I have used a Macbook as my private computer for a couple of years, but it never occurred to me that I can use it as a professional workstation as a civil engineer. Not until now. My regular company tablet PC, an HP Elite X2, has easily been my worst computer experience of all time. Even though it is fully specced and upgraded, it still is borderline unusable. At least if I am not running Linux on it – then it works perfectly. But that’s another story. The issue is likely the ultra-low voltage 15 W CPU which runs at 100% pretty much all the time. Don’t be fooled by the quad-core i7 logo. It is nowhere near the performance its name indicate. Anyway, the problem is that many of my crucial engineering apps are Windows only. Now I have learned that this is not a problem at all.

Engineering, ComputerRikard ÖqvistApril 17, 2023apple, microsoft, civil engineering, windows, macosComment

System updates and glitches

My favorite system update with bad timing was last year when I had scheduled an online tutoring activity on Zoom with about 40 students. I made sure to test and connect every piece of equipment the night before and it worked like a charm. The next day, I was almost an hour ahead of schedule and fired up my system to make sure there would be no issues. Then, my HP Elite X2 decided it was time to conduct a major system update with BIOS flash. You cannot skip it; it just begins the update process when it feels like it. Even if you are standing in front of an audience. And this is a time-consuming process. I didn’t know whether I should laugh or cry as I watched the counters on the clock come closer and closer to 13:00 when the lecture starts.

ComputerRikard ÖqvistNovember 1, 2021windows, gaming, IT, technologyComment