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We Need a Better PC

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Re: We Need a Better PC

#631

Post by tomsthumb »

joshAg wrote: post #373
tomsthumb wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lenovo T-series and W-series both had trash tier track pads last time I used either of them. Literally un-fucking-usable. For the first time in my life I got a tiny usb mouse to carry with me. My cardiologist wouldn't stop complaining about my blood pressure. Writing haskell should not be easier than right clicking. Maybe they're different now, but if not, I mean, great scott that's terrible. The keyboards were about…

they recently redesigned them to include physical buttons again, if that's what you're referring to in the x40x series.

that was a big part of it

Re: We Need a Better PC

#632

Post by niutech »

No offense, but the author has a first world problem. The notebook should be functional - powerful, lightweight, long lasting, not necessarily pretty. It is not an exhibit, it's a tool. Why does he need a good web page to buy it???

That said, he can grab a Chromebook and install a full-blown Linux distro on it.

Re: We Need a Better PC

#633

Post by niutech »

SwellJoe wrote: post #75
xlayn wrote: post #12

Do you like the MacBook but don't like the OS? go ahead and change it, you can have triple boot. Tiny fonts and pop ups doesn't have anything to do with the machine you are going to buy (unless you also want the website). HP makes the elitebook, magnesium construction a la thinkpad. And last but not least I would like to give this entry the RAGE post award, nomination points for What I want is a computer with: -Decen…

"HP makes the elitebook, magnesium construction a la thinkpad." I've been burned so badly by an HP laptop, that I'm unlikely to ever buy another HP product in any category. It is horrifically bad. Damned near everything is wrong with it. It also had some crapware, and the system restore partition didn't work...so I had a dead laptop for two weeks waiting for physical restore media to arrive (that I paid $10+shipping…

"Everything is wrong with it"? Name it, one by one. Otherwise it's FUD.

Why didn't you install a clean OS downloaded from the official Microsoft/Ubuntu/Debian website instead of waiting two weeks for a restore Windows restore DVD from HP with crapware pre-installed? The first thing I would do after buying a new laptop is to format it completely and start afresh.

Re: We Need a Better PC

#634

Post by ekianjo »

hsitz wrote: post #556
ekianjo wrote: post #462

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually have a Lenovo x220 as one of my machines, and with 70-80% brightness I get about 4 hours of battery life (wifi included) on a 9 cells battery. Does it sound reasonable or am I not getting what I should?

Sounds about right, I have 6 cell in my x220 (with Win7) and I'd guess its life is around 2.5 hours with those settings. It's short enough that I don't feel comfortable using it on the go, keep x220 at home almost always plugged in to AC. The battery difference between it and the UX305 is huge.

Thanks, good to know I'm in the average then. I wonder if the newer Lenovo (x250 for example) have much better battery life (on Linux) than the x220.

Re: We Need a Better PC

#635

Post by niutech »

zdkl wrote: post #344
touristtam wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But then you are using Microsoft OS.

I think it's safe to say a lot of people in tech have the same knee jerk reaction (I know I do), but sadly what are the open alternatives? Closest I can think of would be Android, but you're throwing a lot of flexibility and openness out already. I had high hopes that FxOS would grow into the {reasonably hackable, consumer pricing, works out of the box if needed, higher abstraction (eg. don't make me think about my k…

Speaking of tablets, apart from BQ Aquaris M10 with Ubuntu, there is also Samsung Galaxy 2 with Replicant [http://www.replicant.us], which is fully free software.

Re: We Need a Better PC

#636

Post by manyxcxi »

alexkadis wrote: post #545
spronkey wrote: post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The EliteBooks aren't even close to Macs in engineering. They're probably the closest thing I've found, but there are teething issues with all of them - like poor speakers, or noisy 3.5mm jacks, or poor display, or iffy keyboards, or poor trackpads. Apple get all of this stuff right almost all the time, in almost every machine they build. In fact, I only say almost above because it seems like they would have at least…

I have to agree 100%. My work computer is an EliteBook and the headphone jack has constant static, the fan runs high even on simple tasks, and the trackpad is downright terrible. I prefer my older MacBook Air's hardware by far.

That's a good point. I forgot how magical the trackpad is on the MBPs compared to every other laptop I've ever touched. I couldn't imagine bringing a travel mouse with me but I used to ALWAYS have one with my PC laptops.

Re: We Need a Better PC

#637

Post by voltagex_ »

lmm wrote: post #425
voltagex_ wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Add me to the rage brigade. I think the OP has missed the Microsoft "Signature" edition products. They're a clean Windows 10 image and you buy direct from Microsoft. I just wish they'd sell me the XPS 13 9350 (the highest spec'd one) in Australia. Edit: AFAICT a lot of the battery life on a MacBook comes from the way OS X works - friends who use Bootcamp tell me it significantly reduces their battery time.

If Windows gets bad battery life on MacBooks then that's an indictment of Apple's windows drivers. Just one poorly written driver can ruin your battery life, and that's a place where the MS "hardware manufacturers write the drivers for their hardware" model really falls down - there are Windows laptops where you can nearly double the battery life by fixing the touchpad driver, or the webcam driver, or, .... In theory…

On Windows, is there any way to tell if one driver in particular is behaving badly?

Re: We Need a Better PC

#638

Post by funkaster »

For me, that better PC is the Chromebook Pixel (2015), of course, running linux instead of the crippled Chrome OS. It's my main dev machine and I use it more than the MBP that I got @ work.

Re: We Need a Better PC

#639

Post by nhumrich »

user42734892 wrote: post #580
archimedespi wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Ubuntu 16.04 isn't even in beta yet, how could you have the LTS version?

Re: We Need a Better PC

#640

Post by nhumrich »

Roritharr wrote: post #346

My real issue is finding a decent 13inch laptop that allows 2x4K Monitors at 60hz via simple Docking. The Surface Book failed in that regard and I haven't gotten confirmation from Dell that the TB 15 Dock will support it. In the 15 inch Category there is only the HP Zbook with its gorgeous 4 Thunderbolt Ports that allow it. But that's Desktop Replacement, not a portable 13 incher. Currently I drive 2 2560x1440 Monito…

I have a lenovo t450 with Ubuntu and I have 3 monitors working from the dock. Don't know if it supports 4k or not, but it should, the dock has two display ports.
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