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The Hunt For The Perfect Laptop Continues
(pointieststick.com)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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i know a laptop that’s amazing in almost every aspect except that it doesn’t run Linux. the Macbook Pro. to me there’s barely any real comparison to be made unless Linux or Windows or the keyboard layout is a hill worth dying on to you.
i have servers and my gaming PC on Linux, but i wouldn’t trade my Macbook with its unified memory, incredible battery life, best in class touchpad, and top notch screen for anything else. Windows is dying, and chip designers (outside of Apple) seem more interested in cashing in on AI than providing a user experience. i was excited to see what Qualcomm would do, but it doesn’t seem like OEMs or Windows are particularly interested in supporting that platform as a next leap forward, while Intel is bleeding on the side of the road and AMD is constantly side-eyeing Nvidia. i think it would be peak irony for Nvidia to come out of left field with a desktop class ARM processor that’s Linux native, but that’s a pipe dream. what the ecosystem needs is a real competitor to Apple that is more focused on desktop machines than enterprise contracts. maybe RISC-V Frameworks will break out in a meaningful way. but it just seems like anything else these days in a compromise based on some biased preference or moral judgement.
anyway all that said i’m glad there’s an ecosystem of people who are stubborn enough to work on this platform. i have my own stubbornness, but i just don’t have the motivation to apply it here
The macbook pro is the perfect laptop except for the Linux hill that I must die on. Every time I look at other offerings, they all fail just like Nate is saying in some regard. Screen. Speakers. Keyboard. Touchpad. Thermals. Battery life. The MBP is truly best-in-class hardware. But I just want to use Linux...
i completely understand. as a Rust developer that uses Neovim, i have some hills like that too. and if i was more of an OS dev and/or had the time i might be interested to help improve the platform. my last attempt was a Thinkpad, but i had to have an external mouse for that thing, the fans were causing me to fail stealth checks, and the battery was basically a UPS.
Is MacOS no longer supporting terminal apps? I imagine you could use neovim in macOS.
no it totally does. i use Ghostty even