4 ms·
This. My 3 year-old MacBook is starting to show its age, so I took a look at what's out there. I was intrigued by the HP Envy 14--at long last, it seems somebod
by hyperbovine 16y ago
This. My 3 year-old MacBook is starting to show its age, so I took a look at what's out there. I was intrigued by the HP Envy 14--at long last, it seems somebody besides Apple figured out how to build a nice laptop. And you seem get a lot more for your money.
Of course, going back to Windows after 3+ years on OSX is no option, so I looked into Ubuntu. I use Ubuntu on a machine at work and have been very impressed--we've certainly come a long ways since the dark days of Slackware `96! I am enough of a "power user" that I could weather the switch just fine; really the only thing I would miss is iTunes since I have two iPods.
Anyways, I started Googling around on the topic of "hp envy 14 +ubuntu". And that's when I was instantly transported back fifteen years to the days, weeks, months I spent tinkering with past laptops in order to get everything working on them under Linux. I had all but forgotten about 30-page hardware HOWTOs on getting Linux to work with your specific laptop; the 20% battery penalty you pay because pm never quite works; the inability of some things, usually network and sound cards, to wake from sleep; the lack of hibernate; buggy graphics drivers; etc. etc. etc.
I am aware that the situation has improved considerably since then, but problems still remain. I just don't have the time like I did in my teens and early 20s. Or rather, my time is worth considerably more now--I'm happy to pay the Apple tax if it means I don't have to deal with this shit.
That said, if some major HW manufacturer ever came out with a completely supported laptop with Ubuntu preloaded, working power management, graphics drivers that do what they are supposed to, etc., I would totally bite. (I am aware the some, e.g. Dell, have done so, but when I see warnings like http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/p/19242907/19373496.aspx http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/p/... it's evident that they half-assed it. What I'm after is a full-assing.)
- Tycho 16y agoMy experience installing Ubuntu involved running commands and editing settings 'blind' because the graphics card driver messed up and although the machine was running, you couldn't see anything on the monitor. After counting my keystrokes for hours, the whole thing ('your grandma could install Ubuntu!') seemed like a sick joke.