7 ms·

I have been using Macs for the past 12 years and am nearing the end of my rope. I received the toucbar MBP through work and I hate it due to all the reasons pop

I have been using Macs for the past 12 years and am nearing the end of my rope. I received the toucbar MBP through work and I hate it due to all the reasons popularized. But while Mac might take a hostile approach in terms of hardware, Windows takes one with their software. I feel stuck. I also find linux still too janky and don't have the same patience I did as a teenager to go through myriad settings and configuration files just to get things working or looking good.

appleiigs 8y ago
Linux has been pain-free for me this year. Ubuntu Budgie and Pop!_OS distros feel polished to me now on my desktop. With Budgie I don't do any config at all. I did do about 15 mins of config with Pop and got it looking and set up exactly how I like it. Settled on Pop as my daily driver. For a laptop, been using a $300 chromebook. With Crostini I get all my linux apps that I use hassle free. I also use Google Docs and Sheets and Bitbucket for my personal stuff - I switch between my laptop and desktop seamlessly. I use my work Citrix if have to work from home (eg. MS Office). Nothing on my Mac that I miss.
- marrone12 8y ago
  That's cool. I have a small (11") windows laptop that I put Ubuntu on and it took me a bit to have all the display settings to work properly, especially with HiDPI and weird scaling. Nothing ever looked quite right for me. I had a chromebook for a bit and I really loved it but felt too uneasy with Google having 100% supervision over all of my internet activities.
  - appleiigs 8y ago
    Yes, dealing with HiDPI is one of the configs I did have to do. I have Pop on another laptop and I kept scaling at 100%, but increased font size by 1.5x via gnome-tweaks. Annoying to have to do it, but it's a one time adjustment and doesn't look frankenstein to me. The 1.5x font adjustment is just one input box via settings tab - not messing with terminal. I've made peace with the google privacy issues. The convenience made me more pragmatic instead of idealistic, but I hear you.
Daishiman 8y ago
Linux on a Thinkpad requires about as much configuration to get running nicely (a few hours at most) as you need to dejunkify Windows or install usable dev software on OSX.
- pram 8y ago
  Installing dev software on OSX does not take a few hours.
  - marssaxman 8y ago
    I had to switch my dev environment from Ubuntu to OS X a few months ago, after the company I work for got acquired, and it definitely felt like more hours of work getting this machine into a usable state than I would expect with Ubuntu. Just figuring out how to install Xcode without having to fork over a credit card number took a few hours. That was... frustrating. I suspect it might seem less burdensome to people who are used to it, just as I imagine getting going on Ubuntu - which feels effortless to me - might be a slower, more confusing process for people who aren't already used to it.
  - Daishiman 8y ago
    I have heard nothing but horror stories trying to get XCode, or a real Unix-like environment, or Docker, actually running in a way that kinda-sorta emulates production environments

appleiigs 8y ago

Linux has been pain-free for me this year. Ubuntu Budgie and Pop!_OS distros feel polished to me now on my desktop. With Budgie I don't do any config at all. I did do about 15 mins of config with Pop and got it looking and set up exactly how I like it. Settled on Pop as my daily driver. For a laptop, been using a $300 chromebook. With Crostini I get all my linux apps that I use hassle free. I also use Google Docs and Sheets and Bitbucket for my personal stuff - I switch between my laptop and desktop seamlessly. I use my work Citrix if have to work from home (eg. MS Office). Nothing on my Mac that I miss.

marrone12 8y ago
That's cool. I have a small (11") windows laptop that I put Ubuntu on and it took me a bit to have all the display settings to work properly, especially with HiDPI and weird scaling. Nothing ever looked quite right for me. I had a chromebook for a bit and I really loved it but felt too uneasy with Google having 100% supervision over all of my internet activities.
- appleiigs 8y ago
  Yes, dealing with HiDPI is one of the configs I did have to do. I have Pop on another laptop and I kept scaling at 100%, but increased font size by 1.5x via gnome-tweaks. Annoying to have to do it, but it's a one time adjustment and doesn't look frankenstein to me. The 1.5x font adjustment is just one input box via settings tab - not messing with terminal. I've made peace with the google privacy issues. The convenience made me more pragmatic instead of idealistic, but I hear you.

Daishiman 8y ago

Linux on a Thinkpad requires about as much configuration to get running nicely (a few hours at most) as you need to dejunkify Windows or install usable dev software on OSX.

pram 8y ago
Installing dev software on OSX does not take a few hours.
- marssaxman 8y ago
  I had to switch my dev environment from Ubuntu to OS X a few months ago, after the company I work for got acquired, and it definitely felt like more hours of work getting this machine into a usable state than I would expect with Ubuntu. Just figuring out how to install Xcode without having to fork over a credit card number took a few hours. That was... frustrating. I suspect it might seem less burdensome to people who are used to it, just as I imagine getting going on Ubuntu - which feels effortless to me - might be a slower, more confusing process for people who aren't already used to it.
- Daishiman 8y ago
  I have heard nothing but horror stories trying to get XCode, or a real Unix-like environment, or Docker, actually running in a way that kinda-sorta emulates production environments