It's interesting that Linux laptops still have VGA output; is there really a monitor in 2017 that does not support HDMI? Is for old (and usually terrible) KVM switches?
As for the hardware I wouldn't say it's particularly "powerful". The screen is not on par, and coupled with a still lackluster DPI independence support in Linux, and it means a full 1080 resolution on a 14" screen. No dedicated GPU can be problematic for some. Also, the small touch pad does not look very inviting. Nothing is mentioned of what HDMI port there is, so likely HDMI 1.4. 1.8+KG for a 14" laptop.
Also, from the review:
> The desktop environment is subtly different to Windows or macOS, but the basic UI elements are all in the same place. It doesn’t work in exactly the same way as the more popular OS choices but it is 95 recent similar so the learning curve for the UI is very shallow. Given the vast majority of Windows users have had to transition to Windows 10 in the last few years with no major upsets, moving to Ubuntu should not be a problem.
This seems a little disingenuous. The learning curve for Linux is a lot higher than macOS or Windows, even for most basic of tasks. Then add the missing software that macOS and Windows users are used to, and that curve grows exponentially. Sure, if you dwell in the terminal all day, or just use cloud services, such as Gmail and Google Docs, that is not that much of a problem, but if you use other software on your machine, the chances of not having a direct alternative and having to learn a new paradigm is very high. Add to that the usually bad UI & UX that Linux software tends to have, and it's plain wrong and deceitful to say "subtly different" and "moving [...] should not be a problem".
It's a pattern I've noticed over the last few years in these types of articles, where the author just brushes away the inherent difficulty of changing an entire ecosystem to just "oh I just install Gimp instead of Photoshop and Terminator instead of iTerm, and all is good in the world. No, it really isn't unless that's all you don on that laptop, which isn't the case with most people.
You might be surprised the number of people who still have old screens with DVI/VGA as the input options. Or old projectors. Or old projector management systems that only do VGA. There is a lot of legacy equipment out there.
My work just went through a massive and expensive program to replace all of the projectors and room management systems because the new laptops we were getting were ditching the VGA ports and leaving users stranded.
It was funny seeing this again when we went to my kid's school library for a presentation and the guy came in with his Macbook and saw the VGA cable sticking out of the table and went "crap".
As for the hardware I wouldn't say it's particularly "powerful". The screen is not on par, and coupled with a still lackluster DPI independence support in Linux, and it means a full 1080 resolution on a 14" screen. No dedicated GPU can be problematic for some. Also, the small touch pad does not look very inviting. Nothing is mentioned of what HDMI port there is, so likely HDMI 1.4. 1.8+KG for a 14" laptop.
Also, from the review:
> The desktop environment is subtly different to Windows or macOS, but the basic UI elements are all in the same place. It doesn’t work in exactly the same way as the more popular OS choices but it is 95 recent similar so the learning curve for the UI is very shallow. Given the vast majority of Windows users have had to transition to Windows 10 in the last few years with no major upsets, moving to Ubuntu should not be a problem.
This seems a little disingenuous. The learning curve for Linux is a lot higher than macOS or Windows, even for most basic of tasks. Then add the missing software that macOS and Windows users are used to, and that curve grows exponentially. Sure, if you dwell in the terminal all day, or just use cloud services, such as Gmail and Google Docs, that is not that much of a problem, but if you use other software on your machine, the chances of not having a direct alternative and having to learn a new paradigm is very high. Add to that the usually bad UI & UX that Linux software tends to have, and it's plain wrong and deceitful to say "subtly different" and "moving [...] should not be a problem".
It's a pattern I've noticed over the last few years in these types of articles, where the author just brushes away the inherent difficulty of changing an entire ecosystem to just "oh I just install Gimp instead of Photoshop and Terminator instead of iTerm, and all is good in the world. No, it really isn't unless that's all you don on that laptop, which isn't the case with most people.