Linux On The 2012 MacBook Air, MacBook Pro?

[popper]

4K and 8K displays are too expensive and AFAICT are being sold as TVs only not 24" or 30" computer monitors.


I just want a sharper LCD in a notebook or 24" desktop monitor. So a 15" or 15.6" notebook LCD with native 1920x1200 (my Lenovo w500) is great, but 2880x1800 would be better. Apple's the first company I've seen offer 2880x1800 in a 15" screen (maybe there are others but I do not know who they are).

Fair enough, its a little odd though no 3rd party OEM at Computex etc that i could find when i looked seems to being 17 inch anywhere right now although sharp will be doing 6.1 inch at 2560 x 1600 of all things and a 13.5 inch 3840 x 2160 (QFHD).

and i Believe they are also going to do a 32" 3840 x 2160 (QFHD) as well this year so there are options out there now, and im sure the other vendors besides sharp are also working the foundries to get these higher 2xxxXwhatever plus specs this year....

[kayosiii]

[QUOTE=uid313;268130]At least now a days we use some SVG icons I think.



Linus Torvalds run Linux on his MacBook Air.

But other companies maybe doesn't have a unibody design, hi-ppi / high-resolution screen, Thunderbolt, etc.
Other companies have laptops with a dozen stickers.
Other companies have plastic low-quality laptops.

Yeah but they also have laptops that don't have lots of stickers. (mine has two)
and they also run models that are high quality plastic laptops and high quality metal cased laptops.
They also make laptops that have a much more sensible port layout, wider choice of components, much easier servicability and in some cases even test and certify the hardware under some linux configurations.

While it's true that you can't currently get thunderbolt on other laptops unless you are doing video work with very specific equipment thunderbolt is currently about as useful as tits on a bull. I will have to see these retina displays in action - but even with a 15" hd screen the limiting factor is the font size rather than the number of pixels, I can't imagine much in the way of improvement desktop real estate wise other than nicer looking fonts. You are going to have a hard time convincing me that a retina screen is going to give me better quality than a hp dream colour screen; I work with images more than with text.

I think the MacBooks are very nice laptops but it's not like they are the only descent laptop out there and in the case of Linux there are models there are models that have high quality metal bodies, really good screen, touchpad, keyboard that pretty much Just Work (tm) under Linux.

I think we use some SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) icons these days.
Sadly we don't use SVG for the mouse pointer.
Maybe with Wayland? I don't know. At least not with X.org though.

KDE doesn't use SVG directly as far as I know but a lot of icon themes are created in SVG then rendered out to pngs of various sizes.
Plasma interfaces do use SVG quite extensively though. Not sure about the other desktop environments.
I have always thought it would be nice to create paletted svg files for icons so that colour scheme of the icons could be changed on the fly.

Doesn't OS X use a PostScript-based rendering system inherited from NeXTSTEP that is fully scalable?

OSX uses quartz which is based on PDF rather than postscript. X11 however does use a postscript inspired system.

[kayosiii]

But do they offer unibody chassis?
Plus, their laptops are plastered full of stickers.

Yes Dell offers models with a unibody Chassis. Not entirely why this is an essential feature, If it's strength then any laptop that has been drop tested should be suitable, if it's the looks well it's a laptop not your girlfriend. Also the great thing about stickers is that they come right off.

[russofris]

A couple companies make nice MBA competitors. I'm confused that someone would mention Dell Ultrabooks when both Sony and Asus are producing what I consider to be better devices. I don't want to diminish the XPS Z series, as it's nice and all, but it's not a Vaio T series. I consider the XPS Z series to be more of an inexpensive MBP alternative and an MBA competitor.

[uid313]

I consider the XPS Z series to be more of an inexpensive MBP alternative and an MBA competitor.

It's 2-3 cm thick and got legacy technology such as DVD.
MacBook is thin and got Thunderbolt and high resolution display.

[kayosiii]

It's 2-3 cm thick and got legacy technology such as DVD.
MacBook is thin and got Thunderbolt and high resolution display.

explain to me why it matters how thick a laptop is? also do you actually own any thunderbolt periferals or is this just a future dream for you?
and you have just 1 MBP with the high resolution display and I bet that isn't the one you have.

[uid313]

explain to me why it matters how thick a laptop is?

Because a laptop is supposed to be a portable computer.
Easy to carry. Slim, light-weight, thin.

Else I could just get a desktop computer.
When I go out, I want it to be easy to carry. Also look pretty, I don't want wear something thick and ugly and look like a dork. I want something elegant.

[kayosiii]

Because a laptop is supposed to be a portable computer.
Easy to carry. Slim, light-weight, thin.

Else I could just get a desktop computer.
When I go out, I want it to be easy to carry. Also look pretty, I don't want wear something thick and ugly and look like a dork. I want something elegant.

I am not sure how a couple of mm makes one laptop pretty and the other big fat and ugly (it is only a couple of millemeters), I also don't see how it effects how easy it is to carry. Also you seem to be really insecure.

[ChrisXY]

Because a laptop is supposed to be a portable computer.
Easy to carry. Slim, light-weight, thin.

As long as my laptop fits into my backpack it is easy to carry.

Else I could just get a desktop computer.

A screen, tower, keyboard and mouse doesn't fit in my backpack.

When I go out, I want it to be easy to carry.

Yes. That's why people invented the term "ultraportable" for a subset of laptops..

[dfacto]

I deliberated for some time about the "risk" of getting a mac as I am an exclusive linux user. At the time (July 2011) there were not competitive ultrabooks.

Yes there were a few (minor) headaches but we (the community) pitched in an made it work wonderfully.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MacBookAir4-2

I don't see why so many people insist that either a) apple is prohibitively expensive or b) if you get apple you MUST use OSX.

Regarding a)
At least in July 2011 I felt it was a great deal given the hardware. (I could care less about the logo.) My suspicion is that Apple remains competitive give their hardware.

Regarding b)
Isn't the point of Linux that you can have OPTIONS? Why is it bad to have another option? I don't tell people to not use Windows or OSX. In fact, I don't see any problem with either distros. I personally feel Linux is snappier, looks better, more customizeable and vastly more function for what I like to do. Windows and OSX people probably feel the same.

So in conclusion, why not encourage as much dual-booting as possible? We should strive to make Linux the most compatible OS out there. Then, Apple and MS both will have that much more competition, the consumer gets more choices, and developers can take pride in making the market healthier.