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"Until recently, if I wish to do some programming in a coffee shop or during a family trip, my only options are the corporate-provisioned MacBook or my iPad Pro

"Until recently, if I wish to do some programming in a coffee shop or during a family trip, my only options are the corporate-provisioned MacBook or my iPad Pro 2020, neither of which is ideal." - why not buy a Macbook Air? It's more or less the same price and form factor as the iPad but has a keyboard. You can get a Macbook Air M1 for around 800 USD now.

rty32 2y ago
Touch screen and pen support seem to be very important to the author, based on the article. Taking company device for personal use is also apparently a no-no.
- nolok 2y ago
  My Lenovo Carbon X1 has a touch screen option and is quite awesome. The Dell XPS serie also offers touchscreen options. Overall it feels like the author is not much aware of the higher range in the non Apple laptop class beside Surface. Not a big problem per se, but article like that are always following a journey / story so it sort of should be mentioned.
  - neon_44 2y ago
    Not the Author, but I am currently also looking at a new 2-in-1 for myself. And by far the biggest Factor pushing me to a minisforum v3 is the Price. I am currently looking at a old 3rd gen lenovo x13 yoga or the Minisforum While I personally would love the new Qualcomm Surface Pro, It's just not worth the price.
  - transpute 2y ago
    Looking forward to Linux touch-enabled Dell XPS Arm 2-in-1 based on Qualcomm Oryon.
  - AshamedCaptain 2y ago
    The author is complaining about the 2K of the minisforum being on the lower end. Most lenovo tablets/convertibles still ship with 1080p or worse screen except for the >3k$ variants. Lenovo is, for some reason, a friggin joke when it comes to screen resolution and quality. Their consumer laptops tend to have better resolutions on-paper than their pro lines. Good luck finding anything better than 1080p on 12 inches... I am perfectly aware of the non-Apple tablet market and I also think Surface is literally the best there is, as crappy MS is. Because no one else is even trying. The screen, aspect ratio, writing feel, builtin kickstand, ...
    - transpute 2y ago
      Does Apple have exclusive deals, investments or IP licensing with tablet display vendors? Apple is also the only vendor with 4:3 aspect ratio tablet displays.
      - chrisco23 2y ago
        The 4:3 thing as you say. I've been wanting a tablet just for displaying sheet music. I asked some forum once but was told pretty much the same, only Apple. Why?
        wiseowise 2y ago
        Android manufacturers not understanding market.
        transpute 2y ago
        When your largest competitor for 10+ years has 4:3 screens, why not copy?
        Am4TIfIsER0ppos 2y ago
        People got sued last time they copied apple's rectangle
        transpute 2y ago
        4:3 screens preceded Apple iPad by many years, e.g. IBM Thinkpads.
      - numpad0 2y ago
        Probably all three + economies of scale. Display panels are something like $15/unit, and initial fees for a panel with non-standard resolution can be in low millions. I think you'll also be asked to purchase all productions of that panel unless there are other market demands for it. Most tablets don't even sell like Surfaces on rainy days, and it's hard to justify those fees and conditions.
etra0 2y ago
I have my org's macbook pro, a personal macbook air, and a tablet. I wish the later two could simply be merged. I like how performant and silent the MBA is but there are lots of situation where simply using a tablet is more comfortable, and carrying all three devices is simply not feasible. The Surface has always been in my eyes but from what I've seen the linux support is not as trivial with newer models.
- nolok 2y ago
  If what you want is a good 2 in 1 I personally heard only good things about the Lenovo Yoga that my SO is using.
  - rcarmo 2y ago
    I have one of those for work. It's pretty amazing, but I have to run Windows on it. My IdeaPad, though, runs Fedora for three years now, and I am typing this on it: https://taoofmac.com/space/blog/2021/08/26/1400 https://taoofmac.com/space/blog/2021/08/26/1400
  - LorenDB 2y ago
    I daily openSUSE Tumbleweed on a Thinkpad X1 Yoga, and while I don't use the 2-in-1 functionality a lot, I've found it to be a solid experience.
- transpute 2y ago
  > a personal macbook air, and a tablet. I wish the latest two could simply be merged Un-crippling of Apple Silicon iPads with Magic Keyboards, which have a superset of MacBook Air features, can happen via: - Competition from Linux on Qualcomm Oryon tablets and 2-in-1 - New Apple leadership - EU regulation to unlock dual-boot of other operating systems, like Linux/BSD - Future jailbreak
  - etra0 2y ago
    That's also my wish. The Asahi project somehow gives me a bit of hope but I remember the authors saying that porting it to an iPad is simply not possible because of some booting mechanisms, and dev'in on a jailbroken device was not its preference, which is understandable.

rty32 2y ago

Touch screen and pen support seem to be very important to the author, based on the article. Taking company device for personal use is also apparently a no-no.

nolok 2y ago
My Lenovo Carbon X1 has a touch screen option and is quite awesome. The Dell XPS serie also offers touchscreen options. Overall it feels like the author is not much aware of the higher range in the non Apple laptop class beside Surface. Not a big problem per se, but article like that are always following a journey / story so it sort of should be mentioned.
- neon_44 2y ago
  Not the Author, but I am currently also looking at a new 2-in-1 for myself. And by far the biggest Factor pushing me to a minisforum v3 is the Price. I am currently looking at a old 3rd gen lenovo x13 yoga or the Minisforum While I personally would love the new Qualcomm Surface Pro, It's just not worth the price.
- transpute 2y ago
  Looking forward to Linux touch-enabled Dell XPS Arm 2-in-1 based on Qualcomm Oryon.
- AshamedCaptain 2y ago
  The author is complaining about the 2K of the minisforum being on the lower end. Most lenovo tablets/convertibles still ship with 1080p or worse screen except for the >3k$ variants. Lenovo is, for some reason, a friggin joke when it comes to screen resolution and quality. Their consumer laptops tend to have better resolutions on-paper than their pro lines. Good luck finding anything better than 1080p on 12 inches... I am perfectly aware of the non-Apple tablet market and I also think Surface is literally the best there is, as crappy MS is. Because no one else is even trying. The screen, aspect ratio, writing feel, builtin kickstand, ...
  - transpute 2y ago
    Does Apple have exclusive deals, investments or IP licensing with tablet display vendors? Apple is also the only vendor with 4:3 aspect ratio tablet displays.
    - chrisco23 2y ago
      The 4:3 thing as you say. I've been wanting a tablet just for displaying sheet music. I asked some forum once but was told pretty much the same, only Apple. Why?
      - wiseowise 2y ago
        Android manufacturers not understanding market.
        transpute 2y ago
        When your largest competitor for 10+ years has 4:3 screens, why not copy?
        Am4TIfIsER0ppos 2y ago
        People got sued last time they copied apple's rectangle
        transpute 2y ago
        4:3 screens preceded Apple iPad by many years, e.g. IBM Thinkpads.
    - numpad0 2y ago
      Probably all three + economies of scale. Display panels are something like $15/unit, and initial fees for a panel with non-standard resolution can be in low millions. I think you'll also be asked to purchase all productions of that panel unless there are other market demands for it. Most tablets don't even sell like Surfaces on rainy days, and it's hard to justify those fees and conditions.

etra0 2y ago

I have my org's macbook pro, a personal macbook air, and a tablet. I wish the later two could simply be merged. I like how performant and silent the MBA is but there are lots of situation where simply using a tablet is more comfortable, and carrying all three devices is simply not feasible. The Surface has always been in my eyes but from what I've seen the linux support is not as trivial with newer models.

nolok 2y ago
If what you want is a good 2 in 1 I personally heard only good things about the Lenovo Yoga that my SO is using.
- rcarmo 2y ago
  I have one of those for work. It's pretty amazing, but I have to run Windows on it. My IdeaPad, though, runs Fedora for three years now, and I am typing this on it: https://taoofmac.com/space/blog/2021/08/26/1400 https://taoofmac.com/space/blog/2021/08/26/1400
- LorenDB 2y ago
  I daily openSUSE Tumbleweed on a Thinkpad X1 Yoga, and while I don't use the 2-in-1 functionality a lot, I've found it to be a solid experience.
transpute 2y ago
> a personal macbook air, and a tablet. I wish the latest two could simply be merged Un-crippling of Apple Silicon iPads with Magic Keyboards, which have a superset of MacBook Air features, can happen via: - Competition from Linux on Qualcomm Oryon tablets and 2-in-1 - New Apple leadership - EU regulation to unlock dual-boot of other operating systems, like Linux/BSD - Future jailbreak
- etra0 2y ago
  That's also my wish. The Asahi project somehow gives me a bit of hope but I remember the authors saying that porting it to an iPad is simply not possible because of some booting mechanisms, and dev'in on a jailbroken device was not its preference, which is understandable.