[stevencorona]

I recently (3 weeks ago) switched from OS X to Ubuntu 20.04 after a decade of using macs as my primary desktop for software development.

I hadn't used desktop linux in about 15 years and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. Everything that I remembered being difficult was straightforward. My AMD graphics card worked out of the box with dual monitors. Bluetooth, wifi, HiDPI (two 5K displays), USB plug and play, volume buttons on my keyboard, all seamless.

There are still a few quirks here and there (mainly HiDPI in some apps like Spotify, which there are workarounds for), but I'm happy with my setup and don't plan on moving back.

With Firefox, VS Code, Slack, Spotify, and 1Password X all being cross-platform my workflow didn't even change.

[acidburnNSA]

Add to that excitement the new System 76 Lemur Pro 14" 2.2 lbs laptop with 40 GB of RAM and a massive 73 Wh battery and you're really going to be excited [1]. I got one recently (moving up from an old Sony Vaio).

I've been daily driver on linux for about a decade now and have to agree that it's awesome now.

[1] https://system76.com/laptops/lemur

[jjice]

The price scared me at first, but I had to remember the cost of the new MBP. Very impressive for the cost, and the 2.2 lb weight is really great, especially for a 14". If I was looking for a laptop to serve as my main machine, I could see this being a really strong competitor.

Seems like a great machine, as long as you're a Linux user.

[pfranz]

When I was comparing Mac laptops to PC alternatives they usually ended up within a few hundred dollars. Sure, saving a few hundred dollars is nice, but I'm fairly confident I can sell the Mac in a handful of years for a decent price, confident I'll use it for a handful of years, I'm familiar with the build quality and avenues for parts and replacements, and things like trackpad, biometrics/fingerprint, and battery life are a known quantity for me on a Mac. Saving only 10-15% made it less appealing to make the jump--conversely, I can see people not wanting to pay an extra 10-15% to jump to a Mac.

[lioeters]

I've been eyeing that machine, System76 Lemur, for a while now. In fact a "custom build" is sitting in the shopping cart, waiting for the confirm.

It looks like what Macbook Pro should have been in 2020. Open-source OS and applications, well-designed UX, powerful and extensible hardware.

[acidburnNSA]

I ordered one in pre-sale and love it. It had a slight keyboard problem but I found the github issue in the open source firmware, cherrypicked the fix before it was released, flashed it, and it was great. They released it a week later. Pretty awesome experience.

[alwaysanon]

Not only has Linux and its software ecosystem gotten better (though I guess we have the browser-fication/Electron-ification of everything to thank for that - even MS Office in a browser is pretty good now!) but the hardware options have too.

I recently got a ThinkPad X1 Extreme which is their equiv of the 16" MBP. It has a nice 4k screen, NVIDIA 1650, 6 or 8 core processor, user replaceable 2 x RAM slots (up to 64GB) AND 2 x PCI-E SSD slots, replaceable battery (take a few screws out), better keyboard than the 'fixed' Apple one, real USB-A ports in addition to the 2 x thunderbolts, real HDMI port and an SD Card slot. And it isn't much thicker or heavier than the MBP. It works great with Ubuntu. The two together feel like the ultimate expression of freedom when coming from the Macbook Pro and OSX.

Containers and Kubernetes (via microk8s) run fast and natively rather than in a VM too.

There are three downsides though - the battery life is worse (5-6 hours - but it charges 0-80% in 1 hr and I have been stuck at home near an outlet so it hasn't been too bad), trackpad okay but not as good (though I am starting to prefer the TrackPoint nub while in a more typing mode anyway) and it ran a bit hot and fan-noisy until I repasted the CPU/GPU with Thermal Grizzly. But that it was so easy to take apart and do without voiding the (onsite next day!) warranty that I'll almost forgive it...

[davidandgoliath]

Try booting fedora's installer and see if the trackpad is smoother.

[echlebek]

FYI, you can use the same keyboard combination to zoom spotify as you would for your web browser. It looks fine after that.

[tmikaeld]

My only gripe with desktop Linux is the lack of security layers and quality control.