Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Bikeshedding, or why I want to build a laptop

geohot.github.io

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 282 posts

Re: Bikeshedding, or why I want to build a laptop

#71

Post by Teknomadix »

geohot: "I want a laptop with a high-end AMD chip, great Linux power management, good docs, solid build, and a normal name"

My brother in christ, the ThinkPad T14s Gen 5 AMD exists. Zen 5, aluminum chassis, legendary Linux support, actual power state documentation. They been doing this for 30 years. Dude, you're bikeshedding a product that's been sitting in the enterprise aisle this whole time

ThinkPads have been the Linux laptop for decades precisely because of the things he's wishing for. Public ACPI/power management docs, upstream kernel support, and AMD options with sane power profiles. He even admits the ZBook touchpad is fine but fails to acknowledge ThinkPads have had excellent trackpoints + multi-touchpads since forever.

Re: Bikeshedding, or why I want to build a laptop

#72

Post by [deleted] »

femiagbabiaka wrote: post #52
doublextremevil wrote: post #6

the whole pc laptop industry really is an embarrassment right now. It has been 5 years since the M1 Macbook release, and there is no real equivalent. I'm on a thinkpad x9, which might be the closest I've seen, but the cpu performance just isn't as good.

The HP Zbook Ultra G1A is a contender, but it's also the only contender to your point.

[deleted]

Re: Bikeshedding, or why I want to build a laptop

#73

Post by SoftTalker »

spankibalt wrote: post #70
MarsIronPI wrote: post #20

All I want is a thinner Thinkpad X220 but with upped specs and newer ports. Framework-style upgradable motherboard would be nice but optional. The X220 already has a perfect keyboard, a mousing system that doesn't suck (sorry, I've never been happy with a trackpad: they feel too imprecise), a beautiful form factor for a laptop (if I want a laptop, I want it to be 12-14in for easiest portability), it's practically ind…

> "I've never been happy with a trackpad: they feel too imprecise" Same for me, Apple included; trackpads are just a huge waste of space to me. Have to say that my hand-eye coordination is way above that of the average computer user, and my workflows involving complementary HIDs always focused on trackballs, digtizer pens, as well as gamepads/game controllers for other, non-game related stuff. I also don't get why pe…

Also don't like trackpads. I even use a ThinkPad keyboard on my desktop. The little rubber nub between G and H is just the ideal control for the pointer. And real buttons for clicking.

Re: Bikeshedding, or why I want to build a laptop

#74

Post by bpye »

ntnsndr wrote: post #18
smitty1e wrote: post #3

Your attention is drawn to https://system76.com/

Amen. Not only do they make hardware in the US (though not laptops yet), they contribute great Linux software.

> Not only do they make hardware in the US

Many outside of the US would consider that a con today.

Re: Bikeshedding, or why I want to build a laptop

#75

Post by encom »

>the trade-off I’d prefer is 0 upgradability or customizability in exchange for less weight and more polish

This mentality is ruining everything. Not just computers, but everything including cars and appliances. It's disappointing - I thought geohot was more of a hacker. If he really wants a glued together, disposable piece of crap, you can't do better than Apple, and then just tolerate the OS and maybe VM Linux.

Re: Bikeshedding, or why I want to build a laptop

#76

Post by hombre_fatal »

Teknomadix wrote: post #71

geohot: "I want a laptop with a high-end AMD chip, great Linux power management, good docs, solid build, and a normal name" My brother in christ, the ThinkPad T14s Gen 5 AMD exists. Zen 5, aluminum chassis, legendary Linux support, actual power state documentation. They been doing this for 30 years. Dude, you're bikeshedding a product that's been sitting in the enterprise aisle this whole time ThinkPads have been the…

Link to the one that's so great, especially a Macbook contender?

He has a $2000+ Thinkpad X1 and it was basically his least favorite one in his lineup from last week except for the Framework's bad display: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M96O0Sn1LXA

The snark doesn't seem warranted.

Edit: The laptop you're talking about is also 14" 1920x1200 or am I lost in Lenovo's awful website? A 14" Macbook is 3024x1964. The more I look, the worse it gets, especially after you hyped it like that.

Re: Bikeshedding, or why I want to build a laptop

#77

Post by spankibalt »

doublextremevil wrote: post #6

the whole pc laptop industry really is an embarrassment right now. It has been 5 years since the M1 Macbook release, and there is no real equivalent. I'm on a thinkpad x9, which might be the closest I've seen, but the cpu performance just isn't as good.

> "the whole pc laptop industry really is an embarrassment right now. It has been 5 years since the M1 Macbook release, and there is no real equivalent."

True. I think that's mostly because they model their merchandise after Apple's products. I find Apple's hardware utterly undesirable, tho. The only product of theirs I ever showed any interest in was their Newton line of handhelds; my dream machine is quite far removed from the stuff that's mentioned in the OP's article, let alone anything that maps to Apple's portfolio (and even more importantly, product philosophy).

Re: Bikeshedding, or why I want to build a laptop

#78

Post by jclulow »

Teknomadix wrote: post #71

geohot: "I want a laptop with a high-end AMD chip, great Linux power management, good docs, solid build, and a normal name" My brother in christ, the ThinkPad T14s Gen 5 AMD exists. Zen 5, aluminum chassis, legendary Linux support, actual power state documentation. They been doing this for 30 years. Dude, you're bikeshedding a product that's been sitting in the enterprise aisle this whole time ThinkPads have been the…

I recently replaced my aging X1C7 with a T14s AMD and it has been quite nice!

Re: Bikeshedding, or why I want to build a laptop

#79

Post by morshu9001 »

mikestorrent wrote: post #49
jedbrooke wrote: post #43

> Consumer electronics naming is very simple. Make a good product with a simple name. “iPhone”, “comma”, “Z Fold”. Then every year or two, add one to the number of that product. If it’s a small refresh, you can add a letter after the number. “2 3 3X 4” “4 4s 5 5s 6 …” “2 3 4 5 6 7” Why is this so hard for companies like HP? Oh man I feel this every time there’s a games console launch. I still have no idea what the la…

We could have had Xbox 720, 1080... but no. xbox 1 x one one x triple X amsterdam edition.

And there are two Xbox Ones

Re: Bikeshedding, or why I want to build a laptop

#80

Post by morshu9001 »

cesarvarela wrote: post #44
doublextremevil wrote: post #6

the whole pc laptop industry really is an embarrassment right now. It has been 5 years since the M1 Macbook release, and there is no real equivalent. I'm on a thinkpad x9, which might be the closest I've seen, but the cpu performance just isn't as good.

The industry also didn't keep up with the trackpad, which should be simpler.

Apple trackpads are so good that I prefer that over a full mouse for work
Post reply on HN