7 ms·
Ask YC: MacBook alternative?
I might be replacing my MacBook with a regular x86 running Linux. It's simply beginning to piss me off that it breaks all the time. Crappy build quality.
But I really like the size–13.3"–and the look. A lot of regular laptops are basically freakin' bloated. Same price range as the regular MacBook.
Any alternatives? I know of the Vaios.
- makecheck 18y agoI have heard many good things about ThinkPads, but never used them. Having said that, I would only ever buy a MacBook. :)
- cglee 18y agoI've only ever used Thinkpads (from T20 to T61) and now am on MBP. The TPs are definitely built sturdier. I used to carry them in a very flimsy backpack and all of the TPs weathered that fine. That being said, after I bought my MBP, I bought a nice backpack to protect it. And obviously, the difference is in the software. I think the major diff between a TP and MBP is like the diff between a Jeep Wrangler and a Porsche. Just depends on what you need it for and your OS preferences.
- mattmaroon 18y agoI'd say more like a Lexus and a Porsche. The Jeep Wrangler would be eMachines.
- cglee 18y agoThat would be a Geo Metro. I love Wranglers, but for entirely different reasons than I love Porsches.
- icey 18y agoI have a macbook and a thinkpad (t61p). The thinkpad certainly feels much sturdier. I use the macbook to screw around online, read mail, etc on occasion. But when I go to do some work, it's the thinkpad that comes with me. That being said, I am primarily a mac user at home; but on a macpro, not a laptop.
- eisokant 18y agoI would recommend the VAIOs. I am looking at the new Z series myself.
- gaius 18y agoI have friends at Sony. Sony issues Thinkpads to its own staff. I would be very surprised if Apple did the same.
- eisokant 18y agoYou are kidding me, any reason on why?
- gaius 18y agoNo-one (that I know) knows for sure, it could simply be that management thinks that all the fancy multimedia stuff is a distraction from Real Work. Even so, it doesn't fill me with any sort of confidence.
- aoeu 18y agoJust curious, can I ask where? (I've been at Sony for nearly nine years and almost all laptops I've seen have been VAIOs).
- gaius 18y agoNYC
- apgwoz 18y agoLenovo has the X300 (13" widescreen) which is a bit pricey. They're also releasing soon the X200 (12" widescreen), which I don't know the price of. I've had good luck with ThinkPads in the past (X22, 240), so I may wait for the X200, but am thinking strongly about the IdeaPad U110. I've also had good luck with Fujitsu Lifebooks, and might give them another shot.
- babo 18y agoThinkPad X series are more robust the Macbook from my experience, we use them on the field for on-site data processing. Conditions are harsh, basically the is no care but heat and bumps but the ThinkPads just keep going. I was forced to switch to a Macbook from an X60 but still missing it.
- Kaizyn 18y agoThinkPads are/were nice. I've been a bit concerned about reduced quality since Lenovo took over from IBM, though admittedly I haven't seen any problems with the newer Lenovo machines I've had to work with that would justify such concerns.
- gcv 18y agoI work on two laptops, depending on the project: a MacBook Pro, and an X-series ThinkPad. Both are great. Granted, I'd be on the MBP all the time if it weren't for historical reasons, but I have no complaints at all about the ThinkPad. If you don't want to use a Mac, it's the best alternative I know of. I had to use someone else's VAIO for a few hours recently, and it sucked. The keyboard is lousy, and has a horrible layout if you're used to Fn and Ctrl keys in the places where Apple and IBM (Lenovo) put them (and you don't properly swap Caps Lock and Ctrl). I ended up plugging in an external keyboard to be able to get anything done. In addition, the whole thing looked and felt gimmicky.
- tptacek 18y agoWe have the same build quality problems. So we just buy spares. MacBooks are dirt cheap!
- spydez 18y agoCan I have some of your dirt? For me (and I'm guessing for most others), MacBooks cost the majority of a paycheck... Certainly not cheap enough to buy spares.
- tptacek 18y agoSure, I guess? Come work for us? Companies buy their employees laptops. Macbooks are cheaper than comparable Lenovos or Dells.
- nailer 18y agoThey're comparable in the US, but in every other coutnry there's a massive premium on Apple hardware compared to non-Apple. Check out the prices on apple.co.uk or apple.com.au.
- tptacek 18y agoThat sucks. Here, they're essentially disposable. Compared to salary and overhead, you can probably buy 2 MacBooks per team member and not even notice it. If a MacBook cost 3x as much, I would definitely have issues over the build quality. My MacBook is currently duct taped together.
- davidw 18y agoDell: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=197364 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=197364 The customer service is what convinced me that I'd get another one in the future. I paid a bit extra for it, but then again, this computer is my business, so it makes sense.
- vizard 18y agoDell XPS M1330 preloaded with Ubuntu. No hassles of installation at least. In any case whatever notebook you choose, do a bit of research to find out that the wireless card works properly under linux. I have had decent experience with Intel's wifi cards since drivers are open source and hence included in most distros. Wifi is the number one annoyance on most notebooks. edit : I wud advice to look for "Centrino" branded stuff. That usually works out of the box. But YMMV.
- jobeirne 18y agoI had an Inspiron 1420 that I believe packs the same graphics card as the M1330 currently ships with and had a pretty awful experience trying to get Linux (or Windows, for that matter) to drive it well. It was very choppy. I believe it was an 8400M GS.
- stcredzero 18y agoI have a coworker with the Dell 1420 laptop that's preloaded with Ubuntu, and he hasn't had a lick of trouble. I also installed Xubuntu on my Inspiron 1750 multimedia laptop, and once I hooked it up to my router, the Hardware Drivers utility downloaded scripts and everything basically got installed for me.
- SwellJoe 18y agoI wud advice to look for "Centrino" branded stuff. That usually works out of the box. But YMMV. The primary concern is the WiFi drivers (thought graphics can also be an issue). If it has the "Centrino" label, it's probably running an Intel WiFi and graphics chipset...both of which are documented fully and thus are very well supported in all modern Linux distributions. I have one of the first generation Dell's that included the then-freshly opened Intel WiFi and graphics chipsets, and it has always worked great, through numerous distros and versions.
- darjen 18y agoWork provides me with a Thinkpad T60 and I couldn't be happier with it. I would never buy a different notebook again, not even a Macbook.
- jobeirne 18y agoI've heard really scary things concerning Sony and the applicability of *nix drivers. I'd be really weary about buying a Vaio.
- mrtron 18y agoI have beat up my Macbook over the last 2 years - I carried it back and forth to work for a year. I also have dropped it quite a few times. So far so good for me - no problems. Perhaps wait a few months for the aluminum macbooks?
- jcromartie 18y agoAnd I've babied mine for the last six months. Now the top case is breaking off in pieces and the trackpad button sticks. As always seems to be the case with hardware: YMMV.
- mrtron 18y agoHave you taken it in to get the trackpad replaced?
- ichverstehe 18y agoI am encountering exactly the same issues. Already had it replaced once, two months later the same happens. My optical drive went nuts as well. So, during the nine months I have had a MacBook, so far it spent almost two months at repairs -- unless I pay $200 upfront, a simple repair takes two weeks. Rip. Off.
- mrtron 18y agoWhere is that at? I get mine back within 48 hours or something like that from the Toronto store - but usually it is much quicker.
- ichverstehe 18y agoDenmark. There are no official Apple stores, so it's this company Humac handling all Apple business, which results in a tedious process, e.g. they can't perform simple fixes in the store, because they are not allowed to buy spare parts from Apple until they actually have the computer. So, it's not directly Apples fault, but still, they should hire somebody else to do it. When your job is your computer two weeks without it is a very, very long time.
- 0000vk 18y agocan't go wrong with this mate: http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/xpsnb_m1330?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&~oid=us~en~29~linux_4~~ http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/xps...
- mdweezer 18y agoThe HP Mini Note is a pretty awesome little machine. Decent horsepower for every day needs. Small form factor. Solid build with an aluminum case. High 1280 x 768 resolution display. Easily drop in a larger battery. Has Linux installed out of the box (though I would swap out for an Ubuntu spin off, Xubuntu maybe). Plut it's cheap. Search YouTube for some nice reviews and comparisons. http://www.buy.com/prod/hp-mini-note-2133-pc-via-c7-m-ulv-1-2ghz-128kb-l2-1gb-ddr2-sdram-120gb/q/loc/101/207873474.html http://www.buy.com/prod/hp-mini-note-2133-pc-via-c7-m-ulv-1-...
- axod 18y agoHow has it broken? Consider getting a MacBook pro or air... Slightly better build quality. You won't find anything better from other manufacturers IMHO.
- ichverstehe 18y agoThey are simply too expensive for my non-budget.
- donw 18y agoI'll put in another vote for the Thinkpads. Not only are they bulletproof, but nominally everything in them works under Linux, which is, even today, rare for a lot of laptops.
- gtani 18y agoThe last thread http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=197182 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=197182 You can get used to pretty much anything, except Sony's. I, and friends have had reasonable experiences with Toshiba satellites. They score tolerably well on the 4 deal killers: display, keyboard, fan noise and heat. The best thing is that Costco and Target sell them with 90-day return policies (restocking fee at Target). Besides these criteria, i look for at least 4 or 5 intelligent reviews on amazon. read the 5-star sony reviews on Amazon, many of them say: my Vaio's great, except for bloatware, and poor reliability, keyboard, battery life and customer support/service. Sony's customer service pretty much guarantees you'll never buy another sony if you have to contact them. Computer repair people will tell you to stay away from vaios, Takes a ridiculous amount of work to replace e.g. harddrive, it's almost as if they're designed to be impossible to service/replace. Any other laptop, should take 45 seconds. i also had a horrible experience trying unsuccessfully to upgrade Windows on a Vaio a couple years back. You too when you have to resinstall O/S and can't find the media. Sony really pisses me off I would caution to stay away from firs tproduction runs of a new generation of apple laptops. Witness people cooking eggs on the early 2006 MBP's, and MB airs throttled down to one core
- vineet7kumar 18y agoOne more vote for thinkpad ... I always wanted a macbook but when I saw the Thinkpad it was instantly like "Wow this is it ! How could I overlook it for so long ". Specially I liked the Thinkpad's keyboard much over thinkpad's
- vineet7kumar 18y agoErrata : .... over macbook's.
- gtani 18y agoFYI: Last time my powerbook logic board replaced (3 weeks ago, 2nd time in 4 months!) they told me to not flex the chassis / logic board. So i got a rigid case (Brenthaven) and try to only use it on tables now. also, if it's the same thing failing over and over, talk to a manager at apple store about getting a replacement. They can look up repair history, verify that it's a looper.
- timcederman 18y agoI picked up my Dell XPS M1330 on sale for $500 (with 3gb of RAM, nVidia video card, etc). Definitely can't complain.
- qhoxie 18y agoI went through the same search recently. Had it narrowed to a Thinkpad (T or X), M1330, and a Latitude D630. I did lots of reading and hands on comparisons, and I ended up going with the D630. Could not be happier. It is extremely rugged, on par with a Thinkpad, and the battery life is unparalleled.
- edb 18y agoI've been running a Dell Inspiron 6400. If you buy it with a warranty, second LCD, etc.. and know how to talk to the salespeople, you can get it loaded up with all kinds of hardware upgrades for cheap, ESPECIALLY if you buy the 3 year warranty, and it will still be cheaper than a Macbook Pro. I'm dual booting XP (for my music stuff) and Hardy on it (for my programming stuff) without a hitch, it has 1680x1050 resolution (screen real estate that the macbooks just can't compete with), swanky compiz effects to rival osx's and if anything on my machine goes wrong within the 3 years after purchasing, dell will fix it within 5 days. ANYTHING. (Used it once. Got my laptop back 3 days after I mailed it in!) The warranty alone is the main selling point for these machines. I can't think of a better price/quality ratio than the Dells
- michaelbuckbee 18y agoUbuntu's installer is actually a Live DVD, so it's zero risk to take one into BestBuy, drop it into a laptop and reboot. If it comes up you're in good shape, if not, pop it out and try the next one.
- SwellJoe 18y agoWiFi is the tricky bit. Just be sure to check that the wireless adapter is detected. Intel wireless chipsets are open, and so have excellent support in Linux. All of the "includes Linux" laptops from Lenovo and Dell have an Intel WiFi card rather than one of the lesser models (thus, the same model from Dell or Lenovo running Windows will not necessarily provide "drop Linux on it later" capability, unless you plan to replace the WiFi adapter with the Intel version--it does seem to be a replaceable component in the Dell and Lenovo models in question, though).
- ensignavenger 18y agoAsustek- they are the primary contract manufacturer for the MacBook, and they make their own systems (Asus). Their website is a pain to get information from, as they rely on their reseller partners (like me) to sell their products. Full Disclosure: I sell Ausus products, and therefore might be biased. But then, I wouldn't be selling their products if I didn't like them!
- ensignavenger 18y agoBy the way, Asus pre installs Linux on their Eee PC's, and you can install it on pretty much any of their systems. The Eee PC's are small, low cost systems.
- browser411 18y agoDell's vostro (business) line is very nice if you don't want to shell out for XPS. I got a 14", which they don't make any more but I think is the sweet spot for screen size, personally. Build quality is extremely solid and design is nondescript, which fits my style.
- rcoder 18y agoAnother vote for the ThinkPads. X60-series models are dirt cheap right now, and pretty much impossible to beat on the combo of cost, performance, portability, and ruggedness. My recent-model MacBook Pro has a wonderful display panel, good discrete GPU, and a decent-enough keyboard, but it's big, heavy, throws off tons of heat, and lasts at best four hours on a battery. My old ThinkPad X41, on the other hand, despite being almost five years old, beats it in basically every category other than screen size/brightness and raw CPU/GPU power. T-series units are even sturdier and definitely keep up in CPU/GPU specs, but there's just something about a 3-pound laptop that pretty much removes the excuse to not have it with you all the time. (That may or may not be a good thing for your lifestyle, of course.)
- lyime 18y agoX200 or X300
- saundby 18y agoMy Eee PC has pretty well replaced my MacBook as my portable. It's smaller than what you're looking at, though there are larger models out now like the Eee PC 1000. Linux is already on them, no Windows Tax necessary if you buy a Linux preinstall. Dev tools install easily, or you can get a different distro that already has what you want, there are several that are tuned for Eee's. A large part of the reason my Eee goes with me rather than my MacBook is that it's a lot more robust than the MacBook. I can treat the Eee pretty much the same way I would treat a book when I take it with me. It's a solid little chunk, and it cost about 1/4 what my MacBook cost.
- safetytrick 18y agoLove my thinkpad, but is miss my ibook, dead after 5 years of faithful service. I had a real aversion to any laptop not made by apple but this the t61 has been a great laptop since I got it a month or so ago.
- RK 18y agoAnyone have experience with the machines from System76? I've been looking at their new Darter Ultra laptop: http://system76.com/product_info.php?cPath=28&products_id=76 http://system76.com/product_info.php?cPath=28&products_i...
- walesmd 18y agoThe Vaios are insanely sweet - but really expensive. Personally, I have a Panasonic CF-W4. I like it but often experience issues with the low amount of memory (512MB).