4d ago

trackpoint is f o r e v e r

154 comments

Imagine getting a new job. You come into the office on the first day. Instead of handing you a laptop, they just give you a chair in the break room. You'll be working off a linux distro that's been installed into the door of a smart fridge.
- But you're not allowed to sit directly in front of it. Don't block the fridge
  
  Nah, you will be allowed to sit in front. Part of your job will be cleaning out the fridge, keeping track of how long items have been there, and storing and retrieving items for people. You'll basically be a fridge librarian.

HP laptop: your company has no idea what it's doing for it's entire technology department
- My last 3 jobs all used HP... No major issues.
  
  Boot up from external device and watch it wipe non-windows boot entries (yes, even with secure boot off) and then not automatically find any other EFI files so you have to navigate to them manually. Oh, and the only way to add them back is efibootmgr tool, or if you want GUI, Bootice in Hiren's boot (yes that's still a thing).
  At least that was experience with HP 255 G7.
  As for another one, a mini PC, the UEFI setup seems to have limited HID driver support. Basic cheap keyboard seems to be a must. DO NOT DISABLE SECURE BOOT IF JUST THE MOUSE WORKS!!!!! Upon reboot, it will ask you to confirm disabling secure boot by TYPING in something. Every time. Even if you reset UEFI with the motherboard pins.
  At least that was experience with HP ProDesk 400 G3 mini.
  But hey, I also had issues with Dell, I think Optiplex 7020. It was unable to boot via internal DVD drive. I tried 2 of them, both fared the same, no problem reading and burning discs in OS. I tried a USB DVD drive, that magically worked. What?
  
  Worst thing that happened with my HP work laptop is somebody knocked my water over onto it and it died. That was 2 hours after I got it and spend 2 hours installing everything onto it.
- Accurate

My company is using Lenovo, and a bunch of my colleagues were already working there 20+ years ago, now I've got a permanent contract too... I think it might check out.
- My company is using Lenovo
  Someone died in front of it! ~~And that's how you got hired.~~
  
  Actually, my position was newly created in a company just now fostering overdue digitalisation. Some bloke came up with the idea of actually trying to figure out what they're doing and justifying their effort at progress with figures because that's what upper management likes to see, so they brought me on to do just that.
  People definitely died for the company, but that's not my fault. ~~Or so I tell myself to sleep at night.~~

HP laptop: please remember to log out of ~~your~~ the laptop in case someone else needs to use it.
Edit: Management took offence at the language of the previous memo.
- Always "a" dildo, or "the" dildo, never "your" dildo...
  
  Always use the indefinite article.

I'm in a weird unicorn org where we were issued MacBooks, but some of the people on my team have been there >20 years. The broader org issues Thinkpads, my dept picked MacBooks because apparently that's what developers use and we didn't want to deal with corporate's locked-down images.
I've been there about 4 years now, which is almost as long as my dept has existed (we started w/ a contractor group for 1-2 years before I got hired on).
I hate macOS, but I really like the dept. We'll see what happens.
- We get macbooks at my work because we develop for linux servers but IT don't want to have to deal with linux clients on their network.
  The corporate surveillance infrastructure is there for MacOS and it's nix enough for the development we need to do.
  We had them complaining a few years ago that all these macbooks were too expensive (which they are) and we said to them "We're happy to take good quality Linux laptops..."
  IT were like "Nah"
  My first laptop with this company was a £3000+ MBP with an I9 which got too hot to touch. TBH since they replaced it with an M3 one i've actually enjoyed using it. i can spend all day in bed on a single charge
  
  Are you British me? That's pretty much exactly how things went down for us as well. As we've been upgrading from the crappy Intel Macs, the complaints have gone down as well.

Siemens PG: forget about making a resume ever again.
- Had to look it up, the version with a handle killed me
  
  It's actually pretty useful when you have to move around with it in your workplace. Tbh, I am so used to the handle that I'd miss it if my next computer didn't have it.
  
  Unironically love that. There's a CD drive but what is that next to it? Is it a Zip drive?
  
  I had an old cf-27 toughbook with a handle. Handles on laptops are wicked handy!
  
  It has an RS232 port, that's hilarious.
  
  Now i wanna make this my daily driver
  
  In case you need to play spider solitaire in the middle of a hurricane, or knock the head off a T-800.
- Finally! Something I can relate to, I had one of these in my last workplace. Was older than my manager and it was only used to fix those 20 year old machines we had lying around.
  To anyone wondering, this is a industrial PC which is meant to withstand the hardest of environments. The handle is a boon when you have to run around the factory and your hands are full.

My last tech job gave me a Microsoft Surface, which possibly explains why I was hired with the promise that things would be really busy, barely did anything for a year, and then got let go because there just wasn't enough work to justify retaining my position.
- Every month the CEO rolls a D100, if it's a 100 you're fired.
- We need to expand the meme!
- I can second this too, 8 months same exact thing

Panasonic Toughbook: You're gone get wet and dirty.
- Op got a porn studio job.
- I've seen them using them at In n out for the drive thru.
  
  Wet and dirty indeed
- Promise?
- Thoughtbook? is that like an offbrand ThinkPad?
  
  Thoughts and prayers book is a whole other technology with paper and ink and shit.

Wait... but my manager has been at his job for 18 years and we use.... oh god, Lenovos. 😱

Lenovo replaced with Dell when the startup I work at was purchased by a multinational a year and a half ago. They’re closing our office down and moving operations out of state in June.
- You cash out?
  
  I got a decent windfall when my stock vested instantly, but I don't think I'm going to make it to the final payout of my retention bonus. As soon as annual bonus hits in March, I'm donion rings.

You guys are getting tech jobs?
- Not all laptop users work in tech.
  
  Do all tech workers work in tech?

I was able to choose my own Lenovo. Twice. 14+ years at the same place.
- Oh, hey, 15+ and on my second Lenovo here too 👋
  Albeit I had a desktop at first. Don't remember which brand.
- Seems like you chose wisely! I kind of want you to choose a dell for science next time, but it would definitely be against your best interests according to the laws of physics that mysteriously underly this phenomenon.
  
  The laws of thermal- and accoustic physics are surely warped within Dell hardware. Otherwise, I have no explanation why it acts so much worse than other laptops with similar specs.

Chromebook?
- Did they ask you to make a western union transfer in order to secure your application?
  
  I'm not getting that money back, am I?
  
  They will also need a $500 deposit to ship you the chromebook, refundable after three months.
- Either skeezy AF scam, or Google.
  
  Or, believe it or not, both.
  
  Or teacher
- You're selling meth
  
  The good ending.
- This.
  Please kill me, these things suck so fucking bad.
  They crash regularly during regular office work operation.
  I had a coworker try to help me with something but his chromebook crashed 5 times in the span of 3 minutes.
  
  Why should I believe you when you’re a trash girlfriend?

Can confirm. Currently on year eight, always with Lenovo.
- Year 12. Started issuing Microsoft Surfaces at some point. I got an exception made for me.

An acer: your boss is gonna try and f*ck you
- Hmm, is the boss hot?
  
  ... and sweaty ... and hairy ... very, very hairy. :(

So what if all the desks are set up with thin or zero clients.
- Your boss is constantly micromanaging you, but you can't get anything done because thin clients suck.
  
  Haha, I set up a few hundred for a transition happening at a college years ago. They also got a few laptops that were thin clients. For a full time machine id assume it would be problematic. But when it's constantly rotating users like that, it makes management pretty simple / cheaper long term. I assume they took some of the market away from products like deepfreeze. (Not saying it's a better solution than deepfreeze, just that they likely stole some of the users)
  I've heard Wyse has gone downhill since Dell bought it though, not sure if true.
- Layoffs will be a regular occurrence. Think you're safe because you have a lot of seniority? My wife was laid off by Chase just a couple weeks before her 20 year anniversary. Funnily enough, they had just switched everyone to thin clients a year or two before.
  
  Lol I got a layoff notice last Thursday at another financial institute. Our whole environment is Lenovo. I noticed at the end of last year that 2025s upcoming EOL refresh was going to be all thin laptop conversions.
  But don't worry guys, I can apply for 10 dollars less an hour to the new contractor they are bring on to delay the inevitable.
  
  It was a sign they were trying to cut long term costs over user convenience long term when they switched to thing clients. Budget cuts are never a good sign in business that are "supposed" to be growing

Used to have a ThinkPad decades back. Still remember Howard comfortable the typing was.
- Howard Comfortable:
  
  Always comfortable that fucking Howard
  
  Where's the thinkpad?

Sadly Thinkpads no longer are what they used to be. I got the X1 Extreme Gen 5 couple of years back and have had all kinds of problems with it. Blue screens, problem with fans sometimes getting stuck at 100%, constant problems connecting to the dock, not to mention bad battery life... My coworker had to get a warranty replacement when the usb-c port stopped working without any apparent reason only after a month of use. And other coworkers with newer models are also reporting issues.
- They may not be as good as they used to be but my T14 is so much nicer to type on than anyone else's laptop.
- It's a damn shame too. I love my T530 so I got a T460 and it is so shite. Although I did get unlucky with a cracked mobo but still. Even the x260 I have feels slower than my 530
- What OS do you run. My last three x1 carbons have not had much of an issue running Linux.
  
  I can tell you’re not an Arch user.
- You get better reliability from Apple than ThinkPads now. At way more money and with restrictions on what operating systems you can use.

Union.
HP but it switches with Dell every 5 years.
My peers have been there 20+ years. No one's dumb enough to get fired. I only got this job because someone retired.
The people are awesome. I hope to God I can work here another decade.

What if it is an IBM ThinkPad.
- Bonus security because you're clearly developing for legacy code.

My company switched from Lenovo to Toshiba... what does that mean?
Now we're switching to Dell
- Now we’re switching to Dell
  Fs in chat. O7

What about a Microsoft Surface?
- From a sample size of one other commenter, you will be employed for 1 year until they can’t find enough for you to do and have to let you go.

creepily accurate in my experience.
- I don't even work in tech and that was my first thought.

I have a ThinkPad and this checks out

My company just switched from Lenovo to Dell and gets rid of 20% of the workforce

what if you get to choose?
- Then you owe your IT unit a monthly sacrifice
  
  What if I am the IT unit?
- Then choose wisely.
- then you should pick the thinkpad for the extra job security

We got lenovo's in my last job. I did support software tools for internal usage. Pay was low but work was not overbearing and I could have spent my whole life there. Current job, I got a MinisForum mini PC, what does that mean?
- You will never receive any acknowledgement or raises.

Special rule:
Thinkpad but with 1600x900 resolution on the 24" screen and full hd on a 22" screen in the office.
That buys you only around 2 years from personal experience.
- That job ain't right.
  I would instinctively start to strangle anyone who gives me a 900p screen that isn't a CRT.
  900p on an any LCD monitor at any point in history was always very wrong, something that should not be. Even 1080p is torture for office-ish work.
  
  It was crappy monitors too so everyone was dealing with it differently like cardboard cutouts against incoming light or special glasses etc.
  I worked in the office only 1 day per week but even that was too much. Christ.

I've had so many Dell Laptops...

What about a Framework laptop?
Edit: or a desktop that you can remote into from your personal machine if you want to work outside the office?
- Adding to OP:
  Framework: You are self-employed.
  
  It ain't much but it's honest work, the honestest.
- Wouldn't it either be a really new start up or a non profit foss group? Talking about framework
  
  In my friend's case, it's a web development company that's been around for at least a decade. His previous machine at the same company was a Dell, I think.
- Just got a framework 13. Can't imagine going back to anything else right now.
- Yes, having a work desktop (or a virtual insurance somewhere) is great.
  Especially if you need to run some intensive jobs.

Joke's on you, I have a trackpoint on my Dell Latitude
- Still gonna get laid off, but at least your index finger gets a little more action.

What if you get two HP Pavillion Desktops. One for home and one for the office?
- You are getting paid for 40hrs of work per week, but expected to put in 80hrs
  
  Haha.
  I know this was a joke but I like to shout out that my employers are amazing.
  I’m a software developer for a small company, less than 10 employees. Recently we got given a pay rise and a reduction in hours at the same time. They started the business to have a good life, not to work their employees to death.
  We get so much support when needed and there is never an issue if you’re sick or just need a mental health day. We don’t get targets and the work just gets done. We are fair with our clients and they come back for repeat work and recommend us.

Didn't they just announce discontinuing the zipple?
- No, they announced one model is now available for those people who grumble about the nupple
- Only a specific product line.
- :( RIP if so. My work recently upgraded to a newer thinkpad and they still have it. I don’t think I’ve ever reached for it though.

What about a Dell AIO?

I work on a GPD Win Max 2, so what does that mean? 😃
...probably gonna get fired when my employer catches me playing Cyberpunk.
I had a Thinkpad L390 Yoga before. Constant overheating, the logo sticker just came off one day and stuck to my hand and the battery barely lasted through a meeting. Absolute garbage, never again. The Thinkpad brand is dead to me.
Now I have eight cores, 64GB RAM, a GPU with raytracing support and a 2K IPS display...all in 10 inches with 8-10 hours of battery life. GPD is insane and those specs would cost me an arm and a leg if I stuck with ~~IBM~~ brainfart, Lenovo of course.

154 comments