We Need a Better PC • Hacker News Board

Re: We Need a Better PC

#501

Post by reirob » Wed, Feb 17, 2016, 2:27 PM UTC

jensen123 wrote: post #414

touristtam wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have used five (5) post IBM Thinkpad and the build quality has been absolutely fine and they mostly just work as you put it. And all of them have been reinstalled with Ubuntu at some point.

I recently bought a third generation Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon. It had a very annoying fan, which made it unusable for me. It wasn't very loud, but it was a high-frequency sound which made it annoying. Eventually, I got myself a Lenovo Thinkpad T450 instead. So far this T450 has been very good. The fan almost never comes on. However, it should probably be noted that I got the T450 model with the slowest CPU. For thos…

Got the T450s with an i7-5600U, 20GB RAM, 1TB SSD (bought from another vendor and swapped, much cheaper than the 500GB SSD from Lenovo).

Ubuntu 14.04 works like charm.

With an additional battery (the thick one), I can spend a whole day without electricity and the battery can be swapped without switching off the laptop.

It's so far the best ThinkPad that I had until now. I have the impression that at least with this one Lenovo improved a little bit the quality and usability.

The T440s was unusable - I sent it back after two days. The T430s was good, but flimsier and much heavier than the T450s.

Re: We Need a Better PC

#502

Post by jryan49 » Wed, Feb 17, 2016, 2:33 PM UTC

mntmn wrote: post #282

I recently got a Thinkpad T450s after using iBook & MacBooks for 10 years and I'm very pleasantly surprised about build quality and feel.

+1 for Thinkpad T450s

Re: We Need a Better PC

#503

Post by crudbug » Wed, Feb 17, 2016, 2:33 PM UTC

I have both Thinkpad T540 & MBP. The thing I miss the most is the dual mini-display port for support triple monitor (2K) desk work.

Re: We Need a Better PC

#504

Post by crudbug » Wed, Feb 17, 2016, 2:35 PM UTC

The other thing lacking is Linux multi-monitor support, I see gnome crashing all the time.

Re: We Need a Better PC

#505

Post by tobyhinloopen » Wed, Feb 17, 2016, 2:36 PM UTC

I agree with the article. I switched to Apple because the OS & hardware were superior, but they aren't anymore. Hardware vendors are catching up and Windows 10 is actually not that bad. OS X is actually getting worse.

Re: We Need a Better PC

#506

Post by rimantas » Wed, Feb 17, 2016, 2:36 PM UTC

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…

Wait till 2022 to compare?

Re: We Need a Better PC

#507

Post by conjectures » Wed, Feb 17, 2016, 2:39 PM UTC

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 a similar Asus machine. Nice build quality. Lasted 3 years of fairly hard use so far. Shiny screen could be improved, that's about it. Would recommend Asus highly.

Re: We Need a Better PC

#508

Post by jtreminio » Wed, Feb 17, 2016, 2:41 PM UTC

coldtea wrote: post #460

izacus wrote: post #352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or you know... sitting outside in 30C summer in shorts. That 80C chasis temperature then somehow isn't as fun anymore. Current rMBP is unusable outside in summer due to hot chasis... my previous Dell XPS didn't have this issue.

> Or you know... sitting outside in 30C summer in shorts. Well, anyone that wears shorts and sandals and is over 20, deserves it. > Current rMBP is unusable outside in summer due to hot chasis... Maybe sit on a table? I use mine in a country that frequently gets 38-40 oC, and in a country that is constantly Lousiana-summer level heat and humidity (Singapore) and never had much of a problem. Or one could use any kind…

> and we complain for them being uncomfortamble to have on our bare laps...

"lap"tops.

Re: We Need a Better PC

#509

Post by nerdy » Wed, Feb 17, 2016, 2:43 PM UTC

jensen123 wrote: post #397

nerdy wrote: post #99

I went through the same thought process in December, never owned an Apple computer but needed a new laptop. Despite trying to fend off the idea of getting a Macbook (due to some combination of price/not wanting to succumb to herd mentality/proprietary nature of Apple) I caved. It felt silly to spend a lot of time researching and configuring a custom laptop. I've never purchased a pre-built desktop but customizing a l…

I agree with you that Apple hardware is generally much better than the competition. However, there is one thing that really bugs me about Apple laptops - they don't open 180 degrees, which make them somewhat impractical to use with a stand. And simply using a laptop as-is is not very ergonomic.

My 2015 MBP opens to 120° which seems like it'd be enough but I haven't purchased a stand yet so I'm not sure. Good to know since I've been looking at the Rain stand, which looks like it's pitched at 30°, so the laptop screen would be perfectly upright at most, as shown in images of the Rain stand: http://cdn1.bigcommerce.com/server800/c1529/product_images/u...

Not sure if that'll be okay, it is helpful to be able to angle the screen backward a touch if you're close to it and higher than the screen. That's probably less often the case with a stand since the laptop will be higher but helpful to keep in mind.

Re: We Need a Better PC

#510

Post by nerdy » Wed, Feb 17, 2016, 2:45 PM UTC

spronkey wrote: post #360

nerdy wrote: post #99

I went through the same thought process in December, never owned an Apple computer but needed a new laptop. Despite trying to fend off the idea of getting a Macbook (due to some combination of price/not wanting to succumb to herd mentality/proprietary nature of Apple) I caved. It felt silly to spend a lot of time researching and configuring a custom laptop. I've never purchased a pre-built desktop but customizing a l…

So many little things that Apple just do better. I'd add some things to your list as well - the keyboards are nice and snappy, the machines are silent for general tasks, and the fans are generally quiet unless you're going crazy, with no stupid things like electrical noise / coil whine. Even under heavy load you can sit the thing on your legs and it won't burn you. The machines are very sturdy and don't bend, so they…

Agree with all of this. Also worth noting that the best part is that these features are all in ONE device, not just a wishlist of things from a variety of laptops.