5 ms·

I stupidly chose a high end thinkpad at my job a few years ago and I am a counting the days until I can renew and get a Mac. The hardware is shit. I've had to

I stupidly chose a high end thinkpad at my job a few years ago and I am a counting the days until I can renew and get a Mac. The hardware is shit. I've had to send it to service 3 times in the nearly 3 years I've been working with it. I just put in a new up arrow key last week because the last one broke. In it's current state only one USB port is functional. Granted I'm a consultant and do heavily traveling but it has never happened to any of my colleagues Macs. Once it was in service for week because the wifi card was disconnected. Don't even get me started about running linux on it, not a nice experience. Getting home and using my mac is such an upgrade, OS and hardware wise. Only thing I really miss is the red track button in the middle of the keyboard, that is a phenomenal feature!

vtail 8y ago
Sorry to hear about your troubles. When I was a consultant (and used Thinkpads heavily at work) they worked pretty reliably with a lot of abuse, although I agree that Windows is something that (for me personally) is hard to tolerate as an OS. What's interesting about OpenBSD/Thinkpad combo is that hardware support is miles better vs. Linux on the same hardware (WiFi, snooze, etc.), from what I can tell, as many of the OpenBSD developers use them as personal machines.
tkfu 8y ago
Interesting; I have basically the exact opposite experience. I had a T460P (running Linux) that I loved as my work computer, and then my company got acquired and I had to choose between a gigantic brick of a Dell or a Macbook, so I decided to try a mac for a while. I absolutely hate it: the keyboard needs to be blown out with compressed air all the damn time, plugging in external monitors is a total crapshoot, the touch bar thing just sucks, having only USB-C ports is a pain, and every fuse filesystem is insanely slow.
- twunde 8y ago
  The 2015 macbooks and earlier were great. The switch to USB-C/removal of thunderbolt AND hdmi has made using the newer macs a real pain. The older macs had much better keyboards (and better placement of the touchpad). The only nice thing about the touchbars is that they have a fingerprint reader.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - closetohome 8y ago
    Actually they replaced Thunderbolt 2 with Thunderbolt 3, and it's better.
    - twunde 8y ago
      Do you actually have any equipment that comes with Thunderbolt3/USB-C cables? My office currently buys new hires at least one dongle plus an hdmi cord because our monitors don't come with a USB-C cable (if yours do, please let me know what you're purchasing). Wireless mice and keyboards that use the USBs need dongles. If you go into a random conference room (at work, at clients etc), many places will have hdmi cords which you used to just be able to plug in. Instead of having a laptop that "just works" it's now a pain to ensure that new hires have all the equipment they need.
      - closetohome 8y ago
        I'm probably a bad example because my setup is hilariously kludged together. I use two circa 2007 30" Cinema Displays, so from the laptop it goes Thunderbolt 3 > Thunderbolt 3 Hub > Thunderbolt 3 to dual DisplayPort > 2x DisplayPort to Mini DisplayPort > 2x Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI > Displays. The upside is that my MacBook is connected to all that with a single cable that includes power. For peripherals I use bluetooth. When I travel I just carry that Apple HDMI/USB/power breakout dongle and it covers every situation I've found myself in so far.
- kidsnow 8y ago
  The fingerprint reader doesn't work most of the time. Either it doesn't appear at all, or it's completely unresponsive.
  - sh87 8y ago
    Yes, it doesn't work most of the time. Thats still higher than Lenovo fingerprint readers which never work.
reificator 8y ago
> Only thing I really miss is the red track button in the middle of the keyboard, that is a phenomenal feature! Oh, are you referring to the TrackPoint™-style pointer? https://xkcd.com/243/ https://xkcd.com/243/
bootlooped 8y ago
Which model was it? I have heard different model lines have vastly different quality levels. I think the T and X lines are widely considered the best. I would not consider anything outside those two lines for professional use. My T430s has been great. It sees a lot of use too.

vtail 8y ago

Sorry to hear about your troubles. When I was a consultant (and used Thinkpads heavily at work) they worked pretty reliably with a lot of abuse, although I agree that Windows is something that (for me personally) is hard to tolerate as an OS. What's interesting about OpenBSD/Thinkpad combo is that hardware support is miles better vs. Linux on the same hardware (WiFi, snooze, etc.), from what I can tell, as many of the OpenBSD developers use them as personal machines.

tkfu 8y ago

Interesting; I have basically the exact opposite experience. I had a T460P (running Linux) that I loved as my work computer, and then my company got acquired and I had to choose between a gigantic brick of a Dell or a Macbook, so I decided to try a mac for a while. I absolutely hate it: the keyboard needs to be blown out with compressed air all the damn time, plugging in external monitors is a total crapshoot, the touch bar thing just sucks, having only USB-C ports is a pain, and every fuse filesystem is insanely slow.

twunde 8y ago
The 2015 macbooks and earlier were great. The switch to USB-C/removal of thunderbolt AND hdmi has made using the newer macs a real pain. The older macs had much better keyboards (and better placement of the touchpad). The only nice thing about the touchbars is that they have a fingerprint reader.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- closetohome 8y ago
  Actually they replaced Thunderbolt 2 with Thunderbolt 3, and it's better.
  - twunde 8y ago
    Do you actually have any equipment that comes with Thunderbolt3/USB-C cables? My office currently buys new hires at least one dongle plus an hdmi cord because our monitors don't come with a USB-C cable (if yours do, please let me know what you're purchasing). Wireless mice and keyboards that use the USBs need dongles. If you go into a random conference room (at work, at clients etc), many places will have hdmi cords which you used to just be able to plug in. Instead of having a laptop that "just works" it's now a pain to ensure that new hires have all the equipment they need.
    - closetohome 8y ago
      I'm probably a bad example because my setup is hilariously kludged together. I use two circa 2007 30" Cinema Displays, so from the laptop it goes Thunderbolt 3 > Thunderbolt 3 Hub > Thunderbolt 3 to dual DisplayPort > 2x DisplayPort to Mini DisplayPort > 2x Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI > Displays. The upside is that my MacBook is connected to all that with a single cable that includes power. For peripherals I use bluetooth. When I travel I just carry that Apple HDMI/USB/power breakout dongle and it covers every situation I've found myself in so far.
kidsnow 8y ago
The fingerprint reader doesn't work most of the time. Either it doesn't appear at all, or it's completely unresponsive.
- sh87 8y ago
  Yes, it doesn't work most of the time. Thats still higher than Lenovo fingerprint readers which never work.

reificator 8y ago

> Only thing I really miss is the red track button in the middle of the keyboard, that is a phenomenal feature! Oh, are you referring to the TrackPoint™-style pointer? https://xkcd.com/243/ https://xkcd.com/243/

bootlooped 8y ago

Which model was it? I have heard different model lines have vastly different quality levels. I think the T and X lines are widely considered the best. I would not consider anything outside those two lines for professional use. My T430s has been great. It sees a lot of use too.