Ask HN: Which Laptop to Switch to from Macbook?
I am selling my gaming desktop and considering buying something for work&#x2F;study purposes only, preferably (I am 80% sure about it) a laptop.<p>Having a 2017 MBP at work, I am really disappointed in it&#x27;s keyboard. To the point that I don&#x27;t want to buy a Macbook for personal use.<p>Having used Macbook laptops for years, I was sure I will be able to quickly find some good alternatives. But after spending some time on Google and Youtube, I am really confused at this point. Let me explain why.<p>All I need is a laptop with around-the-house mobility to browse Web, to learn and experiment with different programming languages, and to work on some side projects (web&#x2F;backend) of mine. No heavy video&#x2F;photo editing, no more gaming.<p>I need it to be able to connect to an external screen without any weird dongles, to have a really good, comfortable keyboard and touchpad and not to cost a fortune.<p>It should run Linux smoothly, but maybe I could also use WLS on Windows as I don&#x27;t have any strong preferences for UI because in the end it&#x27;s only me, browser, terminal and an editor.<p>Now, it has confused me a lot that these simple requirements are very hard to satisfy, apparently!<p>What I&#x27;ve found so far:<p>1. Thinkpads X&#x2F;T series
Seem to be very solid machines, nice keyboard and specs. But in the new generation, Lenovo went the &quot;anorexia&quot; path which not only increases the price but also makes them less upgradable with the solidified RAM slot. Also, the line of T machines with the &quot;s&quot; suffix doesn&#x27;t make sense to me as they are so similar to the X series. I don&#x27;t get the point.<p>The price tag easily climbs up to almost 2k euro with i5, 16Gb RAM, 512Gb SSD and WQHD (2560 x 1440) display .<p>2. Surface Book 2
Looks super good, but as I&#x27;ve mentioned above I am still not sure about developing on Windows with the WSL and considering that realistically prices start from 2k for this laptop - it simply is too much for a machine that I am going to use at home for a few hours a day.<p>3. Dell XPS
Seem to be solid machines, mostly. 
But same issues as with Thinkpads - everything is optimized for the size and weight, which makes it less upgradable and more expensive. 
And let me tell you that I owned Macbook Air for 5 years - I know that a low thickness is a very nice quality, but it&#x27;s nowhere in the list of my priorities. I can easily trade it off for better specs.<p>Also, I keep reading about their coil whine problem.<p>Price gets easily close to 1,7k euro for the 4k version, which is much better than others on this list, but how good is Linux handling 4k if I decided to go with it?..<p>4. System76
Not expensive, a bit boring looking (not necessarily a problem but counts), and I am reading a lot about a not so good keyboard which collects dirt and is hard to clean. Don&#x27;t know how true it is, though.<p>Battery life is also rumored to not to be good, even though it&#x27;s not that important to me.<p>Not convinced by what I&#x27;ve learn about them so far.<p>5. Purism
I really like the idea but at 1.5k euro with specs matching those of others mentioned above, I am actually not sure it&#x27;s a good deal, considering the low battery life and an average display quality.<p>Is it?<p>It&#x27;s probably not a full list but as you noticed, no laptop here costs less than 1,5k for very unimpressive specs as for today&#x27;s standards. 
Maybe I am just spoiled but a Macbook Pro with such specs costs ~2k. And if the keyboard hasn&#x27;t ruined it - it&#x27;s a very high quality machine made of solid aluminum with 4k display and superb trackpad. So how can these alternatives cost almost the same with their 1080p screens?..<p>But it&#x27;s ok, I would go with the price if it was a work laptop that I need to use for 8+ hours a day.<p>But as for a secondary machine, sitting at home for most of the time, I really don&#x27;t want to spend this much!<p>If you had needs and struggles similar to mine, what have you gone with? And how happy are you with your choice?