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“This is not the computer for you”

samhenri.gold

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Re: “This is not the computer for you”

#291

Post by genthree »

SoftTalker wrote: post #5

> This computer is for the kid who doesn’t have a margin to optimize. Who can’t wait for the right tool to materialize. Who is going to take what’s available and push it until it breaks and learn something permanent from the breaking. That kid will be much better off with a used laptop and Linux or BSD.

Depends very much on whether the kids' interests leans toward doing computer stuff, or doing stuff with computers.

And they can do the former in a VM anyway. Install Linux, or a BSD, and go. With the bonus that you can experiment fearlessly because you've got snapshots and the worst-case for experimentation still leaves you with an entirely functioning laptop. Or use a cheap VPS, remotely.

Re: “This is not the computer for you”

#292

Post by seabrookmx »

ghoulishly wrote: post #252
saagarjha wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When Chromebooks originally came out, that was not an option. And almost all school-issued computers will not let you do this.

Author of the post here. You nailed it here; I used Chromebook as the example in my post since the one I used in high school was locked down to basically a kiosk. Couldn’t even open dev tools, much less root it. Such a wild departure from the eMacs I used in my elementary school’s library where I could set bonkers `defaults write` commands and customize every aspect of my account. If I got a Chromebook as a personal…

You don't have to root them to do cool shit anymore. They have a full Linux (Debian based) environment you can enable with a single toggle in the settings. Any GUI apps you install via apt get their icons dropped in the system tray and their windows are rendered via Wayland.

Re: “This is not the computer for you”

#293

Post by GuinansEyebrows »

butILoveLife wrote: post #222
hylaride wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look, MacOS has certainly rotted over the past few years, but the primary reason I use it is because it's still a hundred times nicer to use than Windows (which is also regressing for worse reasons - shoving in AI and ads instead of benign neglect). It's still the best desktop UNIX experience, especially since cheap PC laptops (and until very recently expensive ones) almost always have horrible build quality. It's al…

Oh man, you NEED to use Fedora. Fedora is the best OS humanity has ever made. No exaguration. There needs to be the best, and its Fedora. Linux gets a bad reputation because 20-ish years ago Ubuntu sent out free CDs and became the dominant OS. Ubuntu/Mint is part of Debian family, outdated linux. They call outdated Linux 'stable', but its not stable like a table. Its software version frozen. Bugs that are fixed today…

i've made my entire career digging deep into linux - i've been what some people would call a "power user" for about 25 years, and a professional for 15. i spent over a decade distrohopping, tweaking, tinkering and customizing every distro from Corel to Mandrake to Mandriva to Debian to Slackware to Ubuntu to Gentoo to Arch to Void, and everything in between, plus the BSDs. i've been a sysadmin, network admin, devops engineer, yadda yadda yadda.

i have never once successfully installed fedora. probably just hardware stuff, but as often as i've wanted to try it and opensuse, they have never booted post-install for me. on machines i've successfully installed Debian and openBSD. go figure. i know i'm an outlier here. maybe it's just bad luck.

but reading your post, it sounds like a club i don't want to be a part of. linux is linux. distros don't matter. you can get nearly anything to work if you spend enough time on it. GUI OS installers that fail are not worth my time.

Re: “This is not the computer for you”

#294

Post by DerArzt »

Gigachad wrote: post #51
SoftTalker wrote: post #5

> This computer is for the kid who doesn’t have a margin to optimize. Who can’t wait for the right tool to materialize. Who is going to take what’s available and push it until it breaks and learn something permanent from the breaking. That kid will be much better off with a used laptop and Linux or BSD.

Most schools don't let you use chargers due to fire and tripping hazards. The macbooks strength is you can use it on battery for the entire day. Most alternatives fail at this.

They would still be better purchasing a used MacBook as you can find those at similar prices and they (assuming they aren't Intel) will have the long battery life and more.

Re: “This is not the computer for you”

#295

Post by oveja »

This reminds me of learning linux and cli commands because an old netbook with like 512 of ram was struggling with modern guis and web browsers. So I used a minimal i3 installation and interacted mostly with a terminal.

Re: “This is not the computer for you”

#296

Post by delis-thumbs-7e »

> He is going to go through System Settings, panel by panel, and adjust everything he can adjust just to see how he likes it. He is going to make a folder called “Projects” with nothing in it. He is going to download Blender because someone on Reddit said it was free, and then stare at the interface for forty-five minutes. He is going to open GarageBand and make something that is not a song. He is going to take screenshots of fonts he likes and put them in a folder called “cool fonts” and not know why.

”Mrs. Jonson, the result are back. You son has autism.”

Re: “This is not the computer for you”

#297

Post by delis-thumbs-7e »

delis-thumbs-7e wrote: post #296

> He is going to go through System Settings, panel by panel, and adjust everything he can adjust just to see how he likes it. He is going to make a folder called “Projects” with nothing in it. He is going to download Blender because someone on Reddit said it was free, and then stare at the interface for forty-five minutes. He is going to open GarageBand and make something that is not a song. He is going to take scree…

And before I’m lynched, I was that kid too and I agree with the author. It was just funnily written.

Re: “This is not the computer for you”

#298

Post by ferguess_k »

For young people out there, it is better to build a desktop gig instead of a laptop. You can't change much in a laptop, unless it is some legacy laptops, but definitely not a Mac. Parents should help their kids to build a 16GB Linux gig. It's going to be more expensive than $599 nowadays due to the price of everything, but still, it is very expansible, and the kid can earn $$ and decide which parts he wants to upgrade.

BTW a laptop is definitely the only choice if the kid wants mobility, though.

Re: “This is not the computer for you”

#299

Post by rconti »

butILoveLife wrote: post #211
mr_briggs wrote: post #151

> A Chromebook’s ceiling is made of web browser, and the things you run into are not the edges of computing but the edges of a product category designed to save you from yourself. I'm in the same boat as the author; I cut my teeth on a hand-me-down 2005 eMac, then a hand-me-down 2008 Macbook, before finally getting my own 2011 iMac. I think this is overly harsh on Chromebooks given they belong to the cheaper end of t…

> The Macbook Neo is an awesome machine for it's cost/value Uh... if you need to compile for iOS, sure. But outside of that, no its not. You are literally just paying the Apple tax that they deliberately choose.

> You are literally just paying the Apple tax that they deliberately choose

And when I go to the grocery store, I am paying the Safeway tax that they deliberately choose, and when I go to the gas station I am paying the Exxon tax that they deliberately choose, and so on.

Re: “This is not the computer for you”

#300

Post by rconti »

ghoulishly wrote: post #268
m000 wrote: post #182

A key point that TFA misses (probably for the sake of story-telling) is that, unlike the 2006 iMac the author fondly remembers of, MacBook Neo is not a hand-me-down computer. It is not the proverbial gift horse. You are paying fresh $ for it. So, it is only reasonable to have some baseline expectations on redeeming value from it. Also, an important point of the MacBook Neo criticism is that because of its cut-down fe…

ARM macs are too new for us to know how the reuse/hand-me-down/legacy support world will shake out for them. There’ll be signs when the first M1 machines get axed but for now, I have no clue.

Apple wants to give me $250 trade-in for my M1 Air with 16GB, but it seems to be worth $500+ on the open market, so yeah, still above hand-me-down territory. It feels as good as the day I bought it, and literally the only reason I'm considering replacing it is now we have 2/3 laptops with magsafe and I'd like to start distributing those chargers around the house. So tempting to just swap for a used M2 for a couple hundred dollars, but the chore of moving to a new computer is holding me back.
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