapters in that direction) 2. Lack of security updates for firmware, microcode, etc. 3. Hard to find replacement batteries from reputable sources 4. The CPU and memory requirements of software are steadily increasing

1. which devices are those? USB-C is a type of plug. it does not define the USB standard that runs on it. so if i understand that correctly, there can't be a USB-C only device. USB4 is defined to run only on USB-C, but it is also defined to be backwards compatible to at least USB3.x. the spec forbids certain legacy adapters, but only because it would allow for to many invalid and potentially unsafe cable connections. the same connection can be made to work with a direct cable that allows the connection of a USB-C device to a legacy port. and even a 10 year old laptop should at least support USB3.0.

2+3. depends on the specific devices.

4. 10-15 years ago maybe that was still true. but the power and speed of devices no longer increases at the same rate. it has slowed down to the point that a 6 year old laptop performs just as well for my daily tasks as a 2 year old one and i run the same OS on both. the difference is only noticeable for modern games and some CPU/GPU intensive tasks. i also remember the same experience with even older laptops (i don't have one here right now, so i can't compare directly). what made the older laptops slower/less powerful was less RAM.

Re: How and Why I Stopped Buying New Laptops (2020)

#107

Post by josephcsible »

em-bee wrote: post #106
josephcsible wrote: post #61

I'd have four concerns with such an old laptop: 1. Lack of USB-C ports means I wouldn't be able to safely use any USB-C only peripherals (since the USB spec explicitly bans adapters in that direction) 2. Lack of security updates for firmware, microcode, etc. 3. Hard to find replacement batteries from reputable sources 4. The CPU and memory requirements of software are steadily increasing

1. which devices are those? USB-C is a type of plug. it does not define the USB standard that runs on it. so if i understand that correctly, there can't be a USB-C only device. USB4 is defined to run only on USB-C, but it is also defined to be backwards compatible to at least USB3.x. the spec forbids certain legacy adapters, but only because it would allow for to many invalid and potentially unsafe cable connections.…

For point 1, consider a flash drive with only a USB-C connector on it. The kind of adapter that you'd need to plug that into a laptop with only USB-A ports is exactly the kind that the spec forbids.

Re: How and Why I Stopped Buying New Laptops (2020)

#108

Post by WhyNotHugo »

josephcsible wrote: post #107
em-bee wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. which devices are those? USB-C is a type of plug. it does not define the USB standard that runs on it. so if i understand that correctly, there can't be a USB-C only device. USB4 is defined to run only on USB-C, but it is also defined to be backwards compatible to at least USB3.x. the spec forbids certain legacy adapters, but only because it would allow for to many invalid and potentially unsafe cable connections.…

For point 1, consider a flash drive with only a USB-C connector on it. The kind of adapter that you'd need to plug that into a laptop with only USB-A ports is exactly the kind that the spec forbids.

I have a couple of these adapters (that came with different products), and have never had issues. Is there some _practical_ issue with them?

Re: How and Why I Stopped Buying New Laptops (2020)

#109

Post by jjkaczor »

Jolter wrote: post #91
jjkaczor wrote: post #44

... well... this is all good except... if you use Windows and want to upgrade to Windows 11... am currently fighting with a Lenovo W530 from 2013 - and nothing is working "well", even the recent 2024 Win 11 IoT Enterprise release build that can make TPM/etc optional via a Rufus-created USB stick. And then testing newer Linux distros is also not working with the nVidia K2000M discrete graphics system. Am thinking it m…

I can’t tell if you read the article. The idea is to not use resource demanding operating systems but stay on some lightweight alternative like a particular Linux distribution. So how to get Windows 11 running seems entirely off topic.

Yes, I read the article - just venting - I would love to get a Linux or Haiku OS installed on this machine that is able to use the nVidia Quadro K2000M hardware and drive an external monitor configuration - but so far, nothing has worked. This is an older machine sure - and should run just about anything well - i7, 32gb RAM, 1TB SSD. Seems a shame to just junk it because nothing can handle the discrete graphics card except Windows.

Re: How and Why I Stopped Buying New Laptops (2020)

#110

Post by josephcsible »

WhyNotHugo wrote: post #108
josephcsible wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For point 1, consider a flash drive with only a USB-C connector on it. The kind of adapter that you'd need to plug that into a laptop with only USB-A ports is exactly the kind that the spec forbids.

I have a couple of these adapters (that came with different products), and have never had issues. Is there some _practical_ issue with them?

My understanding is that they're "fine" if you only use them "correctly", and that the reason they're forbidden is that it's so easy to plug things into them in ways that will create a short circuit (e.g., plugging the C end of an A-to-C cable into one).
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