For solid, reasonable cost laptops, consider used Thinkpads on Ebay.
They run Linux well and can be had for a few hundred dollars. You can
easily upgrade or replace, RAM, hard drives, screens, keyboards, etc;
which is getting harder to do on newer systems (except Framework, of
course). These have something like 7th gen Intel CPUs, so they're fine
for most uses, but aren't nearly as fast as new systems.
Think models like the T480, E590, and X1 Carbon 7th Gen.
On 5/8/25 4:41 PM, Eric Oyen via PLUG-discuss wrote:
David,
You’re not the only one! My Mac mini is circa 2012 and it still
functions well with its original OS, however, things are starting to
come to the point where I’m going to have to install LINUX on it.
There’s some things I can’t do with it anymore. (some webpages won’t
load properly which means they won’t load inside the screen reader
either. However, I’m looking at the open core project, which will
probably give me some options as far as updating is concerned. And
yes, because I’m on an exceedingly limited income (disability), I am
like you in that I cannot afford new equipment every time somebody
forces us through the upgrade cycle.
Anyway, that’s probably the beauty about Apple hardware is that it
lasts a long time.
Eric
Sent from my iPhone
On May 8, 2025, at 12:01 PM, David Schwartz via PLUG-discuss
<[email protected]> wrote:
I truly appreciate your concern and encouragement to spend money
needlessly. I typically keep my hardware until it dies. If you prefer
to replace yours on a schedule even if it’s still working, that’s up
to you. So far, my Mac hardware has lasted far longer than anything
running Windows. I doubt it’s the OS.
(My first iMac died not long after the Apple Care expired — a chip on
the video card failed and they wanted nearly $700 to replace it. That
didn’t seem like a wise investment, so I pulled out the RAM and HD,
and sold the carcass for nearly $400. I could have gotten more than
that by parting out the case, PS, LCD display, and logic board
separately, but that would have taken longer.)
However, I also know that Windows attracts more than an order of
magnitude more attempts to hack the system versus all other platforms
combined, so I CHOOSE to avoid it in large part for that reason
alone. I also prefer *nix to Windows as it’s far more stable.
Value is measured over time. My experience with Apple’s hardware is
that it lasts far longer than anything I’ve had that runs Windows.
And it does not depreciate nearly as quickly. I’m quite happy with
the value I’ve gotten for my money.
-David Schwartz
On May 7, 2025, at 10:02 AM, Matthew Gibson via PLUG-discuss
<[email protected]> wrote:
My wife's macbook died. Multiple times. Several were hard drive
failures. We replaced, with Apple-nazi sanctioned hardware. The
final death was when the graphics card stopped working. Could get a
framebuffer on it. But anything more intensive? nope. Thing said
'Newp!' So I said 'good-riddance'.
You can like whatever hardware you want. As for me and my house? I
don't run Apple crap.
Too much headache. Too much engineered obsolescence. Too much money
for what it's worth.
Even with the "better hardware" rationale for fanboys paying out
every time a new phone comes out which only improves slightly on a
camera, or better, adds a feature that android has had for years.
I wouldn't want to do any serious work on your old macs that are
ancient. Have you done any vulnerability scans on them? "Might want
to look into that" ~Tony Stark, as he bonks the head of the bad guy
in Iron Man I.
Anyways, I'm not going to change your mind, and this conversation
grows ancient. Like your macs.
T.T.F.N.
On Tue, May 6, 2025 at 6:03 PM David Schwartz via PLUG-discuss
<[email protected]> wrote:
On May 4, 2025, at 7:36 PM, Keith Smith via PLUG-discuss
<[email protected]> wrote:
>
> I did not know there was a bias on the list.
>
> - Keith
>
It’s when people mention “the Apple tax” that the bias shows up.
At least my older Macs don’t turn into door-stops when Apple
stops supporting them. Two of them cannot be upgraded to the
latest versions of MacOS, but they are fully functional.
From all of the warnings I’m reading about Windows 10, I’m
really not sure what to expect. I have two computers that I
can’t upgrade to Win 11.
-David Schwartz
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