What did Qualcomm think when they signed a monopoly deal with Microsoft? That they will benefit from this legally questionable action? Microsoft exploited hardware manufactures to spread their bad software in the 90ies and only Microsoft did win.
Ship it with Linux and target an initial a small but welcoming market. If you want just a cheap device with ARM for browsing only, Chromebook (next monopoly by Google…).
instead of the OS with majority of market share and giant userbase
90s are over, it is time to move on and stop EEEing everywhere
The manufacturers are always the key. What ships pre-installed and/or runs well after setup matters. Thats why ThinkPads run so well with Linux. ThinkPads are certified for Linux or even ship readily with Fedora or Ubuntu.
That I’m using Arch and using mostly the TTY isn’t an issue. It doesn’t matter that the next user prefers GNOME and Fedora. Because we’ve settled for compatibility and not incompatibility through Windows or MacOS. The rest is just our personal choice. How cares if we run SysVInit or Systemd? Only the user.
PS: Applies also to Dells Developer Edition Laptops.
...I have no faith.
You don't need faith, you just need to look around: It's already shining!
Support for Linux in consumer software applications and devices has improved a huge amount over just the past few years. Using a Linux desktop in 2024 is not a second class experience at all anymore.
Sure the userbase is still quite small relative to Windows and MacOS, but in absolute numbers it's still a huge population of users, and it's also growing very fast. That combined with the fact that supporting Linux is typically quite easy means that more and more vendors are supporting it, which is creating a positive feedback loop by enticing more users.
No need for pessimism here.
[1] https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/54920/Dell-320LX/
Second only on the chart of “companies to never buy from” to HP.
There's no reasonable explanation aside from planned obsolescence.
And why is web browsing such a battery sink? Are they using an old version of edge? Is it full of random extensions??
By the way, 15 minutes into a thread about CPUs and discussion has not yet been hijacked by the fans of "that other company". Maybe HN is improving?
Also note that this heavily depends on the CPU and screen configuration (LED or OLED).
One data point here: My laptop with an AMD 7840U with FHD+ IPS screen could last 9 hours in my own testing, that's without video calls or heavy multitasking. It's a ThinkPad but there are a few on the market with the same APU. A similar test on an Asus laptop with i5-1240p high-res OLED would yield 5 hours using the same method.
I know, it's annoying that there is no easy way to get a somewhat realistic estimate of the battery life on Windows laptops, while official Macbook battery life in the specs is reasonable and often accurate. Generally, you would want to get a low voltage CPU and avoid OLED screens if you want good battery life.
A newer Microsoft surface gives you 13-16 hours depending on the model and HP, Dell and Lenovo have slim-ish laptopts in the 11-14 hrs range
I'm incredibly happy with this laptop in general.
I wish it would come back, or that there was some other web browser option for Windows (guess I should try Firefox again).
The entire shtick of Windows is it's userbase and app library on x86. Porting your app to Android tablets makes more sense than porting to Windows on ARM, and developing a PWA web app makes more sense than that. Power-user apps (including games) will definitely stay on Windows x86 for now, with Linux x86 being it's primary alternative.
This product will likely be for users who just use a web browser and want integration with Microsoft services with that, so mainly the educational field.
I know from a friend who worked at Brex that said they offered Chromebooks for people who just needed a web browser. That was mostly sales and support staff like HR.
Only time will tell how good the support is, but it's at least a start.
> The boot stack on Snapdragon X Elite supports standard UEFI-based boot. Linux boots up using devicetrees, and all standard bootloaders, including Grub and system-d boot, should just work out of the box. We use Grub to boot into Debian, and to dual-boot Windows and Debian.
> We’re working closely with upstream communities on an open problem with the UEFI-based BIOS while booting with devicetrees. The problem is that, when you have more than one devicetree blob (DTB) packed into the firmware package flashed on the device, there is no standard way of selecting a devicetree to pass on to the kernel. OEMs commonly put multiple DTBs into the firmware package so it will support devices with slightly different SKUs, so we’re keen to solve this problem. (See the Embedded Open Source Summit presentation on this topic by my colleague Elliot Berman. Links below.)
I was really hoping we would just... not. Not looking forward to those ads being all over showing gimmick that most probably don't want. Hopefully we don't start seeing "AI PC Ready" parts for custom builds.
Hopefully the LTSC version of Windows 11 doesn't have any of this crap in it.
Also great, so the hardware will be fine. Still not convinced Microsoft can pull off ARM in any meaningful way compared to Apple. I highly doubt the entire PC market will switch over anytime soon unlike Mac.
Is almost anything all of 2 other options?
If I wanted a Macbook I would get a Macbook instead of some frankenstein knockoff that can't run neither Win32 nor Mac.
I have an M2 Macbook Air. The damn thing can fit a dozen USB ports on both sides, as far as physical space is concerned. I like its speakers and battery life, but I hate the lack of connectivity.
It seems strange to take issue with Dell's showboat ultrabook, for being an ultrabook, when for years (maybe longer) it has been an ultrabook with all the trade offs that come with it. Pick a different line of laptops.
And it’s not like Apple is a fast moving target is that regard. It took them a long time to fix the MacBook Pro and they did a number of years ago.
Which might be pretty limiting, depending on what kind of software you run.
The replacement machine still has the issue, but it has a newer generation CPU which generally runs a bit less hot, so it's not as big an issue as it was on the previous machine.
