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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?

#91

Post by johanneskanybal »

switch007 wrote: post #26
johanneskanybal wrote: post #17

- unix-based under the hood so normal dev work is easy peasy - low maintenance so I have more time and energy - popular so app ecosystem works - unbreakable For work I haven't seen a competitor to macbook pro's in a decade.

Your requirements seem to match a Thinkpad quite well (good Linux support)

Thanks for the suggestion but I'm not talking about good linux support from the hardware. Running linux is not low maintenance, app ecosystem and ux is not comparable to mac. Mac manages to be best in class for those while also being able to be linux-enough to easily develop for linux environments.

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

#92

Post by tendencydriven »

BadJo0Jo0 wrote: post #68
tendencydriven wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean by nose cam? I initially thought you meant "no noise" but you mention nose twice so I'm curious.

Guessing he means laptops where the camera is below the display and is pointing up at your nose when in use

I wasn't aware there were any laptops like that, I wonder what the reason for that design choice is?

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

#93

Post by godDLL »

grecy wrote: post #7

I'd at least wait until the 18th to see what Apple is about to announce. Even if you don't get whatever they announce, it might be good to view your options in light of the new products.

Agreed, but I don't have my hopes up. Their keyboards have been atrocious for the last few years. Everything in their current lineup has the stuck-by-dust-particle problem.

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

#94

Post by godDLL »

schleck8 wrote: post #21
dna_polymerase wrote: post #14

AMD CPU & Repair-ability. Framework looks promising, but I'm not eager to buy an Intel processor.

> I'm not eager to buy an Intel processor May I ask why?

Apple's are better. AMD's can be better. Why look to Intel at all, if not for availability?

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

#95

Post by godDLL »

Fred27 wrote: post #55

Also, consider if you really need a laptop. A lot of people seem to use one by default even if they don't need it on the go.

I have four desktops at my house, two of them operational, one in constant use. But good point, yes.

Some people might be better served by a tablet or whatever.

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

#96

Post by godDLL »

jhanschoo wrote: post #58

Once 7. (specifically a discrete GPU) is a requirement, your choices become very limited. Either a gaming laptop or a workstation.

No, no, I didn't mean it like that. Rizen and Apple's current crop will suffice. Just not some mobile Nvidia or Intell bullshit, that won't do.

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

#97

Post by godDLL »

TekMol wrote: post #35

For me, it has to have a matte screen. So I can work outside. Even in an office setting, I find matte displays way more comfortable. You say: Stylus or touch-screen that doesn't glare I have yet to see a touchscreen with a matte display. Is it even possible?

My mom's flip-tap Lenovo does have that matte touch display. But it's way underpowered with it's mobile Intel. And the keyboard is not what I'd consider a keyboard at all.

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

#98

Post by godDLL »

diffeomorphism wrote: post #33

What about the screen? High resolution, better aspect ratio than 16:9, oled, refresh rate,...etc. You interact with the screen, the keyboard and the pointing device all the time and they cannot be changed, so all these have to be good. Things like good wifi or bluetooth are nice, but there are dongles.

I'd love a 5:4 or even just 4:3 screen, but those usually are reserved to tablets, shamefully. I don't realistically expect to find something like that, ever.

High refresh rate is desirable, high resolution is nice-to-have, for me.

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

#99

Post by godDLL »

rootsudo wrote: post #43

What apple has for sale, newest, more ram/ssd and that's it. It sounds obtuse, but, I enjoy selling my macbooks at 60-75% of purchase price 3-4 years later, and if needbe, applecare - which itself, is outrageous but it's nice. Alternative would be Surface, but for the money, eh. XPS 13 too, they're great but there have been some defects but for me they're perfect.

Apple has a different kind of customer in mind the last few years, I don't find what the do to their products in any way interesting anymore. Now that they have changed to not having ridiculous amount of interconnect and so sped up things considerably I did walk in to take a look.

But the finicky keyboards and glossy displays turned me off of them again.

I've looked at the latest crop of Surface, they are very nice. But way underpowered for the price.

XPS 14 would be interesting to me, provided it actually meets me where I want it, and not the usual "in the middle" as it goes with Dell products.

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

#100

Post by godDLL »

yibers wrote: post #84
laurensr wrote: post #8

Comment not related to OP's wishes but I miss the 16:10 laptop screens of 2010 extremely hard. It's the one thing I miss about my HP 8740w.

The latest (gen 9) Thinkpad x1 carbon is 16:10

I hear they have keyboard flex and aren't great with Linux.
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