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Comment by scblock | Hacker News Reader

Are they kidding? I know the Verge is run by strange people, but their top recommendation is a Chinese laptop with a design ripped-off of the MacBook Pro, made by a company that we are recommended to avoid right now because of questionable connections to Chinese government?

Edit: My perspective with this comment is American.

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Really fed up with this. We have been buying american hardware and software for decades, and now you are offended because other producers are caching up?

I am also going to do my bit and stop buying, and recommending, anything american.

Nationalism cuts both ways, and you have started this "trade war".

No, not nationalism. Seemingly legitimate worries about security. I was just clarifying that I was speaking from an American perspective, where US government has published warnings against a specific set of manufacturers, not all Chinese products.

This moronic trade war is not relevant to that position, and I am not at all a fan of the current administration.

Doesn't the NSA and FBI collectively have backdoors on most major consumer hardwares? Wouldn't that be a security concern for the rest of the world?

No, they don’t have any institutionalized backdoors.

That you know of.

The US government still has credibility with you? I guess that is nationalism because it's not rational. You can't trust people who lie repeatedly.

Eh? Sort of like the NSA intercepting routers and flashing them?

Pretty hard to trust anyone at this point.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/05/photos-of-an-nsa...

The American government is absolutely not in bed with Apple and Apple has done a lot to distance themselves from the government (San Bernardino comes to mind). In fact, most American companies are at odds with the government, and if they do have a close relationship, it's because the government is just a cash cow.

They're not in bed with the FBI, but they are in bed with the NSA, hence their participation in the PRISM program.

The US government is big enough that it shouldn't really be thought of as a monolithic entity most of the time.

Meh... as a portable device optimized for scrolling endless social media streams with baby/cat pics - maybe... This or MBP, there's little difference, but phones and tables are way better for that anyway.

In the world of "best laptops" as in "devices we use to make stuff" it's awlays been Thinkpads competing against each other for the top spot. You can't be called even a GOOD laptop without [1] and [2]

[1] https://i.stack.imgur.com/zS1SJ.png

[2] https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TTh3Xi4N6cw/WUGdgdnYjzI/AAAAAAABd...

Macbook trackpad >>> track point and physical buttons.

Oh how I disagree.

But I suppose that's the crux, it's subjective.

RE: Thinkpads though, the quality has been declining rather rapidly since 2011. For this specific feature (trackpoint) the Dell Business line (Latitude) has that: https://img.purch.com/o/aHR0cDovL2Nkbi5sYXB0b3BtYWcuY29tL2lt...

Rusty nails jammed into a parallel port to bit-bang cardinal directions >>> track point.

I prefer the track pad as well. It might be your delivery rather than the message which is being downvoted.

Vertical 5 button mouse and an OS that can actually handle it (Windows) >>> trackpad and Mac OS.

>In the world of "best laptops" as in "devices we use to make stuff" it's awlays been Thinkpads competing against each other for the top spot.

To make what stuff? Because most top-tier programmers whose stuff we actually use, use Macbooks -- just check the laptops of the headliners and speakers at any dev conference -- heck, even Linus has a history of them (running Linux in his case).

As for creatives (musicians, graphic designers, etc, there's no comparison what they use to "make stuff with").

>You can't be called even a GOOD laptop without [1] and [2]

Those are abominations in the eyes of all that's holy.

For cruising the web nothing beats a Chromebook. I came to that conclusion after seeing my latest cheap Windows laptop become unusable over time with slowdowns. Now when I travel and don't need to do any work, it's a Chromebook all the way. The one I got came with a wireless mouse so I don't have to worry about how good the trackpad is.

That is a very American perspective. American companies are not trustworthy either given what NSA and other American institutions have been doing. As a customer, you just get to choose your butcher but nothing more. The only solution in the long run is to design open hardware and use open software.

> but their top recommendation is a Chinese laptop with a design ripped-off of the MacBook Pro

Well, 'ripped-off' is too strong for this very case, as laptops now days looks more or less the same (Just like smartphones).

As a Chinese, I don't think I'll ever buy this Matebook thing (big Dell and ThinkPad fan here), but what I interested is how Apple would respond to all these 'ripped-off' products. Will they finally decide to design something that I don't resist to buy?

For example, the soldered SSD, that's a big NO NO for me. Especially when I realized that few drops of coffee can send me to the deep depression for a long while.

And also, the keyboard. I'm 100% admire those who can type on it all days and still managed to keep all their fingers at full length.

About the 'ripped-off' thing, I think it's fundamentally because one simple reason: It's not very hard to build laptops similar to Macbook anymore. Samsung, LG, ASUS etc, all started to make their own version of 'Macbook's (they call that Ultrabook).

To me, when you saw everyone is rolling out similar products, it's a sign of everybody is hitting a global glass ceiling. Only wonder is who can penetrate it first.

>> "laptop with a design ripped-off of the MacBook Pro"

All I want is a 2014 Macbook Pro with modern processors and a ton of ram. "A design ripped-off of the Macbook Pro" sounds absolutely ideal to me. That's a feature not a bug.

It doesn't necessarily mean they're wrong though. I have personally lamented that Dell or HP don't build a very similar machine, as I'd buy that in a microsecond. It really and truly looks to be the best hardware on the market right now... it's just a shame you can't trust the firmware not to be backdoored.

Dell is selling equally nice (IMO) laptops that actually run Linux out of the box. That's not a comment on security or anything, but it happens to be important to me right now.

I've been burned by their XPS 9350 and the TB15 that should really be recalled to trust Dell again :(

Sorry to hear that. I haven't heard any complaints. Were your problems specific to running Linux?

No, they were hardware related (coil whine, firmware upgrade rendering the laptop inoperable, TB15... Too long to list but also hw).

Yeah it's nice Dell is building Linux machines, but they're not equally nice by my measure. Dell's machines are usually made of lots of various bits of squeaky, often ill-fitting plastic, they usually still require barrel power adapters of various sizes that rarely match between models and have HUGE bricks you have to lug around, and the logic which they use to choose which machines have which display options available seems to be casting bones.

Dell really couldn't go wrong just taking the xerox machine to Huawei's machine. Aluminum body, USB-C power, 3:2 high-DPI display, new processors and maxed out memory, and it's pretty damned light at under 1.5kg. It even nicely hides the camera under the keyboard so you don't have to put obnoxious tape under the lid. It says a hell of a lot the biggest design change I'd make would be to put USB-C ports on both sides so you could charge it from either side.

> squeaky, often ill-fitting plastic

Are you talking about the 5520? Curious because I'm planning on getting one in the near future, but not if it has build issues.

I think that says more about Apple that it appears that a open and unashamed clone manages to execute the concept better.

>know the Verge is run by strange people, but their top recommendation is a Chinese laptop with a design ripped-off of the MacBook Pro

Review sites are always struggling to include or nominate some second-tier PC, to avoid having always a MacBook Pro or iPhone as the first choice -- even when the alternative is subpar.

>made by a company that we are recommended to avoid right now because of questionable connections to Chinese government?

That's really quite irrelevant.

Besides, have the US government also warned people not to use Facebook, Google, and co, because of their ties with it and its surveillance?

My friend has one and it's really nice. I haven't used the new Macbook Pro yet, but the Matebook is one of the best laptop I ever tried for sure.

I first read the title as Macbook, even. The design is an absolute rip-off.

No, the X clearly discombobulates it for me :)

Verge yet again showing their incompetence.

Seriously though, I've heard good things about the Microsoft Surface Book 2, though I am an Apple user. Just can't go back to using Windows. Even with all my 2017 Touchbar MacBook Pro's faults, it sure beats Windows.

And it looks like they copied the crappy Macbook keyboard!

Looks like chiclet keys to me.

It's a really nice computer. You go buy Dell if you want American stuff, but this machine looks like its beating them.

How much innovation has Dell done lately? Or Intel? Or Microsoft? Or Apple?

We get maybe 10% faster cpus, maybe 10% better batteries, maybe a few less ports from Apple, maybe a few more guides in Windows... Its all pretty stagnated.

I welcome our new Chinese overlords. :)

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