A few years ago I bought a top spec MacBook Pro 15" as my main workhorse. I did it somewhat for the OS because there was a small handful of applications I needed that only ran on OS X or Windows and between the two the choice was clear. But the main reason for it was that the build quality of the laptop case, the screen, and the keyboard were superior to anything money could buy. I am still very happy with it, but I am just so happy to see that build quality is starting to become a thing manufacturs and consumers are starting to pay attention to and not the specs. I don't really care if I have an i5 or an i7. Both are damn fast and if I need more power I will rent it from AWS et al. But I can't rent a better screen hinge. Or a higher res display. Just look at this laptop in TFA. Five years ago you couldn't find a thing like that. X1 Carbon was just popping up and having a decent display was basically impossible. And don't get me started on the touch pads the size of my thumbnail. Competition is truly good for the consumer!
Totally agree on build quality. I'm a desktop linux guy since 2007, but a company I worked for a few years ago gave us all 15" MBPr's, and I've been using it ever since just for the build quality. Not a fan of closed source, walled gardens, or of running Linux in a VM, but the durability of the hardware is addicting.
What exactly do you mean by "build quality"? An aluminium case? Sure it gives a premium feel, but it's also heavy, dents and attenuates radio, so not really an obvious choice before Apple popularised it. Recently Apple have also standardised on glued-in batteries, which is not really representative of a premium "build quality" IMHO. Their trackpads have been very good, but I've always preferred the ThinkPad nipple.
> the screen, and the keyboard were superior to anything money could buy
You are showing your bias here. Thinkpad keyboards have always been more highly regarded than Apples. And not everyone wants a glossy glass-covered panel, even if it's a good one (i.e. not the MacBook Air).
This. So much this. It boggles my mind that basically 100% of PC business laptops are stuck with productivity-averse 16:9 displays.
Corporations are willingly paying the 'enterprise' markup for business laptops, manufacturers should have at least the decency to come up with proper screens. But no. For almost all hardware-related design improvements, they will make a move only after Apple has kicked their asses and humiliated them and their derivative design...
While it obviously does run, it's still so broken it's hardly usable. You basically have a 'mobile PC' rather than a laptop/notebook. There is no suspend/resume, hibernation is slow, video not really supported and the touchpad doesn't fully work. Basically, it's fine for when you want a 'mobile server', but for desktop or human interaction via the local console this is just as bad as a cheap windows laptop: things are there, but they don't really work well.
Things like suspend/resume, hibernate, video drivers, and touchpads generally get fixed when developers have a need for them. You can hack it together yourself, or you can buy a developer the same model laptop that you wish had everything working and hope they like it enough to fix stuff. Or you can shut up.
And fwiw, cheap windows laptops "just work" far more often and far better than almost any linux distro I've tried.
Edit: Author notes he is working on improving touchpad. This is exactly how it gets done for OpenBSD.
Is anyone else concerned about buying a laptop from a Chinese manufacturer?
I own a number of MacBooks and while they were all assembled in China I don't have any concerns about the firmware. As more of these make it to US markets I'm sure if there is something it will come out but I'm currently taking a wait and see approach.
Your firmware was flashed in China. At the end of the day, everything comes from China and if you're worried about Huawei firmware you should also be worried about Macbook firmware. For reference, some time ago it was discovered that Lenovo firmware also had Chinese backdoors[1].
My impression is that all electronics contain components from Shenzhen. Like, everyone I know who did a hardware startup moved to Shenzhen and spent at least six months there (if they didn't move part of the team there permanently).
So you should (dis)trust all consumer-facing manufacturers equally, and find another way to verify that your system is running correctly. For example, here's how Chromium OS / Chrome OS does it:
The "consumer" you're talking about is a very technical user for starters. Something doesn't have to carry all the traits of "consumer" software for it to be useful to someone.
I used openbsd on a laptop some years back until that hardware died and my replacement didn't have some driver I wanted. It was a joy to use if you appreciate a light, no-nonsense Unix. Only pain point is that upgrades are very manual.
Now a decade later I have a different machine running freebsd which has a pretty similar feel, and I do appreciate the easier upgrades. I thought for a while in the recent past obsd had more up to date Intel graphics drivers but that was remedied in my use case by freebsd 11.
As for "why not linux", I feel like the BSDs as a desktop have a lot of the "on your own" feel that linux used to in the late 90s. Some people I suspect will loathe this. I like it.
OpenBSD doesn't suffer the terrible churn and break-and-change-everything syndrome that makes the Linux UX so miserable. I can't compare it to FreeBSD, but I think OpenBSD can be more attractive for its focus on the head of development.
Secure-by-default, reliability, consistency, and good docs. There's lots of people who would appreciate that even if they weren't technical experts. From there, you have the split of who would be interested in it as-is versus who would use it if someone set up the UI, apps, and so on for them. Mac OS X is probably the ultimate example of layering a great UI for lay people with "just works" mentality over UNIX. I bet something like that on OpenBSD would have significant, even if single percent, market.
At least in my experience on several Lenovo laptops and even a 2012 MacBook Pro, OpenBSD has a much better GUI experience than FreeBSD, down to things like suspend and resume working with no tweaking required.
[+] [-] IgorPartola|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] SkyMarshal|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] willtim|8 years ago|reply
> the screen, and the keyboard were superior to anything money could buy
You are showing your bias here. Thinkpad keyboards have always been more highly regarded than Apples. And not everyone wants a glossy glass-covered panel, even if it's a good one (i.e. not the MacBook Air).
[+] [-] dingo_bat|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gbrown_|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Hasknewbie|8 years ago|reply
Corporations are willingly paying the 'enterprise' markup for business laptops, manufacturers should have at least the decency to come up with proper screens. But no. For almost all hardware-related design improvements, they will make a move only after Apple has kicked their asses and humiliated them and their derivative design...
[+] [-] oneplane|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sverige|8 years ago|reply
And fwiw, cheap windows laptops "just work" far more often and far better than almost any linux distro I've tried.
Edit: Author notes he is working on improving touchpad. This is exactly how it gets done for OpenBSD.
[+] [-] bobsam|8 years ago|reply
I bet one month from now things will look much better.
[+] [-] chriscappuccio|8 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] cwisecarver|8 years ago|reply
I own a number of MacBooks and while they were all assembled in China I don't have any concerns about the firmware. As more of these make it to US markets I'm sure if there is something it will come out but I'm currently taking a wait and see approach.
[+] [-] cyphar|8 years ago|reply
[1]: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/07/29/lenovo_accused_backd...
[+] [-] tpolzer|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cbhl|8 years ago|reply
So you should (dis)trust all consumer-facing manufacturers equally, and find another way to verify that your system is running correctly. For example, here's how Chromium OS / Chrome OS does it:
https://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/chromiumos-design-docs/...
https://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/chromiumos-design-docs/...
[+] [-] unknown|8 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] xupybd|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] izacus|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] digi_owl|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] AdmiralAsshat|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] asveikau|8 years ago|reply
I used openbsd on a laptop some years back until that hardware died and my replacement didn't have some driver I wanted. It was a joy to use if you appreciate a light, no-nonsense Unix. Only pain point is that upgrades are very manual.
Now a decade later I have a different machine running freebsd which has a pretty similar feel, and I do appreciate the easier upgrades. I thought for a while in the recent past obsd had more up to date Intel graphics drivers but that was remedied in my use case by freebsd 11.
As for "why not linux", I feel like the BSDs as a desktop have a lot of the "on your own" feel that linux used to in the late 90s. Some people I suspect will loathe this. I like it.
[+] [-] clarry|8 years ago|reply
OpenBSD doesn't suffer the terrible churn and break-and-change-everything syndrome that makes the Linux UX so miserable. I can't compare it to FreeBSD, but I think OpenBSD can be more attractive for its focus on the head of development.
[+] [-] nickpsecurity|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] djsumdog|8 years ago|reply
Why climb a mountain? Why cycle a 90km trail? Why travel the world? Because it's there and we can.
[+] [-] rmusial|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|8 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] ty_a|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] xupybd|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] SalahEddine|8 years ago|reply
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