Changing Platforms

When thinking about switching platforms it's important to think about hardware. In fact, hardware is one of the most important elements when it comes to making the leap from one type of system to another. In this post, I plan on looking at one of the systems that I've considered for about a year: the 13" MacBook Pro (2015 model).

Where to begin with this notebook. I've been using a MacBook Air since 2012 when I had finally had enough of Windows 7 throwing fits and destroying hours of work by "forgetting" how to show Asian fonts and changing lots of Japanese and Korean characters in my application translation files to useless square boxes. The problem was the result of my notebook not having enough memory despite being maxed out, and the fact that I was using several Asian character sets while developing tools to be used across Asia. My iPod Touch had proven itself more than up to the task of handling multiple languages without breaking a sweat, and pretty much every podcaster I listened to at the time would go on for hours (quite literally) about how awesomesauce Apple hardware was. So, throwing caution to the wind and remembering the success and ease I had with Snow Leopard in a Virtual Machine on a Lenovo the year before, I picked up a used MacBook Air.

My computing experience changed literally overnight.

So if I was so happy with a MacBook Air back in 2012, and happy enough in 2014 to buy a new machine, why am I looking to leave the entire platform in 2016? It's a good question, and one that I'll direct you to the podcasts to listen and find out. That said, I cannot dispute that Apple does make some of the best hardware on the market. The machines are sturdy, reliable, and designed in such a way that I rarely need to stretch my fingers to accomplish anything on the keyboard. More than this, the screen (despite the fact that it's most certainly not a high-DPI model) is very easy to look at for hours on end. For these reasons and more, it only makes sense that I look at Apple's current-generation hardware alongside offerings from the competition. A Mac can run Linux and Windows just as well as a Lenovo, after all. Heck, in my experience, a Mac can run Windows better than a machine that was designed with Microsoft's operating system in mind!

The 2015-era MacBook Pros are some of the nicest-looking notebooks on the market today. The only machines that might be considered to look better took their design cues from Apple and changed things just enough to avoid being openly mocked and compared to Samsung. The screens are incredibly sharp and vibrant. The keyboards have just the right about of pushback when hammering away at 150 words-per-minute, and the overall build quality really is second to none. While Apple is notorious for designing cables and power adapters that are prone to "naturally degrade" over the course of a year, the actual hardware that people carry around and show off can look great even after several years of use. Just look at all the people still carrying around iPhone 4 and 5-series devices. They look well used, yet attractive.

Another nice benefit of going with a MacBook Pro is its ability to natively run OS X. If I decided I didn't want to run Linux or Windows on a Lenovo, I'd have to either go with a Virtual Machine that runs most of the time or turn the machine into a Hackintosh. While I am not averse to doing a bit of work to make hardware work just the way I expect, there are limits.

Now, because Apple "owns" your hardware for the entire lifetime of the machine, there is no future upgrade path when buying a MacBook. The Mac you buy is the Mac you have … until the next one. With the 2011-era MacBook Air, I had the option to swap out the SSD with a 3rd-party unit from OWC if I wanted. With my 2014-era MacBook Air, this is an impossibility. The computer is, for all intents and purposes, an appliance. The same goes for the MacBook Pros. This means that if a machine with 16GB is so important to me, I need to spring for it right off the bat and smile while Apple charges an additional 24,000円 for 8GB of RAM. Also, since storage is non-upgradeable, I'll need to make sure I have enough. Believe it or not, I typically have about 50GB free on my 128GB SSD right now, but I'd like to have a little more breathing room, especially if I opt for a dual-boot system. So 256GB is the way to go. I don't need more, as all my media and really big stuff is stored on my home NAS. Data portability is something I solved many, many years ago.

So for a basic Core i5 with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, I'll be looking at spending 196,800円 (about $1,700 USD) that I cannot upgrade nor repair. If I were to also pick up an AppleCare kit to extend the warranties to three years, I would need to drop a little more cash for the peace of mind. This isn't a crazy amount of money, especially when I sit down to think about how much I've spent on OS X applications that I will most certainly not be able to bring over to Linux or Windows, but it does give me pause. Not only because of the money — which works out to just over three weeks of my wages — but because I'll be in the same boat I find myself now.

I have a MacBook Air now. What's stopping me from killing the OS X installation and putting Ubuntu on here?

I want more power. I want the flexibility to expand the system as time goes on. I want the ability to repair the machine myself, buying parts when required and cutting my hands up while digging deep into a case that was assembled by robots with appendages much more precise and fine than the meaty phalanges most humans are born with.

The MacBook Pro is an amazing machine with the two most important things I look for in a computer: a great keyboard and an excellent screen. But is a nicely configured model going to grow with me over the next 24 to 48 months, or will I need to constrain myself and outsource tasks to ephemeral virtual servers somewhere in the cloud?

While I haven't yet made a decision about what kind of computer to buy next, Apple's 13" professional-grade notebook gives me something to think about.

When thinking about switching platforms it's important to think about hardware. In fact, hardware is one of the most important elements when it comes to making the leap from one type of system to another. In this post, I plan on looking at one of the systems that I've considered off and on recently: the Lenovo ThinkPad T550.

Just like it's smaller sibling the T450, this Lenovo T550 is a standard run-of-the-mill device that ships with everything people would expect from a 15.6" notebook. A huge keyboard that would put a piano to shame, an off-centre touchpad that looks like it's designed for a left-handed person, and a screen resolution so awful you couldn't tell the Windows logo from a picture of Mario in Super Mario Brothers due to excessive pixillation. That said, there's a lot going for this machine once you throw in a few inexpensive upgrades.

One of the many things I like about the T550 over the 14" model is the fact that there is no onboard RAM on this machine. It comes equipped with two memory slots and can handle up to 32GB of LPDDR3 RAM. Also like the smaller model, it supports a great amount of storage expansion and easy access to all of the critical components after taking off the bottom panel of the notebook. In terms of serviceability, this machine rocks. With a 15.5" 2880x1620 IPS screen upgrade, the WXGA abomination that ships with the basic model can be completely obviated, and the ports on each side of the machine make it a snap to add and remove as many peripherals as most people will probably need from a mobile machine.

That said … that damned number pad … and the off-centre touchpad!

I know I'm being unnecessarily picky here but, from my experience, number pads do nothing to add to the productivity of a person using a big-ass notebook. If anything they just make the rest of the keyboard — the part that we spend 99% of our time using — more cramped than necessary. I'd love to see Lenovo offer a model of the T550 with the same keyboard we can find on the 14" models, centred and padded by a heat grill or just the plain, stippled plastic that they make all of their ThinkPads with. With the way my fingers fly over a notebook, I would fully expect to hit a [4] or [7] key when I really wanted to get a new line or erase a typo. These sorts of keying errors would be rage inducers under the wrong circumstances.

Of course we can learn our way around a new keyboard.

As of this writing, Lenovo Japan is having a pretty decent sale on their 2015-model machines. I went through and made a bunch of upgrades to the basic model and was greeted with a price of 134,028円 (just under $1,200 USD as of today) for a nicely decked-out T550.

This included the higher-resolution screen, a fingerprint reader, 16GB of RAM (two 8GB sticks), a backlit keyboard, the best wireless card, and a battery upgrade that will purportedly give this unit a 29-hour battery life … which is beyond crazy. Of course, it would be as heavy as most of the textbooks I carry around at the office but, if I am going to be moving out of the classroom and into a software development role with the company, lugging this beast to and from home will be less of a burden.

While I haven't yet made a decision about what kind of computer to buy next, this unit here gives me something to think about.

When thinking about switching platforms it's important to think about hardware. In fact, hardware is one of the most important elements when it comes to making the leap from one type of system to another. In this post, I plan on looking at one of the systems that has long caught my eye: the Lenovo ThinkPad T450s.

The T450s is a pretty standard Lenovo by most metrics, offering just enough features and functions to accommodate the greatest range of consumers. It ships with a 14" screen that has either a 1600x900 or 1920x1080 resolution, the latter receiving rave reviews from people who have purchased one. The keyboard is pretty much exactly the same that has shipped with the ThinkPad models for years, and the Japanese model — the one that I would pretty much demand — is quite comfortable to use based on my experience with floor models at various electronics shops around town. Considering how much time I spend typing on a computer and looking at its screen, these are the two most important factors. I would gladly accept a slower processor and fewer expansion options if it meant having a superior typing and viewing experience.

Unfortunately, all is not rosy with the T450s. One of the less-desirable elements of this notebook is the 4GB of soldered-on RAM. There is an expansion slot that will accept a RAM module as large as 16GB, but the 4GB from the factory cannot be changed without a lot of precision soldering work … which isn't something that I'm capable of doing. That said, as the motherboard does not make use of dual-channel RAM, this is something that most people who do not demand bleeding edge performance can live with. Also, people who want to use performance RAM in a notebook would probably not get a 14" model. For me, while I can appreciate the benefits a 15" model would come with, the extra weight in my already over-crowded bag would do a number on my back in no time.

All is not lost with this model, though. There is something rather unique that I have recently learned about through the hardware manual (be careful with the download, as it's a whopping 36MB in size). Look on Page 66 (the 72nd page of the PDF) and you'l see this little gem:

Yes. The Wireless card can be swapped out with another SSD. This means the T450s supports two M.2 SSD units. One standard M.2 2280-type SSD, and an M.2 2242. This, in addition to supporting a standard 2.5" drive in its bay gives Lenovo something that's more than interesting to consider. People who can get by with a USB wireless device — or no wireless connectivity at all — could be walking around with a machine that can move a huge amount of data at blistering rates … at a price. But given the entry price for one of these units, having the option to actually do something like this if the need arises is nothing short of amazing.

Well … it's amazing to me, anyway. I do a lot of work with databases and Virtual Machines. Having a drive dedicated for this purpose would be a wonderful treat, and having the ability to perhaps set up some RAID between the two M.2 SSD drives means the machine could have one heck of a lifespan.

As of this writing, Lenovo Japan is having a pretty decent sale on their 2015-model machines. I went through and made a bunch of upgrades to the basic model and was greeted with a price of 137,635円 (about $1,200 USD as of today).

This is for the upgraded FHD screen, 12GB of RAM, the bigger secondary battery, camera, fingerprint reader, 65W slim charger (which I'd be leaving at home given the notebook's 13 hour battery life), and more. Granted, this means keeping the stock 500GB spinning disk hard drive, but that would be the first aftermarket upgrade the unit would receive. Samsung 480GB SSDs sell for much less than the units Lenovo offers, and I'm not squeamish about swapping out parts in a notebook before the unit sees its first boot.

While I haven't yet made a decision about what kind of computer to buy next, this unit here is a strong contender.

Technology is an amazing thing. With it, we can create wonderful tools and solve very complex problems. Technology has the underlying foundation of many of the world's most powerful and memorable civilisations throughout the history of our species, and it's something that many people take very, very seriously.

Keita and I (Jason) have been using computers for the vast majority of our lives. I started out with a hand-me-down 8088 in 1994 and haven't looked back. Keita has been using machines for as long as he's been literate, if not longer. We know our way around our machines, and we use the tools we find to be the most effective. At the moment this means being heavily invested in the Apple ecosystem. But what if this isn't the most effective way to accomplish our goals? What if there are better alternatives out there?

In this podcast run, we'll discuss the possibility of making the switch from Apple's OS X to a flavour of Linux. This isn't just an OS replacement, though. There's a lot more to it. From hardware, to software, to ecosystems, we'll go over the reasons we're thinking about switching and challenge each other to justify our reasoning. The goal of this show is not only to answer our own questions before investing a great deal of time and money, but to hopefully answer some of yours.

Feel free to listen along and, if you have any questions, be sure to get in touch with us on App.net, Twitter, or through the contact form on this site.

You can find Keita as @keita on app.net and @sleepy_keita on Twitter. I'm @matigo on app.net.