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Apple Sucks Now, Here’s a ThinkPad Buyer’s Guide

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Re: Apple Sucks Now, Here’s a ThinkPad Buyer’s Guide

#201

Post by antirez »

bobbygoodlatte wrote: post #194
antirez wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks, looks like things are better than 7/8 years ago.

They really don't though. Right now I have these apps open on my Mac. I don't want to settle for sub-par alternatives. I want these specific apps: Spotify, Photoshop, Sketch, Illustrator, iMessage, Apple Numbers (I'd settle for Excel), Keynote (far superior to Powerpoint), Hearthstone, Apple Calendar, Apple Mail, Apple Maps, Apple Photos For nearly every one of those apps I'd have to settle for an inferior user exper…

In your case the problem I see is that you are using a lot products from Apple. In my case is just Keynote, otherwise I'm using just the OS itself, and I even have an Android phone, so the switch could be simpler. Unfortunately I think you'll require to do researches for each single software in order to potentially migrate to something else. The good thing is that for almost everything there is some indie solution that is great, but the bad thing is that it's not as simple as just sitting and letting Apple provide good integrated solutions. For iMessage however I would go towards Whatsapp, it's going to happen anyway world-wide IMHO, it's just North America that is using Apple messaging mostly. I totally agree it is significantly simpler to switch to Windows + VM or Windows in dual boot than bare Linux.

Re: Apple Sucks Now, Here’s a ThinkPad Buyer’s Guide

#202

Post by walterbell »

sliken wrote: post #95
callahad wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For others: The XPS 13 "Developer Edition" has been rolled into the mainline XPS 13, and only appears under the "Shop for Work" facet of their online store. For folks in the US, visit http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/xps-13-9360-laptop/pd and filter by Operating System -> Ubuntu

Be warned that all the kaby lake XPS13 have MUCH slower GPUs then the previous edition with the IRIS 540 graphics.

Why, will this affect other models and OEMs?

Re: Apple Sucks Now, Here’s a ThinkPad Buyer’s Guide

#203

Post by Too »

hyperbovine wrote: post #51
ch4ch4 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except that you still don't know which generation of processor the MBP has- I still see tons of deceptive Craigslist ads for MBPs that have a "2.0Ghz" processor, with no indication that it's a model from 2011, which is not at all comparable with a "2.0Ghz" processor from 2015.

What are you doing that you would even notice? Honest question. I can't recall a single instance where my 2012 rMBP slowed down due to its age. I mainly code, open tons of browser tabs, and listen to Spotify. Once I got a laptop with built-in SSD, everything just seemed to run at the speed of thought. That has not changed in four years or three operating systems.

A 2012 CPU is very different from 2016. Power efficiency in particular but also features, like wireless display, do they even have USB 3.0?

Re: Apple Sucks Now, Here’s a ThinkPad Buyer’s Guide

#204

Post by barongrounds »

vetinari wrote: post #99
barongrounds wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Make sure you replace the worthless Broadcom wifi chip with an Intel. It's puzzling that Dell would cheap out on an otherwise excellent machine. At least swapping them out is an easy job.

The Linux version has the Intel wifi by default. Only Windows version has the Broadcom.

Is that still true? I thought they'd changed that. I would have the developer edition myself, but I live in Australia and it's not available here.

The Broadcom chip is equally as bad in either windows or Linux in my experience.

Re: Apple Sucks Now, Here’s a ThinkPad Buyer’s Guide

#205

Post by barongrounds »

gtaylor wrote: post #92
barongrounds wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Make sure you replace the worthless Broadcom wifi chip with an Intel. It's puzzling that Dell would cheap out on an otherwise excellent machine. At least swapping them out is an easy job.

Fwiw, the broadcom chip is supported and works fine with Linux on my XPS 15. No extra work required.

It works, but "works fine" is a long stretch. Takes a long time to connect, particularly after suspend, sometimes several minutes or longer. This is true of both windows and Linux.

Re: Apple Sucks Now, Here’s a ThinkPad Buyer’s Guide

#206

Post by Chyzwar »

slantyyz wrote: post #171
Chyzwar wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2xxx,3xxx,4xxx,5xxx,6xxx,7xxx I do not see a problem with this naming convention. Each generation have code name like Caby Lake etc.. but also corresponding number. You know that if computer have i7 6700 it is roughly 5-15% faster than previous generation i7 5700. Just because Apple tend to hide this detail it is not Intel to blame.

Ok, just grabbing some scores off Passmark [1] Intel Core i5 6440HQ -- 6390 Intel Core i5 7200U -- 4856 Intel Core i7 6650U -- 4857 Intel Core i7 6700HQ -- 8023 By looking at the numbers in the name alone, there's a wide variability in how fast they are. That's pretty confusing to someone who doesn't keep track of CPUs. [1] http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php

Yeah if you compare 2 core vs 4 core you will have these results. You keep comparing different models. Sure there low voltage or mobile versions but core tech is the same in all models from given generation.

Intel Core i5-7200U vs.Intel Core i5-6200U difference is what you will expect - 10-15% in most benchmarks

There is some variation but naming convention is better than Qualcomm where 820 vs 821 do not give you any information. AMD naming conventions is also useless when they release the same chip multiple times. nVidia sometimes release new generation of chips where low end models are in fact previous generation with different names. ARM naming convention is useless as well... Intel compared to rest in industry have in fact good naming conventions.

I am not Intel fanboy, they cut huge premium on theirs chips, still have crappy drivers in Linux and release buggy chips.

Re: Apple Sucks Now, Here’s a ThinkPad Buyer’s Guide

#207

Post by Roritharr »

hyperbovine wrote: post #191
Roritharr wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not everyone is a webdeveloper that has to link some pngs into some text file and MAYBE batch process some images. There's people with heavy workloads who notice. I really don't understand that attitude. "Because I don't need it, nobody would need it."

I do compute heavy stuff but from time to time but it's the sort of thing that would slow down the new chips just as easily as the old. But on average, a laptop from four years ago handles everything I can throw at it easily. If you purchased computer hardware at any point during the 90s or early 2000s, that's amazing.

I sometimes render video. I've seen more than 4 times increase in rendering times Jumping from my 2012 highend XPS to a late 2015 XPS. That means i can render the same video 8 times a day instead of two times. This gives me more correction options and its feasible to just Play around more with Codec settings...

So many people here Talk like Moores law suddenly stopped at all in the early 2010s...

Re: Apple Sucks Now, Here’s a ThinkPad Buyer’s Guide

#208

Post by cm2187 »

marklyon wrote: post #2

In addition to Lenovo, consider the XPS 13 and 15. While Dell's quality has been somewhat inconsistent as they launched the line, they stepped up and took care of the problem I encoutered with my XPS 13 and it's quickly become my favorite laptop ever. Great battery life, super portable, an external battery for long flights and an AMAZING screen. It even supports touch, which I don't use all the time, but find nice to…

And if you want an ethernet port, the lattitude E7470. Just don't bother with the fingerprint reader which is pretty much useless.

Re: Apple Sucks Now, Here’s a ThinkPad Buyer’s Guide

#209

Post by vetinari »

barongrounds wrote: post #204
vetinari wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Linux version has the Intel wifi by default. Only Windows version has the Broadcom.

Is that still true? I thought they'd changed that. I would have the developer edition myself, but I live in Australia and it's not available here. The Broadcom chip is equally as bad in either windows or Linux in my experience.

The latest one (4th gen, late 2016, Kaby Lake) uses Killer Wireless (ath10k) for both Windows and Linux versions.

Under Linux it works, but from what I hear, it's very slow.

Re: Apple Sucks Now, Here’s a ThinkPad Buyer’s Guide

#210

Post by bendbro »

xj9 wrote: post #180
unethical_ban wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The second item isn't a label. Renaming "Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy" to "Book regarding intergalactic travel with british humour" wouldn't be better.

That's a different class of thing. Both cars and computers are built around base models that are differentiated by additional features. You can either tell me what those features are up front or make me look them up.

You spent more time participating in this argument than you would have looking up the specs on a properly named macbook.
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