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Ask HN: Feasible Alternative to the MacBook Pro?

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Re: Ask HN: Feasible Alternative to the MacBook Pro?

#181

Post by Symbiote »

gigatexal wrote: post #129
mherrmann wrote: post #48

I switched from MBP to a Dell XPS 13 with Ubuntu. I compare the experience to living in a hotel vs. living at home [1]. In a hotel (=on Mac), everything is stylish and cared for, but you have very little freedom to change things. At home (=on Linux), you need to do the dishes yourself but there's no external agenda. It's simply yours. I'm very happy with the switch. Though I'm on (Debian+) Xfce now instead of Ubuntu…

Give me the hotel then because I want to spend my time doing work not having to do laundry or cut the lawn.

Stretching this analogy even further:

With Linux, we have a choice of over 20 different housemaids and lawn-cutting robots, though choosing between them is difficult at first.

Most lawn robots can also sweep patios or shovel snow, so if you move to a different climate you can use the same tools.

Re: Ask HN: Feasible Alternative to the MacBook Pro?

#182

Post by dboreham »

mduerksen wrote: post #168

Any serious contender should have an answer to the MBPs extraordinary touchpad. It is key to working without a mouse, and therefore being truly mobile and comfortable at the same time. So please post at least some information for this aspect, which is one of the things the OP explicitly listed. Some examples: - Would you be able to do some solid Photoshop/Sketch/Gimp/Inkscape/Blender work with the touchpad/knob of yo…

I find that a touchscreen (which most non-Apple laptops have) compensates to some degree for the inferior touchpad.

Re: Ask HN: Feasible Alternative to the MacBook Pro?

#183

Post by saagarjha »

SebastianKra wrote: post #160
mherrmann wrote: post #48

I switched from MBP to a Dell XPS 13 with Ubuntu. I compare the experience to living in a hotel vs. living at home [1]. In a hotel (=on Mac), everything is stylish and cared for, but you have very little freedom to change things. At home (=on Linux), you need to do the dishes yourself but there's no external agenda. It's simply yours. I'm very happy with the switch. Though I'm on (Debian+) Xfce now instead of Ubuntu…

I'd rather compare it to living in a hotel vs flat-sharing. You can customize your room (your Window Manager, Terminal, etc...) but when you try to make yourself at home in the bathroom or kitchen (use and/or customize common applications), you run into issues. [1] Since everyone has a different preferences, you have to make compromises. On Mac, all apps follow similar guidelines. And the end result are beautiful, po…

> On Mac, all apps follow similar guidelines.

The good ones, at least.

Re: Ask HN: Feasible Alternative to the MacBook Pro?

#184

Post by bluedino »

Tharkun wrote: post #147
odiroot wrote: post #36

I would recommend Thinkpad T-series even for the keyboard and touchpad only. It's much heavier though, but at that much more repairable and sturdier.

Have you used a recent model? The T490/T590 is pretty awful. They keyboard has been getting worse with each new release. The battery is now integrated. Not enough USB ports. And to top it off, there's no "p" model, which means a brand new T490 is hardly any faster than my three year old T460p. But hey, they're thinner now, which I'm sure makes some marketeer somewhere very happy for reasons I'll never understand. Edi…

T480 is a quad and will destroy a T460

Re: Ask HN: Feasible Alternative to the MacBook Pro?

#185

Post by kgarten »

just switched to a Matebook Pro X with Arch Linux and could not be happier. Slick, long battery life (around 10 hours with browser and neovim + latex for writing). 3:2 screen perfect for writing everything working (except of the finger print reader).

The webcam is at a strange place, yet you can be sure it is off and not recording you, I just put the laptop on a book and it looks fine for telcos.

Dell and Lenovo are a no go for me.

Compared to Dell/Lenovo, Huawei didn't put spyware on their computers yet :)

If you want a decent linux laptop, I also use a Pruism Librem 15 ... Great, the best if you are looking for a secure machine. It's my private one. Huawei for work.

Re: Ask HN: Feasible Alternative to the MacBook Pro?

#186

Post by dotancohen »

mherrmann wrote: post #48

I switched from MBP to a Dell XPS 13 with Ubuntu. I compare the experience to living in a hotel vs. living at home [1]. In a hotel (=on Mac), everything is stylish and cared for, but you have very little freedom to change things. At home (=on Linux), you need to do the dishes yourself but there's no external agenda. It's simply yours. I'm very happy with the switch. Though I'm on (Debian+) Xfce now instead of Ubuntu…

> I compare the experience to living in a hotel vs. living at home

This is very apt. If we've all grown out of our parents' basements when we left /., then let me share my own analogy.

When SSHing into different servers I used to bring my .vimrc and .bashrc along with me, because how could you live without them? Likewise for switching computers, you bring along your config files. When a new job required me to be at lots of different computers, and SSH into lots of different servers, I also made a conscious effort to reduce my dependency on customization. That's when I developed my significantOther vs girlInEveryPort modes of operation.

In significantOther mode of operation, I invest the time to customize the environment so that it is perfect for _me_. This is like looking for a woman to marry. It takes time, and the first woman (or config setting) has no more chance of being the best as does the twentyith. We invest much time finding on what we _can_ compromise, and on when we cannot.

In girlInEveryPort mode of operation, I have little problem using vanilla VIM and standard Bash. I might stumble a bit and touch her in ways she doesn't like, but overall we get the job done and nothing is broken afterwards.

The perfect balance for me was to discover that I could have both modes of operation.

Re: Ask HN: Feasible Alternative to the MacBook Pro?

#187

Post by jstsch »

robin_reala wrote: post #24

Rather than suggesting a different manufacturer, I’d suggest getting a complete machine swap under whatever lemon law is applicable in your location. Obviously 3 repairs in 10 months is unacceptable, but Apple’s machines – even including the keyboard faults – aren’t generally that unreliable. If it is the keyboard then it’s 4 years, not 3 ( https://support.apple.com/keyboard-service-program-for-mac-n... ).

I picked up a maxed out 2016 MPB right when it came out, including 2 LG 5K displays. I suffered random total system crashes with those external displays connected.

After going through three repair cycles Apple replaced mine with a brand new (faster) 2018 model, I didn't even have to ask for it. It was a bit of a drag to backup/restore the machine a bunch of times but Apple's service was top notch.

Re: Ask HN: Feasible Alternative to the MacBook Pro?

#188

Post by saagarjha »

ypcx wrote: post #11

First, bad apples do happen in both Mac and Windows worlds. I've worked primarily on Macbooks over the last 10 years (while Windows on laptop was still in diapers) and they never failed on me. Now that Windows 10 Pro is getting really good, and the Macs are getting obliterated by horrid design decisions, I see myself switching to Windows. I personally prefer Windows laptops with UHD/QHD screens because I can put much…

Macs are 16:10.

Re: Ask HN: Feasible Alternative to the MacBook Pro?

#189

Post by dotancohen »

Symbiote wrote: post #181
gigatexal wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Give me the hotel then because I want to spend my time doing work not having to do laundry or cut the lawn.

Stretching this analogy even further: With Linux, we have a choice of over 20 different housemaids and lawn-cutting robots, though choosing between them is difficult at first. Most lawn robots can also sweep patios or shovel snow, so if you move to a different climate you can use the same tools.

  > Most lawn robots can also sweep patios or shovel
  > snow, so if you move to a different climate you
  > can use the same tools.
I thought that the UNIX was was to one job, well.

Re: Ask HN: Feasible Alternative to the MacBook Pro?

#190

Post by kgarten »

morphar wrote: post #19

I am seriously considering Purism Librem 13 ( https://puri.sm/products/librem-13/ ) as a replacement for my MBP. I haven't had any hands on experience with it though, so if anybody have tried it, I would love to hear about your experience. I like the privacy first approach and I think it is becoming more and more essential to have this kind of alternative.

I'm using the 15" as I'm a sucker for 4K screens. Very happy with it.
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