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.
  • xmunk@sh.itjust.works
    192·
    4 个月前

    Lenovo seems to be pretty solid but fuck… I still have a grudge over how much shittier they are than the old IBM ThinkPads.

  • Joker@discuss.tchncs.de
    161·
    4 个月前

    Framework if you want to repair it yourself and Lenovo if you don’t. Lenovo makes a good machine and has very reasonably priced on-site support options.

  • dfyx@lemmy.helios42.de
    151·
    4 个月前

    Look into the Framework 13. There are no touchpad buttons but otherwise it has everything you need and is fully upgradable and customizable. The laptop has four expansion ports that can hold a variety of hotpluggable expansion cards. The manufacturer offers USB-A, USB-C, HDMI, DisplayPort, 2.5G ethernet, microSD, audio and SSDs. There are also some community-made ones like LTE and dual USB-C.

    • Player2@lemm.ee
      4·
      4 个月前

      When I eventually need to upgrade I won’t even consider anything that isn’t repairable on a similar level. Hopefully they will be sticking around until then, but it’s looking good on that front right now

  • oxjox@lemmy.mlEnglish
    72·
    4 个月前

    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
      5·
      4 个月前

      They also run Windows

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

      • ReallyZen@lemmy.ml
        1·
        4 个月前

        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.

    • stewie3128@lemmy.ml
      1·
      4 个月前

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

    • MomoTimeToDie@sh.itjust.works
      02·
      4 个月前

      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.

    • neidu2@feddit.nlOP
      2·
      4 个月前

      I can’t really fault that logic. I like the keyboard, the screen, any many other things with them. It’s just some minor annoyances with some of the Fn keycombos that I don’t like.

      But one thing that I can say for sure: It will never be as durable as my Toshiba. It fell between two ships decks. It slid off the roof of a car and syraight into asphalt. It has pieces missing from it. The RJ45 port has been torn out of the mainboard. But it still works, and I bought it out for 50$ when I left my previous employer, and I still use it from time to time to this day.

  • SexMachineStalin [comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    1·
    4 个月前

    A secondhand Lenovo Thinkpad or Dell Latitude, 2013-2018 models. Get one with a quad-core i7, it will run you €150-€400 depending on the amount of RAM, SSD, screen resolution, condition and possibly an onboard GPU.

  • Titou@feddit.de
    1·
    4 个月前

    Basically any Lenovo Thinkpad. They’re cheap, strong and easy to repair/upgrade

  • wuphysics87@lemmy.ml
    1·
    4 个月前

    I’m a thinkpad person. Best keyboard. Very repairable. Never ran into issues installing Linux.

    But they aren’t usually the kind of laptops people like. For them I suggest the Dell XPS line. Mostly for the build quality.

    A lot of laptops are mostly plastic and will flex just from typing. The XPS is made from machined alumninum and is just generally a better user experience.