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We Need a Better PC

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Re: We Need a Better PC

#371

Post by bestham »

voltagex_ wrote: post #41
vardump wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Do you know who OEMed those ports? Looks like Intel: PCI Device ID: 0x9cb1 PCI Revision ID: 0x0003 PCI Vendor ID: 0x8086 > Do you still get the resets in Windows 8.1/10? Just running latest OSX El Capitan.

That's a little scary, I recognised that Vendor ID without looking it up (Intel). That's odd, Intel have been the ones that work the best in my experience (have also tried Renesas and Etron).

Well it's very connected with Intel: 8086 -> 80186 + 80286 -> 80386 -> 80486 you know. USB 3.0 problems could also be mechanical problems with the connector. It's a very high bandwidth signal, about the frequency of standard wifi.

Re: We Need a Better PC

#372

Post by aap_ »

I wholeheartedly agree. I'm still using a T61 because I don't really like any of the models that succeeded it. The new keyboard, the reduced keyboard layout, the huge touchpad (which I disable anyway) with those reduced buttons, small screen resolutions compared to my 1400x1050 (unless you pay for the ultra expensive display panel or get)...it's just not attractive anymore. And as the author said, thinkpads are still among the best laptops :/ I'd be willing to throw some money at lenovo for a laptop I want to have but it looks like they're no longer producing those :(

Re: We Need a Better PC

#373

Post by joshAg »

tomsthumb wrote: post #184
joshAg wrote: post #143

For those who don't know much about non-Apple PCs: The only laptops worth considering are the enterprise lines from dell hp, and lenovo. They are night and day differences from the consumer products, because they are usually entirely separate divisions. Within this, certain lines are better than others. For example, with lenovo I would only really consider a t-series, w-series, or x-series. The p-series looks promisi…

Lenovo T-series and W-series both had trash tier track pads last time I used either of them. Literally un-fucking-usable. For the first time in my life I got a tiny usb mouse to carry with me. My cardiologist wouldn't stop complaining about my blood pressure. Writing haskell should not be easier than right clicking. Maybe they're different now, but if not, I mean, great scott that's terrible. The keyboards were about…

they recently redesigned them to include physical buttons again, if that's what you're referring to in the x40x series.

Re: We Need a Better PC

#374

Post by raverbashing »

XorNot wrote: post #366
natch wrote: post #336

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What bothered me was this paragraph: >Apple has great design Functional design. A lot of haters misunderstand it as style. >but Uh-oh >they sell things that are locked down, both physically and in software. OK, I guess you read that on the Internet. But you should question it. When I bought my first Mac the first thing I did before buying it was call Apple support and check whether I could open it and upgrade the har…

Work issued me a Macbook Pro. The lack of buttons below the trackpad makes right clicking in a controlled manner impossible - I cannot feel nor hover my thumb over the button I want. Accidentally touching the "right" part of the trackpad jumps the mouse cursor over there, or activates some multi-touch gimmick. The power button looks like a regular keyboard ke. The edges of the case are actually too sharp to rest your…

For right click, configure it as 2-finger click, it's easier (at least for me)

Concavity helps but chiclet keyboards are usually better than regular ones for notebooks

> The keyboard has no Home, End, Page Up/Page Down or Delete keys. It is also lacking an Insert (overwrite) key

True, that sucks. But there are combinations of keys to do that. PgUp = Fn+Up direction key. Home/End for single line entries is Up/Down, etc (google it)

You kind of get used to it until you plug a PC keyboard then hate yourself for a couple of days (but it gets back eventually)

Re: We Need a Better PC

#375

Post by catwell »

mt_caret wrote: post #173

What about Vaios? The specs on it are impressive (WQHD, 16GB memory, 20h+ battery life) with a sleek build. Wondering if it goes along well with linux...

I have a Vaio Pro 13, one of the last Sony models. I bought it over two years ago now. It works very well under Linux. Initially there was a small issue with CPU frequency scaling because it was basically the first Haswell ultrabook, and I had to patch and compile my own kernel to work around it, but that was mainlined after one or two months. I got a version without a touchscreen and I consider it one of the best ultrabooks available, even today.

I also have two older Vaios, a P (yes, this one http://www.getitnow.gr/MEDIA/content_CustomProductCatalog/m1...) and an EB (17" laptop), which both work well under Linux.

Reagarding the newer models, I have no feedback yet but I hope they will be fully supported, if not at the time of release then a few months later at most.

Re: We Need a Better PC

#376

Post by gcb0 »

symmetricsaurus wrote: post #244
gcb0 wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the article misses everything. lenovo is not even relevant anymore. Their new keyboards (since 2009!) are complete garbage. his "research" was probably asking some guy at the water cooler "what's a good PC laptop" "lenovo" "thanks"

I don't agree at all with the new Thinkpad keyboards being garbage. The old ones were nice (maybe even nicer than the new ones) but the new ones are still the best laptop keyboards in the market at the moment. The keyboard has no flex or mushiness. The keys have some resistance and a nice feel when depressing them. Finally the keys are slightly curved inwards so that the fingesrs easily find the centers of the keys.…

wow, honestly, you are one of the first people i hear talking good things about the concave-chiclet-keys. Good to know it. for me the keys are already too spaced out and the travel is so low and i would have welcomed flat or convex keys. ideally less space (so larger keys) and convex to prevent mistype.

Re: We Need a Better PC

#377

Post by antocv »

jeswin wrote: post #64
virtualwhys wrote: post #53

OP doesn't mention Dell Precision line? Recently released 5510[1] is looking absolutely awesome, will be picking one up when return to States in April to replace current Precision M4700. 2 X SSD + 32GB memory, high end CPU, decent GPU with 3840 X 2160 screen...will be sorted for next few years. If you NewEgg a couple of 480GB SSDs you're around $2,500 for a beastly machine that weighs under 4 lbs (M4700 is nice but h…

The 5-hr battery life is a huge let down. For most developers, a faster CPU/GPU is just a marginal improvement. But being able to leave home without the charger and not having to look for power sockets is way more compelling.

Even if my laptop would have 24h batter life, I just do not want the mental hurdle of anyway always thinking "will it end now, when was the last time it charged, how much is left". Fuck that.

Bring a cable where ever I go, never think of battery life.

btw, Dell Precision M4800 is a beast, evil mean machine, its the best computer I ever had, macbook pros are trash in comparison. The keys are so soft, so finely grooved, so silent, so evenly spaced, the screen color reproduction is best ever, and its heavy, it doesnt feel like a toy to toss around, it sticks on the desk where I put it. It has 3 mouse buttons, on two places. Who can work on a computer without middle click to paste!? To not speak of the internals, i7, 32GB ram and so on.

Highly recommend Dell Precision M4800.

Re: We Need a Better PC

#378

Post by gcb0 »

PhasmaFelis wrote: post #254
gcb0 wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the article misses everything. lenovo is not even relevant anymore. Their new keyboards (since 2009!) are complete garbage. his "research" was probably asking some guy at the water cooler "what's a good PC laptop" "lenovo" "thanks"

Did you somehow just read the paragraph where he was disappointed with Lenovo, and miss the entire rest of the blog post where he was also disappointed with a bunch of other manufacturers?

he barelly mention asus, toshiba, dell, sony, etc. and all those are already better know then lenovo for linux (& windows) laptops for some years.

i'd even rater a surface than a lenovo nowadays. ...just get me the pen and gpu working fine in linux and i bite the bullet btw.

anyway, with lenovo everything is wrong. with the other manufacturers just the flood of models and the sales is wrong :)

ok, basically i agree with his post in full. i just wouldn't have spent so much time on lenovo.

Re: We Need a Better PC

#379

Post by chjohasbrouck »

jahnu wrote: post #341
chjohasbrouck wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have both, and I find the things that Macs have that everything else is missing just aren't articulated on a spec sheet. The display on the Macbook Pro Retina is just flawless. The colors, the anti-glare, and the picture quality from all angles, it's just really well done. The brushed aluminum chassis makes it very cool and lightweight, great to travel with and keep on your lap. Excellent battery life. It's just a…

Have to agree. It's always the small details that aren't obvious at first blush. Here's another one that always gets me about PC laptops: Air vents on the bottoms so I can't safely rest it on anything soft that would block them. On my MBP I only have to worry about the very back.

My favorite thing about the air vents is that when the Macbook is in use (opened), the backs of the keyboard and display close in against the vents, creating a natural barrier to prevent most things (like bed sheets) from blocking the vents.

It seems really minor, but it's seriously prevented my Macbook from overheating probably dozens of times by now. I can't say the same for my PC, which has the flat ventilation panel on the side and has been killed by bedsheets many times.

A minor detail, but a really clever one. I like it.

Re: We Need a Better PC

#380

Post by legulere »

habosa wrote: post #113

Not disagreeing with the premise, but just want to plug a machine I am very happy with. I was a lifetime mac owner (since OS 9) and my 2010 Macbook Pro finally broke down this year. It made it that long because I doubled the RAM, replaced the battery, and replaced the HDD with a hybrid drive. Finally the battery puffed up and exploded. I brought it to the Apple Store and they were beyond useless. The new MBPs are not…

A 13" macbook air with 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, Core i5 processor costs $1 299.00, so more like 60%. There also seem to be some small things where Asus is saving money: It uses a SATA SSD instead of a NVMe PCIe SSD for instance.
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