Tech/Computer advice from me

[Boone]

I have a Lenovo SL410 which has served me well for about 4 years now - it's a really powerful little laptop without a lot of bells and whistles, but I've begun to have some issues with it and I fear it's on it's last legs. Only complaint ever about Lenovo's is that the models I've had have a tendency to overheat and develop fan errors/issues.

I'm looking at buying another Lenovo, the 2014 T440. It's a lot like what I have, but obviously more powerful and supposedly runs much cooler. I am tempted to look at their Yoga hybrid (it's a ultralight that you can use in laptop mode, 'tent' mode, or tablet mode) - pretty cool, but I'm not sure it'll have the power and functionality I need to do all the things I need to do to keep BGO and TN running smoothly. So, will probably go with the T440 here in a couple of weeks.

One thing I'm also factoring in - if you buy directly from Lenovo, you can have Windows 7 Pro OS vs. having Windows 8 imposed on you. I don't know much about Windows 8, but I'm not a 'touch screen' kind of a guy, so would much prefer to stick with Windows 7. That's a major selling point for me.

 

[fansince62]

Our student labs, who has the main joy of dealing with them, is about 45 machines. I quote: "I didn't hate macs, until I had to manage them."

back in the day I remember the same management integration issues with hybrid Unix/Windows server environments.

sidebar: but my experience with MacBook Pro from a hw pov convinces me that these are the best engineered machines from a reliability pov. Bought mine in 2009 and...unlike all the HPs, VAIOs, etc, I have owned, after 4-5 years of use...keypad remains in tact, no power issues, no noise, no HD issues, no fan issues, terrific display....

There are some things I don't like - OSX is not for folks who like to control their setup down to the last bit. Or who like easy access to complete SA on what is going on with their machine. learning Object-C...while not too hard....is a pain just to work the Apple environment.

 

[tshile]

I have a Lenovo SL410 which has served me well for about 4 years now - it's a really powerful little laptop without a lot of bells and whistles, but I've begun to have some issues with it and I fear it's on it's last legs. Only complaint ever about Lenovo's is that the models I've had have a tendency to overheat and develop fan errors/issues.

I'm looking at buying another Lenovo, the 2014 T440. It's a lot like what I have, but obviously more powerful and supposedly runs much cooler. I am tempted to look at their Yoga hybrid (it's a ultralight that you can use in laptop mode, 'tent' mode, or tablet mode) - pretty cool, but I'm not sure it'll have the power and functionality I need to do all the things I need to do to keep BGO and TN running smoothly. So, will probably go with the T440 here in a couple of weeks.

One thing I'm also factoring in - if you buy directly from Lenovo, you can have Windows 7 Pro OS vs. having Windows 8 imposed on you. I don't know much about Windows 8, but I'm not a 'touch screen' kind of a guy, so would much prefer to stick with Windows 7. That's a major selling point for me.

Your timing is excellent

Windows 8 vs windows 7 - I like windows 8. I'm not much of a touch screen person either. I ran it on a non-touch screen from release and just recently got a touch screen - I use it maybe 2 or 3% of the time. I'm also just not a tablet person, I don't own one. It doesn't do anything for me. I use my phone or I get out my laptop.

I haven't seen anywhere where windows 8 has had problems. It's essentially windows 7 with a face lift. If you actually look at the version numbers [1] windows 8 is version 6.2 and windows 7 is version 6.1. The changes just aren't that different fundamentally. The complaints you see/hear about are almost exclusively related to not liking the new start menu or metro mode apps (and their app store is awful.) But if you like windows 7, don't be afraid of windows 8. Just be prepared to use a different start menu. I never even set my start menu up - I just hit the windows key on my keyboard, type in the first few letters of what I want, and it finds it and I can open it by hitting enter. That includes names of files or applications. It's a shallow learning curve.

That said, if you get windows 8, make sure you don't get an RT machine. Those run in ARM processors (like phones/tablets) and you wont be happy with the performance. Get one with a full fledged intel processor. I recommend i5, or if you're really concerned about power i7. The i3's have gotten better over the last 2 years, but they're still for light weight users in my opinion. I'd never recommend an i3 for a business machine, even someone just doing spreadsheets.

As for the actual computer... We just did a whole round of updates at work. Everyone but one person went with UltraBooks, which is what you're thinking about with the yogo. Ultrabook is an Intel branding name ( you'll see many manufactures use it ) and all it means it is meets their specs for Ultrabook branding which means an Intel i3/5/7 processor and a few other things. The new spec requires wi-di be native and enabled, which allows you to wirelessly display your screen on devices like TV's, projectors, etc. It's pretty nice and good.

1 guy got the Lenovo line you mentioned. It's a much 'bigger' laptop. The keys are much bigger, pop up higher. Using the keyboard and the track pad could be considered 'clunky' to some people. But the guy who got it is a big guy (6'5, heavy set) and so the laptop just works better for him.

2 of us got the Lenovo yoga 2 pro's. I'm one of them. We both have the following issues:
- Weird RTFaceTracker driver error when logging in sometimes, just displays a giant gray box with a few buttons that don't do anything. Honestly looks like a debugging window that made it into production on accident. Can't seem to fix it. Would think a future driver update would resolve it
- Keyboard randomly just stop working... Putting the computer in sleep mode and bringing it back out fixes it. Takes like 20 seconds. But it is a problem. Seems to happen at the absolute worse times, but doesn't everything like that?
- The mini Display port is carved out weird... you have to make sure any attachment you buy fits before buying it. My MacBook mini displayport adapter wont fit, for example. Our conference room one doesn't fit. Doesn't matter to us, but it could for you.

I have an additional problem my coworker doesn't:
- Wireless card just dumps coming back from sleep. I have to go into device manager and disable/enable it to get it to work. A restart works too, but my way is much faster.

I also am a power user. I change settings all the time, install and remove software, setup weird VPN software, etc. It's part of my job. It's possible that has messed up my wireless nic somehow. I haven't looked into it. The fact that my coworker (who doesn't do that work) doesn't have the problem supports that idea.

I otherwise absolutely love this laptop (emphasis added to make up for all the dogging I just did). If Lenovo put out a few more driver updates to fix these problems this will be a 5 year laptop for me. It's super light, thin, runs fast, never have performance issues, and just overall love it.

The UltraBooks don't have a traditional docking port on it so you'll have to use a USB3 docks. I have one, it works great. The one exception are the HP UltraBooks.

My boss got a sony ultra book and if you're interested in the model I'll get it for you. He absolutely loves it, has no problems with it. I kind of wish I had chosen that one, but I don't really regret getting the yoga 2. My boss doesn't deal really well with things that have flaky issues. He makes a big fuss about them and in some cases sells them and gets something different. Him loving that laptop means its stable and works well. He uses his like I use mine.

We also had a developer get a surface pro with a dock. He loves it. The screen was ultimately too small for me for my job. I work with my laptop on my lap while half hanging off a box or step ladder or stool in a closet so I don't have time to fiddle with real estate issues, and having the fixed structure of a laptop instead of a tablet helps. But he does full fledged programming on that, running multiple virtuals and all kinds of stuff. No performance issues. Just make sure you get the pro (Intel processor) and not the RT (ARM processor)

The other thing about ultrabooks is that a lot of them don't have network jacks on them or DVD roms. You have to buy usb attachments if you need that. I got those, they work great, but they're extra things to buy/worry about.

1 - History of Microsoft Windows - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Boone]

Thanks for the great feedback. I doubt I'll go with a tablet or
Ultra', I want the full laptop experience and I've had such great luck with Lenovo I'll probably but the T440 or something like it. Thanks again for the great info.

 

[Boone]

Oh - and you've given me food for thought with the windows 8 stuff

 

[Shi no Tenshi]

back in the day I remember the same management integration issues with hybrid Unix/Windows server environments.

sidebar: but my experience with MacBook Pro from a hw pov convinces me that these are the best engineered machines from a reliability pov. Bought mine in 2009 and...unlike all the HPs, VAIOs, etc, I have owned, after 4-5 years of use...keypad remains in tact, no power issues, no noise, no HD issues, no fan issues, terrific display....

There are some things I don't like - OSX is not for folks who like to control their setup down to the last bit. Or who like easy access to complete SA on what is going on with their machine. learning Object-C...while not too hard....is a pain just to work the Apple environment.

I see anecdotes like this for every brand though. I see dozens of macs go through the shops for failures every month. I know people that have had a Toshiba last them 7 years. I have a Dell Studio XPS 16 that is the same as what you said about the MacBook Pro, lasted 5-6 years at this point, with no issues. Ends up being a lot of luck of the draw.

Knowledge just helps reduce the chances of having issues, but every single brand has them. Just as every single brand has success stories. I just have yet to see brand loyalty help the consumer is all.

 

[Shi no Tenshi]

Oh - and you've given me food for thought with the windows 8 stuff

Microsoft does seem to be backpedaling a lot recently about the Metro interface. Their next update is supposed to make desktops boot to the desktop by default, instead of even having to change a setting. I've been reading about Windows 9 avoiding Metro almost entirely. One can only hope...8 does a lot of things well, it's just the stupid stuff they did that makes it not worth it to most people.

 

[fansince62]

nice post T.

any issues with memory leaks? one reason I moved away from Windows was what I perceived to be relatively weaker memory management.

 

[tshile]

I'm one of the few people I know that like windows and os x. most people feel strongly one way or the other.

os x is much more rigid. apple has a work flow for how things work, and if you want to do it a different way then you're on your own.

that said - Microsoft is moving in that direction. so the biggest criticism of apple is going to wind up being part of windows too. which is going to leave us with Linux. yay...

my only gripe against macs is that their users and typically obnoxious they honestly think they have a magical machine that is infallible. then the hard drive crashes and they literally say: "I didn't think Macs had that problem!?". Yes... all machines with hard drives have hard drive failure problems.

I deal with those people all the time. They think because I work in IT I hate apple. Little do they know my only personal laptop is a mac, and as of right now if I was buying another personal laptop... it'd be mac.

 

[fansince62]

I see anecdotes like this for every brand though. I see dozens of macs go through the shops for failures every month. I know people that have had a Toshiba last them 7 years. I have a Dell Studio XPS 16 that is the same as what you said about the MacBook Pro, lasted 5-6 years at this point, with no issues. Ends up being a lot of luck of the draw.

Knowledge just helps reduce the chances of having issues, but every single brand has them. Just as every single brand has success stories. I just have yet to see brand loyalty help the consumer is all.

interesting: any trends on the Mac problems?

 

[tshile]

Microsoft does seem to be backpedaling a lot recently about the Metro interface. Their next update is supposed to make desktops boot to the desktop by default, instead of even having to change a setting. I've been reading about Windows 9 avoiding Metro almost entirely. One can only hope...8 does a lot of things well, it's just the stupid stuff they did that makes it not worth it to most people.

Microsoft caves to that sort of pressure. They're apparently extending security updates for a 10+ year old OS because people just refuse to move on. They brought the start button back for no reason other than people would rather move the mouse into the corner than hit a key on the keyboard (pssst: the key is much faster...) and people just can't figure out the start menu.

You just type in what you want. It pops up instantly. You can even search files, emails, settings, everything - from one screen. And if you want to spend time pinning shortcuts and applications to it, you can.

One thing they really messed up is you can't use metro apps in the background. If you want to run Pandora, for example, you have to dock it to one of the sides so it takes up your screen. It's 2014 and an OS just made it impossible to use an app to stream music in the background. Seriously?! We've gone backwards...

 

[fansince62]

you're right about Apple users!

it spills over into the smartphone blogs. no doubt you are steeped in the iOS/Android wars. I lmao in those blogs - defcon t shirt, mountain dew swilling geeks ripping one another like there's no tomorrow.

 

[tshile]

Thanks for the great feedback. I doubt I'll go with a tablet or
Ultra', I want the full laptop experience and I've had such great luck with Lenovo I'll probably but the T440 or something like it. Thanks again for the great info.

I really like Lenovo. Sucks they're Chinese... we make jokes about my computer sending all my passwords back to china, but... well... that kind of stuff is going on...

But otherwise I really like Lenovo. If they play their cards right they can be a major player in the business/computer sector.

 

[Boone]

I've considered moving to a Mac but a) don't pine to learn a new navigation system and b) worry that I'll run into barriers running a lot of the stuff (server-related and otherwise) required for our sites... I don't know if those are valid concerns or not. And then there is the 30% more you pay for a Mac just for the right to say you own one

 

[tshile]

I've considered moving to a Mac but a) don't pine to learn a new navigation system and b) worry that I'll run into barriers running a lot of the stuff (server-related and otherwise) required for our sites... I don't know if those are valid concerns or not. And then there is the 30% more you pay for a Mac just for the right to say you own one

navigating the system is definitely different, though not difficult. people will argue one way or the other about which is easier, but I don't have an opinion either way other than neither is difficult.

the barriers and stuff is a real concern. something to be taken seriously and looked into. there are ways around all of it, but you have to ask if finding ways around using a certain program/tool is worth it or not.

there's a reason for the markup on apple products. this is not an attempt to convince you to buy a mac or like them, just to explain it. apple only makes a few devices and makes them very well. while they don't always play nice (or at all) with other devices, they play really well together. they're not spread thinly so that they put out a large volume of average products, they're designed to put out a few really good products. they generally do a pretty good job. you run into less issues when you are designing 3 total configurations of your operating system, then when you're designing it for a ridiculously large array of hardware options from a large array of manufacturers... and it shows. there are absolutely quality windows machines out there, but we'd all be kidding if we didn't acknowledge there are also low quality ones that have long term issues (performance or otherwise) and that doing research before purchasing would be a wise thing to do. because not all the low quality ones are cheap. some of the expensive ones have problems too.

apple doesn't have that problem. and you know that when you buy their device. and that's why you pay a markup to do so.

 

[tshile]

I had a BIG problem jumping right in to MAC tech support with little to no experience but I can tell you one thing; Google is your best friend. Once you start looking up things like "command prompt for MAC" at least a handful of geeks have made specific and very detailed threads about how to find the "Terminal" app and how to use it.

once you get that down and start doing it more it really isn't TOO bad of an OS. I am just a PC guy and always have been. But I can appreciate MACs now more than before.

I had/have the same problem.

One thing I've noticed is that htere just aren't the resources available for OSX/Darwin the way there are for most other operating systems. They're out there, but it's just not the same. It takes me 10x longer to find out how to do something in OSX/Darwin than it does for any other OS.

Of course, it may just be a problem with the way I go looking for things.

 

[fansince62]

I had a BIG problem jumping right in to MAC tech support with little to no experience but I can tell you one thing; Google is your best friend. Once you start looking up things like "command prompt for MAC" at least a handful of geeks have made specific and very detailed threads about how to find the "Terminal" app and how to use it.

once you get that down and start doing it more it really isn't TOO bad of an OS. I am just a PC guy and always have been. But I can appreciate MACs now more than before.

yup....plus....a lot of Mac users are closet Unix geeks who like working the terminal interface. finder.app also has a lot of functionality. agree though that it is a mind shift from Windows - there were many times I was frustrated with "I know how to do this in Windows" thoughts when trying to do something early on with Macs. in the end, Macs are built more for the multi-media types and less so biz app community - though that is changing somewhat. Pages, for example, is not a very effective word doc pgm IMO.

I do like the xcode environment - it's free and well designed. not a professional developer. not even close. but I like playing with the stuff. the support Apple provides is pretty good.

 

[Shi no Tenshi]

I had a BIG problem jumping right in to MAC tech support with little to no experience but I can tell you one thing; Google is your best friend. Once you start looking up things like "command prompt for MAC" at least a handful of geeks have made specific and very detailed threads about how to find the "Terminal" app and how to use it.

once you get that down and start doing it more it really isn't TOO bad of an OS. I am just a PC guy and always have been. But I can appreciate MACs now more than before.

That was an issue I haven't really had. Honestly, I just hate it's incompatibility and overrated-ness, but that second part is the people with it, not the system itself. Knowing command line is always half the battle

 

[Fear The Spear]

Skinned Aussie !
This forum on "Ubuntu Installations" is really scarin me, with all the endless threads of people having installation issues, now that I'm about ready to take the Ubuntu plunge
Help me, man ! These threads are painting a bleak picture !

Ubuntu Forum : Installation & Upgrades

 

[fansince62]

one thing I definitely don't like about MACs.....the spinning beachball of death. very irritating.