321–330 of 520 posts
Any experiences with dual booting in to Linux on the Surface Book? I can imagine some things, like detaching not working optimally, but does it work at all?
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Windows Subsystem for Linux has been huge however. I used to have to run Vagrant or something on Windows to build stuff but WSL makes life super easy as a developer on Windows. I'm still one of the handful of people at a 600 person company though that runs Windows. :/
I'd like to second that. I've been using WSL + Docker on Windows for a long time now for web development (linux backend development) and it's been a breeze. Works flawlessly. You can do fun things, like tail logs to a file using linux and simultaneously analyze the file using windows tools.
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Basically you are paying for a better CPU, you get the option of Intel's 8th Gen CPU..... and Nvidia GPU, arguably better then one offered by Apple. I just wish Apple will make their own Metal GPU for Mac. At least then I know the GPU will be best at something Apple designed to do.
> I just wish Apple will make their own Metal GPU for Mac. https://www.engadget.com/2017/09/23/apple-power-vr-imaginati... "The A11 Bionic chip inside Apple's new iPhone 8 series and upcoming iPhone X is the company's first-ever self-designed GPU." I should imagine it's only a matter of time.
What is the main reason behind the 17 hour battery life, mainly in comparison to a MacBook Pro? Does this come mainly from the battery size, power management in the OS or components?
Given that the only battery life number they quote is for video playback (with no specs about the video format, bitrate, resolution, full-screen state, etc), I suspect that number just happens to be extra high when you choose the optimal video in the optimal format and play it full screen (so the OS can stop spending cycles on UI rendering). Note that Apple specifies 10 hours of "iTunes Movie playback" for the 15-inc…
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This is indeed very odd but true. I understand why developers switched and the reason is probably that most development these days is Web development and OSX is the closest to a Unix os with a polished gui. On the other hand I can't understand why creatives switched to windows.
> On the other hand I can't understand why creatives switched to windows. Apple's neglect.
- The laptop lineup only offers Intel graphics or AMD's weakest mobile GPUs. I suspect that Metal has something to do with why they've pretended Nvidia doesn't exist for the past ~5 years.
- The only non-abandoned[2] machine in the desktop lineup is a non-modular all-in-one.
- Apple ceded the creative-pro software market to Adobe. Final Cut, Logic, used to be industry leaders, and they had companion software products that Apple has either neglected or discontinued. Premiere + After Effects is a far more powerful & widely used toolset than Final Cut + Motion, plus Adobe's software also runs on powerful Windows PCs, eliminating Apple's lock-in.
- Pen-input is iPad exclusive. Apple has no desire to bring touch to the Mac, and while I agree that macOS is not designed for fingers, I'm sure artists would like a convertible MacBook Pro that supported the Apple Pencil.
[1] Obviously this is a generalization
[2] For all intents and purposes, the Mac Pro will still be abandoned until they release the promised new one circa 2018. The current Mac Pro and the Mac mini are terrible, ancient PCs that only sell any units because Apple has neglected giving macOS any good hardware to run on in those form factors or price points.
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I was a Linux diehard for years but I'm very happy with my Surface Book. With "Ubuntu on Windows" you can run the usual unix command line tools; if anything it's more comfortable than OSX since you get up-to-date GNU versions rather than older GNU tools.
> if anything it's more comfortable than OSX since you get up-to-date GNU versions rather than older GNU tools. 1. By and large, OSX ships the BSD userland not GNU 2. You can trivially add up-to-date GNU tools to OSX: install homebrew, install whichever GNU stuff you want
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Tried the XPS15, keyboard was terrible. Went with T470P i7-7700HQ with 2560x1440 screen, literally haven't switch home desktop on since I got it. Works great with fedora as well (except touchpad driver issue that's in the works) everything works great out the box.
That's pretty much the exact T470p config I was thinking of getting. I will probably rarely use the keyboard/trackpad except when travelling (not often) as most days I plan to use an usb mechanical keyboard+mouse. So all I'm really bothered about is whether I get better value for money in terms of CPU and screen with the XPS compared with a thinkpad. Of course the XPS is prettier as well ;) I've read the XPS screen i…
I read the same reviews on the T470P screen even the 2560x1440, I was worried it wouldn't be bright enough but on a night it's too bright so I dial it down to 40% or so, during the day rarely need to go over 80% even with the sun in the window behind me, the anti-reflective coating is good.
The XPS15 had deeper richer colours but the T470P has a damn fine panel and for looking at text I preferred.
FWIW, I went for the 256GB SSD and I wish I'd gone for the 512GB but other than that it's a truly stellar little machine.
Even get good battery life (I went for the 72whr and 6 hours under use is about fair (though that will drop rapidly if you actually hammer the battery, 35W processors on a 72wh battery..).
The i5 variant comes with just 8 GB RAM. Would have considered if they had given an option for 16 GB RAM. Being a developer, 8 GB seems tight these days! 15-inch 16 GB variant comes with i7 but the price is a little too steep (starts from 2500 USD)
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> the pen and tablet experience were poor compared to something like an iPad Pro Of course it would be. How would it be different if it is a Windows Machine and not a mobile device?
Because half of it is actually a tablet with touch functionality. Windows prompts a touch keyboard and has other features, but the experience is really poor generally speaking.