Long live Linux.
Edit: Oh yeah, the hibernation is still crappy on Linux, but suspend works well and the laptop starts extremely quickly.
What WM or DE do you use? Is there anything that you miss from the macOS GUI?
From macOS GUI I miss: 1) And the only big one: a good implementation of fractional scaling. Not an issue for the current laptop, but likely will annoy the hell out of me once I upgrade to 1600p in the future. 2) Screen casting works better on macOS. 3) (nit-picky) emoji selector 4) The ability to instantly look up answers to all GUI problems, because so many devs use macOS.
I'm on an M1 Air, but over the years I've also been running (mainly) Mint on various ThinkPads and whilst I loved the experience I never got more than a few hours. And I'm now getting days with Mac OS on the Air, which is the main reason I'm using it - I have become used to not worrying about the battery life, and certainly never having to constrain performance workloads to preserve it.
So I read "Battery life is excellent" and am curious. I get that it won't be M1 (ARM) level, but for doing stuff like a mix of writing plus development (with for example smallish Go compilations) do you have a feel for any kind of averages?
I still find it surprising. Not the M1, but the impact the battery life has on my perceptions.
In so many ways I prefer Linux (and Windows) to the Mac. I also prefer the hardware on ThinkPads (and even my old HP ProBook) because whilst the build quality isn't there they have vastly superior keyboards, ports, and/or matte screen.
And yet it's always the Air I pick up because it's always the Air I know will launch virtually instantly and run for hours.
It is certainly not M1-like battery performance, but plenty for my average workday not to feel constrained.
My current laptop is ThinkPad X1 Carbon 7th Gen from 2019 with 1080p screen, 10th gen Intel CPU, 16GB RAM, I replaced SSD for a very fast Samsung one. The laptop has a rather tiny 51Wh battery.
I was surprised.
Well... no, since most new laptop manufacturers had removed the S3 state (classic suspend to RAM) because Microsoft said that today they have to go with "Modern standby" that basically is leave the system on at a lower power settings. Beside that it doesn't work and will overheat your laptop if placed in a bag... and unfortunately since it is removed from the UEFI Linux can't do too much to put it back.
While hacking is neat, I prefer things to just work with an -intentionally- open ecosystem, one that can't be taken away because of a marketing decision disguised as something else, with companies that are there for this fundamental idea first, and am more than happy with the constant ability to manage the system comprehensively.
I don’t know why this is such a thing in Linux-land, but people love to say, “works for me, case closed”. Desktop Linux is more forgiving with each passing year, but it’s not productive to ignore problems just because you aren’t experiencing them.
As for the "5h is not enough" comments, it seems like a pretty arbitrary number, my work days are not usually longer than 5h per location. USB chargers these days are tiny and ubiquitious, planes have outlets, so it's really not a big deal as a tradeoff for an intentionally open system. People make it sound like they're walking around naked in the world with only their Macbook for weeks at a time and that's the only reality they accept.
If I were doing a weighted choice, at least 5h battery would be critical, but anything more than that is a frill compared to an open ecosystem, which is the world I want to live in.
That would be a serious downgrade for anyone running an M1 machine. Total non-starter for me.
In all honesty, I find myself using the old T450s with a fat battery pack from Aliexpress more often than my new glass cannon T14s.
The whole xorg to wayland transition is definitely a drag, I have to use waynergy for input sharing until that's figured out. I haven't noticed any problems with external monitors, though it's mostly incidental for me since I use a desktop with synergy/barrier/waynergy (sigh) as the secondary display.
I did settle for the t14s 1920x1200 400nit 100% RGB display (I've got a 5k display on my desktop). If you've got a higher res display on your Thinkpad that could make some difference. I'm not saying the Linux world is perfect, but it's pretty good or great in most categories, and in the category of "open" Mac and Windows are basically silent except for handouts.
Off the top of my head:
- Waking from sleep with the lid closed while using an external monitor straight-up doesn’t work. Not with keyboard and mouse input, not even by hitting the power button.
- Thunderbolt hotplugging JUST started working in 22.04, and it still flakes out quite a bit. I think my laptop would normally maintain days to weeks of uptime if it weren’t for Thunderbolt-related issues.
- Battery life in-use is like three hours, max. I’ve never used anything but Linux in this machine so I don’t know how battery life stacks up in Windows, but I know that I was using a MacBook Air at work over a decade ago that did 6+ hours.
I strongly prefer to run Linux and I’ve used it as my primary desktop OS since 2001, but I can’t think of a single Linux laptop in the past 22 years that hasn’t presented me with significant problems that I had to either work around or accept.
There are also weird audio/mic UX issues. Not sure if this is the same across all platforms, but - I usually have my laptop hooked up to an external monitor, audio output set to the external monitor, and my headphones plugged into the monitor. Yesterday, I locked my desktop and stepped away from my desk with the music still playing. When I came back, music was playing out loud from the laptop speaker. That's because the monitor went to sleep, so the HDMI audio sink went away, and the OS "helpfully" switched audio output to the laptop speaker which was set to full volume.
Logically, it makes sense that would happen. Clearly, I am to blame.
I was initially interested by the Framework, but if I'm spending $1000 or more, I really don't want something that generic in every regard. After moving to OLED, HDR, and/or HFR this year, "here's a laptop that might cost you less if it fails from a repairable issue outside of our 1-year limited warranty, otherwise it's another $1000 for a new mainboard" didn't seem like that awesome a feature in the face of AppleCare+, upcycled ThinkPads, etc.
My Lenovo X1 Extreme runs Linux great, but Lenovo now produces Linux drivers on a regular schedule. Most other folks rely on generic drivers.