Ask HN: What does one look for in a laptop these days? • Hacker News Board

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

#541

Post by Oddskar » Sat, Oct 16, 2021, 6:20 PM UTC

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

I’m gonna add good webcam and sound to the mix. These are essential for remote work.

I would argue this is almost impossible with a laptop. Even if the webcam could manage to capture a decent resolution, it would almost always be placed at an awkward position relative to your face compared to an external webcam.

External microphones are so far superior to internal ones that once you start noticing it’s all you hear when people talk via their echoey noise-suppressed-via-magic internal microphones.

I get it; I’m nitpicking. But my point I guess is that even good laptops have a lot worse remote conference setups than most people think.

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

#542

Post by mark_l_watson » Sat, Oct 16, 2021, 6:24 PM UTC

foobarbaz33 wrote: post #119

> if I'm missing on any new developments since 2015 Yes, you missed something huge. Apple Silicon M1 or nothing. It's just too good. Low power consumption allows the laptop to actually be used as a laptop. The power use-to-performance ratio is unmatched by anything on the market. Apple is breaking us free from decades of stagnation on the hardware front. Nothing else on the market comes close. I expect this to change…

+1 absolutely correct.

I bought an M1 MacBook Pro early this year and it is a beast, performance wise.

I just started a new ML job and my company sent me a new Intel 17” MBP, and while it is beast-like, not a beast.

One trick to M1 is installing the M1 ARM version of Homebrew, so programs and libraries installed are M1 native.

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

#543

Post by surajrmal » Sat, Oct 16, 2021, 6:24 PM UTC

peakaboo wrote: post #298

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…

Yep. The thinkpads I've had running Linux has supported s3 sleep but it feels like it's going away more and more. You start with a laptop at 80% charged if you use Microsofts stupid system. The more I use Linux, the more annoyed I get at Microsoft and how they keep worsening the entire pc experience every year. Users are not users, they are cattle to be managed by Microsoft.

Is it really Microsoft's fault that vendors only listen to it? The fact is that Apple exists in it's own closed ecosystem, and Linux runs second hand on systems built for Windows. There are very few other folks dictating requirements. Laptop vendors for the most part don't want to be in the business of maintaining an OS. Companies like system76 and framework are the way to address this.

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

#544

Post by nightpool » Sat, Oct 16, 2021, 6:25 PM UTC

smoldesu wrote: post #450

mustache_kimono wrote: post #435

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you feel like you're missing in userspace?

- A good (not Homebrew and not quite Macports) package manager. - Ways to permanently disable Gatekeeper - Some kind of quick setup. On Linux I use a bootstrapping script, MacOS does not offer the same extensibility. - Real virtualization support like QEMU - Real container support (if I set up another local Docker host on a Mac I swear to god...) - Up-to-date coreutils - A way to install Git without dragging along a…

Wait, are you saying that if you set up FileVault to not use your iCloud account, Apple still holds a master key? I thought that was the whole point of using your own recovery key

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

#545

Post by motoboi » Sat, Oct 16, 2021, 6:26 PM UTC

harshitaneja wrote: post #529

mustache_kimono wrote: post #435

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you feel like you're missing in userspace?

Most of the important ones like package managers, containers, not calling home etc are mentioned by the others. So I will mention things I don't think are discussed enough by linux switchers. The one I didn't think I would yearn for but am really reminded of everyday are- desktop environments and window managers. My friends couldn't stop praising the UX but even after a long time trying to get used to it I still am a…

Command+space t for terminal (at first you’ll have to type “terminal”, but after 10 or so it becomes the first result for “t”).

The same for other aplications.

You can also, from terminal, do a open -a application_name if you want.

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

#546

Post by GordonS » Sat, Oct 16, 2021, 6:27 PM UTC

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…

I used to put my Windows 10 laptop in my bag at night, but every now and then I'd realise later that it had powered itself on, the fans were going nuts, and it was obvious really, really hot!

I don't think it was actually installing updates (I use Enterprise eds), though I've no idea what it was doing. I've since started leaving it plugged in on my desk, and haven't noticed it turning itself on at all since then. Weird.

Seems mad they'd try to install updates while not on AC power, and I'd think it's fairly common for sleeping laptops to be placed in a bag overnight.

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

#547

Post by culebron21 » Sat, Oct 16, 2021, 6:27 PM UTC

1. weight 2. display >= 13.5"

3. 3 USB ports (nowadays they come as 2 + 1 USB-C, but that's ok)

4. HDMI port for projectors (2013 Toshiba z930 ultrabook used to have both HDMI and D-Sub ports!)

5. Keyboard with cursor keys not squeezed as on most modern laptops

6. Home/End/PgUp/PgDown proper keys, not through Fn combo (because then you can't do things like Shift+PgUp to select a lot of text)

7. If possible, without Windows

Other parameters are negotiable and upgradable.

Keyboard + USB requirements eliminate most laptops, including Frame, Mac and Think/IdeaPads (plus 13" ThinkPads weigh like a brick).

My choice is formed by the way I use them: I plug it to a monitor and keyboard, but often carry it to a cafe, so I want to be able to type on the keyboard, navigate texts (with a full-size cursor keys) and edit a lot of texts without pain that many laptops create (Lenovo Idea pad has very inconvenient delete/home/end keys). I have a USB wireless mouse (touchpads are inconvenient), and often plug extra devices (external drive, SD adapter, etc.). With just 2 USB ports I would often run out of ports having to unplug.

Weight is very important, since I walk and take transit with the laptop. Anything heavier than 1.3 Kg becomes noteable. 3 Kg is painful to carry even for 20 minutes, especially when you're tired after a working day.

The best I've known are:

* 2013 Toshiba z930. 1.05 kg, 3 ports, HDMI+VGA, SD card, 3G card!

* 2005 Panasonic Toughbook, consumer edition. 1.3 kg, passive cooling! 2x USB, Floppy drive xD, CD-ROM.

* 2019 MSI Modern 14. 1.3 kg, 2xUSB-A, 1xUSB-C, bright screen

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

#548

Post by rajacombinator » Sat, Oct 16, 2021, 6:30 PM UTC

One looks for a Mac, and buys it.

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

#549

Post by trashcat » Sat, Oct 16, 2021, 6:30 PM UTC

Frost1x wrote: post #345

nikau wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

This is really a poor software solution to an old hardware solution that disappeared for the sake of thinness: removable batteries. In the past with easily removable battery packs you could simply pop them out once they're fully charged and pop them in when you wanted to make sure they were charged up. When manufacturers started touting long life cycle batteries to justify internalizing them and making them difficult…

This is why I still use my Thinkpad W520. If I don't need the battery I just take it out until I need it. I hate that we got rid of removable batteries in basically all devices.

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

#550

Post by justshowpost » Sat, Oct 16, 2021, 6:32 PM UTC

1. It must be thin. Really thin.

2. Light. Thin and light.

3. Curved edges. Also curved edges. How could a laptop today not have curved edges? Yes, we said the same thing about the sharp edges of yesterday’s generation. But this time we really mean it.

4. Short battery life. Who wants to carry a huge battery with them? Easier to plug in everywhere you go anyways. Also goes directly against number 1 which is obviously more important.

5. Colors. Almost forgot it. Could you believe it? Specially crafted colors. Colors you’ve never seen before! I can not understand how some say it’s just rolling dice on the color spectrum. It’s totally new colors!