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Comment by gshulegaard | Hacker News Reader

I beg to differ, Razer hardware far exceeds the MBP (IMO) and matches (and somewhat exceeds) build quality:

http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-systems/razer-blade

Here is a thread about running Linux on the new blade:

https://insider.razerzone.com/index.php?threads/linux-on-a-n...

Also, there is always the Dell Sputnik program and I find the XPS 13/15 series to be comparable to Apple build quality these days:

http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/555/campaigns/xps-linux-lapt...

Now if you want first class support for Linux (at least Ubuntu) and don't mind some build quality compromises, System76 has been a great experience for me:

https://system76.com/

TL;DR: The options for Linux laptops have never been better.

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I've held most of these in my hands and typed in apps. They are not even from the same universe as the Macbook 12".

Razor? Dell? Not even close when they are in the hand.

Well, I was comparing it to the MBP and this is an area of personal preference but I like/dislike various things about each.

Razer and Dell were very comparable to an MBP 13 for me. I would be happy to break down some comparisons for you (according to my personal experience/preference having owned all 3) but I would definitely agree the System76 is in a different build quality category...although (IMO) it makes up for it with its first-class hardware support.

Haven't owned or even used an MB 12", but I am surprised you like it so much, most things I read about it complain about the keyboard: https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/2yhemp...

Keyboard is also one of the most important things in a laptop for me personally...

According to this review at least, the Razer Blade has half the battery life of a high-end MBP:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2476486,00.asp

That review is from May, so it's for last year's version. This years has an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 graphics card.

Although I expect the battery life to still not be up to the MBP level.

As ShaneOG pointed out, the new ones have a 1060 which should have better power consumption profiles.

But also worth noting is battery life is going to depend on what your task load is. For my typical use case, I end up usually hammering on CPU for dev work so my battery life on my MBP isn't actually as impressive as it is for light use (web browsing/typical user workload). So for me, the potential battery life gap between a Blade and 13" MBP is going to be fairly close.

Also worth noting, the Dell Sputnik I have is comparable to a MBP and it is running Ubuntu natively (!!!). Throw an slim external battery in (Dell sells one) and it seems to exceed my MBP battery life (although I haven't really rigorously tested it).

Finally, drop the screen resolution down to the 1080 version and you will get better battery life. Not appropriate for everyone, but it's a compromise you can choose to make if it works for you :)

To each their own, but I find the design of Razer machines to be a bit on the gaudy side. The Dells also don't look much better, although they at least lack the crazy green logo...

For me, I don't really care for appearances, but you can always Vinyl wrap the Razer if it bothers you:

https://dbrand.com/shop/razer-blade-14-2016-skins

(has the option of covering the logo)

To me the look of the Dell is comparable to the Mac, but again, you can skin it as well:

https://dbrand.com/shop/dell-xps-13-skins

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