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Comment by nerdponx | Hacker News Reader

Agreed. Apple makes the best consumer mobile computer hardware by far, repairability issues aside. The touchpad is originally what sold me on my first MacBook (2013 13" Retina) and it is still the feature I miss the most on other laptops.

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Apple makes the best looking consumer computer hardware, but a Thinkpad destroys it in every department except the Trackpad. Keyboard (no contest), upgradability, RAM, ruggedness, even price.

I see people say that Thinkpads are more rugged than Macbooks and have to wonder what that opinion is based on. My own experience is that they're at least on par. (unless we're talking about the specifically-engineered "toughbook" style Thinkpads)

I've dropped my Macbook Air, open, from a standing height onto a tile floor (accidentally, obviously), and the only damage was a slightly bent corner of the lid. That was 3 years ago and I'm still using it every day. And my home beater is a 2008 Macbook Pro that I've dragged all over the world; the only failure so far has been a fan, which I replaced myself.

In my case, my opinion is based on:

- All (newish) thinkpads having spill-resistant keyboards.

- The best-selling ones (X & T series) meeting the Mil-SPEC 810G standard.

I use a Mac though, because I got tired of fighting to get Linux properly running on my thinkpad

edit:format

I've been impressed with the durability of MacBooks in the past, but sadly the "survives a fall from the top of a refrigerator without a scratch" feature has been superceded by "keyboard exposed to air, several keys stop working". They're way too flaky these days for the nice aluminum unibody to offset.

Good point. I haven't bought a laptop in a while, so my view is probably outdated. I do like the keyboard on my Lenovo work laptop though.

I had kept repairability issue aside until I had to go for flash drive replacement of my 2012 13" MacBook Air recently.

Apple support (which is a 3rd party in my country) said ~$400 and local repair guys quotes like $350 or so. The new MBA (last year's) is available for ~800 here. Apparently I can't get any other brand's flash drive fit in there.

That laptop worked just fine (battery, screen all). I wish I can find a way to give it another year or two. Maybe boot from a memory card or so and leave it plugged all the time?

Here's what you want:

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ssd/owc/macbook-air/2012

Just replaced the internal SSD on a 2012 MBA myself - works great now :)

Thank you. I will try to find its equivalent available in my country (IN).

You can also boot off a Thunderbolt 2 or USB SSD drive for better performance. I duct-taped one to the back of my screen a few years ago when I didn’t have time to get a repair done.

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