We Need a Better PC • Hacker News Board

Re: We Need a Better PC

#481

Post by Infinitesimus » Wed, Feb 17, 2016, 1:37 PM UTC

spronkey wrote: post #355

rmm wrote: post #235

Microsoft Surface Book. Easily the best device i have used in a very long time. Expensive (especially the i7 dGPU option) but i am amazed at how good this machine is. Huge battery life, powerful when it needs to be. Connect to a dock and you have a powerful desktop. Currently use it when im working in the office doing design work (plugged into a couple of Dell U2715H) then when i am out on mine sites use it as a port…

It's nice, but I have a pretty long list of gripes that pretty much prevent me from buying one. Mushy keyboard. Average speakers. Lacklustre I/O port selection. Kinda average camera, despite its resolution. Headphone jack in a stupid place for laptop mode. No brightness controls on keyboard. Trackpad might look and feel nice, but it just isn't as good as the Mac's for palm rejection, and scrolling is still stuttery v…

> No brightness controls on keyboard.

Recent discovery from my Surface Pro: You can adjust the brightness with Fn + Backspace and Fn + Del. Works with the Surface Book as well.

Regarding multiple display ports, I think the SB was meant to be used with the dock for the "power user" mode. I quote like the ease of the docking capabilities even though I've had a few display issues with it when the machine resumes from sleep

Re: We Need a Better PC

#482

Post by sjwright » Wed, Feb 17, 2016, 1:43 PM UTC

slgeorge wrote: post #382

askafriend wrote: post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I want you to re-read the first paragraph you wrote. That's exactly why I don't use Linux. I don't mean this to be a condescending comment, but really, the contents of your entire first paragraph are just things that I don't want to deal with. It's all just bullshit, and I don't have time to deal with bullshit like that. I really just don't want to even think about stuff like that. Not even a tiny bit, not even for a…

> It's all just bullshit, and I don't have time to deal with bullshit like that It's bullshit to you , but it doesn't make Linux bullshit - others prioritise different aspects. You care about HiDPI - perhaps you are a designer, so it's important. But, you're not everyone. For example, I have no need for HiDPI and I personally have much more focus on the power and control Linux gives me. I wouldn't want HiDPI if I had…

He might not "be everyone" but his priorities are relevant to more people than your priorities by a factor of perhaps 100:1 or more.

I haven't met a single person that didn't immediately appreciate the benefits of HiDPI when they saw it.

Re: We Need a Better PC

#483

Post by bechampion » Wed, Feb 17, 2016, 1:45 PM UTC

I was in this situation , I've moved away from osx a month ago i couldn't be happier.

I've moved from a macbook pro retina to a Lenovo x250/i5/8GB/HD screen, Running xubuntu 15.10 ... most bits work (DualScreen/VPN/NiceRDPapp(Remmina)/etc etc)

I've had major issues with Webex (need to have a jre 32bit running on a 64 bit os) but other than that all good!

Good luck!

Re: We Need a Better PC

#484

Post by joshyeager » Wed, Feb 17, 2016, 1:49 PM UTC

jahnu wrote: post #451

icebraining wrote: post #434

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Thinkpad is the X201, and the HP was a DV2, an old model. They might have some small bottom vents, but they didn't have any problems cooling while sitting on my bed. Neither are probably comparable to an MBP 13, though.

Hmmm https://support.lenovo.com/at/de/documents/pd025709 Don't think I'd be comfortable blocking those for extended periods.

I use my W530 on my couch frequently, with no issues. The main cooling happens in the back corner, where there are vents on both the side and the back. I'm not sure what the bottom vents are for, but blocking them doesn't cause issues even when I'm gaming.

Re: We Need a Better PC

#485

Post by mamcx » Wed, Feb 17, 2016, 1:52 PM UTC

Currently my biggest problem with apple machines is the low amount of storage, and in the case of the news iMacs and Macbooks, how costly and IMPOSSIBLE to replace them are.

I wish apple forget spinning hardrives, go full on SSD and ship with > 512 GB

Re: We Need a Better PC

#486

Post by ilek » Wed, Feb 17, 2016, 1:58 PM UTC

lmm wrote: post #473

ilek wrote: post #409

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Of course, I went straight to amazon after the experience with Asus customer support and got a full refund in an hour.

Re: We Need a Better PC

#487

Post by __tmg » Wed, Feb 17, 2016, 1:59 PM UTC

sixbrx wrote: post #475

lmm wrote: post #413

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

Looks like this[0] should solve your issue. Also, it's my understanding that there's a way to patch GRUB for saner EFI behaviour.

[0] https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/systemd-vgaswitcheroo-uni...

Re: We Need a Better PC

#488

Post by glossyscr » Wed, Feb 17, 2016, 2:05 PM UTC

Aoyagi wrote: post #441

glossyscr wrote: post #322

Not disagreeing but there is one notebook and this is how the Macbook should have been: - Same build quality as Apple - Thin and light as the Macbook - Pixel density higher than Retina - Powerful CPU - Just released http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-systems/razer-blade-stealth

Razer and built quality or reliability don't go well together.

I made different experiences.

And do you have this ultrabook or ever touched it yourself?

Re: We Need a Better PC

#489

Post by dschep » Wed, Feb 17, 2016, 2:12 PM UTC

chao- wrote: post #200

I have the "old X1 Carbon with a low res screen", except that the article is a little inaccurate: it doesn't have to have a low res screen. You can select a 2560x1440 screen. Even better, it's a non-reflective (matte) screen and even has a non-touch option! I guess I'm not alone in disliking reflective screens. What sold me more than anything, though, was that I could select the best parts without being forced into a…

I actually intentionally got the "900p" lowres version (also matte) because I didn't feel like dealing with HiDPI support. I _love_ the click pad. 3 finger click (for middle click) is a million times more reliable than 3 finger tap in my experience.

Re: We Need a Better PC

#490

Post by pflats » Wed, Feb 17, 2016, 2:13 PM UTC

baldfat wrote: post #477

vacri wrote: post #433

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

We're the odd folks out in wanting the matte screens.

Glossy looks way better in stores (especially since Apple controls the lighting to make glare incredibly unlikely) and in pretty much any case where you do not have direct light. It's what the public wants.