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0 pointsjorvi14d ago0 comments

MacOS has solved laptop suspend since the 2000s. Windows and Linux still struggle with this, especially due to the switch from S3- to S0ix-style sleep.

Modern Apple laptops seem less special now but you also have to look at them through the lens of their introduction.

A similar thing is true for Sonos. They don't seem all that special now, but you have to realize they have been offering multi-room synced audio with a good UX since 2006. That's before the iPhone even was released.

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rglullis14d ago

> MacOS has solved laptop suspend since the 2000s.

On Apple hardware. Call me when you put MacOS on any random laptop and get suspend to work.

gf00014d ago

Yeah, it's not that hard if the hardware is high quality and of small number of known types.

Windows and Linux is judged by whether it works on any hardware, including the so-cheap-it-should-not-have-been-produced-ever machines, that will obviously just plain suck. No amount of software can save shitty hardware.

presbyterian14d ago

I feel like Linux proselytizers are always talking about how Linux will revive or improve low-powered hardware, and that’s one of the reasons it’s so great. Then when it’s still a poor experience, the same Linux users say things like this, that no software can save bad hardware. You can’t have your cake and eat it too.

Also, Linux expressly aims to run on a wide array of hardware, and macOS doesn’t. So Linux should be judged across a large range of hardware and macOS shouldn’t, in the same way a Jeep should be judged on its off-roading abilities and a Civic shouldn’t.

gf00014d ago

But then what is left to compare the two?

A supersonic airplane is not better than a bicycle, nor the reverse is true. They are just.. different and only marginally related.

Also, "revive" a device is more of a niche thing. What's more generally in line with linux's philosophy is it scaling down to embedded-like hardware, but also scaling up to supercomputers. Neither end is "a bad experience", and none of the other mainstream desktop OSs can even hold a candle next to it.

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skydhash14d ago

Hard to agree with those critics when the OS is doing the right thing, but the hardware won't play ball. The reason there's so much code in the Linux kernel is for various shenanigans that hardware vendors came up with. Yesterday I was looking at how HDMI audio is being implemented. From the specs, it looks quite nice with support for PCM and rates supported sent via EDID, but there's like 5 implementations for that one, 3 of them handling hacks by the GPU vendors.

com2kid14d ago

Windows had working suspend to disk with Windows XP then they messed it up trying to get a more tablet like experience.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

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rglullis14d ago

> MacOS has solved laptop suspend since the 2000s.

On Apple hardware. Call me when you put MacOS on any random laptop and get suspend to work.

gf00014d ago

Yeah, it's not that hard if the hardware is high quality and of small number of known types.

presbyterian14d ago

gf00014d ago

But then what is left to compare the two?

A supersonic airplane is not better than a bicycle, nor the reverse is true. They are just.. different and only marginally related.

1 more reply

skydhash14d ago

com2kid14d ago

Windows had working suspend to disk with Windows XP then they messed it up trying to get a more tablet like experience.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse