Drew DeVault

Crippling flaws with the laptops people pretend to like:

Old thinkpads: shit battery life

New thinkpads: shit keyboards, shit upstream driver support

Pine64: flimsy case, bad performance, questionable freedom

System32: giant bulky things charged at twice the price of anything else

Librem: giant bulky things charged at three times the price of anything else

Dell XPS: absolutely godawful firmware, they should be strung up in the town square for it, crippling bugs in every inch of the machine

Feb 19, 2020 at 1:30amWeb
Show threadDrew DeVaultFeb 19, 2020
The other crippling problem with Pine64 is that you can't fucking buy them
Show threadSchoentoon ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฑ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ญFeb 19, 2020
@sir Oh yeah... I ordered the pinebook pro in August. It only arrived in November.. And it has far too many hoops that you have to jump through to actually get it working properly
Show threadStrypeyFeb 19, 2020
@sir you can't blame British Rail for that ;P
Show threadDrew DeVaultFeb 19, 2020
Also, every ARM laptop suffers from being an ARM laptop
Show threadJon โ˜Ž๏ธFeb 19, 2020
@sir X230 seems to be a sweet spot for me, but yes the battery life isn't as great as I'd like. (But then, neither is my work MacBook's.)
Show threadJoshFeb 19, 2020
@jfred @sir big 9 cell battery is a decent option for old thinkpads, thats what I have in my x230 and the battery life is acceptable
Show threadDrew DeVaultFeb 19, 2020
@6a62 @jfred I have a big 9 cell battery AND I keep a second big 9 cell battery in my backpack and the battery life still leaves a lot to be desired
Show threadDrew DeVaultFeb 19, 2020
@6a62 @jfred I love old thinkpads as much as anyone and I think they're probably the best laptops you can buy, but we have to be real with ourselves about the godawful battery life
Show threadJon โ˜Ž๏ธFeb 19, 2020
@sir @6a62 Admitted. If there were a laptop with similar repairability/performance/size/driver support but better battery life, I'd probably switch to it.
Show threadJon โ˜Ž๏ธFeb 19, 2020
@6a62 @sir True, but it makes the thing way heavier as well, and I use this machine in part because it's relatively small/light
Show threadElias MรฅrtensonFeb 19, 2020
@sir
I think you're wrong about the new Thinkpads. The keyboard is OK. What's really bad is the touchpad.
Show threadDonnieFeb 19, 2020

@sir yep. Took me forever to settle for an X1 Carbon 7th gen but that's because I'm half deranged and therefore carry a 40% mechanical keyboard everywhere.

Nothing gives me freedom and thin/light at the same time ๐Ÿ˜ž

Show threadKayWFeb 19, 2020
@sir The only thing wrong with my Dell XPS 13 is the fingerprint sensor not working. Everything else just works ootb.
Show threadDrew DeVaultFeb 19, 2020
@kayw Dell can go fuck itself as far as I'm concerned, if it were possible to have less faith in the firmware than zero then I'd have it
Show threadDrew DeVaultFeb 19, 2020
@kayw I just wasted 5 hours on an XPS 13 model
Show threadpounceFeb 19, 2020
@sir god i got a librem and it was such a mistake
would much rather exchange it for my gf's xps
Show thread[Moved] PolychromeFeb 19, 2020

@sir is 32 actually 76? their laptops are big but the Lemur seems okay size and weight wise.

The touchpad and speakers are terrible tho.

Show threadDrew DeVaultFeb 19, 2020
@polychrome I meant 76, yeah
Show threadSajithFeb 19, 2020
@sir How about an old (pre-2017) MacBook Pro?
Show threadDrew DeVaultFeb 19, 2020
@sajith don't like the keyboards
Show threadSajithFeb 19, 2020

@sir Is using an external keyboard a reasonable compromise? IMO no laptop keyboard can match a good mechanical keyboard. Perhaps the hassle and noise could be worth the trouble?

I'm not trying to anger you further! I'm just curious.

Show threadDrew DeVaultFeb 19, 2020
@sajith not really. I use an external keyboard whenever I'm forced to use a laptop as a long-term (several hours) workstation, but most of my laptop usage isn't really that
Show threadPort-humping pupperFeb 19, 2020
@sir

Crapple: shit keyboards, rather pricey
Show threaddamian, the cartographerFeb 19, 2020
@sir Am I the only one who actually appreciates the keyboard on newer ThinkPads?
Show threadstefanFeb 19, 2020
@nihiltarian @sir yes ๐Ÿ˜ƒ
Show threadRobertFeb 19, 2020
@nihiltarian @sir I really like it too. haven't really experienced the older thinkpads so I can only compare to a dell studio 15 (haha) and the 2014 macbook
Show threadIvan Sagalaev Feb 19, 2020
@sir I bought my new (well, 5 years ago it was new) because of its keyboard. And display, too. I don't need you to tell me I'm "pretending" to like it :-)
Show threadDoc Edward Morbius โŒโ€‹Feb 19, 2020

@sir Far too many laptops: 16:9 / 16:10 high-gloss displays.

Similarly: WXGA+ resolution (1440x900): most useless resolution evar.

Too fucking short for high-res text.

To fucking wide for portrait mode.

I'm leaning vaguely toward hybrid formats. A decent tablet, with a full shell, and a folio-type, full-keyboard, self-supporting case, might be an option. That featureset doesn't seem to exist.

Show threadIzzy's Old AccountFeb 19, 2020
@dredmorbius @sir One or two portrait 1440x900 displays make a good companion to a landscape 1680x1050 or 1920x1200 display.
Show threadDoc Edward Morbius โŒโ€‹Feb 19, 2020

@izaya There is that.

But in standard, laptop (or desk) use, 1440x900 is almost perfectly useless. Depending on pixel density / pattern, it's also not all that great in a vertical orientation (Roman/Latin glyphs tend to have more horizontal than vertical distinctive features, and where RGB patterns run horizontally rather than vertically, text gets muddied).

I do a *lot* of PDF, djvu, or epub reading. For that *either* a 1-up portrait *or* a 2-up landscape view is best.

@sir

Show threadDoc Edward Morbius โŒโ€‹Feb 19, 2020

@izaya A ~9-10" tablet in portrait usually works well for 1-up. A retina iMac is acceptable for 2-up viewing.

Actually, more than, as there's sufficient space to have a terminal window up on the side for Getting Real Work Done. Except that MacOS window management is a complete clusterfuck that I haet haet haet.

(Windowmaker FTFW.)

@sir

Show threadDigital Mark ฮป โ˜•๏ธ ๐ŸŒฎ ๐Ÿš€ ๐ŸŒ—Feb 19, 2020
@dredmorbius @izaya @sir At 9x16 pixel font, that's 160x56, which is more than enough for 2x2 grid of 80x25 terminals. Shell, editor, ssh, man page. Or a single browser or PDF reader in another virtual desktop. You just have to be focused, not "all my windows are open next to each other".
Show threadDoc Edward Morbius โŒโ€‹Feb 19, 2020

@mdhughes For terminals, generally, yes, though I'm reaching a point where I've got to start bumping font sizes up. This hurts more ways than one.

A key problem is that I'm *NOT* simply using terminals. When I'm reading PDFs on laptops, and older (non-retina) desktop systems, *I need the full display* for all but the most high-end (e.g., Retina iMac) displays.

Even for desktops, 1440x900 is depressingly common. For 2-up PDFs that's just not enough detail.

@izaya @sir

Show threadDoc Edward Morbius โŒโ€‹Feb 19, 2020

@mdhughes And since I'm generally reading *and* writing or researching, that means in almost all cases having another 1-3 screens, possibly more, visible:

- 2-up PDF
- Terminal w/ editor.
- Browser (text if possible, often not).
- Code
- Often further references (other PDFs, other writing, code references, etc.)

Yes, multi-tab / mutliplexed tools (screen/tmux) help, but only so much. Often I simply need a lot visible at once. Again, the iMac Retina (4096x2304) is WONDERFUL.

@izaya @sir

Show threadDoc Edward Morbius โŒโ€‹Feb 19, 2020

@mdhughes Correction: 5120x2880 on the iMac.

@izaya @sir

Show threadDigital Mark ฮป โ˜•๏ธ ๐ŸŒฎ ๐Ÿš€ ๐ŸŒ—Feb 19, 2020
@dredmorbius @izaya @sir I'm spoiled by retina displays, but happily still read almost the same pixel sizes as when I was young, and the PDFs I need when working are either digest-sized or just plain text in decent sizes. Papers in flyspeck 6 font would have to live on an iPad.
Show threadDoc Edward Morbius โŒโ€‹Feb 19, 2020

@mdhughes I'm working with a library of 10k+ docs of highly variable quality.

Massaging / mashing those into a uniformly readable format is ... part of the challenge I've set up for myself. Tools like pdf2text help, though only where the underlying text is actually accessible.

Otherwise it's OCR and a lot of hand-correction.

Again: this is my core requirement. A bunch of "nearly good enoughs" or "nice to haves" don't cut it. Most laptops completely suck.

@izaya @sir

Show threadMendelFeb 19, 2020

@sir and that is why I bought an old...

MacBook Air 2015: good keyboard, great battery life, mediocre screen, decent *nix (?) experience.
Most things have good support for macOS because of the ginormous userbase.

I picked one up used < 400, battery lasts me a week, its slim, lightweight, built pretty well w/ solid metal chassis, has more ports than all the latest flagship devices combined...