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Ask HN: What does one look for in a laptop these days?

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Re: Ask HN: What does one look for in a laptop these days?

#191

Post by distances »

chx wrote: post #184
michalf6 wrote: post #71

1) Maxed-out battery (90-100WH) 2) Low-TDP modern CPU, ideally Ryzen 3) Bright, hi-res screen There is nothing on the market that offers this. M1 mac is the closest option, but Apple shouldn't be given money. I'm currently on a Thinkpad T480.

Ryzen still doesn't have Thunderbolt. For some -- like me -- this still excludes Ryzen. And you are right that Intel U chips are rarely are shipping with 90Wh+ . But https://www.asus.com/Laptops/For-Home/Zenbook/Zenbook-Flip-1... does. The Lenovo Yoga 7i 14 (Yoga Slim 7) has a 71 Wh, the Schenker Via 14 has a 73 Wh, the HP Spectre x360 15 72.9 Wh, the MSI Summit E15 has a 82 Wh.

Thunderbolt is Intel's proprietary technology, I don't think AMD will ever have that. I think you'll have to wait for USB-4 if the current speeds really aren't enough.

Re: Ask HN: What does one look for in a laptop these days?

#192

Post by chrismorgan »

pca006132 wrote: post #161
mstaoru wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Asus Vivobook 16X OLED? 1) 94 Wh battery 2) R7 5800h / R9 5800hx 3) 4K OLED screen that goes to 550

Just wondering, can we really feel the difference between 2k and 4k on a small screen?

Very easily on text. Get a proper high-resolution display and you’ll never want to go back.

That 16″ 3840×2400 display means 283ppi; 1920×1200 would be only 142ppi. (Even a 13.3″ 1920×1080 is still only 166ppi.)

I went down from a Surface Book’s 13.5″ 3000×2000 (267ppi) to a Zephyrus G15’s 15.6″ 2560×1440 (188ppi) and although it’s definitely better than 1920×1080 it’s still definitely not as good as the Surface Book for crispness. (Most people probably wouldn’t worry about the difference, but they’d certainly notice it if going down to the 141ppi that 1920×1080 would represent.) That Vivobook looks magnificent: if I hadn’t just recently obtained my G15 and could actually get that Vivobook, I’d do so like a shot.

Re: Ask HN: What does one look for in a laptop these days?

#193

Post by lostlogin »

chenxiaolong wrote: post #67

1. 120Hz screen with a HIDPI resolution. 60Hz feels very stuttery after using 120Hz on my phone/tablet/desktop. 2. S3 suspend or at least a good S0ix implementation. 3. Good support for replacing UEFI Secure Boot keys. 4. No numpad so that the keyboard is centered. 5. Absolutely no coil whine. My Dell XPS 9560 had this since day 1, while my work MacBook Pro and Lenovo P1 developed it over time. 6. Biggest battery pos…

> 5. Absolutely no coil whine. My Dell XPS 9560 had this since day 1, while my work MacBook Pro and Lenovo P1 developed it over time.

In a similar vein - I don’t know what you call it, but the sensation you get when you run your finger over the case of a charging MacBook is just so gross.

Re: Ask HN: What does one look for in a laptop these days?

#194

Post by chrismorgan »

mstaoru wrote: post #90
michalf6 wrote: post #71

1) Maxed-out battery (90-100WH) 2) Low-TDP modern CPU, ideally Ryzen 3) Bright, hi-res screen There is nothing on the market that offers this. M1 mac is the closest option, but Apple shouldn't be given money. I'm currently on a Thinkpad T480.

Asus Vivobook 16X OLED? 1) 94 Wh battery 2) R7 5800h / R9 5800hx 3) 4K OLED screen that goes to 550

Or for something not quite as good but more likely to be available, their Zephyrus G15: 90Wh, 5800HS or so, 2560×1440.

Re: Ask HN: What does one look for in a laptop these days?

#195

Post by chx »

distances wrote: post #191
chx wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ryzen still doesn't have Thunderbolt. For some -- like me -- this still excludes Ryzen. And you are right that Intel U chips are rarely are shipping with 90Wh+ . But https://www.asus.com/Laptops/For-Home/Zenbook/Zenbook-Flip-1... does. The Lenovo Yoga 7i 14 (Yoga Slim 7) has a 71 Wh, the Schenker Via 14 has a 73 Wh, the HP Spectre x360 15 72.9 Wh, the MSI Summit E15 has a 82 Wh.

Thunderbolt is Intel's proprietary technology, I don't think AMD will ever have that. I think you'll have to wait for USB-4 if the current speeds really aren't enough.

Oh of course, I didn't want to go into that detail but trust me I know all that, TB3 got donated to USB IF, it became USB 4 with a few extras (most importantly the USB packets on the bus). And then Intel took USB 4 and put a marketing name on "USB 4 with every optional feature on" and called it Thunderbolt 4.

And yes, likely next year, AMD will have USB 4 but -- not right now.

And the problem is not exactly the bus speed -- although 10Gpbs is not that much -- but the lack of external PCI Express (or any other DMA capable protocol but the last non-PCIe tech doing that was Firewire and that's gone).

Re: Ask HN: What does one look for in a laptop these days?

#196

Post by dustinmoris »

grandpoobah wrote: post #46
hiisukun wrote: post #27

1. S3 Standby/suspend support. If your laptop supports that, you can close the lid and it will power ~everything except the RAM down (sometimes a USB port still charges). In 'new' laptops, including almost everything Tiger lake and Intel, S3 is being phased out for Microsoft's "Modern Standby", known as S0ix (or sometimes InstantGo). This is much more like a mobile phone, where it stays on but attempts to use as litt…

Was going to post the same thing (albeit far more poorly explained). Isn't Microsoft embarrassed about this? This has been an issue for my last two laptops over the last 5 years. How is it acceptable for this problem to still exist? My Lenovo supports S3 sleep, but I didn't discover it until probably a year into having bought it, so at that point my battery's ability to hold charge had already been sufficiently degra…

JetBrains Rider. If you care about quality, don't bother with Visual Studio at all.

Re: Ask HN: What does one look for in a laptop these days?

#197

Post by emteycz »

wheybags wrote: post #157
sircastor wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seeing that, it seems like this is likely cyclical. We’ll have 20 years of siloed hardware, and then some competitors figure out a way to get a foot in the door, or signed-only systems will become distasteful to consumers and Companies will revert, interoperability will become the norm again. There are always barriers in computing and society will respond to it.

You dismiss 20 years of darkness like it's nothing...

PC-compatible hardware and software is not going anywhere...

Re: Ask HN: What does one look for in a laptop these days?

#198

Post by Tsiklon »

distances wrote: post #191
chx wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ryzen still doesn't have Thunderbolt. For some -- like me -- this still excludes Ryzen. And you are right that Intel U chips are rarely are shipping with 90Wh+ . But https://www.asus.com/Laptops/For-Home/Zenbook/Zenbook-Flip-1... does. The Lenovo Yoga 7i 14 (Yoga Slim 7) has a 71 Wh, the Schenker Via 14 has a 73 Wh, the HP Spectre x360 15 72.9 Wh, the MSI Summit E15 has a 82 Wh.

Thunderbolt is Intel's proprietary technology, I don't think AMD will ever have that. I think you'll have to wait for USB-4 if the current speeds really aren't enough.

Not necessarily so, ASUS as an example has released an AMD board equipped with thunderbolt 4 in the form of the B550 ProArt. In a laptop it’s perhaps a bit more problematic until USB-4 comes along in greater volumes, but by then Thunderbolt and USB-4 will be the same thing

Re: Ask HN: What does one look for in a laptop these days?

#199

Post by chrismorgan »

Darmody wrote: post #169
harry8 wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a Dell xps and will never buy another laptop from dell. It's an embarrassment how awful if is. Close the lid without full shutdown, warranty voided bad.

It's not exactly like that. Under no circumstances should you leave a laptop powered on and in any sleep/hibernate/standby mode when placed in a bag, backpack, or in an overhead bin. The laptop will overheat as a result of that action. Why would you put a laptop on a bag if it is still running and expect the warranty to cover any damage if it overheats? What's next? Expect the warranty to cover you taking showers whi…

I would absolutely expect warranty to cover damage from overheating. It’s supposed to have adequate protection to avoid such damage. Leave it completely turned on, cover its fans, stuff it in a warm blanket and load its CPU until it overheats (slowly, quickly, doesn’t matter) and if it sustains any permanent damage it is not fit for purpose.

Dell’s attempt to disclaim warranty in a situation like that won’t fly in Australia.

Re: Ask HN: What does one look for in a laptop these days?

#200

Post by MaxikCZ »

nikau wrote: post #175
grandpoobah wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Was going to post the same thing (albeit far more poorly explained). Isn't Microsoft embarrassed about this? This has been an issue for my last two laptops over the last 5 years. How is it acceptable for this problem to still exist? My Lenovo supports S3 sleep, but I didn't discover it until probably a year into having bought it, so at that point my battery's ability to hold charge had already been sufficiently degra…

Your battery is likely worn from keeping it charged at 100% constantly, lenovo have an option to limit max charge to something like 80% which will greatly reduce battery wear, you just have to turn it off if you are actually planning to run it without AC for as long as possible.

My HP G8 zBook Power have this feature as well, but its only accessible through bios. Luckily their BiosConfigUtility64.exe allows changing bios variables from windows, and the change takes effect immediately. My two .bats for 80 and 100% charging limits.

C:\Programs\SP107705\BIOSConfigUtility64.exe /setvalue:"Battery Health Manager","Maximize my battery health"

C:\Programs\SP107705\BIOSConfigUtility64.exe /setvalue:"Battery Health Manager","Let HP manage my battery charging"

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