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amandasystems / linux-on-the-desktop

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Acceptable Hardware Aesthetics #2

Open amandasystems opened 5 years ago

amandasystems commented 5 years ago

There needs to be at least one laptop supporting all of the features which is no uglier than the 2013 aluminium unibody MacBook Pro. Notable features are:

Of course, an easy way there is to actually run on the 2013 MacBook Pro.

raingloom commented 5 years ago

pling https://puri.sm/products/librem-15/

also what's wrong with like, Thinkpads and stuff?

the MNT Reform is also looking damn fine imho, but it hasn't shipped yet

raingloom commented 5 years ago

also not a plastic toy: https://www.pine64.org/pinebook-pro/

amandasystems commented 5 years ago

@raingloom I had high hopes for the pinebook, but I have virtually no use for computer with less than 16 GB of RAM. I didn't even think it was possible to buy a new computer with less than 8 GB today, but I guess it hits a niche.

I have had several Thinkpads and I still think they feel like cheap plastic. They also have very ugly, text-based logos (so far I have seen zero nice-looking text-based logos). The Pinebook looks great from what I can tell, but it also comes down to small things you cannot see from the Web; how does the lid feel when it closes, how does it look sitting on a desk, etc, and I haven't verified those yet.

I would also allow for something that feels plasticky as long as it is durable and feels good to handle, but then you'd have to have a more interesting design than a Thinkpad. I'm thinking about early toilet seat iBooks, or the Pocket C.H.I.P, etc. Glass, wood or some sort of resin also comes up as potential materials. I keep thinking about the Sandbenders hardware in Gibson's Idoru. Maybe the time has come for it. I would also like to see a design that would look good aged. Aluminium laptops do an OK job of this (they don't degrade), but plastic laptops certainly don't. I've had more than one machine literally fall apart.

However, I still think the easiest way to hit this mark is to just have good support for a 2013 Macbook Pro. Heck, I'd even allow for some setup that requires hardware flashing CoreBoot.

raingloom commented 5 years ago

4 gigs is plenty enough for a desktop.

16 gigs is luxury. Tbh so is worrying about text logos.

amandasystems commented 5 years ago

All of these requirements are luxury requirements.

For regular use, yes anything above 8 GB would be luxury. 4 is too little for the modern web, but that's because modern utilities are a train wreck. You'd have to hit Electron apps hard to need more than 8 though, I guess. However, for me personally I require a lot of RAM, and expect this to get much, much worse soon.

amandasystems commented 5 years ago

I'm currently idling at 7.5 GB RAM use, by the way, and I'm not doing anything.