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I was extremely unsatisfied with the promise and then the delivery of my surface pro, ended up selling it to a friend with lighter computing needs. The touch ba

I was extremely unsatisfied with the promise and then the delivery of my surface pro, ended up selling it to a friend with lighter computing needs. The touch bar macbook seems pretty useful itself considering how insanely good its IO is (4 thunderbolt ports!!!). I haven't been able to use it as much and im waiting for better eGPU options to come out. in the mean time I'm stuck just like you in the world of linux. My primary desktop pc for the past 9 months was my galaxy note 8 with a usb c to hdmi adapter. it has an incredible chromebook like UI when docked and has all the linux tools i need! I've even been able to write an app and submit it to the app store all from there. You really cant go back after you've tried one device life and it makes filming and editing content for my youtube channel seamless since video never leaves the 256gb SD card inside my phone. Huawei has a similar mode and i cant wait for google to support it. they do natively support windowed mode and moving apps freely but i mean just add a chromebook ui to the screen when u dock a pixel 3 and you will be golden :)

fcbrooklyn 8y ago
Yeah, I looked at the pros too. I don't think they were powerful enough for me, and I went with the SB2 instead.
busymichael 8y ago
You wrote a native mobile app on a Galaxy Note 8 and submitted it to the App Store? Can you tell us what was your workflow and tool set?
- gt2 8y ago
  Maybe React Native?
- DennisAleynikov 8y ago
  Termux emulates Zsh for me and gives access to apt-get. so I installed nodejs through apt and made the project with react native and expo. compiling the binary for uploading to Google Play Store was a tricky step and I hope to improve the workflow in the future but for now had to cheat. Expo.io provides a build service for free where they will compile and sign your app for you. ideally i need to get a copy of OpenJDK installed and build with gradle but this was much easier. Expo also allows you to build an iOS blob from Android entirely assuming you have a way to get it onto an iphone through testflight.
  - mLuby 8y ago
    I'd be interested to read a write-up of this.
gnicholas 8y ago
> The touch bar macbook seems pretty useful itself considering how insanely good its IO is (4 thunderbolt ports!!!) Can a machine have "insanely good IO" if dongles are required for everything from iPhones to hard drives to memory cards? I could agree that a machine with 4 thunderbolt ports on top of the regular complement of power, USB-A, and SD slots would be insanely great. But I'm living the dongle life and not loving it.
- danudey 8y ago
  A machine can have "insanely good IO" if you're not judging it in the context of older hardware, yes. Four thunderbolt ports is great. One adapter to plug in all of the things you mentioned is also great. iPhones and hard drives don't need dongles, they just need cables. A USB-C to USB-B 3.1 cable is $1.33 from Monoprice; USB 2.0 version is just $1.12. Not too shabby. For iPhones: the only times I've had to plug my iPhone into my laptop is doing development, but a cable for that only costs $20. But let's compare it to the previous (2015) MacBook Pro: two USB ports and two Thunderbolt-and-Displayport ports, and HDMI. Five ports total, but no flexibility. Our office was full of DP-to-DVI dongles already, so swapping one dongle for another seems like a no-op. Difference now is that we can buy USB-C monitors which also serve as a power source and a USB hub, meaning one cable to plug in my entire desk. That's something you can't really get on the old MacBooks (at least, not without spending a lot more than it costs to do it on the new MacBooks. So yeah, the machine has "insanely good IO", and once the rest of the world catches up it'll be even better.
  - lutrinae666 8y ago
    >So yeah, the machine has "insanely good IO", and once the rest of the world catches up it'll be even better. I mean, that's the thing. Apple jumped ahead, and USB-C just isn't common. (At least, for me. I can't name any device I've used or even heard of that uses USB-C.) So, it's a less than practical option if you're in the market for a laptop, not so much insanely good. I wouldn't buy a computer with only serial and parallel ports because none of my devices use them, and I wouldn't buy a computer with only USB-C ports, because none of my devices use them.

fcbrooklyn 8y ago

Yeah, I looked at the pros too. I don't think they were powerful enough for me, and I went with the SB2 instead.

busymichael 8y ago

You wrote a native mobile app on a Galaxy Note 8 and submitted it to the App Store? Can you tell us what was your workflow and tool set?

gt2 8y ago
Maybe React Native?
DennisAleynikov 8y ago
Termux emulates Zsh for me and gives access to apt-get. so I installed nodejs through apt and made the project with react native and expo. compiling the binary for uploading to Google Play Store was a tricky step and I hope to improve the workflow in the future but for now had to cheat. Expo.io provides a build service for free where they will compile and sign your app for you. ideally i need to get a copy of OpenJDK installed and build with gradle but this was much easier. Expo also allows you to build an iOS blob from Android entirely assuming you have a way to get it onto an iphone through testflight.
- mLuby 8y ago
  I'd be interested to read a write-up of this.

gnicholas 8y ago

> The touch bar macbook seems pretty useful itself considering how insanely good its IO is (4 thunderbolt ports!!!) Can a machine have "insanely good IO" if dongles are required for everything from iPhones to hard drives to memory cards? I could agree that a machine with 4 thunderbolt ports on top of the regular complement of power, USB-A, and SD slots would be insanely great. But I'm living the dongle life and not loving it.

danudey 8y ago
A machine can have "insanely good IO" if you're not judging it in the context of older hardware, yes. Four thunderbolt ports is great. One adapter to plug in all of the things you mentioned is also great. iPhones and hard drives don't need dongles, they just need cables. A USB-C to USB-B 3.1 cable is $1.33 from Monoprice; USB 2.0 version is just $1.12. Not too shabby. For iPhones: the only times I've had to plug my iPhone into my laptop is doing development, but a cable for that only costs $20. But let's compare it to the previous (2015) MacBook Pro: two USB ports and two Thunderbolt-and-Displayport ports, and HDMI. Five ports total, but no flexibility. Our office was full of DP-to-DVI dongles already, so swapping one dongle for another seems like a no-op. Difference now is that we can buy USB-C monitors which also serve as a power source and a USB hub, meaning one cable to plug in my entire desk. That's something you can't really get on the old MacBooks (at least, not without spending a lot more than it costs to do it on the new MacBooks. So yeah, the machine has "insanely good IO", and once the rest of the world catches up it'll be even better.
- lutrinae666 8y ago
  >So yeah, the machine has "insanely good IO", and once the rest of the world catches up it'll be even better. I mean, that's the thing. Apple jumped ahead, and USB-C just isn't common. (At least, for me. I can't name any device I've used or even heard of that uses USB-C.) So, it's a less than practical option if you're in the market for a laptop, not so much insanely good. I wouldn't buy a computer with only serial and parallel ports because none of my devices use them, and I wouldn't buy a computer with only USB-C ports, because none of my devices use them.