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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?

#201

Post by chx »

Tsiklon wrote: post #198
distances wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

> but by then Thunderbolt and USB-4 will be the same thing

see my reply below -- it already is. sorta.

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

#202

Post by mnw21cam »

xattt wrote: post #172
pca006132 wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Yes, other screens are ruined for you.

I'm currently dreading the time when I stop working from home and go back into the office, because at home I have a nice 4k monitor and a 3200x1800 laptop screen, whereas at work it's 1920x1080 or less - and that was fairly recently bought too.

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

#203

Post by Macha »

qwerty456127 wrote: post #11

> Bluetooth has to be good Does this even exist? Never met a reliable (even in context of using within a single meter of range) BlueTooth in my life. Only Apple seems to offer reasonably good. For this very reason (although my experience comes solely from earphones) I hesitate to buy a BlueTooth keyboard which I would normally prefer over occupying a USB port with a separate wireless KB dongle.

The solution is Intel bluetooth in my experience. The ax200/ax3000 and predecessors. Which is basically what you got in the Intel macs, but there is Windows PCs and usb dongles with the same hardware

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

#204

Post by dredmorbius »

agd wrote: post #5

I’m gonna add good webcam and sound to the mix. These are essential for remote work. If the rumours are true, the new M1X MacBook Pros being announced this Monday look perfect: - high performance + battery life - exceptional build quality - great screen, sound, and webcam - decent port selection

Quality and flexibility increase tremendously with external devices --- camera, speakers, and/or microphone.

Given the privacy advantages, I'd prefer systems without onbard video or audio capture.

(I'm aware advanced methods can be used to capture some audio signal via, e.g., speakers or device vibrations. I'm looking at risk minimisation / mitigation, not elimination.)

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

#205

Post by Macha »

google234123 wrote: post #137
qwerty456127 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't seem so to me. They just rarely put more than 3 USB ports and there doesn't seem to be any obvious correlation between the number and lack/presence of the SD port.

Are usb sticks typically faster and cheaper than SD cards or am I remembering this wrong?

You can get usb sticks that are faster than top end SD cards because you can just put an entire SSD, dram cache and controller included in a usb device, but the average usb stick and average SD card are equally poor

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

#206

Post by Darmody »

chrismorgan wrote: post #199
Darmody wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 A…

I guess you can always claim it didn't overheat in a bag but I still think that storing a turned on laptop in a bag or sealing somehow its ventilation it's a misuse and it shouldn't be covered by the warranty.

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

#208

Post by emptysongglass »

fsflover wrote: post #180

1. Upgradable and repairable. 2. Linux and Qubes OS support. 3. 64+ GB RAM. 4. Coreboot and focused on verifiable security, neutralized Intel ME. 5. Hardware kill switch for camera, microphone. Actually, there is only one such laptop: https://puri.sm/products/librem-14 .

I tried for years to get along with Purism but I've had three laptops with poor QC come from them. Broken hinges, unreliable touchpads, bad chargers. Never again.

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

#210

Post by beermonster »

glenarma wrote: post #139
allwein wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and if Visual Studio ran on Mac I'd probably switch my PC out also Not sure if it supports all the features you need, but it exists. https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/vs/mac/

That’s just a rebranded Xamarin IDE - but for .NET development on Mac, I’ve found JetBrains Rider does most of what the full Visual Studio package does

Yes it's just Xamarin modified to look like a native Visual Studio for Mac.

Much better off using Rider (also works nicely on Linux).

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