Is it time to swap your Mac for a Windows laptop? | Hacker News Reader

Is it time to swap your Mac for a Windows laptop?

theguardian.com

13 pointssalicideblock20 comments

It's never time for a windows laptop. Actually, I'm really happy with switching from mac to Fedora - after 22 years as a daily mac user.

I tried to get debian and its children & grandchildren to run on my PC, but all had issues. The most frustrating being mouse clicks intermittently not working. (seriously? 2017 and we can't figure out mouse clicks?)

But Fedora worked, it detected everything correctly, and I had a box that I could actually just start using and not spend hours (or days) configuring to get the basics working.

I would go so far as to say it's been relatively apple-esque in experience polish - when contrasted with most other distros. I've also had more stability and performance in general.

I still have nvidia screen tearing to sort out somehow. It's annoying but tolerable. But I also have way more control over my machine, and can change/do things that Apple would never let you.

Anyway, I recommend checking out Fedora if you're considering moving to linux, and have had troubles with ubuntu & co.

It may have been time better spent learning why it was broken and send the patches upstream.

> time better spent learning why it was broken

What are you thinking here? a couple of hours and i'm done? Because this offhand comment would take me months, possibly years to actually be able to do. I know what I don't know - and it's a lot.

There's no better time to start than now. The more people that contribute, the better the platform gets. Bugs don't get fixed when people ignore them.

I think it would be far more useful of myself and others, to properly identify and raise bugs so that developers with the proper knowledge and skill can address it.

The assumption that just anyone can contribute and resolve these issues is extremely generous, and unrealistic. Maybe if you're fresh out of school, you have the time available to truly dig in. But when you're working a FT job, and have a side project, and a life - there is no time for such a deep dive with such little yield. Because not only do you not know the language, you don't know the codebase and you don't know the domain. That's an awful lot to catch up on to fix a bug.

I agree people can be more involved with the software they use. But I think that can play out in many different ways, suited for what each person can bring to the table.

Oh, you properly identified and raised the bug? From the comment, it sounded like you abandoned ship and installed Fedora (which may or may not eventually have the same bug).

You're not wrong - I jumped to fedora (which did not have any of the bugs I experienced). But FWIW, many of them already had been identified elsewhere. Fedora has had it's own bugs of course - though minor ones. I have taken the time to raise them within the Fedora community, but I couldn't do that with debian and it's descendants because the system was in an unusable state (the bugs)

Glad to hear. Lots of users just consume, and don't give back. Reporting bugs is a huge help.

I will happily swap my Mac for a laptop that could reliably run Linux if I ever find one. I had a machine from System 76 where a video driver would break with every major Ubuntu update. Dell XPS 13 developer edition seems to have a surprisingly shitty Linux support too (e.g. see the comment section here http://goo.gl/wVKsDL). Are there other options?

Librem 13 is pretty slick, if you want a black MacBook Air knockoff with good build quality, i5, and its own Linux distro tailored to run the hardware and respects your privacy.

The Asus UX305 works handsomely with Fedora 25, including close to nine hours battery life with light use, flawless sleep/hibernate, etc..

All everyone wants is the mac OS and to put it on any machine they want. Thats all..

I want that provided there's a laptop out there with comparable build quality. I don't much mind who produces it, but - as an example - a trackpad that is at least 75% as good as Apple's is an absolute must.

Speak for yourself.

Nope. This touchbar Mac is actually the best machine I've ever had.

Can you elaborate?

Depending on your use case would also consider a Chromebook. Purchased son an Acer 14 and love this laptop and want one for myself.

It depends on what your requirements are. I have a chromebook, and it's fine for web surfing. However it just doesn't compare to a Macbook pro:

- crappy screen (missing pixel, and low viewing angle)

- plastic case vs aluminium

- much less powerful

- can't run mac OS

My 2011 Macbook Pro cost about $1500, compared to about $200-300 for the Chromebook.

You can install MacOS/hackintosh on at least one chromebook: http://www.omgchrome.com/install-mac-os-x-on-chromebook-c720...

It doesn't appear to be the best experience but it does appear to be possible.

No. D:

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