A lawyer needs computer advice!

[beefytee]

I’ve had bad luck recently with Lenovos. Two had fan issues (same model) and the most recent was a yoga that doesn’t keep a charge when plugged in. I was sad because I really liked it. So now I have a Surface. We’ll see how well that turns out. I really liked my old SurfaceBook, but Microsoft doesn’t make them anymore.

I also have a MacBook I use. The m-class chips are great. My latest annoyance is that you can command-tab between apps but you need to command-backtick between windows in an app. Why treat them differently, just move through all the windows whether they are part of the same app or not. The keyboards also aren’t nice like they used to be.

[Shaka]

Up until a couple of years ago, I ran the software lab at my last corporate job. I was responsible for well over one hundred physical machines with recent OS although the furthest back we went on Windows machines was Vista. At that company, I always had a high-end Windows Laptop. My view is that Windows has been a stable operating system for years and is on par with Mac OS.

On the other hand, I have two Macs at home including a pretty juiced-up Mac Mini that runs my recording studio and a Macbook Pro. I also have an older Air that I use when I travel. All are used interchangeably to run my current businesses.

Although I'm the son of a longtime IBM employee, it probably says something that my current computers are Macs. I don't think they are better from a hardware or software standpoint but I appreciate how they integrate with all my other Apple devices. I believe my life is somewhat streamlined because of this integration.

As far as quality my dealings with both reflect the opinion above that Apple and Windows laptops/notebooks tend to break at roughly the same clip. I'll add that Apple had a lot of problems with GPU's frying due to overheating on Macbook Pros.

My personal opinion is that Lenovo and Dell (the higher-end Dells) are the best non-specialized laptops on the planet from a quality standpoint. Yes better than Apple. The Microsoft Surface isn't far behind and is on par with Apple.

My advice is to choose whatever OS you prefer and then buy the best machine you can. You really can't go wrong with either.

[Copelius]

We go through thousands of MacBook Pros and Windows laptops (mostly the Lenovo X1 Carbons) at work every year. I will see peoples' sample sizes of onesie-twosie and raise you a sample size of thirty thousand.

MacBooks have failures at the same rate of the Windows based laptops and it's largely dependent on use case (i.e. how hard the user is on the laptop). MacBook Pros are particularly prone to bad batteries in the third year and their keyboards wear out at an annoyingly high rate as well. The "better" operating system is in the eye of the beholder. It is true that there are more attacks in the wild that target Windows-based platforms but the vast majority of hacks/compromises come because of stupid user behavior - not because of vulnerabilities exploited in the OS while the computer was just sitting there minding its own business. Stupid user behavior happens pretty equally on both platforms.

My advice: Go with what you like, are comfortable with, and what works best with your ecosystem.

The longer I live the more I conclude that operator head space and timing seems to be the cause of most equipment problems.

[Bo Diddley]

The longer I live the more I conclude that operator head space and timing seems to be the cause of most equipment problems.

Ok, now explain that to the rest of them.

[Copelius]

Ok, now explain that to the rest of them.

Has to do with M2 calibration. Best explanation is below since as an officer I wasn't allowed to touch one, and rightly so (especially when I was intel).

Headspace refers to the bolt and cartridge case of the round for the M2 .50 caliber machine gun being in alignment. If they are not in alignment, the gases that build up in the chamber of the machine gun could prematurely fire a round or cause a round to detonate inside the chamber. This could be potentially catastrophic to the gunner and would also put one of the biggest battlefield assets out of the fight. Timing refers to the adjustment of the gun to ensure that the firing takes place when the gun is recoiling. Both are imperative for the gun to work properly. Therefore, Browning, in all his infinite wisdom, invented a Grunt-proof headspace and timing key to ensure nothing went boom at the wrong time. When gunners reassemble their Ma Deuce on a tripod or mount, they check their headspace and timing.

[Bo Diddley]

Mounted 50 cal.jpg

A ma deuce from the top of my supply gun truck in Iraq.

[Copelius]

Mounted 50 cal.jpg

A ma deuce from the top of my supply gun truck in Iraq.

Still the most fun weapon I have ever fired.

[Northwestcoug]

The Windows Surface isn't far behind and is on par with Apple

My daughter had a nice Surface and I agree. I don't think she uses it much anymore but it got her through med school. Mostly uses an iPad in residency now.

Another daughter liked her MacBook well enough but she liked some gaming system that wasn't available on Mac OS and got a Lenovo. I don't know the status of that currently.

The other two have had their MacBooks since graduating from HS and have done well with them.

We have a iMac that I got to replace our failing PC years ago and does fine, but we rarely use it because my MacBook and my wife's iPad Pro do most everything and in the comfort of our couch and bed. The battery lives of both those are awesome.

[beefytee]

Speaking of iMacs. My oldest son found one of the old egg shaped, late 90s, early 00s, ones on Facebook marketplace and he and my youngest are gutting it and remaking it into their custom PC.

[Scott R Nelson]

Sorry for being a week late, but if the fan is going on more than before, have you tried cleaning the dust out of the inside of the laptop?

That might be all that it needs right now.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Back to the laptop discussion, yeah the macbooks had a few years with bad keyboards and that dumb touch-strip at the top (terrible idea), but the keyboards are very nice now and the keyboard layout (hotkeys, etc) is perfect. Speakers are very good. With the M1/M2 chips there is no fan, no heat, and the batteries last forever. Nobody can touch the macbook battery life (google it). Not to mention the macbook air is light as a feather (don't bother with the bulky macbook pro - waste of money).

[Commando]

My iMac at work was starting to slow down even though I upgraded the memory a couple of times, so I got a Mac Studio, which is way more power than I need, but I just wanted something that wouldn't give me beach balls at work. So I have it side by side w my iMac and to my surprise when I scrolled off the left side of my new computer, my mouse cursor went over and appeared on the right side of the iMac screen and I was able to man both computers with the same keyboard and mouse. Pretty cool.

[beefytee]

Speaking of iMacs. My oldest son found one of the old egg shaped, late 90s, early 00s, ones on Facebook marketplace and he and my youngest are gutting it and remaking it into their custom PC.

Proof of concept is complete. Now they need to get everything in the shell and wire up the speaker.

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[Pelado]

Proof of concept is complete. Now they need to get everything in the shell and wire up the speaker.

IMG_0545.jpeg

Cool. What hardware are they using?

[Clark Addison]

Proof of concept is complete. Now they need to get everything in the shell and wire up the speaker.

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My kids are sitting on the couch playing Mario Party on the Switch so pretty much the same