Comment by ObsoleteNerd | Hacker News Reader

Comment by ObsoleteNerd | Hacker News Reader

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I was Apple from the Macintosh SE until a couple years ago. Finally had enough and put the (significant) effort into shifting over. It took some time getting used to Windows again (hadn't really used it since 98SE other than sporadically), updating all my habits and muscle memory, etc.

Haven't regretted it once.

The machine I built for half the price of the equivalent Mac STILL makes me feel all warm and happy a year later. It feels weird to have more performance than I'd ever need, while spending so little. Windows 10 is perfectly usable, unlike multiple predecessors. WSL is amazing, and basically gives you that *nix-terminal-in-an-instance feel that used to be a unique feature of OSX.

It's easier than ever to switch, and there's less reasons than ever not to. Apple is treading dangerous waters I reckon. I seriously think if more Apple users knew how far Windows PCs had come, they'd be switching now, as I know I myself held off for a fair while just because I was hesitant to believe it had gotten that much better.

That's what I'm most afraid of if apple doesn't veer from its current path. I can't go back to windows. I've used windows, Mac OS, and Ubuntu, and windows was the worst OS for me.

Almost every single tool/technology that I've come across in the last couple years has separate laborious and annoying installation instructions for windows. Many don't even support windows at the start.

Unless Microsoft rewrites windows as a *nix OS from scratch (not gonna happen), I don't see myself being willing to go back to it.

The Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) lets you run unmodified Linux binaries in a Windows terminal.

You can install Ubuntu from the Windows App Store and it’s the real thing, not an emulation layer like Cygwin. You don’t need separate install instructions — just follow the ones for Ubuntu.

It’s really an underappreciated amazing feature of modern Windows: you can run an entire Linux userland on the same kernel.

I’ll second this. I found the emulators like Cygwin a bit clunky for my tastes. The WSL is a great compromise.

It's handy, I'll give you that. Until this bug (feature?) is sorted, it's dangerous: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/commandline/2016/11/17/do-n...

The Linux files live in a separate location from the standard Windows folders that Explorer exposes. I've never had a problem with accidentally stumbling into my Linux tree from the Windows GUI.

Understood, I'd launch editors from the wsl & end up blowing up all of my work without thinking. It's hard to get out of the habit of typing `atom .` inside a folder.

Oh well, linux works for me :)

I do love Homebrew but windows has chocolatey which is an analog or you could just use the windows Linux subsystem and use the native apt or yum tools.

Based on the comment, I'm assuming you built a desktop system. Is there an equivalent for laptops? I keep looking at Surface books, and... get tempted, then read about something that seems like a major flaw, so I hold off. $3k would be a lot to drop on a machine, so... I want some assurances it would be worthwhile switching from a MBP (2015).

Dell XPS 13 is my primary choice for last 5 years (I had 2 work laptops from this product line and still own a model from 2015). The only bug in it is a nosecam.

And the wretched touchpad with its constant false triggers. I love my XPS 13, but I always use it with mouse, as the touchpad is so terrible.

Never had this problem.

Curious: Linux, or windows? Make sure you're using libinput if on linux, it'll solve that outright.

for 3K you could look at most of the premium brands and from a hardware point of view, I'd say you have a good chance of finding something that suits your needs.

Dell XPS 13 are popular and can be shipped and supported with Linux out of the box as well as Windows. XPS 15 can be an option if you're ok with some added weight and want more power.

Lenovo T-Series have been around for ages and generally have quite robust hardware. There's also the Carbon X1 if you want something lighter, or the Thinkpad P1 if you want more power.

HP Elitebooks - Similar to the other two these have a good range of options and good hardware build generally.

On the Microsoft side there's the Surface Pro's and also the surface book, which is very pricey but again has some nice hardware.

Of course all this depends on what you're looking for from a laptop, what is "worthwhile" is a personal judgement :)

I’ll never buy another xps after my experience with the xps 13. Trackpad was near useless due to outright user abuse. Tried any driver tricks and hacks I could find to little help. Plus windows just doesn’t do 4k acceptably.

I guess mileage varies on these things, laptop choice is quite a personal affair. Personally I'm relatively fine with Windows 4K perf. (running a Dell Precision 7520)...

I'd heavily recommend the lenovo x1 line, I'm using the x1c5 (gen5) without issue. Love it in every regard, and it doesn't hurt that it's lighter than the macbook by a heavy margin.

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