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We Need a Better PC

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Re: We Need a Better PC

#471

Post by lmm »

christoph wrote: post #469
scholia wrote: post #448

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are spending more than 3-4 hours per day on your laptop, you should really be using a desktop, for the sake of your long term health....

I think a lot of people use a laptop throughout the day like in our office - plugged into a large monitor, mouse, keyboard and put up on a desktop stand. You then have the flexibility to just get up and walk into a meeting with it or walk out at the end of the day with everything just as you left it and carry on working on the train should you need.

The Macbook isn't very usable in that space though, since they have no first-party docking station support.

Re: We Need a Better PC

#472

Post by 4bpp »

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.…

The new keyboards are pretty good (perhaps even the best) relative to other modern laptop keyboards, but probably wouldn't even have earned a mention eight years ago before the great chiclet revolution...

I still can't quite comprehend how the market could have managed to conspire to so thoroughly eradicate the technologically superior option that not even obscure non-US vendors serving only local markets offer it anywhere anymore.

Re: We Need a Better PC

#473

Post by lmm »

ilek wrote: post #409
osense wrote: post #332

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know how things are over in the US, but here in Czech republic, my experience with them was nothing but good. When my SSD broke down after about a month of using the thing, they paid for the shipping to and from the repair shop and replaced the drive in... a week I think. I've been using it for about a year now and I've had no other problems.

I had a poor experience with them in the UK. The hinge snapped on my ultrabook (I don't remember the exact model as the codes are obscure.) E-mailed support, provided plenty of pictures of the issue. Keep in mind I only owned the thing for 6 months so still in warranty. Best they would offer is an out of warranty repair. I know someone with the same model, exact same problem happened to him. Horrible build quality an…

If you're ever in that situation again, take it to the seller, mention the sales of goods act if you have to. Warranties aren't how things are supposed to work in the UK, it's the seller that carries the responsibility and so they're generally a lot better at it.

Re: We Need a Better PC

#474

Post by Mister_Snuggles »

lmm wrote: post #471
christoph wrote: post #469

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think a lot of people use a laptop throughout the day like in our office - plugged into a large monitor, mouse, keyboard and put up on a desktop stand. You then have the flexibility to just get up and walk into a meeting with it or walk out at the end of the day with everything just as you left it and carry on working on the train should you need.

The Macbook isn't very usable in that space though, since they have no first-party docking station support.

I use a MacBook Pro like this every work day. Plugging in four cables (power, 2x DisplayPort, USB) is not really that big of a deal.

Re: We Need a Better PC

#475

Post by sixbrx »

lmm wrote: post #413
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…

> Macbooks are great, and I wish I could find something as good to install Linux on. You can install Linux on a Macbook if that's what you want. Despite the marketing a Macbook these days is just an expensive, well-designed PC with particular software. > Most of the PC options are steel and plastic, so they're hot and heavy. They'll burn your legs, they have comparably poor battery life. The screen looks terrible if…

I've got a MBP from around 2012 and a big problem is that when running any OS besides OS X, it runs very hot with very short battery life because it can only use discrete graphics (NVidia) full time. The integrated graphics is disabled in Apple's efi (maybe by Bootcamp?), and I don't know that anyone has ever found a workaround. There's an extremely longstanding Apple support issue still open about it.

So if planning to run anything other than OS X via Bootcamp on a MBP, do beware this issue.

Re: We Need a Better PC

#476

Post by lmm »

xerophyte12932 wrote: post #237
rtpg wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't bring my desktop to any environment, therefore it's a non-starter. I _do_ think it's interesting to think "maybe buying 1 (even 2) desktops is actually better for me than buying 1 laptop", but I cannot bring my desktop to the library. I feel like this comment is on the same level as "don't buy a phone, you can do better with a laptop", which is absurd on a similar level without extra context.

My personal solution is a desktop and a 7-inch tablet. Sure the tablet loses some of the power as compared to a laptop, but huge portability gain. And it fits my use case. I don't write code while on the move. I do that at my desk. For all other use cases like consumption of data or even blogging, the tablet works.

Blogging with an onscreen keyboard is painful, and carrying around tablet + bluetooth keyboard is more cumbersome than a 9" or 11" "ultrabook". The ability to run old binary-only windows/x86 programs comes in handy too.

What do you do for a phone? What works for me is: 6"+ phone that does anything I'd use a 7" tablet for (smartwatch means I don't need to take it out my pocket as often), 11" ultrabook for doing things on the go, 18" "desktop replacement"/"gaming laptop"/"luggable" for home and the occasional longer trip or LAN party. (I do have a desktop/"home server" but these days it's pretty much an oversized NAS).

Re: We Need a Better PC

#477

Post by baldfat »

vacri wrote: post #433
pizza234 wrote: post #370

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can have professionally applied an anti-glare film on the screen. The application is perfect and resilient, and although it's "not the same", I will never ever go back to a glossy screen.

So, Apple used to ship the matte screen as standard, and upsold the glossy one as "movies! colours!". Then they shipped the glossy screen as standard, and upsold the matte one as "no glare!"...

They realized they were monetizing the wrong way. Make customers pay for a better customer experience always rubs me the wrong way.

Re: We Need a Better PC

#478

Post by beyondcompute »

Thanks for the post. I think, we need more of these. I too have been feeling that the companies in a sense "aren't even trying" to show some care and respect for a customer. We agree to pay money for "hardware", they accustomed to "assemble together" some electronic components. There's no inspiration, no consideration, no ambition to provide experience that lasts (despite that hardware is fast-to-become-obsolete, the brand image and the impression you leave can be relevant for a much longer time). For me personally the only decent machine out there is MacBook Air. It does not make false promises about performance (like other laptops do, only to fail miserably later). My ideal machine would be lightweight plastic with mechanic keyboard. Performance is not really critical. Something like Surface pro with 14 inch display and mechanical keyboard (touch-screen is not necessary; good, macbook-like touchpad is) would do.

Re: We Need a Better PC

#479

Post by hendry »

The Lenovo X1C3 is not that bad. I recommend it & it runs Archlinux beautifully. https://natalian.org/2015/02/18/Archlinux_on_a_Lenovo_X1C3/

Yes, Lenovo sales and support are pretty hopeless. Just got to factor that fact in. Must say Apple are pretty hopeless unless you get Apple care.

Anyway, the real problem in my mind is that there is pretty much no competition to Intel nowadays.

Re: We Need a Better PC

#480

Post by ilurkedhere »

chjohasbrouck wrote: post #285
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…

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…

2015 Macbook user here. Still possible to burn legs.
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