Okay lets be clear here. I’m an old sk00l linux / unix / minicomputer nerd. Been at this a long time (50+years). So I’ve seen a lot of hardware come and go.
Recently, Apple has made ‘unix on the desktop’ a reality, and done a bang up job. However, it comes with… Apple, which can be an objectionable company, and an eye-watering price tag.
I picked up a Gen6 X1 for a song a few months ago and sort of fell in love with it. The form factor, the excellent design – I’ve been using Thinkpads and their kin for years, but this was my first exposure to a relatively modern ultralite.
I decided to upgrade from the Gen6 and found hte ‘sweet spot’ to be the Gen 11. After a bit of shopping, I found a Gen 11 with 32gig RAM, 512gig disk, and a great warranty for $695.
I repartioned the drive so still have Windows if I need it (like 100gig worth) but the rest is running Ubuntu, and folks, it’s been fantastic.
This machine is elegant, fast, comfortable to use, has a great keyboard, a beautiful screen (TOUCH SCREEN!), and Just Plain Works.
I’ve docked it with multiple monitors, used fixed and wifi networking, even got the fingerprint reader working for unlock. Ubuntu is clean as a whistle on it, and I’m able to do my development, Zoom calls, documentation, mail, browsing, and even some light gaming on it. All for $750 (including the price of the RAM).
Do I have gripes? Maybe 1-2.
The battery seems… slightly iffy. I have it in balanced power mode, but I only get an hour and a half or so of heavy use before I need to plug in. That seems low. I’ll run a battery test on it at some point.
I sort of wish it had an SD slot (my MBP did), but that’s pretty minor.
The speakers are meh. Maybe I’m spoiled by the MBP speaker system. These are ‘ok’ but could be a lot better (the Gen6 speakers were GOD AWFUL, so I’m counting my blessings)
I think the Gen 11 was the sweet spot price / performance wise. Would I have liked a Gen 13 with an OLED display? I guess. But this is just fine.
