2020-11-11: The Difference Between Macs and Thinkpads xkp
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I recently switched from a Macbook Pro to a Thinkpad X230 as I was increasingly
disheartened by Apple's anti-us er updates. My partner's Macbook Air has been
getting slow for some time but she loves the hardware, even if the software
gets slower with every release.
We decided we'd try dual booting Elementary OS to see if it would speed things
up and how she'd handle a more Linuxlike environment. Elementary isn't very
Linux like at all. It's mostly exactly like MacOS but quicker.
When we went to boot from USB, the first thing we saw was a firmware password.
It looks like I set one back in 2015 when we got the thing. This made sense
back then as we were running a security consultancy which has long since been
reformed into something smaller and less security-y consultancy-y.
However, I couldn't remember the password and previous me never wrote it down
somewhere recoverable. It almost certainly exists in a backup somewhere, buried
in GPG archive encrypted with long-lost keys from the time befor e I figured
out how to maintain data long term.
No problem. Hold down ctrl-shift-apple and S and we'll get a code for an SCBO
file. I got the code, called Appl e support, waited for an hour to be told I'd
have to go into a specific app store nowhere near me with physical proof of
ownership (ie the original printed receipt) to get this unlocked. So just to be
clear:
1. Apple *can* unlock this device.
2. Apple's business practices stop this device from being unlocked.
To me this is the biggest reason never to buy an Apple product again. I spoke
to the guy on the phone about thi s highlighting the national lockdown and the
best he could do was identify 3rd party repair services who could somehow get
the laptop couriered to them and provide the proof of ownership to apple. How?
I have no idea. It w ould only cost 35 pounds, but screw that. There are a
zillion ways they could prove ownership without me physically having to go to
an Apple store by appointment during a national lockdown in a pandemic - not
the Apple store near me mind, the one an hour away in Oxford. Nor am I going to
send the laptop to someone we don't know for days maybe, who knows and leave
Marizel without a laptop for work.
I started looking at options to bypass the firmware password as this is
technically possible and I am techni cally an friendly neighbourhood hacker.
I've got some ideas but I'll explore those in another post.
At the same time as all of this, some of my X230's upgrades arrived. My X230 is
a corebooted X230 with an X220 keyboard, an SSD and about 6Gb of RAM (it came
with 6Gb, goodness knows why). It also has the old TN screen whi ch made using
it as a daily driver feel a bit awkward. I've still got an mSata drive coming
to be the home for my main OS but that's not here yet.
I got Marizel to swap out the RAM. She flipped the X230 over, took out the
battery, unscrewed the back cover fo r the RAM sockets, popped out the old RAM
and popped in the new RAM with minimal guidance in part from me. As s he popped
the lid back on she told me how shocked she was at how easy it was and asked
how much it would cost t o have someone do it. After I told her she proceeded
to try and charge me for it but she had to settle for paym ent in kisses (which
she would've got anyway).
I then tested it and it all worked first time. Next up, the screen. I had a
12.5" IPS screen of the same resolu tion to put in. I lifted up the two pads at
the bottoms of the screen bezier, under which were two screws. The screws came
off fine and I unpicked the bezier clips with a flathead screwdriver wedged
between the plastic. I carefully worked my way around the bezier till I got it
all off.
https://mastodon.social/@stevelord/105214045517452634
Then I unscrewed the 4 screws holding the screen in place. The screen was
flipped over. A small piece of tape w as pulled back and the connector
disconnected easily. I swapped the screen for the new IPS model and connected
it up. It was a little finicky but it worked. I used masking tape to reinforce
the old tape as it didn't feel v ery sticky, flipped it back over and put the
holding screws back in. Then I put the bezier back on snapping the clips back
into place before screwing on the front screws and reaffixing the bezier pads
over them.
I plugged the battery and power back in and powered up. I have to say this is
really great. I'm using it now to write this and the screen quality makes a
huge difference.
https://mastodon.social/@stevelord/105214050043422452
I then plugged in the battery, powered up and it all worked first time. The
computer gods are smiling upon me today as I also got VMM working with OpenBSD
and an Alpine VM to run docker containers. At a later date I'll get a headless
X session running so I can X11-forward Linux only apps like Signal Messenger. I
just need to figure out how I'll approach sound.
Here's a screenshot of OpenBSD running on Docker, for which I can only say I'm
so very sorry.
https://mastodon.social/@stevelord/105214502515507870
The moral of the story is that the X230 is far more extensible, replaceable and
sustainable than Marizel's Macbook Air. Her RAM is soldered on. Her ability to
boot what she wants is at the mercy of the manufacturer. I'll definitely bypass
the bootloader protections because that's what I do. I'm not going to let a
vendor tell me what I can and can't do with my own hardware.
But there's a very clear difference between Macs and Thinkpads and that
difference is a conscious design decision about *who* the laptop serves.
Thinkpads are designed to serve the user. Apple devices are designed to serve
Apple in spite of the user. That is a deliberate design choice and one that
ensures I will not buy a new Apple product in the near future except where I'm
forced.
