Using a generator to power a computer is a really bad idea. You’ll significantly shorten the lifespan of the power supply. Ask me how I know.
Thinkpad for the win
Submitted 1 year ago by cows_are_underrated@feddit.org to [deleted]
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Comments
Psythik@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Copythis@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I ran a full sized office photo copier off a generator once, it ran fine, but you could really hear the engine chugging when the fuser started to heat up.
null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 year ago
I’m trying to figure this out at the moment.
What is the best way to power a laptop in an off-grid setup? Mine will be primarily solar + AGM battery.
I think the simplest “just works” set up is to get a “pure sine” inverter and go:
solar > battery > inverter > power supp > laptop
The thing is, if I understand correctly you have a big inefficient inverter to AC only to transform back to DC, with the only benefit being that the plug fits in the socket.
I’m curious to know how a generator ruins a power supply? Is it something to do with the arcane sine wave magic from the inverter?
Mcdolan@lemmy.world 1 year ago
The “best” would be some kind of DC to DC converter, but I’m not sure there’s anything plug and play atm because there’s a wide range of specs laptops want. If your laptop happens to change with USB c PD or whatever the spec is that’d be the most efficient that I’m aware of. No sense in going dc->ac->dc if it can be helped.
owl@infosec.pub 1 year ago
But why would it? Is the output not voltage controlled?
pfr@lemmy.sdf.org 1 year ago
Mum?
gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
I mean… tools, not jewels. It has a robust design for a reason. Develop that patina, kid. Don’t lose your mind over a scuff.
null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 year ago
I’ve been buying second hand thinkpads for the last decade or so.
They arrive pre-scuffed so I don’t need to worry.
guyoverthere123@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 year ago
Prescruffed? That’s just the vintage look.
Jhuskindle@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Indestructible little fucker
Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 1 year ago
ah, remember the time that Lenovo shipped spyware in the UEFI of Thinkpads?
spacesatan@leminal.space 1 year ago
I certainly remember when lenovo pushed a keyboard firmware update so bad that it physically damaged a chip on thousands of legion laptops and then refused to own up to it. Fuckers. Never again.
jj4211@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Some context…
For one, it wasn’t spyware, it was UEFI that, if a user had admin/root privilege, they could modify the firmware despite signinging procedures that should have prevented that. There was no spyware, there was no root kit, there was a vulnerability.
For another:
IdeaPads, Legion gaming devices, and both Flex and Yoga laptops.
Technically it never touched the ThinkPads. Despite some areas where things blur, ThinkPad is still relatively independent of the rest of the product line. While I may not think Lenovo is trying to actively spy on their consumer brands, they do screw up enough that I wouldn’t want to touch them (not just security, they cut too many corners in general).
brendansimms@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I played GTAV on T-430s
SpiceDealer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 year ago
Apple: The Gucci of the tech world.
Dorkyd68@lemmy.world 1 year ago
It really is. I once dated a girl that would rip on me for having a Samsung. She said she needed an iPhone for work cause she takes a lot of pics and uses socials a lot. She couldn’t fathom that my Samsung could do all of that and arguably more
Revan343@lemmy.ca 1 year ago
needed an iPhone for work cause she takes a lot of pics
She takes a lot of pictures…so she needed a worse camera?
ulterno@programming.dev 1 year ago
Her problem was that her fans would then see a Samsung phone in the social pics, instead of the seasonal variety ornament that is the iPhone.
ifItWasUpToMe@lemmy.ca 1 year ago
Not sure if it’s changed by now but a lot of the social apps for Android would just take a screen grab when taking a picture, so when uploading from Android the pics looked much worse than iPhone.
kamen@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Apple vs Samsung aside, she wasn’t concerned with using her own phone for work?
kibiz0r@midwest.social 1 year ago
Idk how scratch-prone the post-touchbar models are, but I’ve had a series of MBPs that I’ve been profoundly uncareful with and never had a problem.
Used a 2009 model until 2016, no scratches. 2016 model that I use to this very day, no scratches. 2017 I used for work until 2019, I ran it across an exposed screw-tip on a broken desk and it left a line you could see if you held it just right to reflect a light, but I can’t imagine anything shrugging that off. 2019 model I used for work until a month ago, no scratches.
Meanwhile, the other devices that have coexisted in the same backpack have not done as well. Dented USB hub, dented dock, broken screen on an Android device, shattered screen protector on another device.
melpomenesclevage@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 year ago
there’s a specific technology you can look for when buying a phone. this is not an apple/android phone. you’re looking for the latest version of corning’s ‘gorilla glass’ product. honestly anything made with ‘victus’ or newer is kind of ridiculously hard to scratch.
synapse1278@lemmy.world 1 year ago
ThinkPads do scratch, but they are ugly from factory so that no one has to be anxious about it. That’s the beauty of it. They also are very prone to collect finger smudges with their strange plastic soft coating. Very hard to clean even with detergent. I would know because I am a freak about keeping my laptop clean, and I can tell you from all the ThinkPads have used in the past 10 years that you will touch them the first time taking them out of the box and they will never look clean ever again.
JasonDJ@lemmy.zip 1 year ago
Nobody cares about thinkpads getting scratched up because the shell shows fingerprints like a motherfucker.
I love my Thinkpads though…namely because I use Linux at home and I’m cheap about laptops…used T-series is probably the best cheap Linux laptop, in general.
Jumuta@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
i don’t worry about scratching them because they already came scratched used
bigb@lemmy.world 1 year ago
My MacBook survived after I left it on top of my car as I drove off. It was flung off into a pedestrian area at the first intersection and has a nice dent on the corner.
qqq@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Lol I drove at least a mile with my Thinkpad on top of the car. Some dude next to me at a stop light honking and miming saved me. Got up to 40mph with it still on top though!
RaoulDook@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I gave my old macbook air to my kid for Minecraft and he dropped it several times, still just fine with no problems. Also my 10 year old macbook pro still works perfectly fine with a quad core i7 and 16GB RAM for anything I need a laptop to do. Still has the original battery with decent runtime too.
Sparky@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 year ago
It’s so funny to see how macbooks are either super durable, or die from the smallest dust particles. My dad’s macbook fell down 3 flights of stairs, and embedded itself into the wood floor boards at the bottom floor. There’s not even a scratch on it even though if fell from pretty high up.
And my mother’s macbook dies every year because dust ends up in between the display cable which then punctures it when the lid is closed
bigb@lemmy.world 1 year ago
That’s Apple engineering for you: 60 percent of the time it works every time. I grew up with Apple products and the company’s history is lined with head-scratching design choices. It’s been like that since the Lisa.
I like repairable, self-built desktop PCs myself. But for work, the MacBook has been a tank.
CannedYeet@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I hope they used the official Apple cleaning cloth that’s certified compatible with that model of MacBook
sjmarf@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
The cleaning cloth pictured is the one that comes with the particular brand of screen cleaner that Apple recommends using.
TheMightyCanuck@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
299.99$ and can connect with the cloud
JusticeForPorygon@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 year ago
No they actually cut that feature in the latest model, which retails for $499.99
Sabata11792@ani.social 1 year ago
*will not work without an active internet connection.
MidsizedSedan@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Apple Cleaning Cloth Pro, coming this October
Valmond@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Normal: too small size to be useful, have apple logo
Pro: super expensive, includes 6 gallons of cleaning fluids, is enormous, logo in gold
jef@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Never regretted a purchase more than my macbook after visiting their subreddits.
Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 year ago
I bought a MacBook Pro in 2011 to play games when I’m not at home (installed Windows on it) and it still works amazingly to this day. I did swap the DVD drive out for a solid state drive and increased the RAM to 16GB. It lasts 1.6 playthroughs of Beetlejuice on maximum brightness on the original battery… but the battery only has like 26 cycles cuz I always had it plugged in.
Zero regrets.
Sirence@feddit.org 1 year ago
[deleted]7U5K3N@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 year ago
That’s all I’ll buy laptop wise. I’d be a fool to buy a new laptop for my use case.
Give me an off lease Thinkpad with no SSD
I’ll furnish my own drive and OS.
jaschen@lemm.ee 1 year ago
I have a thinkpad in the late 90s and it still boots up till this day. I added more memory and added an SSD and a fresh set of batteries. This shit just won’t die.
Banana@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
The actual IBM ones from before Lenovo bought the company, the fat ones, those were fucking tanks. I remember using them in middle school, they were the best.
WorldsDumbestMan@lemmy.today 1 year ago
11/10, that’s so hot! I can fry eggs on it!
Jhuskindle@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Eggs too expensive, command aborted
thisfro@slrpnk.net 1 year ago
Who cares about scratches on the outside?
grandma@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
I have a pretty recent thinkpad that supposedly has “military grade durability”. The plastic is literally falling apart at the corners after 2 years, and my fan grille is gone.
Fucking lenovo
RandAlThor@lemmy.ca 1 year ago
I have a 16 year old T420 that’s survived numerous falls drops spills and still ticking to this day and I love it. It’s the best damn keyboard to type on. Only Thinkpads for me.
superkret@feddit.org 1 year ago
Sounds military grade to me.
Lv_InSaNe_vL@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Which Thinkpad do you have? The “Thinkpad” line has been expanded to basically all professional grade laptops now.
Jumuta@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
the x131e is definitely not professional grade
exu@feditown.com 1 year ago
Military grade is bullshit marketing. Basically anything is military grade
Dozzi92@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I was in the Marines and I had to buy some of my shit on my own, so yeah, agree 100%.
JuxtaposedJaguar@lemmy.ml 1 year ago
I guess aircraft-grade aluminum isn’t good enough anymore.
JustAnotherKay@lemmy.world 1 year ago
“Military grade” means that it went through one extra round of inspection before it was sent out as far as I’m aware. This round of inspection is basically just putting it through certain weather conditions to simulate “will this survive a deployment”
ThrowawayPermanente@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
It depends, sometimes milspec is very demanding. For example, crayons need to be non-toxic even if you eat the entire box.
TwoBeeSan@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Military grade is code for “cheapest bidder”
LouSlash@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
MacBook user:
omfg, my MacBook got that big scratch. Gonna buy a new one then
ThinkPad user:
draws ThinkPad logo on the back using scratches
Love it
Essentially average MacBook fan vs average ThinkPad enjoyer
abbadon420@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Mine is covered in stickers.
generic_computers@lemmy.zip 1 year ago
If your Thinkpad isn’t covered in stickers, is it really a Thinkpad?
tias@discuss.tchncs.de 1 year ago
ThinkPad is a work tool. MacBook is a fashion statement.
vortexsurfer@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Not where I work. My thinkpad is managed by the understaffed IT department, and is severely crippled by clownstrike and other garbage and bloatware. Linux is not allowed, only windows.
But my colleagues who chose a MacBook don’t have all that crap because said IT department haven’t figured out how to remotely manage Macs yet…
Rozz@lemmy.sdf.org 1 year ago
It was sad when my work figured out how to lock down the Mac’s. It’s not too restrictive, but it’s more than nothing.
andybytes@programming.dev 2 weeks ago
I get both sides… I act both ways… Right tool for the job and a time and a place