Ask HN: What laptop computer do you currently use?

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5 points by jai_ 928 days ago

Not using this to look for recommendations, but more of a survey of what HN users like to use.

I made an ask post like this in 2019 and I'm sort of curious to how things have changed over the years: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20857818

Maybe follow a template like this?

Laptop model:

CPU:

RAM:

Screen:

Personal comments:

9 comments

notpushkin 928 days ago

Laptop model: MacBook Air (M1, 2020)

CPU: Apple M1

RAM: 8192MiB

Screen: 13,3-inch (2560×1600, virtual 1440×900)

Personal comments: bought just to try out how well Arm can perform in a laptop. Love the hardware, not so much macOS. I try out Asahi from time to time and it's getting better each time – hopefully next time I can finally make a switch completely.

I also miss my ThinkPad's keyboard :-(

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KronisLV 928 days ago

Ohh I have the same MacBook right now, because I needed something for building iPhone apps for a freelance thing.

The keyboard feels fine, but I definitely preferred the ThinkPad T480 or P51 keyboard over this one. Perhaps the best laptop keyboards I've used to date.

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iamben 928 days ago

M2 Pro / 32GB. Had been using the last Intel Air which I bought in early 2020 and was absolutely gutted when they dropped the M1 a few months later. I've generally made my Macs last 4 or 5 years, so probably would still be using the M1 had I got it.

But that Intel Air was the worst Mac I've ever owned. It was truly a piece of shit that I hated every second with. I7 with 16GB of RAM and the fan was on constantly. Was like working with a hairdryer going (and I wasn't pushing it any harder than the Air I had before, which was mostly silent).

The M2 Pro is an absolute breath of fresh air. Silent, everything just works and works quickly. It's feels like when I first moved from PCs to Macs.

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CafeRacer 928 days ago

Macbook Pro 16" w/ i9 and 64gb of ram... it's good that I can run windows in parallel and play some games. But the i9 heats a lot, like a lot and then macos throttles CPU performance.

I read somewhere that intel could not built chips with smaller nm process and to meet their performance requirements w/ apple they just shoveled more cores or boosted clock.

I had an air w/ m2 before I managed to drown it. That was an insanely fantastic machine. For it's money, for a full-stack web dev it was right in the spot. Even running linux x64_86 VM's was quite good.

I only wish macs were waterproof :-D

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eternityforest 928 days ago

Asus Vivoboook F510UA, 2018 I5-8250 24GB RAM 15.6"

Running Ubuntu. They start as 8GB but there's an extra ram slot and I put a 16GB stick in, which helps a little but not as much as upgrading to an SSD did. It's got a 2.5 bay and also an m.2 slot, really cool upgradability.

Currently using a Logitech M650U Bluetooth mouse with it.

Sadly the back is textured, which seems crazy to not be compatible with stickers.

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verdverm 928 days ago

Caved and spent the dollars for an M2 air 24G after being disappointed by frame.work hardware. Wish I did this originally...

Apple silicon is really good, like really good. I don't think you can find a better laptop cpu right now. They are very polished machines and will be good for many years

I've been using the Immersed App with the Quest 3 until my Visor arrives. The M2 doesn't even flinch

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vinberdon 928 days ago

2021 ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 R9 5900HS + RTX 3060. A wee beastie, I love it.

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t312227 928 days ago

a 2009er thinkpad model x200s

cpu

* SL9400 1,86 Ghz, 6MB L2 Cache, 1066MHz FSB, 17W TDP

ram

* 8 GB

display