Re: [tlug] Laptop and Macbook related query

["Jens John" <lists@example.com>]

I also don't think this survey is representative because from lemon devices to device usage a lot factors in, but I'll put down my notes anyawy.

On Sat, 26 Sep 2020, at 09:21, Deepika Ghuriani wrote:

1.  What is the maximum life of a macbook / windows /linux laptop you have used and during that period how often did you have to replace its accessories ?

The ThinkPad x240 i5-4210U w/ 8G memory and IPS screen has been serving as my desktop replacement since December 2014. See <http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:X240>.

It has a peculiar design where there is an internal as well as an external battery. I replaced the external 3-cell battery that came from the factory only this year for a new 6-cell battery. The reason is not that the 3-cell original battery doesn't hold a charge anymore -- even after 6 years of heavy use (basically every single day save a few), but because the battery started bloating a little. Just to err on the side of caution.

I disassemble the complete laptop keyboard according to the freely available Hardware Maintenance Manual about once a year for rigorous cleaning. I also dust off the interior.

Accessoires? I don't have any special accessoires. I use the USB hub in my Dell monitor as a dock (while still getting video via mDP), to which my hideously expensive mechanical keyboard, mouse and so on are connected, but that's not special to the device.

I can however add that for work, I used both a MacBook Air (2014-2017) and a MacBook Pro 2019, the absolute high-end model (since 2019) and I can tell you that using a keyboard that is not tailored to Apple with an Apple device requires you to be able to type completely blindly, or mess with keyboard layout editors because Apple really doesn't like you use such keyboards. Plus, I had to find https://sensible-side-buttons.archagon.net/ and install it because Apple doesn't support us peons' standard mice with many buttons either. Furthermore, of course, I had to purchase an Anker USBC-to-HDMI dongle in order to be able to use my external monitors with the macbook. Additionally, Apple sabotaged font rendering on "not retina enough" external displays starting in Mojave as they only want to support retina displays in general, and you have to mess with magic cmdline commands to get sensible betterment, and even then the average Linux distro now has better looking fonts on my trusted 16:10 panels than MacOS. So you better replace all your external displays with 4k ones or so to make your eyes happy. If that's any lesson, if there's a computer make for which you collect/churn through expensive and otherwise unnecessary accessoires, it's Apple.

I can also comment on the 2018-2019s Apple models' keyboard quality. Out of us 12 team members, 7 got new Apple computers in late 2019 or early 2020, and of those 3 already had to turn them in again because single keyboard keys stopped working because of some minimal dust. Plus, they're horrible to type on. These Macbooks are unusable for a professional who has to type 8 hours a day 5 days a week and then some on them, unless you use peripherals. I don't think the MacBook Pro series are very good durable machines anymore. Definitely solid aluminum bricks when in clamshell mode, but otherwise...

      ( I am using my macbook pro since 2012 and had to replace my charging cable 3 times in this duration  )

     

2. Which software have you been using for document editing in macbook ( which replaces microsoft word ) 

Enterprise knows only Office.

Frankly, for compatibility's sake and unless you care about finding that one MS Office compatible toolsuite whose documents people who only have MS Office can read without too many layout issues, I would recommend to buy Office 2016 or 2019. I would buy it for Excel alone. These will last you a good long while. If you only need documents for yourself and not for exchange professionally, maybe the Apple office apps or stuff like LibreOffice are alright for you, although I have only really used keynote.

 I am planning to replace my macbook hence looking out for these inputs to make a decision. Would really appreciate it if you all can provide me with some inputs on this.

If you need a laptop, I would suggest looking into Dell Latitude and Precision, or maybe Lenovo. I will likely buy a desktop instead of a new laptop next, because price-wise, I can get the performance of one laptop in the class I want twice or more on the desktop for the same money. For mobility, I can just keep the current laptop! There has been, in my opinion, apart from USB-C drama and the new AMD CPU/chipset lineup, very little innovation in the laptop space that warrants the premium of a top-of-the-line laptop model at today's prices. On the desktop on the other hand, you can get a huge jump in performance for the same or less money than in 2014.