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We Need a Better PC

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Re: We Need a Better PC

#571

Post by agentultra »

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…

You'll need an older Mac Pro then. There is quite a bit of proprietary hardware in the new ones that I'm pretty sure have no open source drivers (ie: SMC controller, force touch pad, etc).

Not that the community couldn't find a way to reverse-engineer and build an open source version... but a straight up Ubuntu install on a current-generation Mac Pro is probably the fastest way to kill a battery, processor, flash drive and miss out on taking advantage of the ambient sensors.

To use an unfitting analogy -- you might as well buy a sports car to retrofit it into a classic gremlin.

Re: We Need a Better PC

#572

Post by raisedbyninjas »

hsitz wrote: post #230
ekianjo wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

6 hours is not bad at all. (on Linux!) :) I'd be pretty happy with that.

I also have UX305 and I easily get at least 6 hours under moderate loads. Eight or nine with light web-browsing (avoiding javascript pages that spike cpu usage), ten or more with lighter use (text editor). I installed Ubuntu 14.x and i3 window manager. I have dual boot with original Windows install and power use is comparable between Windows and Linux. It's a pleasure to use. Only power management tweak I made in Ubu…

Which UX305? The UX305LA has an i7 or i5, the UX305FA has an old core M, the UX305CA has the latest core M. Some have HD or QHD displays.

Re: We Need a Better PC

#573

Post by Rudism »

tluyben2 wrote: post #307
eosrei wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You seem to have only looked at the older PCs. Have you looked at the Dell XPS 13 or Microsoft Surface Book? They may dispel your complaints. You can even buy the XPS with Ubuntu.

Worthless battery life for such costly machines. I would've bought the XPS 13 with Ubuntu otherwise. Edit: I read reviews like this http://www.iretron.com/blog/posts/dell-xps-13-is-a-major-dis... cannot find the other ones though. It is better than I remember; I thought it was worse. Still; 6 hours is not really usable in my book.

My XPS 13 with Arch Linux lasts 10+ hours of continuous use on a single charge. Mine is the non-HD non-touch model though. I suspect the model with the beefier resolution and touch screen wouldn't do as well.

Re: We Need a Better PC

#574

Post by ChristianBundy »

neverminder wrote: post #558
Kurtz79 wrote: post #497

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the question of the parent was if you could install Linux as you can with a normal PC (just by plugging an installation CD or USB drive), and the answer would be: "no you can't, unless you go through some hoops". It's like installing Mac OSX on a PC, or Linux on a Mac: you can, but not easily and not in a way that is supported by the manufacturer. You just have to scroll down in the link to see that there are…

Well, he mentioned developers and I'd like to think for the majority of developers those few extra steps wouldn't present a major challenge. Also the hardware is 100% supported when using a linux kernel optimized for pixel - https://github.com/raphael/linux-samus .

I use a Chromebook Pixel as my daily driver, and after wrestling with issues (e.g. no sound) I just went back to Chrome OS. You can see that others are having similar problems with that kernel: https://github.com/raphael/linux-samus/issues

Re: We Need a Better PC

#575

Post by hsitz »

hsitz wrote: post #230
ekianjo wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

6 hours is not bad at all. (on Linux!) :) I'd be pretty happy with that.

I also have UX305 and I easily get at least 6 hours under moderate loads. Eight or nine with light web-browsing (avoiding javascript pages that spike cpu usage), ten or more with lighter use (text editor). I installed Ubuntu 14.x and i3 window manager. I have dual boot with original Windows install and power use is comparable between Windows and Linux. It's a pleasure to use. Only power management tweak I made in Ubu…

EDIT: Mine is a UX305FA, the one with less powerful Core M processor. It's slightly slower than my Thinkpad x220, which has an older i7. So it's not a powerful machine, and I assume less powerful processor means better battery life than the faster x305's that have come out since I got mine.

Re: We Need a Better PC

#576

Post by intrasight »

I've been buying Lenovo's for about 6 years and are mostly happy. I always buy a bare-bones version and add my own memory and SSD and do a clean OS install (after updating all firmware). A "new machine" is a 20 hour minimum time commitment so I don't do it more frequently than necessary. I always overlap two machines so I have backup.

I am due for an upgrade and was looking at the T460p. But I just read about the bad decisions Lenovo made regarding internal storage so now I am looking for something else.

Re: We Need a Better PC

#577

Post by at-fates-hands »

scholia wrote: post #448
hartator wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think if you are spending more than 10 hours per day on your laptop, price shouldn't matter. On a side note, you've missed the retina thing, it's making a true difference.

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....

Just started a new job, since we're moving to a new building with an "open" concept and dual 24" monitors at each station, I didn't get a monitor since I'm in an older building.

In less than two weeks I already have neck and back problems from hunching over my laptop all day. Thank god I only have two more days of this insanity.

Re: We Need a Better PC

#578

Post by jhildings »

knights123 wrote: post #90

It seems like you should really just buy a MacBook Pro. Sure the software isn't perfect, but it's an order of magnitude closer to perfect than Windows has been lately. You buy it, boot it up, and it works wonderfully. Of course the one day out of the year that it doesn't you go rage comment on how it sucks and it scares Windows users away from Mac, but the rest of the time you'd never consider going back to a typical…

A pity that the WM totally sucks and does not even support themes or configurable behaviour

Re: We Need a Better PC

#579

Post by jhildings »

sjwright wrote: post #482
slgeorge wrote: post #382

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Well if the tradeoff is to use a lesser OS or desktop environment compared to for example Fluxbox then it could be worth it ?

Re: We Need a Better PC

#580

Post by user42734892 »

archimedespi wrote: post #17
spo81rty wrote: post #5

I really like my Razer laptop. They basically look like black MacBook Pros. Quality seems very high and I have enjoyed using it for several months. Quad core Cpu and 16 GB of RAM provides plenty of power as a dev box.

Yeah, I'd love to get the new Razer[0] that came out this year, but unfortunately they went the way of "thunderbolt3.0 all the things" which is... not going to work with Linux. At all :( [0] - http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-systems/razer-blade-stealth

I'm posting from a Razer Blade Stealth QHD/256 right now on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. The USB 3.1 ports function fine, the USB-C charger functions fine. Not attempted to attach a Thunderbolt over USB-C peripheral yet, but it would not be the end of the world if it wasn't functioning since everything but suspend and the camera behave fine.

The real downer is Intel's appalling OpenGL support in their Skylake drivers. Games and certain other applications are pretty much hosed if they expect remotely modern shader support, otherwise it is quite the capable chip.

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