#my phone is sadly too full for the update but at least my iPad is ! I’ll answer on it when someone comment ckdnjdnd

[yoohyeon]

Saw that the Tumblr icon on my iPad changed so I went to see what’s up and WE FINALLY CAN REPLY WITH THE BLOG WE WANT !!! THANK YOU !!! Now staff make it so when you block someone it’s block on all sb too thanks I’m tired of blocking 3 times

[carlyraejepstein]

Little Computer Quest Part 1

Pre-history

Perhaps you will already be familiar with the ThinkPad X230. Built around the same chassis as the X220 with the addition of the then-new AccuType island keyboard, the X230 represents a bridge between the classic IBM lineage and the present day ThinkPad built around the Ultrabook philosophy, in the same way as the T430. The laptops are so similar that the X220's keyboard, while more typo prone and less rigid but with a far more familiar and sensible layout, can fit into the X230 either with a donated palmrest or by sanding the nubs from the X220's keyboard down.

Importantly, the X230 is perhaps the last 12.5 inch subnotebook produced with 35 watt low voltage CPUs, rather than the 15 watt ultra low voltage chips in the X240 and the T440. It's what gives the X230 the edge in performance against up to three generations of later X-series laptops and makes it such a favourite amongst technical users. Furthermore the X230, like the X220, has an IPS display option, which compared to the TN screens standard in most ThinkPads of the era that are horrible to look at from any angle, is very much welcomed.

However, such performance in such a constrained space comes with challenges. Typically the i5-3520M inside my fully specced out X230 idles at around 45°C, perhaps 15° over what one might consider a typical idle temperature. ThinkPads' embedded controllers and the fan modules consider fan speed of 7 levels, zero being off and 7 being full speed. Level 1 is very often tripped as its lower trigger is 48°, resulting in the fan distractingly being turned on and off every few seconds while doing particularly bursty tasks; in my case, browsing Twitter. The RPM of each level depends on the fan inside the heatsink fan module, which on my Delta fan is 3000 RPM, and unfortunately cannot be changed. The X220's fans have lower RPMs at lower levels but they often suffer from a problem where they develop a very high pitched whine.

As well, the X230 in my experience isn't really that great as a portable machine, as I tend to hunch over it using it out and about. The less durable parts of the machine also become obvious such as the part of the palmrest over the ExpressCard expansion slot where my original palmrest actually cracked, prompting me to replace it with the one from my X220. The back of the display lid has seen better days too, and the display bezel has been replaced with the X220 bezel as well.

I've been using the X230 as my around-the-house laptop for a couple of years; for one of those it was my primary computer; but often recently I have wished for something closer to the silent bliss of doing things on my phone, for browsing Twitter, watching videos and films, writing, perhaps even to read books or comics on.

The Problem

My search began for a portable machine that would be silent on all occasions, had an IPS screen, and was smaller and lighter than the X230. However I demanded that any prospective model also had a keyboard option, and furthermore culled any device that employed an Atom CPU, since those kinds of machines have been nothing but painful to use in my experience.

An iPad was once in the running but I swore these off for a few reasons. One was simply of cost, for any iPad compatible with Apple's also expensive keyboard cover options would run me far more than I have to spend. Longevity was also a concern; I am reluctant to touch any iOS device after the swift and brutal abandonment of my iPod touch 3rd gen, which was left behind at iOS 5 just three years after its introduction and despite the similarly specced iPhone 3GS receiving an update to iOS 6 anyway. As for Android tablets, I could always extend their lifespan with custom ROMs, but in 2020 that scene is even more of a wild west than before, and at the very least everyone knows that Android has not had a focus on tablets since the end of the Nexus programme; Samsung seems to have been the only manufacturer picking up the metaphorical tab, perhaps thanks to the huge collapse in demand for the kind of tablet Android shone on: affordable (or cheap, depending on how you looked at it) 7 inch slates like the Nexus 7 and the, suprisingly still going on, Amazon Fire.

In any case, neither would allow me to fulfil another desire in the prospective device: the ability to use the programs I already know how to use such as Glimpse or the GNU IMP and would want to use on the go, as well as play 2D games like VA11 Hall-A as an example.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Chromebook Duet stood out as an option. It, of course, runs Chrome OS but I considered whether Crostini and Android compatibility would be suitable for my needs. However once I learned about Google's "expiry date" pencilled in for every Chromebook, my obvious aversion to being locked into using Chrome, and ultimately the lackluster keyboard attachment with its short backspace, I decided against it, despite its very impressive battery life in the face of its reportedly underpowered MediaTek Helios SoC.

A note must be made here for the tragic case of the Pine64 PineTab. I would really have loved to have been able to choose this device, open and community developed with a keyboard option; sadly it just fell outside the performance requirements I desired. As another reviewer has already noted, if Pine64 developed a tablet based on the platform of the PineTab Pro they could have a real winner on their hands. It's just unfortunate that it does not exist at the time of writing.

The conclusion I ended up with through elimination is that the device would probably end up from the category of Intel-based tablets running Windows. The benefits seemed obvious: a platform familiar to me, with total choice over what operating system is running and driver updates that aren't held under ransom by device manufacturers.

The Results

In the end, three options came to the fore; the Surface Go 2, the ThinkPad Helix 2 and either generation, Haswell or Broadwell, of Dell's Venue 11 Pro. The Surface Go 2 is a very enticing device, made from the same blueprint as the rest of the Surface line, which I've been interested in since reading about the ill-fated Surface RT in the months leading up to Windows 8's release. Its keyboard and trackpad are well reviewed despite the short backspace, as was the PixelSense-branded display. However the Surface Go 2's starting model priced at £399 uses an Atom-based Pentium-in-disguise 4425Y and the upgrade to an Amber Lake-Y Core m3-8100Y sets you back another couple hundred quid, as does the keyboard cover. Used listings didn't do much to reduce the cost.

The ThinkPad Helix 2, being another ThinkPad, was perhaps an obvious choice, but I've used a Helix 1 before and it didn't really impress me, and actually it isn't really a detachable laptop but more like a tablet with a keyboard dock since the dock has no hinge, but is rather a rigid channel for the tablet to sit inside.

The Venue stole the show by having both a hinge on its dock but most outstandingly, unlike the soldered down memory in the Helix, the ability to pop the back off and reveal socketed memory Edit: the memory is soldered unfortunately, a removable battery and a 2.5" drive slot that provides the freedom to install whatever kind of storage I want, even if, say I were sick and twisted and wanted to invalidate one of the fundamental reasons for me choosing such a device, to put a spinning hard drive in it Edit: it's not a 2.5" drive bay but it has an M.2 SATA slot instead. As well it allegedly is lighter and a tad bit smaller than the Helix. I've chosen to splurge on the Broadwell Core M variant for the promise of better low power performance, as well as HEVC and VP8 hardware acceleration, which always comes in super useful for making joke videos with ffmpeg.

Thus ends Part 1 of this series; I will be sure to return with Part 2 once I have been hands on with the Dell and used it for a little while!