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Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

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Re: Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

#481

Post by 0x38B »

Rebelgecko wrote: post #312
kzrdude wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are the problems with it in practice? I'd have ordered one if it was shipping to my country

From my perspective using a 12th gen on Fedora 36, which is allegedly the best supported Linux flavor (although Windows on the Framework doesn't have many of these issues so I'm considering installing it instead): * Horrific battery life. I don't actually mind that the battery life under light usage is in the 6-7 hours neighborhood. What I do mind is that the battery life when the laptop isn't being used is abysmal.…

My Arch Linux install running Sway loses a few percent overnight (max 10-20%). This is with deep sleep enabled (1) in kernel parameters. My Framework has an 11th gen i5.

1: https://community.frame.work/t/framework-and-popos/2898

Quote:

“DeepSleep: My Framework is defaulting to S2Idle which is burning through battery like crazy during sleep. you can enable deep sleep by adding a kernel boot option in `/boot/efi/loader/entries/pop_OS-current.conf`

Just add `mem_sleep_default=deep`

At the end of the options line. Waking up from sleep will take a little bit longer, but you won’t be chewing up battery while you rest.”

Re: Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

#483

Post by 6c737133 »

mlmonge wrote: post #453
horsawlarway wrote: post #434

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have 2 in the XPS line - a relatively old 15 inch and a new(ish) 13 inch. They're perfectly fine machines. Dell officially supports linux on them (admittedly, only Ubuntu), you can get 32gb of RAM, and they perform just as well as any other intel based laptop (which is to say - I wish they sucked less power, but they're fine on the performance scale). I'm... not a clean person with my machines, and I've never notic…

I've had an eye on the Huawei Matebook X Pro on Swappa. My other eye is on the XPS, new from Amazon. The latter is certainly more expensive and yet, doesn't impress me as much as the Matebook. But as we all know, Huawei is not trusted much here lately in the U.S. Is this in fact another Chinese company that's best we avoid? I was considering starting an Ask HN just for Huawei given not much has been posted here on th…

with all due respect - lol

there isn't a fire capable of burning hot enough, to throw every huawei device into

just google the company man, it's a track record that's genuinely hard to believe

20190409 backdoored laptops - https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-47800000

20190430 backdoored routers - https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/apr/30/alleged-h...

20210813 alleged widespread IP theft from a pakistani tech firm, repackaged with backdoors, and sold back to the pakistani gov - https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/apr/30/alleged-h...

Re: Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

#484

Post by icedchai »

jscheel wrote: post #447
mort96 wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had a couple XPS laptops over the years, one XPS 13 and one XPS 15. Both have had issues with their trackpads getting wonky. They would just increasingly ignore inputs and react incorrectly to my finger. The XPS 15 (the 2-in-1 model) would also sometimes just not go to sleep and cook itself in my bag, and its keyboard has keys which just break over time under normal use, and that's not covered under warranty. Yo…

My 2019 16" mbp will randomly try to cook itself in my bag too. Apple never has any answers for any of the bullcrap power management that happens.

The 2019 MacBook Pros are basically hot plates with a computer attached.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

#485

Post by dezzadk »

paintman252 wrote: post #474
dezzadk wrote: post #468

Nope. Its all buggy and shitty. Dell XPS had coilwhine for several ages despite numerous complaints and other laptops with same chipsets didn't. The cause? Cheaping out on inductors. Lenovo has firmware issues I just returned my laptop which gone black screen due to some suspend/sleep state at random. This is a huge issue btw affecting more than 20-30+ models. Actually Lenovo support guy I asked for his recommendatio…

"everything was terribly broken and half-baked" What are you talking about? My S22 Ultra works great.

Give it to me for a week and I will tell you everything wrong with it including all the bugs you haven't found yet.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

#487

Post by maxsilver »

sofixa wrote: post #156
ur-whale wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For 2022 I decided to buy a "gaming" laptop and switch to 100% Linux. I researched this option before opting for an LG gram. I might research it again soon. Would you care to share exactly what gaming laptop you picked?

Not OP, but I've heard great things about the Asus ROG Zephyrus line, and that's what I'll probably get when i refresh my current Asus laptop which id approaching 8 years.

I love my older ROG Zephyrus G14. Use it everyday for heavy Ruby on Rails + Java, with some gaming on the side (Control, Warframe)

It doesn't necessarily look great, but it's not offensively gamerish. There's a nice utility that lets you turn the fans off/on and GPU on/off, so it gets good battery life with GPU off. USB-C charging supported, nice matte screen, 120hz+ refresh rate. I have mine setup with 40gb of RAM (one 8GB dim is baked on, one is upgradable) and with a replacement Intel wifi chip.

When I need a replacement, I'll probably get the newer 2022-ish G14. They upgraded the USB-C ports (both now support display out), they put better WiFi in by default, and they went all-AMD for CPU+GPU, all of which seem like great ideas to me.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

#488

Post by Kamq »

janfoeh wrote: post #348
Kamq wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's common to add {year} to queries to find current answers to things. This aids in that practice.

That is precisely my point, yeah - a Google search term "hack" that has spread into common parlance, even in places where it serves no purpose.

> even in places where it serves no purpose

It helps other people find things (for the next year or so).

Re: Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

#489

Post by 650REDHAIR »

NorwegianDude wrote: post #174

You don't say where you are located, but unless you are in one of the few places where Dell doesn't offer on-site next business day support then XPS 13 is a great laptop. Their support is amazing: "We're not sure what is causing it, but we'll send someone to replace the whole motherboard tomorrow." "OH, your currently halfway across the world on a island? No problem, we'll be there tomorrow" I really don't understand…

My XPS15 has been a paperweight for 2 years now.

The original Dell battery swelled up and was replaced under warranty. The replacement battery lasted a couple of months and was so swollen it broke my keyboard and trackpad.

Dell support refused to fix it and couldn't provide me with a battery because they were completely out.

I tried 3 different vendors and all 3 batteries failed to work because Dell has battery DRM.

I can't even use it plugged in because the GPU/CPU throttle themselves without a battery hooked up.

My i7, 32gb ram, 4k laptop is a giant dud. Never again.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

#490

Post by 650REDHAIR »

shp0ngle wrote: post #340
ktpsns wrote: post #318

Thinkpad X1 (Yoga/Carbon) do great for heavy use developer laptops. I use them since the first generation, with Linux as operating system. Never had serious issues with drivers, even wacom, digitizer and auto display rotation are working nowadays, not to speak of USB-3, fingerprint sensors, etc. The whole device is a no-brainer and just works.

I have looked at Thinkpad x1 carbon, and they are so expensive! People complain about Apple Tax, but the x1 Carbon is so much more expensive for what it does.

Check at Thanksgiving!

I try to wait for Black Friday/cyber Monday because ThinkPads are usually 1/2 off.

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