> Apple still seems to have the best hardware overall

The example comparison you gave, an X1 Carbon, has a more reliable keyboard with more travel, a matte-screen option without fragile glass, a user-replaceable battery, a user-replaceable NVMe drive, a variety of ports new and old, a docking solution, security cable lock etc

As always, the mousepad can't yet be beaten. While it sounds trite - and I've long since switched away from my original Macbook Retina, IMO the height of Mac's hardware dominance - I still pine for it compared to everything I've used since.

I haven't used one, but newer machines use Microsoft's "Precision Touchpad" standard which is supposed to close the gap and support fancy gestures. Personally I just use the ThinkPad nipple and as many shortcut keys as I can memorise :)

I'm another one who much prefers the nib in the middle of the keyboard to the touch pad. I use a Thinkpad keyboard on my desktop machine for this reason. No mouse on my desk at all and I'm not constantly moving my arm back and forth to reach for it.

I was right there with you for a long time, but the touchpads on PC flagships have largely caught up. I switch between a Dell XPS 15 and a late-model MBP daily, and while I still give a slight edge to the mac, the Dell works well too and doesn't cause any frustration/pining.

I thought the same thing but I switched from a MacBook running Bootcamp to the new Surface Laptop and I actually prefer the latter. It's absolutely phenomenal. Microsoft is kicking ass lately and WSL lets me do all the Linux stuff I need to do (build scripts, etc.).

As a counterpoint, the display inverter on my 3433CTO failed after 18 months. It's a $19 part - Lenovo wanted $400 to repair it. I moved to the Dell XPS 9350. The display failed. The wifi card is a $5 part in a $3000 machine and failed.

My X1 Carbon came with a 3 year on-site repair warranty as standard, included in the price (contrast this with AppleCare which is very expensive). Did you buy yours from Lenovo?

Yes, and I'm also covered by the excellent Australian Consumer Law. They ran me around for 6 months, sent invoices and logs with the wrong name on it and I eventually gave up.

All the other ultrabooks are 16:9, right? It's so hard losing that extra screen real estate, you really get used to it after a while. I'd rather even go 3:2, but the options there are only the Surface Pro or Pixelbook.

3:2 is the best. It drives me fucking insane that all the laptop manufacturers have capitulated to the idea that everyone's spending time watching movies on their laptops more than anything else, which strikes me a complete nonsense but I suppose it must be true, otherwise they wouldn't make that decision... I hope.

A wider screen on a laptop has the advantage of allowing a wider keyboard-- so smaller laptops (12"-13" and below) can have full size (or closer to full-size) keyboards, and larger laptops (15" or so) can fit things like a full numeric keypad (15-inch 16:10 doesn't even quite leave room for one, but 15-inch 16:9 does without inflating the screen bezel too much).

It's also probably not coincidental that a wider screen ratio allows the manufacturer to sell less screen (in terms of area or total pixels) at the same diagonal size.

Never thought about the diagonal thing. That's probably the best explanation.

I'm buying a new computer and keep seeing hints of crosvm (real containers!) for the Pixelbook. If they could even say 'yes, this will be released at some point' I would just buy one, but instead they stay tightlipped and I'll have to buy another MBP.

I bought my sister a surface laptop to use for school, and the very first thing she said was “How do I watch Netflix?”

The Surface Laptop is also 3:2 [1] and I absolutely love it. Proper laptop unlike the Pro (tablet).

[1] https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/surface-laptop/p/90f...

> Slightly off topic, but one of the only software issues holding me back previously was 1Password compatibility on linux, but apparently, it is now available (1).

Well, it's a Chrome extension. For some people (including yours truly), it's a deal breaker. I would suggest `password-store`[0] if you don't need to share your vault with anyone.

[0] https://www.passwordstore.org

Actually, pass has great support for teams. Dropping one or more GPG keys in ".gpg-id" will encrypt the passwords for the various identities. This works globally or per sub-folder.

I use dedicated subkeys for work and mobile so that I don't have to share my main key, or indeed every password with every device.

Nice +1 I wasn't aware of that.

> if you don't need to share your vault with anyone

Or any other devices? Or even have rudimentary browser integration? How is this an alternative?

Please check their website. You have extensions for Firefox, applications for Android, etc... It is an alternative, albeit not a drop-in replacement.

Not quite what you're looking for, but Gonepass is a GTK read-only frontend for 1Password data. And Enpass is a complete replacement for 1Password.

I don't have direct experience with 1Password on Linux, but customers have complained about how AgileBits has treated the Windows and Android builds as third class citizens and not put in a lot of effort into those. So I'd be cautious, try it out and then decide instead of taking someone else's word for it.

For multi-platform password managers with browser extensions, Enpass (enpass.io) is an option. Dash lane is another, though it's about as expensive (or more) than the 1Password subscription that AgileBits pushes (the dark pattern on the AgileBits website about completely hiding the standalone license is something I don't like).

On top of all these the touchbar, the new, ridiculously large trackpad and the loss of magsafe are a step back in UX from previous iterations of the MBP. I can't realistically switch to a platform that doesn't run Sketch but I used to look forward to new Apple hardware and I can't say that's true anymore.

1Password was also an important app for me, but after they moved to a service, I switched to keepass. 1password was a great app done right, but keepass is much more extensible (while being quite ugly) and with all the recent "security debacle" I'm happier with an open source solution.

If some of the Linux distros would start trying to look like MacOS instead of constantly aping Windows, then switching would be a lot easier.

That's been the big reason I've never really taken to Linux. The GUIs all look like Windows with a skin. Where's the innovation?

This is not true in general. Linux Desktop UIs like Gnome 3 have taken a lot of criticism precisely because they have not been copying Windows and have deviated considerably (due to patent concerns). Of course, there are some fringe "garage effort" Linux distros that don't care about patents and do just give some part of the community what they want.

As for innovation, Linux desktop UIs had virtual desktops and window tiling features long before Windows and MacOS.

> As for innovation, Linux desktop UIs had virtual desktops and window tiling features long before Windows and MacOS.

Well, all commercial UNIXes had them before Linux was even a thing.

Yes I remember the CDE desktop had virtual desktops, but they go back even to Xerox Parc (according to Wikipedia). There are many minor aspects that have been tweaked and are perhaps newer ideas though. For example, on my desktop, I can search for a window title and get a list of windows across virtual desktops that are matches, and jump to the relevant desktop and window.

> This is not true in general. Linux Desktop UIs like Gnome 3 have taken a lot of criticism precisely because they have not been copying Windows and have deviated considerably

The criticism towards Gnome 3 is due to the reduced usability, customizability, constant breaking of backwards compatibility (especially when it comes to parts that allow customization), treating the desktop like an overgrown tablet and a general tendency of its developers to treat their users like they don't know what they are doing - if not outright ignore them. For examples, check out Reddit's /r/linux whenever anything towards Gnome is posted to get an idea of what people are actually saying about it (both positive and negative).

> (due to patent concerns). Of course, there are some fringe "garage effort" Linux distros that don't care about patents and do just give some part of the community what they want.

Sorry, but this phrase is incredibly loaded. Are you affiliated with Gnome? Let me try to break it down:

"due to patent concerns" - this is textbook FUD that tries to present Gnome as a project that cares about patents (why would Gnome care about patents any more or less than other projects?) and create the impression that other desktops do not care. Moreover it implies (but doesn't explicitly say so that it can be denied later on) as granted that patents are indeed a concern for an open source desktop environment to the point that not only it is worth mentioning but actually Gnome making an active effort towards avoiding patents by redesigning their UI.

"there are some fringe "garage effort" Linux distros" - implying that any distribution that does not share Gnome 3's concern (assuming they exist and isn't just an excuse) is a fringe and garage effort. BTW i've noticed this with several Gnome developers: they tend to downplay anyone and anything that doesn't fit in their worldview as unimportant (for fun, try to ask them about Wayland and X11 and suggest that Xorg will continue to exist after -say- 5 years - some cannot even fathom the idea that even if all Xorg developers lose their senses, others can fork the project and continue its development just like the Xorg devs forked XFree86 and just like XFree86 was forked from X386).

"that don't care about patents" - again the implication that patents are something that Gnome alone cares about and that only unimportant, fringe garage effort distributions can ignore them, but Gnome - being the big and serious project that it is - has to abide by the patent masters and...

"just give some part of the community what they want." - ...being unable to give to the community what they want. Although i have to say, i like the backhanded "some part" here and the implication that it is only a small part of the community that wants something better.

Of course the entire phrase is based on the assumption that a) patents matter so much that Gnome has to design their UI around them and that b) everything else that does something closer to what the users actually want can only do it because it is fringe and unimportant. Both being false of course since there are tons of other efforts that are as important as Gnome while giving to users all sorts of options - with KDE being the obvious elephant in the room, but also with efforts such as Cinnamon, Budgie, elementaryOS/Panteon, etc. Also avoiding working on stuff because they might be patented (and honestly, most of the stuff users want - like a desktop, icons, a start menu, etc - are things that even if they were patented would have their patents expired by now - again assuming these patents are even valid and enforceable) is a fool's errand since patents exist for pretty much everything and the best an open source project can do is simply ignore them unless someone comes after a project at which point you can try to change the specific part that is a problem. It isn't like anyone can even kill a project or anything, otherwise even Linux would be dead.

Honestly i dislike this sort of "implied mudslinging" towards a ton of other projects and efforts, trying to paint them in a negative way in an attempt to both give excuses for why Gnome is the way it is today and downplay not just the concerns of its users but the users themselves as unimportant.

Try to avoid it please. I don't know if you are a Gnome developer or just an overenthusiastic user, but attacking every single other project that isn't Gnome on nebulous and arbitrary grounds is not the best way to make a good impression.

I'm not a Gnome 3 user or affiliated with Gnome. Personally I find it rather too bloated and sometimes buggy. I use i3, polybar and Rofi for my desktop. I think you are reading rather too much into my words, my point was only that, in general, Windows is not being copied by Linux desktops. And that only "some part" of the community want a Windows clone.

I take your point that Gnome 3 is criticised for many additional reasons other than deviating from Windows.

Gnome is basically controlled by RedHat, a billion dollar company and they absolutely do care about software patents, they are not like most projects. Linux Mint is what I had in mind as a "garage effort" providing, IMHO, a Windows clone.

Amen to this. A stickler for me personally is the universal menu bar at the top of the screen rather than separate menu bars inside windows.

I know that older versions of KDE could be configured to do this, but not sure if more recent ones can do it, or if other DEs can do it. Every now and then I do some research on it, but the results are never promising. (From what I remember, the Ubuntu/Unity bar gets close but still feels weird.)

This is really not true at all. The most popular desktop in Linux, GNOME, has always drawn heavy inspiration from Mac. The latest version is really polished.

But there are so many options! Including IMHO the best one on any platform for a developer: no desktop environment and a tiling window manager.

There are even NeXTStep clones with binary compatibility! So saying Linux GUIs copy Windows is nonsense.

Agree a Tiling window manager. Light weight too.

Take a look at https://www.reddit.com/r/unixporn (SFW other than the name) if you want some inspiration for what you can do if you customise it.

?

Two of the three most popular DEs (Gnome and Unity) both don't look like Windows. I'd say only KDE does, and most major distros have Unity or Gnome as the default. So I think you're a bit off with your assessment.

Dells and Lenovos both have a lot of their hardware supported in most major Linux distributions.

I run Gentoo on two Dells without any major issues. I really prefer Linux over MacOS and have been lucky that at my last three jobs I've been able to use Linux natively on my work laptops/desktops. Using a tiling window manager like i3 also make things so much easier as well. It may not look as pretty, but from a utility standpoint, it's far above the usability of MacOS for developers.

Thanks for the tip. Bought an X1 pre-owned yesterday and am planning to try native Mint on it.

I never understand this line. How is MacOSX being dumbed down ?

It's largely the same OS since back in 10.0 DP1. Sure they try to lock down applications to those that are signed. But it's trivial to override and is great for OSX users that can't immediately identify malware.

I run 1Password in the browser (Firefox) and have no problem working with a team of OSX users running 1Password.

My own stuff I keep in a ccrypt-ed text file that I view and edit with Emacs.

I've been using the 1Password Chrome extension on Linux. It works pretty well.