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ThinkPad X1 Carbon

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Re: ThinkPad X1 Carbon

#321

Post by jclardy »

amiga-workbench wrote: post #160
old-gregg wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When we got accepted into YCombinator back in 2011 (Mailgun), I remember PG looking at our Thinkpads running Linux and asking something along the lines of "what's wrong with you?" , with almost [1] all YC teams using Macbooks. I wonder if it's the Valley culture? There is no way a Macbook can compete with a proper Thinkpad [2] for programmer productivity: the keyboard, the UltraNav, the swappable batteries (you can f…

I don't understand it either, the thing that always gets me is most developers setting up vagrant on their Mac just to get a working environment. Cut the bullshit and just run Linux on the bare metal, your program will run faster, and your laptop battery life won't be halved. You will have to claw my x201 out of my cold dead hands, I've not found a single notebook (even the newer ThinkPads) that are as comfortable to…

Yeah, I wouldn't want a crummy windows trackpad taking up space either ;) also all Apple laptops are 16:10, other than the 11" MacBook Air.

Re: ThinkPad X1 Carbon

#322

Post by stuckagain »

xur17 wrote: post #291
stuckagain wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you find that better than tethering to a phone? The last thing I want is a separate mobile account for my laptop.

I have a 4th generation x1 carbon, and having a built in sim card is way nicer. With 2 clicks I can connect to 4g vs getting my phone out, turning tethering on, and then connecting to my hotspot. (Not to mention the extra battery drain from tethering). Project Fi allows you to add extra data sims for free, so the cost is the same as tethering.

Here is why I don't like mobile data peripherals on laptops: it causes the software to firm incorrect beliefs about the link state. With a mobile modem the OS will decide the link has gone down, and sever all connections. With wifi tethering the laptop has no idea what the link state on the phone might be, so it rides out brief loss of signal events.

Small but important difference in my opinion.

Re: ThinkPad X1 Carbon

#323

Post by seanp2k2 »

s_kilk wrote: post #229
tannhaeuser wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I bought my notebook back in february, I went to a shop (cyberport) that had both the (then current) X1 carbon and the XPS 13 on display, which I figured were the only ones acceptable for developers. The X1's keyboard was larger, had more key travel and all, but was subjectively somewhat less comfortable to type on (matter of get using to, I suppose, but still). The X1 had a much worse display, and was overall b…

Any issues with Ubuntu? or did it all just work out of the box? I'm really interested in the XPS 13/15, but don't want to end up with a brick.

XPS 15 9550 here. Got mine on eBay for ~$1k with no SSD. Mine has the i7-6700HQ, 4K IGZO touchscreen, bigger battery (which takes up the 2.5" SSD space, so M.2 SSD only which is fine by me), and GTX 960. Follow http://seb.mamessier.com/dell-xps-15-9550-ubuntu-16-04/ + http://malachisoord.com/2016/09/10/xps-15-9550-ubuntu-setup/ and it's OK. Graphics switching doesn't work flawlessly. Powertop requires some messing about to get the fans to totally stop. Battery life is worse than under Windows. Palm detection on the touchpad is wonky and requires blacklisting a kernel mod to get working properly (the touchpad shows up as two devices). My keyboard had a cable under the spacebar not properly glued down, so I had to get a replacement KBD (~$15 on ebay, parts are readily available). Plextor M8Pe works fine but I had to mess with the BIOS a bit to get the UEFI boot stuff working correctly. Wifi works fine. Bluetooth works as well as it does on Windows, which is to say not that well, but I don't think it's the fault of the hardware or Ubuntu. Configuring X to play nice with the proprietary drivers + power settings + stupid Synaptic touchpad daemon + graphics switching + Arc theme took a few days to get more or less working.

The screen is also terrific and very noticeably better than my work mid-2014 15" rMBP. I wouldn't have optioned the touchscreen if I had a choice, but the 4K IGZO is only available as a touchscreen. I actually use it sometimes, and the hinge is good enough that it doesn't flop around and it feels solid when tapping on it. I only really use that for casual browsing.

My past few personal laptops have been Dell Latitudes since they're typically made from metal and have nicer parts (keyboard, hinges, touchpad, etc) than stuff like the Inspiron series. Parts are cheap and easy to find (e.g. an extra power adapter is $35 shipped in bulk packaging) and they're generally easy to repair, with repair guides, service manuals, and Dell's great service code look-up readily available. If it blows a motherboard or drains a battery tomorrow, I know that I can keep it running for relatively little money. Dell also has great business warranties if you can find a used one with a year or so of warranty left.

TL;DR it's still a huge PITA to get even the latest Ubuntu working right with a top-of-the-line Windows laptop, and even then it's less nice and doesn't "just work" as well as a Mac, but I paid about 1/3rd of what a comparable MBP would cost, and since it's just a personal laptop for my side projects and electronics hobby stuff (microcontrollers, audio measurement, open source, etc) it's totally fine.

Re: ThinkPad X1 Carbon

#324

Post by seanp2k2 »

stuckagain wrote: post #322
xur17 wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a 4th generation x1 carbon, and having a built in sim card is way nicer. With 2 clicks I can connect to 4g vs getting my phone out, turning tethering on, and then connecting to my hotspot. (Not to mention the extra battery drain from tethering). Project Fi allows you to add extra data sims for free, so the cost is the same as tethering.

Here is why I don't like mobile data peripherals on laptops: it causes the software to firm incorrect beliefs about the link state. With a mobile modem the OS will decide the link has gone down, and sever all connections. With wifi tethering the laptop has no idea what the link state on the phone might be, so it rides out brief loss of signal events. Small but important difference in my opinion.

Not saying you're wrong, but I was pleasantly surprised that I only had to plug my iPhone 6S+ in via USB and it just showed up as an additional network connection and "just worked" in Ubuntu 16.10. I've never had an easier tethering experience. FWIW it also did not work at all over Bluetooth (couldn't even see my phone).

Re: ThinkPad X1 Carbon

#325

Post by Orangeair »

zzleeper wrote: post #110
rcarmo wrote: post #54

I was assigned one of these (the 2015 model) as my office laptop, and I hate the thing for five reasons (two dealbreakers on top): - It is huge and unwieldy, like a cafeteria tray (and comes with a sizable power brick) - The touchscreen doesn't have an oleophobic coating, so it becomes a smudgy mess within hours (unlike my iPad, which looks pristine for weeks despite being even more heavily used) - The screen seems d…

Sorry, being an owner of the 2015 version, I don't know what the fuck are you talking about: - The brick is tiny. Sure, not as tiny as the 50 gram mac one, but is very small compared to most laptop bricks. - It's huge? Some peope want more screen real estate, and 14in is good for that. - Battery life is 6+ hours; less if I spend them watching youtube of course - Never had a problem with WiFi The only thing I agree is…

I own this laptop too, and I agree with you. I would add a few complaints of my own, though:

- The computer sometimes seems to turn on after it's closed and asleep in my bag

- The CPU gets pegged constantly, even on the i7 version (admittedly, this may be due to some background processes that were installed by my employer, but sometimes in task manager it just seems like a generic Windows process it taking up all of the CPU, so it's hard to tell).

- The fn key placement is awful. Seriously, I think Apple started this trend, and I wish other manufacturers would stop following it. Years of muscle memory have trained me to put my pinky in the bottom, left-hand corner of the keyboard for ctrl. At least you can change this in the BIOS on this computer, unlike a Mac, but that's still less than ideal.

Re: ThinkPad X1 Carbon

#326

Post by temac »

lobster_johnson wrote: post #134
mactunes wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just recently bought a ASUS ZenBook UX360UAK with a 7th gen i7, 16GB RAM and a 512GB SSD. It's made out of aluminium, has a glass touchpad and costs around half of what a similarly priced MacBook pro costs in Germany. It's my first non-Mac after 20 years. I've owned it for a good week and so far I'm very happy. It has superb battery life, great build quality and is fast. Only 1 minor con: the fan always runs, but i…

I took a look at the ZenBook range. The range looks decent, but the 15'' has a hard drive (!) (no option to choose SSD only, apparently), a numeric keypad (!!) and the highest-performing model is a dual-core i7 with 16GB RAM — so aside from the price, not a good alternative to a MBP. (I find the shiny brushed aluminium look to be embarrassingly tacky, though not quite as bad as the rose gold model.)

Sadly, most recent 15", of all brands, have a numeric keypad. IIRC I only found one non-MBP beside the XPS15 that still have no keypad, but it has way worse issues (very bad heat issues). So you pretty much only have the choice between an MBP and an XPS if you don't want a numeric keypad(and an off centered touchpad, beurk!) on a recent 15"

Re: ThinkPad X1 Carbon

#327

Post by balakk »

tikhonj wrote: post #204
rayiner wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There is no way a Macbook can compete with a proper Thinkpad [2] for programmer productivity: the keyboard, the UltraNav, the swappable batteries (you can fly around the world with a x260 + spare battery), a nice docking station Keyboard and UltraNav are more taste than anything else. I have a T450s for work and a 15" rMBP and vastly prefer the keyboard/touchpad on the latter. It doesn't help that Lenovo's QA is sh…

I have an X1 Yoga (a touchscreen equivalent of the X1 Carbon) with an OLED display and it's absolutely gorgeous . It's much better than the ~1 year old Mac Book Pro I have for work. The colors and contrast are incredible—it can even render a black that doesn't glow at all.

The Carbon is touchscreen, just not a convertible.

Re: ThinkPad X1 Carbon

#328

Post by berberous »

Orangeair wrote: post #325
zzleeper wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, being an owner of the 2015 version, I don't know what the fuck are you talking about: - The brick is tiny. Sure, not as tiny as the 50 gram mac one, but is very small compared to most laptop bricks. - It's huge? Some peope want more screen real estate, and 14in is good for that. - Battery life is 6+ hours; less if I spend them watching youtube of course - Never had a problem with WiFi The only thing I agree is…

I own this laptop too, and I agree with you. I would add a few complaints of my own, though: - The computer sometimes seems to turn on after it's closed and asleep in my bag - The CPU gets pegged constantly, even on the i7 version (admittedly, this may be due to some background processes that were installed by my employer, but sometimes in task manager it just seems like a generic Windows process it taking up all of…

On the CPU being pegged, I have bothered my IT department to death over the same thing on my X1 Carbon. If you download Process Explorer, I would bet it's CSCService that's causing the issue. If so, the culprit is likely the Windows "Offline Files" feature which lets your IT department sync your laptop files with the corporate network every so often. My IT department has failed to fix the issue, though, so yours may be unable to find a fix. For a while, I just messed with the power setting on my laptop in order to never allow the CPU to be fully utilized so that the fan noises were not insufferable.

Re: ThinkPad X1 Carbon

#329

Post by berdario »

joatmon-snoo wrote: post #188
stuaxo wrote: post #2

Now need to wait until Linux is installable on it.

Thinkpads are designed to support both Windows and Linux. Dunno what you're saying.

Thinkpads are not better than other laptops when it comes to Linux support.

Just look at the broadcom wifi chipsets: if you mistakenly buy a thinkpad with one directly from their website (and they obviously don't advertise it as such when configuring the hardware), and then ask their support to get it fixed/changed (even on your own dime) they'll just stonewall you. Once they got money out of your pocket, you mean nothing for them.

The only solution is to buy a supported (intel chipset, for the wifi) FRU aftermarket (and good luck finding it, since Lenovo's support won't tell you that information).

At least, with a Dell or a Chromebook I have a recurse if the hardware they sold me has incompatibilities with the Linux version they shipped it with

Moreover: I won't support a company with such an horrible and embarrassing security track record as lenovo

Re: ThinkPad X1 Carbon

#330

Post by lobster_johnson »

temac wrote: post #326
lobster_johnson wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I took a look at the ZenBook range. The range looks decent, but the 15'' has a hard drive (!) (no option to choose SSD only, apparently), a numeric keypad (!!) and the highest-performing model is a dual-core i7 with 16GB RAM — so aside from the price, not a good alternative to a MBP. (I find the shiny brushed aluminium look to be embarrassingly tacky, though not quite as bad as the rose gold model.)

Sadly, most recent 15", of all brands, have a numeric keypad. IIRC I only found one non-MBP beside the XPS15 that still have no keypad, but it has way worse issues (very bad heat issues). So you pretty much only have the choice between an MBP and an XPS if you don't want a numeric keypad(and an off centered touchpad, beurk!) on a recent 15"

Really? The Asus and some ThinkPad models are the only ones I have seen this in. For example, none of the models offered in this Verge article [1] have a keypad.

The 14'' Razer Blade [2] also has a normal keyboard, and comes close to being a MBP replacement, though it's not perfect.

Apparently a lot of these laptops have issues with heat and noisy fans. Some articles say i7 laptops (the quad-core ones) tend to have low battery life. I'm getting about 4 hours from my MBP 2015 using only Safari, Terminal and VSCode, and I can't imagine these other laptops would be worse than that.

[1] http://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2016/11/2/13497094/be...

[2] http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-systems/razer-blade

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