12 Years ago I had a Sony Vaio. I quite liked it. Then in my next job, 2017 or so, I went for a Toshiba Portege, and absolutely loved it.

Guess what the above two have in common? Yup, they stopped making laptops for the professional market. So now I’m a bit at a loss. Any recommendations?

Requirements:

  • Lightweight and easy to carry around.
  • 13-15" display, preferably
  • Decent battery life
  • It absolutely must have an RJ45
  • Works well with linux
  • Good keyboard quality
  • ISO keyboard availability
  • Touchpad. Bonus points if it has the touchpad buttons ABOVE the pad itself.
  • oxjox@lemmy.mlEnglish
    226·
    10 months ago

    I’ve used Macbooks in networking / programming and construction environments for over fifteen years. They’ve been incredibly solid in my experience. In fact, the first week I was given a Thinkpad, I broke it because it was so much more fragile than a Mac. I always used USB adapters for Ethernet and serial connections without issue. They also run Windows and Linux.

    • d3Xt3r@lemmy.nzEnglish
      13·
      10 months ago

      They also run Windows

      They no longer do (since the switch to ARM) - unless you count running under a VM.

        • d3Xt3r@lemmy.nz
          9·
          10 months ago

          I know, but you can’t install it directly on a MacBook - you have to use a VM like Parallels or UTM.

          • nillocEnglish
            1·
            10 months ago

            Honestly, unless you need Solidworks or something else highly resource heavy and windows only, VMs work well with M chips. They’re surprisingly fast.

            • d3Xt3r@lemmy.nz
              1·
              10 months ago

              I’ve got an M1 MBA - it’s fast for sure, but the issue isn’t the processing power, it’s the RAM. Basemodel MacBooks, like the one I’ve got, still come with only 8GB RAM which is barely enough for macOS alone, never mind running Windows on top.

      • ReallyZen@lemmy.ml
        4·
        10 months ago

        I run Asahi on my 2023 m2pro mbp; performance-wise it’s closer to a contemporary i7 than the actual performance of the M chip on macos, but a lot of what I need is there, a surprising amount of stuff is compiled for Arm64 actually. Feels like normal Fedora in most every aspects. Coming from thinkpads / latitudes, keyboard is shit tho, really. Screen is great, sound is quite good, device feels sturdy but sleep eats 50% battery a day. Air vents are placed just right to gulp any spilled drink, like, vacuuming it off the table, a puzzling design choice. Prices took a dive with the advent of the m3 so I’m not really angry, a 2023 i7 thinkpad would have cost me the same.

    • MomoTimeToDie@sh.itjust.works
      84·
      10 months ago

      In fact, the first week I was given a Thinkpad, I broke it because it was so much more fragile than a Mac

      Genuine question, but what the actual fuck are you doing with your laptops? I used a ThinkPad through high school and college, and school aged me certainly didn’t treat it very kindly.

    • stewie3128@lemmy.ml
      2·
      10 months ago

      Premium product experience at a premium price. Whether the cost premium is worth it is a judgment call for the user.