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Feels like laptops are just crap these days. I'm on a Macbook Pro and hate it. The unergonomic keyboard sux, the software is broken and I am disempowered to fix

Feels like laptops are just crap these days. I'm on a Macbook Pro and hate it. The unergonomic keyboard sux, the software is broken and I am disempowered to fix it, and there is no way reliably get modern builds of open source projects I care about. In short it was a false economy. I had a Dell with Gentoo before this, recently reinvigorated under Ubuntu but despite only being a few years old the CMOS battery is so crap it loses BIOS config regularly and has to be tediously reconfigured to get boot functioning. Does anyone feel it makes more sense to buy an embedded system and lug it around instead from now on? There are spare screens everywhere, they cost nothing, and it seems the laptop form factor is just overpriced, underpowered, unmaintainable/unupgradeable for the money. Should be trivial to build a decent keyboard, optional portable screen and power pack in to a backpack in lieu of a traditional case.

salamandersauce 5y ago
They basically have those. For example the NexDock. It's basically a laptop with no guts designed to be driven by USB C smartphone, probably could work with anything really. I hate my MBP too.
solarengineer 5y ago
Have you investigated whether you can replace the CMOS battery? It may be a worthwhile activity if it enables you to power off and power on the laptop as and when you need to.
- contingencies 5y ago
  Have a cupboard full of disparate coin format batteries, it's just 10 minutes I won't make back in reboot-BIOS-twiddling. Repairing a different Dell XPS right now, boots to BSOD. Gonna Linux it and VM the dozeness.
opan 5y ago
I'm starting to dislike laptops as well. Once you get used to a nice mechanical keyboard, especially one with an ergonomic layout, laptop keyboards feel like a joke. I wonder why they won't try to innovate there. Only the MNT Reform comes to mind, and its keyboard is still not my ideal layout. Some way to keep a high end keyboard I acquired myself attached to a portable machine would be nice. Maybe just a custom case around a modern SBC with a portable screen slapped on. Like one of those cyberdeck builds, but in the clamshell form factor. I also use a docked laptop as my main machine with peripherals attached, but then the thermal situation is pretty bad because laptops so often seem to run very hot. I think I'd be okay with an increase in size and weight to sort out some of these problems.
vladvasiliu 5y ago
> Does anyone feel it makes more sense to buy an embedded system and lug it around instead from now on? Not embedded, but I was actually toying with the idea of buying or building a smallish x86 computer that I'd lug around. The idea came to me when we started getting EliteDesk minis at work, which are basically the size of a book. Now, those are fairly nice on paper, and at the time were one of the limited options of PCs available with thunderbolt, so I got one for myself. The honeymoon didn't last long, as the components are custom designed and some are downright cheap, like the CPU fan, which emits a constant, unbearable whir, but I can't replace the heatsink with a custom one (it only uses three screws, none of which are in the standard locations). Also, the thunderbolt doesn't work reliably either, so all in all I wouldn't recommend. But the idea of actually being able to grab a desktop in my bag stuck with me. As I wouldn't be doing that all dat every day, I figured I could get a bigger one, with the limit being "fit in a backpack". However, for the time being, I only move between my apartment and my parents' house, and having a fixed desktop at each location works well enough.
noir_lord 5y ago
In the last 18mths I've had work issued 2019 Macbook Pros and 2020 Macbook Pros and they both suck as developer machines for my workloads (docker and intellij). Absurdly hot running under load, the frequent point releases for OSX, 3.4-3.7GB and 30-40 minutes of time unless I do it out of hours - the trainwreck that was Big Sur and virtualisation. I'm fortunate in that while I have work issued machines I don't have to use them *for work and can instead use my nice desktop but damn if I had to work on those machines I'd lose the plot (as other members of my team frequently seem to at various times).

salamandersauce 5y ago

They basically have those. For example the NexDock. It's basically a laptop with no guts designed to be driven by USB C smartphone, probably could work with anything really. I hate my MBP too.

solarengineer 5y ago

Have you investigated whether you can replace the CMOS battery? It may be a worthwhile activity if it enables you to power off and power on the laptop as and when you need to.

contingencies 5y ago
Have a cupboard full of disparate coin format batteries, it's just 10 minutes I won't make back in reboot-BIOS-twiddling. Repairing a different Dell XPS right now, boots to BSOD. Gonna Linux it and VM the dozeness.

opan 5y ago

I'm starting to dislike laptops as well. Once you get used to a nice mechanical keyboard, especially one with an ergonomic layout, laptop keyboards feel like a joke. I wonder why they won't try to innovate there. Only the MNT Reform comes to mind, and its keyboard is still not my ideal layout. Some way to keep a high end keyboard I acquired myself attached to a portable machine would be nice. Maybe just a custom case around a modern SBC with a portable screen slapped on. Like one of those cyberdeck builds, but in the clamshell form factor. I also use a docked laptop as my main machine with peripherals attached, but then the thermal situation is pretty bad because laptops so often seem to run very hot. I think I'd be okay with an increase in size and weight to sort out some of these problems.

vladvasiliu 5y ago

> Does anyone feel it makes more sense to buy an embedded system and lug it around instead from now on? Not embedded, but I was actually toying with the idea of buying or building a smallish x86 computer that I'd lug around. The idea came to me when we started getting EliteDesk minis at work, which are basically the size of a book. Now, those are fairly nice on paper, and at the time were one of the limited options of PCs available with thunderbolt, so I got one for myself. The honeymoon didn't last long, as the components are custom designed and some are downright cheap, like the CPU fan, which emits a constant, unbearable whir, but I can't replace the heatsink with a custom one (it only uses three screws, none of which are in the standard locations). Also, the thunderbolt doesn't work reliably either, so all in all I wouldn't recommend. But the idea of actually being able to grab a desktop in my bag stuck with me. As I wouldn't be doing that all dat every day, I figured I could get a bigger one, with the limit being "fit in a backpack". However, for the time being, I only move between my apartment and my parents' house, and having a fixed desktop at each location works well enough.

noir_lord 5y ago

In the last 18mths I've had work issued 2019 Macbook Pros and 2020 Macbook Pros and they both suck as developer machines for my workloads (docker and intellij). Absurdly hot running under load, the frequent point releases for OSX, 3.4-3.7GB and 30-40 minutes of time unless I do it out of hours - the trainwreck that was Big Sur and virtualisation. I'm fortunate in that while I have work issued machines I don't have to use them *for work and can instead use my nice desktop but damn if I had to work on those machines I'd lose the plot (as other members of my team frequently seem to at various times).