To add to the discussion on laptops. I REALLY want to like ThinkPads, but I just can't. In addition to being against Lenovo and their bloatware, I simply cannot stand the buttons around the touch pad. The buttons also betray their lack of confidence in usability of their touch pad. When thinking about replacing Mac Book with a Linux laptop, usability of touch pad is my main concern.

you don’t buy a ThinkPad to use touchpad #TrackPointForLife

>The buttons also betray their lack of confidence in usability of their touch pad

no

the buttons are there to be used with the trackpoint

There's two sets of buttons

Above and below the track pad

I see that nobody mentioned HP EliteBook.... only Dell and Thinkpad were mentioned at all.

new ones don't have buttons below trackpad, the trackpad is clickable itself

I find the plain macbook to be surprisingly nice. They are pricy, but durable, run all the things, and unbelievably compact (slides in the tablet sleave of my backpack), and the battery lasts and lasts. For small side projects, it seems to have all the power I need. Great on the train where space is at a premium. Great lounging on the couch or in bed… https://www.apple.com/macbook/

Anecdata: a few people have reported issues with the new macs on build quality, regret updating and stuff.

FWIW, just got a new mbp 13". Impressions so far, great. It's so much smaller/lighter than the 15". Keyboard is a bit different though...

was going to call it fnil, but ended up with reduced as it's quite a bit smaller than the 15", which is called some-fn

Looking forward to getting a machine which deserves the name reify

i name mine after anime characters cause im a huge nerd

@roklenarcic the buttons aren't for use with the touchpad but the trackpoint as bronsa said. As to the bloatware, I understood that that is just the windows ecosystem from manufacturers at the moment. Their rocketfish stuff never touched the thinkpad line and most people install their own OS--be it a fresh copy of windows or some flavor of linux

@dpsutton sadly it’s not just that

https://thehackernews.com/2015/09/lenovo-laptop-virus.html

“unwanted and non-removable crapware into part of the BIOS reserved for custom drivers.”

yep, that's why I don't like lenovo

> One of the most popular computer manufacturers is being criticized for selling some refurbished laptop models pre-installed with invasive marketing software that sends users data directly to the company.

> The purpose of this program is to send customers' feedback data to Lenovo servers.

I looked into the new Dell XPS, it costs a bit more than MBP, but it offers 8th gen CPU instead of MBP 7th gen

I can't tell if this affects new or only refurbished

and 4k monitor is better than MBP

also the article doesn't say what and how much is sent back

what's more alarming is that it keeps happening

every 2 years they get caught

@dpsutton new as well…

but then … at least you spread out your data

some of it goes to American & British goverments

some of it to Chineese

#lookAtTheBrightSide

...only on refurbs? Weird.

What do they use (| ... |) notation for in math?