An old man frustrated by modern technology.....

The XPSes are great for linux BTW. So are the ASUS Zenbooks which are a tad cheaper for the specs.

 

I'd be willing to bet it's a dry run for an XBOX line of PCs.

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/132...yware-here-s-how-to-remove-superfish-from-pcs

Every Dell that's come through my family has died not soon after. Same with HPs.

 

Yes you can remove it, that's not the point. Don't support those business practices.

Lots of low end dells suck, the professional level stuff is amazing. You pay a lot for them but the build quality is great.

Not really fair to compare a low end dell to something like a Macbook. They're 1/5thish of the price.

 

Everything has some kind of "feedback" Spyware these days. Just do a clean install when you get a new machine,

I do want that Spotlight program that's on Lenovo laptops, should get me started with my DJing.

 

A clean install wont remove all of Levonos spyware, it's in the BIOS. You'd have to reflash that and trust the source you're getting it from.

Not every manufacturer preinstalls spyware. A lot of them preload crapware, and I bet a load do include spyware, but especially on high end laptops a lot of them can't afford the hit to their reputation with business clients.

 

My IT guys will go through it with a fine tooth comb, I'm not worried I just want a computer that works.

 

It's up to you/. I don't think consumers should enable them to do it again though - and we don't know if there's something undiscovered on their current range.

 

I checked a list of affected products, the Laptop I'm looking at is not affected

Look If I'm willing to forgive Nintendo for all the shit they're pulling off, I'm not going to not buy an otherwise solid laptop for a Bios they installed over a year ago.

 

Three separate incidents they've been caught out on, god knows how many have gone unseen. Including right now.

 

I guess I could get an MSI laptop. I didn't know they made laptops and their motherboards are rock solid

 

Careful, in my memories those are cheap laptops. Maybe they improved over time, but at one point they weren't worth the savings.

In any case, research the laptop model you wanna buy online to find common issues, they almost all have some.

 

What if you want to hook up a printer? How about that external hard drive of music/video buddy brought over? What if your phone died and there's no AC anywhere near by? What if you wanted to use a capture card, or a high end microphone? I just don't get why they'd limit a laptop (labeled as a Professional one no less) in such a way that it won't accept an industry standard port out of the box. It's backwards thinking and literally is helping zero people. There would have been no extra compromises to use the standard port, the computer is big enough, so they're literally just fucking people.

 

Adding to that What about optical drives? many Laptops no longer have them but if you wanted to plug in an external one you're SOL.

I'm researching the Lenovo still seems to offer the most for the least amount of money. That's after I add an Office license, and more Ram looking at around $1600.

I'll see what Dell can offer me but I doubt I'll end up with a Dell due to the Bottlenecks I keep hearing about.

 

Actually I was just thinking that, pretty sure the new MBP doesn't have an optical drive. Now they've rendered their own USB Superdrive useless. I mean seriously, how the hell are supposed to boot camp the thing to install Windows? "Oh shit, I have to do a basic computer thing with my Macbook, better run to the store to buy some adapters."

 

On top of my job at a WISP I do the computer stuff for the department of my major, 99% of it is student laptops. About 80% of that is getting Windows on a Mac because aside from Sketch-Up nothing we use in the courses works natively on anything but Windows. In the industry they use iPads and iPhones but absolutely no Macs for any construction work (estimating, take offs, modeling, etc. Maybe secretaries do, no idea).

We pay for MSDN access to get free copies of Windows that I believe will expire in May which means no more free copies for students. Every MacBook revision changes how I get Windows on there with my latest method to simply partition with Disk Utility and install via direct boot to a USB stick. Until this semester I used the bootcamp assistant.

I considered not supporting MacBook Airs because people would get the 128gb model. OSX reserves 20gb for itself, Windows is about 30gb, Revit and Navisworks are about 15-20gb together. OST absolutely WILL NOT run in a VM without a license server we won't run due to network complications.

So students absolutely have to have Windows running directly on something. With these new models I will not be burning my personal money on adapters that I personally will have no use for. I already spend an untold number of hours doing research and jumping through hoops just to figure out Mac problems. If the kiddos buy USB and ethernet adapters OK, I'll do the work or if the department wants to. Realistically they all need to buy a PC and get rid of the Mac as it is only an inconvenience for them and myself.

 

If you liked everything else about the system, there are USB-C to USB-A adaptors available. Not specifically due to this system either, there was also the older Macbook ultraportable, and the Nexus 5 phones. Frankly, I'm just glad SOMEONE has bit the bullet and gone all-in on USB-C, hopefully more will follow and we can get rid of USB-A and that cancerous Micro USB.

If you think that'd get too cumbersome then, eh, MBP isn't for you. World keeps on spinnin.

Those are all "But what about...?" questions that an individual needs to answer. My printer is connected to my network, so is wifi accessible. I have Netflix and Spotify, I don't need people to bring media to my house. Charge your USB-C phone wish a USB-C cable, it'll do a better job anyway. (Granted only the Nexus phones have that right now? Hopefully that improves with time)

Industry standard you say?? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_Type-C

Apple is taking a risk to try to force the issue and get people off of USB-A, USB-B, and Mini/Micro USB. It's ballsy, and will probably mildly inconvenience a few people in the short term, but should actually benefit us all in the long run.

 

You're correct, everyone has a different use case. I just used my USB flash drive 2 days ago to give my parents some pictures.

I still don't get it, you're sacrificing usability/convenience, for what? For making a statement that everyone needs to change all their shit because Apple said so? I don't see how this benefits us all, we've been using this plug since Windows 95 and they've made all the new versions backward compatible. How is that a bad thing?

 

They should put four usb-c ports and people wouldn't complain as much.

 

Ask around what setup most Cubase users are using.

 

I don't want to flame or anything but I just think you need to get over your Xbox hate. n_n'

I believe you'll make the best choice regarding laptops, so keep up the good work researching!

And if using win7/vista remember to deactivate automatic updates. Windows update is going haywire for some years on these systems now and keeps a core at full power for hours or even days. I do enable them once in a while to check some updates but it's a hassle really.