Let’s redesign the laptop for a work-from-home era

Post by paulcole » Thu, Mar 11, 2021, 10:15 PM UTC

sandworm101 wrote: post #17

hc-taway wrote: post #3

1) physical kill switch for camera (as in, it breaks the power or data connection to it, physically) or at least a physical cover. 2) physical kill switch for the microphone These are very much not "nerd" concerns, either. I see a lot of non-techies with stickers over their laptop cameras. [EDIT] teachers in particular spread the "put a sticker over the camera" practice, in my experience, both before and during the p…

>> or at least a physical cover. I want a mechanical microphone switch too. Being seen can be embarrassing but being caught saying something can end your career instantly. See that school board that all had to resign after they were caught badmouthing parents.

Post by 6510 » Thu, Mar 11, 2021, 10:20 PM UTC

brmgb wrote: post #26

viklove wrote: post #6

This article is hilarious because it shows how poorly the average tech consumer understands pricing and hardware. You want a better camera and a better mic? Buy them. They're not cheap. You can easily spend $3-400 on a teleconferencing setup (as I have for my desktop), and it pays off. But if you think my Blue Snowball mic and Logitech webcam will fit into your Macbook Air... On that note, all of these concerns could…

You are completely missing the point (it feels like I am now posting this everyday on HN). No one is asking for a Blue Snowball mic and Logitech webcam in their laptop. People are rightfully wondering why in world a ubiquous small competent cameras (see every iPhone from the past decades) and mic, the ones laptops are using are so poor. The answer is most likely because no one cared so I fully expect that to change b…

Post by 1-6 » Thu, Mar 11, 2021, 10:26 PM UTC

asdff wrote: post #64

If we are to redesign the laptop why can't we admit that it's current design and use cases are at odds? People are running zoom and docker and slack and a dozen other things at once. We waste more resources than ever doing the same chat/etc. stuff we've been doing for 25 years. Things aren't moving faster, fans are going full tilt and CPUs throttle down. What the people need more than anything is for manufacturers to…

Post by vbezhenar » Thu, Mar 11, 2021, 10:30 PM UTC

hadrien01 wrote: post #9

hc-taway wrote: post #3

1) physical kill switch for camera (as in, it breaks the power or data connection to it, physically) or at least a physical cover. 2) physical kill switch for the microphone These are very much not "nerd" concerns, either. I see a lot of non-techies with stickers over their laptop cameras. [EDIT] teachers in particular spread the "put a sticker over the camera" practice, in my experience, both before and during the p…

In addition to a kill switch, it would be great to have a switch that affects 1) the physical device 2) the OS switch and 3) the Teams/Zoom/Webex switch. Regularly we have people in meetings forgetting one of those switches (the physical switch being on the headphones) and trying to talk without being heard.

Post by plun9 » Thu, Mar 11, 2021, 10:32 PM UTC

gcatalfamo wrote: post #102

draklor40 wrote: post #94

There exists a good solution. It is called a desktop. I turned my company provided laptop into an almost full desktop with external monitor, keyboard and mouse, speakers, a USB microphone, USB camera. At this point I am wondering why do I even have a wimpy ULV processor to write code 8 hrs a day. The sheer amount of time I could save by switching to even a basic 4 core 45-65w Desktop class CPU. Saving pennies on the…

Yes, in theory. But I end up not liking having to sit at the desk for "everything computer". Sometimes I just want to work while sitting comfortably on the couch.