I would buy if it wasn’t for the case it will take many years for the software I use to get arm support on Linux distros. I just don’t feel like having to fix so many packages
Can someone do a quick explainer of what this move to ARM means for free computing? The prospects for hassle-free installation of alternative OSs? Is it good news or bad?
The good news are on RISCV. ARM has even more closed source bootloader and binary driver blobs than x86 architecture. It’s supposed to be good power efficiency over Intel for a laptop, but not so sure about amd.
Depends on the specifics. My high-end MacBook Pro uses active cooling, but in practice it almost never comes on. It’s wayyyyy more efficient than the previous Intel gen.
A week or two ago, I accidentally left a Python process running using 100% of a single core. I didn’t even notice for several hours, until it ate up all my RAM. On on Intel laptop the fan would’ve let me know in like two minutes.
I don’t think Qualcomm’s actually caught up to Apple yet, but it’s getting close. It’s good to see more competition.
What is it that you don’t like about Clevo chassis? I bought one a few years ago and I love it. It’s elegant and sturdy in my opinion. It’s also easily serviceable, so what’s to complain about it?
Mostly that they are generally made of cheap/very thin materials. They also kind of look like cheap Chromebooks (especially clevos, tongfang are better in this area). And it’s also the fact that these laptops aren’t really unique at all, they are mostly a logo swap with preselected components guaranteed to work with Linux. I’ve been using this Lenovo laptop that has a fantastic screen and an amazing CNC aluminum body, it works flawlessly and Linux support was never a consideration for them making this PC
If I am buying a laptop i want it to be unique, because if it’s not then I’ll just buy it straight from China on clevos website for half the price. What I don’t like is this is basically drop shipping but less consumer hostile
Tuxedo also offers products with an aluminum body, and while they do import the hardware from China, you get the local service and warranty guarantees any company in the EU must provide, so that’s fine by me.
Also, honest question: what do you think a unique laptop is, in particular when buying from a mass consumer brand like Lenovo? I really can’t figure out what that’s supposed to mean.
Fair enough, I agree with most of the things you said. The one I got is made of aluminum and doesn’t feel cheap/thin at all, I guess they have both cheap and “professional” options. Personally I wasn’t looking for something really unique, just for something that had a decent performance for a laptop and works well with Linux. I searched around and this model ticked all my most important boxes.
I don’t know whether Clevo engineers throught about Linux when they designed the device or not, but I can say after configuring it properly, it works without any flaws.
As for buying straight from China, I consider the idea, but at the time I didn’t find a way to buy it for cheaper than buying from a reseller. I’m in Europe, perhaps in the US or in Asia it would be different.