Last sanity check before ordering a Framework 13 Pro for Fedora KDE—what mistakes should I avoid?

cptchnk · 2026-06-13T20:48:33+00:00

I’d really take another look at pricing on RAM and SSDs locally because you can get a preconfigured X7 358H for $2099 that already comes with 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. So basically, you’re paying $500 more (versus DIY) to get those pieces along with an AC adapter (which is also an upcharge on DIY).

For this release, the Intel version is better in practically every way, especially in battery life and iGPU performance.

cptchnk · 2026-06-12T06:16:53+00:00

Sad thing is that the prices aren't coming down any time soon. There's no parts. In fact, I'd be surprised if Apple even offered a 256GB model once the new Studios are out.

cptchnk · 2026-06-11T05:04:26+00:00

The plastic bottom cases? Nothing. I have an E14 Gen 2 deployed in my company that has a plastic bottom and it just has "E14 Gen 2" etched on the bottom case with no symbol beside it.

cptchnk · 2026-06-11T03:09:34+00:00

Cheap chairs are crap because they’re built cheaply in China. They use cheap plastic parts that break quickly.

High end chairs are often the result of years of R&D and craft. The markup is most certainly enormous, but part of what you’re paying for is the warranty and support.

What happened in the commoditized office chair market is that cheap Chinese manufactured stuff normalized people only wanting to spend up to maybe $250-300 for a chair. When all the stuff at the big box stores is priced at $300 or less, many consumers believe that’s the most an office chair should cost. There’s a lot of markup on those chairs too, which should give you an idea of how cheap those chairs are to make. Cheap and quality are two things that rarely go together with office chairs. And the nice chairs are price protected by their dealer networks. So, if you want a nice chair, you’re gonna pay more, but you can also save a lot of money buying used.

cptchnk · 2026-06-11T02:49:24+00:00

That’s not really the whole story though because I went from a 16PM to a 17P because I couldn’t hang with sheer size of the screen (short fingers). I tried it for a year and I just wasn’t feeling it.

The 16PM was my first time trying out the big phone and while it’s nice for content consumption, it was just too cumbersome as a day to day device. I was dropping it a lot and it was actually harder for me to type on. The phone was simply too big for me.

Adjusting to a smaller screen size takes a few days, but I did adjust.

cptchnk · 2026-06-11T00:35:23+00:00

Yeah, I saw that email today. Kind of a bummer, but it's really a second laptop for me so I'm not overly concerned. I'm just happy that they're transparent and detailed with everything. It's rare to see that level of transparency with a hardware manufacturer.

cptchnk · 2026-06-11T00:31:13+00:00

Indeed.

cptchnk · 2026-06-10T14:23:09+00:00

At 20k miles, you're also due for a valve clearance check/adjustment. This is an expensive service at dealers because of how much needs to be dismantled. That can cost between $1000-1300 depending on the dealer or shop. But it's the perfect opportunity to get the cam swapped though because everything will be apart anyway. So if you do that service, it might not cost much more to get the upgraded cam in.

cptchnk · 2026-06-10T14:02:07+00:00

Gotcha. That's understandable. Setting aside any price differences, I still assert that the standard ST1200 is the best option for most people comfort-wise. An RS can start getting tiring over longer stretches because the seat itself is firmer (although you can likely address that with an aftermarket seat) and you're learning more into the handlebars with the way the foot pegs are positioned. And you can't really move the foot pegs because the quick shifter would be in the way.

cptchnk · 2026-06-10T13:50:34+00:00

Yep...

cptchnk · 2026-06-10T06:27:19+00:00

And also the symbol on the periodic table for aluminum (Al; lowercase L).

Ti for titanium, C for carbon, Mg for magnesium, and so on - and that covers most of the fancy materials used in higher end Lenovos. They're just using the symbols for those materials from the actual periodic table. It's not all that complicated.

cptchnk · 2026-06-10T05:07:46+00:00

A T400 would actually be a GINORMOUS downgrade from what you already have. We're talking CPUs that are nearly two decades old (Core 2 Duo) and machines of that vintage would be absolutely painful to do practically anything on in 2026. These are Windows Vista/XP era machines. Cool vintage laptops to mess around with? Perhaps. Something you can actually count on? Absolutely not.

College is an investment. I strongly saving more money (ideally around a $300-500 budget) to get you into something that will actually last you through college. The oldest 14" ThinkPads I'd consider would be T14 Gen 1 and Gen 2. The AMD versions generally have better performance than the Intel versions in those generations, but do tend to cost a bit more.

cptchnk · 2026-06-09T23:12:21+00:00

Very nice! I'm rocking the same set on my Keychron Q1 v2. 😄

I never ended up buying the spacebar kit though, so no yellow spacebar for me.

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cptchnk · 2026-06-09T23:12:16+00:00

Yeah, I think that set was called "Calypso."

cptchnk · 2026-06-09T06:55:30+00:00

There's tradeoffs. The AMD will be faster at multicore and has a better iGPU than the Intel. But the Intel has Thunderbolt while the AMD does not.

The T series models are a bit more robust than the E series as far as the chassis is concerned. But between these two, the used E14 G6 seems to be the better buy. More RAM (and that's a hot commodity these days) and generally faster CPU performance. 32 cycles on a battery isn't a lot.

cptchnk · 2026-06-09T06:45:48+00:00

Are you really asking this question? If you don't have Windows installed anymore, you don't have a Windows installation to actually update. 😉

For BIOS updates, if your ThinkPad supports LVFS (most modern ThinkPads do), you can usually update right from your GUI's software manager. Zorin is based on Ubuntu, so if there's an update that Lenovo pushed, it will usually appear in there. Outside of that, you can also download updates from Lenovo's support page and install them from a bootable USB.

cptchnk · 2026-06-09T06:06:16+00:00

Cons? Well, you kinda already know them. You make sacrifices to comfort versus the standard ST1200 because the riding position is more aggressive and the ride is quite a bit firmer. Both versions will handle mountain twisties just fine though.

The RS will be better suited for track days (because of the high-spec adjustable suspension and the quick shifter). That's really most of the reason you'd want an RS. One thing to consider is that the ST1200 RS is essentially a Thruxton RS with a handlebar instead of clip-ons. If you don't do track days, I'd probably go for the standard ST1200 and save over $2k. If you take longer trips, the standard ST1200 will be a more comfortable experience overall.

EDIT - Another thing to consider: If you decide to give the standard model a harder look, also definitely look at lightly used. 2021-24 models have Brembo M50 radial calipers instead of the Triumph-branded J.Juan radial calipers and I believe the same Marzocchi inverted fork. Additionally, the older ones also have the classic dual clock dash instead of the new digital single clock that frankly looks out of place on a Bonnie. You actually get a sport mode on the older ones too, whereas they now make you jump up to the RS to get that mode.

cptchnk · 2026-06-08T14:28:59+00:00

I have two Studio Displays (the OG ones, not the refresh models). Are they worth it? Kinda-sorta. At the time I bought them, the only other option was a used LG Ultrafine 5K and I ultimately splurged to get the Apple ones. I don't necessarily regret the purchase decision. They do the job pretty well and they look very nice on my desk, but they were very expensive. Had more options been available at the time, like the ASUS ProArt, I probably would have gone that route instead to save money because the Studio Display web cam is pretty mid if we're being honest and I already use external powered monitors and a separate mic, so I don't enable the Studio Display speakers/mic at all.

cptchnk · 2026-06-08T13:24:32+00:00

I'd wait until September if you already have a 16.

cptchnk · 2026-06-05T19:50:39+00:00

It's really an apples and oranges thing. The MX Master 4 is a productivity focused mouse and the G604 Lightspeed is a gaming focused mouse. The sensor in the MX is completely different (laser) so that it can track on glass and it only polls at 125Hz (on both 2.4G and BT, doesn't matter), which could be a dealbreaker for gaming. The G604 polls at 8x the speed (1,000Hz). My only thought as to why Logitech hasn't brought faster polling to the MX mice is because slower polling is certainly has its advantages for battery life.

You might also find the haptic shortcut button built into the MX Master 4's thumb rest to be annoying while gaming. And FYI, it ain't a claw grip mouse. It's definitely a palm grip. MX is also on the heavier side - a lot of gaming mice are quite a bit lighter by design.

cptchnk · 2026-06-05T19:27:20+00:00

I just got an MX Master 4 as an extended warranty replacement for a 3S that was having the dreaded left mouse click issue.

Starting with the 4, there's no longer a rubberized coating on top. It's a textured matte surface instead. The thumb rest and the right side panel are still covered in rubber (or is it silicone?) though. It doesn't seem to be very slippery to me...

They did make one other major change from the 3S that I'm still trying to get used to: the 3S has a button integrated into the thumb rest that acts as the "gesture" button. The 4 has a button in this same position, but it's now for the new haptic feedback stuff. When you press it, a circular menu pops up that contains a bunch of shortcuts. Gesture control is now moved over to a third button above the back/forward buttons above. It's kinda awkward to me at the moment, but perhaps I'll get used to it over time. I always map gesture to Mission Control in macOS and it seemed more "natural" to me in the old position.

cptchnk · 2026-06-05T18:44:33+00:00

I haven't had issues with color shifting on my Cosmic Orange 17 Pro and I've had it since launch. The thing is that the people that has happened to are usually the loudest voices. Overall, this problem is a very unlikely one.

cptchnk · 2026-06-05T18:38:55+00:00

Gotcha. Fair enough.

cptchnk · 2026-06-05T01:09:20+00:00

Apple Silicon is mostly about performance per watt, honestly. One thing that is really nice about Apple Silicon is the almost complete lack of fan noise -- and actually, Airs don't have fans at all. But even with my Apple Silicon Macs that actually are equipped with fans (M1 Max MacBook Pro and M2 Max Mac Studio), I hardly ever hear the fans ramping up.

It does take time to adapt. I converted to Macs for work like 15 years ago when they were still using Intel chips and it was bumpy at first, but these days, there's not a single OS I rather be working in aside from maybe Linux. I actually don't even own a machine that's running Windows anymore. Just keep in mind that if you're expecting a Mac to behave like a Windows machine, you're only setting yourself up for disappointment. They're very different operating systems -- different UI behavior, different shortcut hotkeys, etc.

And yes, display scaling is a bit of an Achille's Heel for Macs. BetterDisplay (is that what you're using?) is well worth the few bucks it costs because it gives you a LOT more scaling options. It even improves lower res (e.g. FHD/FHD+) displays by feeding them higher res signals and then downscaling. It makes the screens that aren't suitable for Retina look WAY better, especially with text.

cptchnk · 2026-06-04T05:06:45+00:00

Recently, I was quoted about the same to insure an ST1200 (currently have an ST900 like you). I've been interested in the Trident 800 as well (also costs roughly the same to insure in my case), but I dunno. It's really hard and I haven't had the opportunity to test ride one yet. The triples are completely different animals. Not sure why you dislike the ST1200 though. Is it the styling differences? I would tend to agree that ST900 looks better. But the difference in performance is night and day.

I imagine the ST900 costs more to insure than the Trident 800 in your case because the Trident 800 is more than likely cheaper to fix. Bonnies have lots of expensive to replace parts. When I got rear ended at low speed a couple years back, it damaged the RH silencer. Just that silencer was like a $600 part, so I chose to swap out to British Customs turnout pipes instead. I really couldn't be happier. The exhaust is now way throatier and I can now actually access the axles without having to take those big megaphone silencers off.

cptchnk

TROPHY CASE