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A Review of Linux on Surface Pro 4

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Re: A Review of Linux on Surface Pro 4

#221

Post by no_carrier »

akovaski wrote: post #210
philistine wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's my massive pet peeve around PCs that I don't even believe that the Dell XPS 13 has resolved: All those computers charge over USB-C with the full force of the port. This is fine. But the second the battery is completely drained, the port cannot revive that computer. You must use the laptop's crappy barrel plug. Only Apple allows you to use only USB-C as a charger.

huh? The current XPS 13 and many other laptops do not have a barrel plug. My Dell laptop without a barrel plug didn't become bricked when it ran out of battery.

Not only that, but the XPS13 hasn't had a barrel plug for years now... I have no idea where OP got that info from.

Re: A Review of Linux on Surface Pro 4

#222

Post by b3lvedere »

weberer wrote: post #74
jbstack wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMO the advantage of the Surface is that it's one of the only tablets out there which is (a) reasonably priced for what you get, (b) has a x64 processor, and (c) can have Linux installed on it without too much difficulty. So if you want a Linux tablet, the Surface may end up being one of your only viable options.

The Steam Deck is also a great option nowadays. Its a lot bulkier than a tablet, but I personally prefer it having a controller attached. Its biggest advantage is that it comes with Linux out of the box, so you don't have to go through the headache of installing an OS yourself and messing around with drivers.

While i have a LCD Steam Deck and i agree you can do almost anything you want on it, i do not think you should use it for a production environment. The design and supported OS is clearly intended for gaming the way Steam wants you to game on it. This works almost perfect. Couple of minor glitches here and there. But all Steam Deck verified games work perfect. As was intended.

Of course i tinkered with it. Steam doesn't care and gives you lots of options. From installing Windows on the go to a sd card, to emulation software, to a full linux desktop environment. This is almost pure freedom, but it works far from perfect and is also not the intention. It's a superb tinker device. You can almost mod it to anything, overspec it, put it to other uses, etc. It's your call. It is like if Steam says "Hey you do you, go and have fun. We will not officially support it, but if you want to go ahead".

Re: A Review of Linux on Surface Pro 4

#223

Post by b3lvedere »

justinclift wrote: post #66
b3lvedere wrote: post #30

I never liked the Surface series that much. It looks very nice, until you actually start working with them. Then they feel like a weird tablet with slow Windows on it. You can optimize it a little, but not much. Quite expensive as well and sometimes support is horribly slow. I gave my wife an old Lenovo Yoga 2 in 1. That thing works nice using it as a flipped tablet to watch Netflix, but here also the performance isn…

> ... with slow Windows on it. Was yours a 4GB ram model like the article author's?

I really can't remember, but my guess is you are right. Having just 4gb of ram makes Windows 11 quite slow. Just saw a couple of desktops running insanely slow and yup, only 4gb ram.

Re: A Review of Linux on Surface Pro 4

#224

Post by b3lvedere »

dublin wrote: post #212
b3lvedere wrote: post #30

I never liked the Surface series that much. It looks very nice, until you actually start working with them. Then they feel like a weird tablet with slow Windows on it. You can optimize it a little, but not much. Quite expensive as well and sometimes support is horribly slow. I gave my wife an old Lenovo Yoga 2 in 1. That thing works nice using it as a flipped tablet to watch Netflix, but here also the performance isn…

I disagree. I'm typing this on a nice Lenovo Yoga 2-in-1 and though it's quite nice and well-built, it's the worst computer I've bought in decades, because it's stupidly designed: It's got all the compromises of a tablet, but is too heavy and thick to really be used as one. The pen is marginal (and there's no way to carry it with the laptop except in a pocket!), and it gets way hotter than any of my Surfaces have. It…

In all fairness all the missus does on it is watch Netflix :) A cheap ass android tablet could to that of course.

Re: A Review of Linux on Surface Pro 4

#226

Post by codeulike »

keepamovin wrote: post #213
tiahura wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve been all in on surface since the sp3. They had me at 3:2.

What makes 3:2 particularly good?

The original surface pro 1 and 2 were 16:9 aspect ratio, an interesting experiment but from surface pro 3 onwards they went with a much more useful 3:2

Re: A Review of Linux on Surface Pro 4

#227

Post by philistine »

no_carrier wrote: post #221
akovaski wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

huh? The current XPS 13 and many other laptops do not have a barrel plug. My Dell laptop without a barrel plug didn't become bricked when it ran out of battery.

Not only that, but the XPS13 hasn't had a barrel plug for years now... I have no idea where OP got that info from.

Well I looked at spec sheets, and its clearly not from the XPS line. I guess I'm thinking of the cheaper PC laptops, not this top of the line thing.

Re: A Review of Linux on Surface Pro 4

#228

Post by hollandheese »

diffeomorphism wrote: post #81
keepamovin wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also use the surface for everything I need: I like it a lot and I’ve never had a problem with it. I don’t get the hate, nor why the inaccurate idea that you cannot run things on it persists.

A surface pro 9 with average laptop specs (16GB of ram, 1TB of storage), keyboard and pen costs 2000 + 140 + 80 and that is for the "outdated" model. At that price it should be exceptional not just good. That is not "hate" but disapointment.

Or $1099 at Costco + $100 for a 1 TB SSD.

Re: A Review of Linux on Surface Pro 4

#229

Post by Willish42 »

rad_gruchalski wrote: post #194
Willish42 wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Somehow, only Apple has seemed to be able to solve this Herculean problem. Bit of a stab in the dark here but I would assume ARM has at least something to do with this? Tablets, phones, etc. get standby a lot better than x86 systems seem to. My pre-M1 Macbook Pro does not handle standby well but my partner's M2 Macbook Air lasts for forever and handles sleep etc. well. The lower power consumption in "standby mode"…

> My pre-M1 Macbook Pro does not handle standby well but my partner's M2 Macbook Air lasts for forever and handles sleep etc. well. Intel mac on sonoma?

I think so. My company's new refresh policy is "buy your own recycled corp device from us and we'll install all of our tracking software on it so you can use it as a corp device" (the _worst_ kind of BYOD imaginable). So, I'm probably using the initially "free" Intel Macbook until it dies, I do, or my job does.
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