WhiteBerry

joined 4 months ago
[–] WhiteBerry@lemmy.ml 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I'm about to drop a really dumb question in here:

Why do so many people dislike Apple? I have listed some of my problems with Apple (listed in no particular order):

  1. Keyboard layout
  2. I fundamentally disagree with FaceID and would prefer a fingerprint sensor
  3. Lack of customisation (you can't even hide the finder on MacOS)
  4. Apple makes it really difficult for people to leave their ecosystem

However, I really don't understand why people, ordinary people, dislike Apple, other than due to being overpriced. I mean I really think physical SIM cards are a thing of the past and less secure than eSIMs since you can't just take a physical SIM out using a pin. Although I heavily dislike the provisioning of USB 2.0 in 2024, the reality is that most of my files, even on my Android device, are transferred via networks. And yes, for the point about battery, I don't particularly care about the battery size as much as I do the battery life. Even then, I always have a charger in my bag. It also helps that I barely use my phone.

Once again, keep in mind this is from someone whose only Apple product is a Macbook.

I can understand hating on Apple as a company, I was furious at how long they took to throw USB-C on things, however, often times people provide arguments that are baseless, as are several "points" listed in this image.

Who cares about a physical capture button? Any professional required to use a camera for a living will not be using an iPhone. Who cares about physical SIM vs eSIM. Hell, I'm an advocate for eSIMs. Who cares about the unlockable bootloader? And really, with modern consumerism, who on earth is listening to hi-res wireless audio and not a song off of Spotify, YouTube, etc?

I agree with the 120 Hz point, there is no reason a flagship phone at a a flagship price should not provide a smooth refresh rate. I partially agree with the storage point, however, the vast majority of people do not take advantage of their phone's storage, so why would Apple be competitive here? They try to optimise for profit. I definitely agree with the point about the lack of modern USB. The lack of the 3.5mm headphone jack kinda sucks for everyone who owns devices that cannot be used with phones without this jack.

I'm opening to listening to other people's takes and discussing this with them.

[–] WhiteBerry@lemmy.ml 2 points 3 months ago

Can someone PLEASE do some reviews of the Strix Point CPUs running Linux on notebooks?

[–] WhiteBerry@lemmy.ml 2 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Could someone explain why there is no mention of Element?

[–] WhiteBerry@lemmy.ml 3 points 3 months ago

I had a Maths Prof who used Mint so this kinda checks out

[–] WhiteBerry@lemmy.ml 5 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Just finished my Master's this year.

I belonged to the Department of Computer Science at a university in the UK so granted there's a lot of bias here:

I will point out a few observations, without going into much detail or reasoning:

  1. Microsoft's Office suite was a non-requirement. For collaboration, everyone was using Google's Office suite (Google Docs, Sheets) or Overleaf (Premium if we signed up with our university email).
  2. Around half (maybe more) were MacOS users, maybe 25-25% split between Linux and Windows.
  3. Lots of iPads, particularly in any Maths classes.

Anything else to keep in mind? Yes, that people are ignorant. Even in our CS department people used to actively avoid using Linux, a lot of people will buy Macbooks because of reasons I would attribute more to the demographics of CS students, i.e. primarily from Asian countries where Apple is seen as a economic symbol.

Be prepared for people to judge you (not saying they should, but that they likely will). If you want to avoid this judgement, get an Apple silicon Macbook Air or something. However, I commend you for going out of your way to learn and wanting to reduce your dependency on Windows. I think that learning to be comfortable with the machine will help you in the future, most likely indirectly.

Lastly, keep in mind that when we have discussions about privacy or Linux or not supporting big tech companies who we might not agree with (e.g. Microsoft, Google, Apple etc) it's never a binary problem. You might find that you will end up relying on teams for internal communication or that your university email is with outlook/office365.

Try and do your bit, but don't be too harsh on yourself. :)

Needless to say, if you're looking for a laptop that runs Linux well plenty of people will tell you to buy a used thinkpad (great from a value perspective), or if you'd prefer some of the new kidz stuff then a Tuxedo notebook.

Do not make the mistake of buying a notebook which doesn't have a reputation of good Linux support. I bought a HP notebook (can't quite remember the model number right now but can get back to you) and still no sound without manual kernel module patch :D

[–] WhiteBerry@lemmy.ml 1 points 3 months ago

Having skimmed through this article, the article actually sucks. Like, actually.

Why would game demos set unrealistic expectations? That's only the case if they spent 90% of dev time in the first 10% of the game and use that as the demo. This happens, but this is bad design, this is not a case of a demo hurting a game.

I remember playing the Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker demo a long time ago and it did not spoil the story (which is a big aspect for MGS), it did not take away from the experience, and it introduced me to some of the fundamental mechanics of the game.

A more recent example is perhaps the demo of Enotria: Last Song. Do you think I know the lore and story just by playing the demo? No. Did it introduce me to the core mechanics of masks and a few other things? Yes. Was it good to get player feedback and fix bugs? Hell yeah. Sure, you might not like the game, but that doesn't change the fact that the demo had a successful impact i.e. it gave both parties (us and the studio) a significantly better understanding.

Don't put peak content in the demo and it will result in it actually playing like a demo.

Design the game with the demo in mind, don't make it an afterthought. Demos are very valuable and I'm sure lots of gamers pirate games before buying them, instead of actually buying them, because 2 hours for a Steam refund just isn't enough! I spent around 6 hours playing the Enotria demo (just for 1 complete playthrough). Why so many? I had to familiarise myself with the mechanics, switched between keyboard and mouse multiple times, tried to see why I was getting frame rate drops despite my RTX 4070 renderring at 1080p 120 fps.

**Game demos do not hurt a game! ** Abusing game demos as purely a form of marketing by making false promises or setting false expectations hurt the game.

This is not exclusive to a game either. Consider a recent release like Elden Ring, absolutely massive map, they did not try to over-sell it. They said it's around 30 hours of content iirc. You can hurt this game with social media, with interviews, with false trailers, with many things.

TLDR; Angry old man starts raging about "back in my day we had game demoz".

[–] WhiteBerry@lemmy.ml 1 points 4 months ago

Is there any good news for the x elite laptops?

[–] WhiteBerry@lemmy.ml 4 points 4 months ago (3 children)

Sorry for the noob question, but are you able to access your banking apps with GrapheneOS? If so, how?

 

Hi, my post is focusing specifically on YouTube since I observed the following categories have less intrusive solutions or privacy focused solutions, even if they are paid:

  • Operating Systems (Linux, for example)
  • Instant Messaging (Element, for example)
  • Community Messaging (Revolt, for example)
  • E-Mail (Proton, for example)
  • Office (libreoffice, for example)
  • Password Managers (Bitwarden, for example)

However, how do we distribute videos and watch them without data collection? I am NOT asking how do I use a privacy-focused front-end for YouTube, by the way, I am aware they exist.

I am wondering how we obtain a FOSS solution to something super critical such as YouTube. It is critical since it contains a lot of educational content (I'd wager more than any other platform), and arguably the most informative platform, despite having to filter through a lot of trash. During COVID, we even saw lecturers from universities upload their content on YouTube and telling students to watch those lectures. (I have first-hand experience with this at a respectable university).

I refuse to accept that there is nothing we can do about it.

[–] WhiteBerry@lemmy.ml 1 points 4 months ago

Honestly, whilst I would not recommend this at all, I find CutefishOS (you could argue it doesn't even need to be a distro) incredibly visually appealing.

Perhaps I will get downvoted for being a sucker for modern visuals, but the theme is consistent, simple and easy on my eyes.

Although I like GNOME, the consistency bothers me and some of the design choices are inconsistent and don't make for a great user experience, looking at Nautilus for example.