One Year With ThinkPad and Linux (From Macbook Pro)

A few thoughts about my experiences switching from Mac to a ThinkPad with Linux the past year. For context, I'm the founder and maker of Wobaka.com and Bootstrap.email. I work with front/backend development, design, marketing and sales every day. I code primarily in Clojure + ClojureScript but I also do some JavaScript, Ruby/Rails, Python and Bash on a regular basis.

I wrote this post for my past and future self. I was looking for something like this last year but couldn't find much.

Past experience

Growing up I used Windows and later on Linux (Slackware!). I started using Macs around 2009. So it's been roughly 10 years straight in Apple land.

Setup

• ThinkPad T480 (14")
• Fedora Linux with Gnome, and sometimes i3.
• Editor: Emacs
• Terminal: Gnome, and sometimes urxvt
• Shell: Bash
• Brower: Firefox, and sometimes Chromium

What's been working great

It's a really solid machine. Especially for development work.

• More performance for the $.
• More control over the environment, like /ls/proc/<id>
• Faster Docker
• Emacs and programs in general feels snappier
• Can disable webcam in BIOS when not used
• Ports: USB-C, USB and SD card reader (for DSLR camera)
• Great keyboard
• Maintenance: T480 is not slim and this is for the better. I can replace/upgrade most components by myself.
• Thermodynamics: There's a proper fan and heatsink on this one. Fan rarely spins loudly.

What hasn't

• Battery time is not like Macs. ~ 5 hours (after one year)
• Can't debug issues in Safari without borrowing a Mac
• Can't do iOS development
• Need a VM with Windows to sync my Suunto GPS watch
• Touchpad is not close to Mac
• Emoji support is not 100%
• Some video conference tools can be a bit glitchy until you get the setup right

Tools I've found useful

• Emacs
• Gnome Terminal
• Todoist (Homemade Electron wrapper but I believe they're working on Linux release)
• Peek (GIF recording)
• Kdenlive (Video editing)
• GIMP (Photo editing)
• Darktable (RAW Photo editing)
• FFMPEG (Converting videos etc)
• ImageMagick (Converting and resizing images)
• LibreOffice (Spreadsheets)
• Bitwarden (Password manager)
• Evince (PDF reading and annotating)
• Spotify (Music)
• Telegram (Messaging)
• Evolution (Mail, Calendar)
• Geary (Lightweight mail)
• Gnome Calendar

In general I think I've found a worthy replacement for every essential tool that I used on my Mac.

Staying with Linux?

Yes. It took a few weeks of tinkering but now I feel at home. Only reason to buy a Mac would be if I needed to work on an iOS/macOS project.

Got questions? I'm on Twitter @drikerf.