Live data from Hacker News

Laptop OEMs – make a proper high-end AMD laptop

blog.basilgohar.com

111–120 of 176 posts

Re: Laptop OEMs – make a proper high-end AMD laptop

#111
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's really no conspiracy. Hardware builders just have other requirements. If AMD"s laptop chips were really better so far (this is actually very debatable), they were by a slim margin for some use cases. Not enough to offset existing business agreements with Intel, the more mature Intel laptop platform (it's more than a CPU, but also motherboards and wireless chipsets) and Intel's more mature - and already existi…

Users don't want to switch, either. I won't take a chance on an AMD machine to save a couple of dollars. Maybe I'm being rational, maybe I'm not, but I'm sure I'm not the only consumer who feels this way. I want to buy the "happy path" when I'm getting a product.

I'll forever be baffled at people treating one of the biggest semiconductor companies in the world which has historically released products which easily outlast the rest of the components in the system as some fly-by-night alternative to Intel.

This sentiment also caused my family to get a Pentium4 over the superior Athlon64 years back and I'm still salty.

Re: Laptop OEMs – make a proper high-end AMD laptop

#112
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s worth noting that neither AMD nor Intel’s latest notebook CPUs support PCIe 4.0. I imagine that won’t be coming until the next generation. Also, you can configure the Surface Laptop 3 being referred to with up to 32GB of RAM: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/configure/Surface-Lapt...

the Ryzen 4th gen will support PCIe 4.0

Not on laptops, according to the anandtech article.

Re: Laptop OEMs – make a proper high-end AMD laptop

#113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TIL that in 2019 people still have DPI problems with their software.

Do you not? My work laptop has very high DPI, and I hate all the scaling issues I encounter with all the corporate software I have to use. To the point that I much prefer to plug it into a 1080p monitor.

Sounds like a Windows problem. Macs have had high DPI solved since 2012.

Re: Laptop OEMs – make a proper high-end AMD laptop

#114
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've thought about making (well, more about 'having' it to be honest) a 'semi-portable' computer for people like us. Basically a briefcase that when folded open would 'swing out' two screens. Maybe you would fold it over so that the rest of the case (where the mobo etc are are in) would work as a stand for the monitors. You wouldn't be able to use it on a couch or plane but it would give you a vastly superior experie…

There are vast untapped markets that are being totally ignored. As in, you can't vote with your wallet because there's literally nowhere to put your money. Very few laptop manufacturers allow key customisation (e.g.: using laser engraving). None allow a choice of keyboard (e.g.: with or without a keypad, with or without dedicated ins/del/home/end/pgup/pgdn keys, separate arrow keys, [fn] button left or right of [ctrl…

A portable computer with a high-res screen and a standard mini-ITX board with a PCIe slot would seem to do the trick. The big problem is battery life (unless they could live without a battery, which would help the size quite a bit.

Re: Laptop OEMs – make a proper high-end AMD laptop

#115
Excellent challenge to the big OEM's. I doubt many will give it a second thought.

What I'd love to see is some of the gifted and talented Makers we've seen in 2019 whip out their dremels and 3D printers and say, "THIS is what I want!"

Couldn't you take a chassis with a high-end screen and fabricate a mount that would accommodate securing an AMD board to the existing mounts of a previous Intel board?

I know I sound naive, but I haven't looked into it yet. It certainly seems possible from a basic engineering standpoint.

EDIT: my horrific grammar

Re: Laptop OEMs – make a proper high-end AMD laptop

#116
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are vast untapped markets that are being totally ignored. As in, you can't vote with your wallet because there's literally nowhere to put your money. Very few laptop manufacturers allow key customisation (e.g.: using laser engraving). None allow a choice of keyboard (e.g.: with or without a keypad, with or without dedicated ins/del/home/end/pgup/pgdn keys, separate arrow keys, [fn] button left or right of [ctrl…

There has to be small manufacturers in the US. In Spain I know this two guys: https://www.mountain.es/en and https://slimbook.es/en/ and I've been pretty happy with their products.

Most small laptop manufacturers sell Clevo based laptops with some customization, so there's a limit to what they can customize on the Clevo base model.

Re: Laptop OEMs – make a proper high-end AMD laptop

#117

I'm convinced there is a conspiracy that prevents laptop manufacturers from shipping AMD chips on 13" high end laptops. Almost every (every?) AMD laptop I find is some 14-15" clunker with a garbage screen. I've had to put off buying a new macbook because of the shitty keyboard situation and all laptops (mac/pc) because it appears Intel's newest CPUs are still vulnerable to Meltdown/Spectre. A highend 13" AMD based Li…

Intel have a co-marketing brand they call "Ultrabook" where most components are Intel which prevents laptop manufacturers from using the same chassis/model for AMD.

Their new "Project Athena" might be the same thing.

Re: Laptop OEMs – make a proper high-end AMD laptop

#118

Excellent challenge to the big OEM's. I doubt many will give it a second thought. What I'd love to see is some of the gifted and talented Makers we've seen in 2019 whip out their dremels and 3D printers and say, "THIS is what I want!" Couldn't you take a chassis with a high-end screen and fabricate a mount that would accommodate securing an AMD board to the existing mounts of a previous Intel board? I know I sound na…

At least part of the problem is getting said board; laptop motherboards are often specially manufactured for each chassis, and there is no standard form factor like there is for desktops. It might be possible to buy one from a different model, but most boards aren't socketed for AMD chips so that's out, and it's not really feasible to just build your own motherboard.

Re: Laptop OEMs – make a proper high-end AMD laptop

#120
post #99
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Overclocking is something I never cared about, the prospect of being forced to buy new hardware was never appealing to me.

The risk of breaking anything by overclocking is really low anymore - you'll run into instability long before you damage anything. The best argument against overclocking IMHO is that the time and expense is generally not worth it. With a CPU overclock you might gain 10% performance while consuming 30% more power, after investing time and fancy cooling solution. Gone are the days of rapid improvement when you could oc…

That, and CPUs will juice themselves up by default. Intel has turbo boosts up to like 5GHz nowadays. I couldn't do that if I tried, and frankly I don't feel any reason to.
Post reply on HN