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

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

#181

Post by MayeulC »

WalterBright wrote: post #179
alekq wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Besides power, the arguments for the desktops are also price, simple(r) upgrades and repairs.

It also seems that once you festoon the laptop with replacements for its components - monitor, keyboard, mouse, disk drives, camera, mike, etc., what have you got? An expensive desktop that performs poorly. > repairs I've replaced a couple screens on laptops. It's a fair amount of work, and in the meantime your laptop is dead while you await the arrival of the new screen. I keep a spare monitor around, and when a mon…

> I really just buy a new mobo, CPU, and graphics card

I think that would be CPU, motherboard and RAM. Graphics cards can be upgraded independently thanks to PCIe, which I often choose to do as they are in a price league of their own.

I'm sad CPU sockets change that often, I would like to stretch expenses a bit more, like using DDR3 for a little while before switching to DDR4. Unfortunately, when upgrading to the next generation, you pretty much have to upgrade those three at once. And Intel is way, way worse with that.

I hear that motherboard manufacturers lobby for new sockets...

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

#182

Post by anotheryou »

KptMarchewa wrote: post #125
anotheryou wrote: post #73

Make usb-c docking work... I got an older dell xps that get's heart trouble on 3rd party usb-c chargers (short freezes under moderate load) and is throttled even through the expensive dell dock. I got a lenovo with linux (maybe linux is at fault) where hdmi through usb-c causes all sorts of issues. --- allow to limit charging to 80% (dell can do it, should double battery life. Too bad my xps batteries die a bloaty de…

>I got a lenovo with linux (maybe linux is at fault) where hdmi through usb-c causes all sorts of issues. What issues? I'm literally writing this answer on LG CX connected through USB-C -> HDMI on TV. -> % swaymsg -t get_outputs Output DP-1 'Goldstar Company Ltd LG TV SSCR 0x00000101' (focused) Current mode: 3840x2160 @ 60.000000 Hz

I forgot the details. One of the issues was some audio via hdmi that went to sleep and caused a system crash. I think I even fixed that but still had the monitor go black sometimes and lost the will to try to fix it.

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

#183

Post by anotheryou »

yoz-y wrote: post #156
anotheryou wrote: post #73

Make usb-c docking work... I got an older dell xps that get's heart trouble on 3rd party usb-c chargers (short freezes under moderate load) and is throttled even through the expensive dell dock. I got a lenovo with linux (maybe linux is at fault) where hdmi through usb-c causes all sorts of issues. --- allow to limit charging to 80% (dell can do it, should double battery life. Too bad my xps batteries die a bloaty de…

I use the HP Z27 monitor with a single usb-c cable to my laptop and then hang all accessories off it. (Mouse, mic, speakers, keyboard, trackpad) works great. At the end of the day I can switch the work laptop for the home laptop by unplugging and plugging one cable.

It's a dream when it works :)

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

#184

Post by beckingz »

psidhu wrote: post #11
tpmx wrote: post #5

Having a built-in "ring"-light would be nice. Perhaps in the bezels? Or perhaps even done via detailed software-based control of the screen backlight via zones? Audio is already pretty great with a modern laptop, but it's tricky to arrange proper lighting for video conferencing.

Not necessarily good for people wearing glasses! I bought one and it glares off of mine a lot so I stopped using it. Other angles where the glare stops makes me look like a sociopath.

Embrace the look.

Glasses + glare makes you look like a super hacker.

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

#185

Post by sixbrx »

Fezzik wrote: post #90
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…

My work Laptop is an older ThinkPad and it has a physical sliding camera cover as well as the F4 key which functions as an all purpose mute button for the microphone. The F4 key even lights up when enabled. So these options definitely exist, to some degree.

my new Lenovo X1 Extreme has both of those things. I actually didn't notice the F4 microphone toggle before, thanks for the tip!

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

#186

Post by clairity »

euroderf wrote: post #180
clairity wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

similarly, the gentlest grade of painter’s masking tape avoids sticky residue too. electrician’s tape isn’t bad either (the black tape is also less conspicuous).

Over the long term, masking tape hardens and cements to the surface. Very nasty to try to remove. It is not for long-term use.

i believe all tape does some version of this eventually. i wasn't thinking it would be left on permanently, but possibly on the order of months before being replaced. in any case, something like scotch delicate surface tape[0] was what i had in mind when posting my prior comment.

[0]: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008BWIR8G

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

#187

Post by mullingitover »

emkoemko wrote: post #135
mullingitover wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Or if you are working from home nearly all the time, a desktop will be a better and more economical choice. If I'm not doing something that requires huge wattage, the only thing a desktop computer does is to force me to sit at a desk 100% of the time I'm using it. Hard pass. Tablets are nearly all toys, and the ones that aren't weigh more and cost more than a good laptop (but with a cumbersome UI). If you want to s…

"desktop computer does is to force me to sit at a desk 100% of the time I'm using it" you act like that's a bad thing... when its really the best way to use a computer for large amount of time. Laptops should never be used for long periods unless you want to damage your back and neck.

That's a valid point, and fortunately you can use a laptop at a desk, too. However, the laptop can also be picked up and taken with you if that's what you need to do, while the desktop is stuck at that desk forever.

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

#188

Post by scott00 »

AtlasBarfed wrote: post #163
neogodless wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I'm working, most of the time I'm on my desktop, with a ~5 year old web cam attached to a monitor. For a while, I wondered if software was just making "me" look good (quality, not my face, ha!) but I had someone do a screen shot. And my $50 web cam is 5x better than basically every Macbook web cam for video chat. And my desktop is a ~2 year old 8-core, 32GB machine. Not a monster but excellent power plus 27" and…

32" monitor? You know you can get a 43" 4k TV that is half-decent for a monitor for 200-300$? And 8ks are coming... 2000$ for a 65" 8k, but of course the HDMI port support is glacial and grossly overpriced. But a curved 8k 65" for high-dpi will be my next big desktop build.

I thought using a 43" 4k TV as a monitor was a good idea until I actually tried it with the TCL S525. It looked really bad at close range, like this: https://i.rtings.com/assets/pages/li6TPHJm/user-1-large.jpg

So if you haven't tried it, beware. If you HAVE tried it, what model is working well for you?

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

#189

Post by AtlasBarfed »

scott00 wrote: post #188
AtlasBarfed wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

32" monitor? You know you can get a 43" 4k TV that is half-decent for a monitor for 200-300$? And 8ks are coming... 2000$ for a 65" 8k, but of course the HDMI port support is glacial and grossly overpriced. But a curved 8k 65" for high-dpi will be my next big desktop build.

I thought using a 43" 4k TV as a monitor was a good idea until I actually tried it with the TCL S525. It looked really bad at close range, like this: https://i.rtings.com/assets/pages/li6TPHJm/user-1-large.jpg So if you haven't tried it, beware. If you HAVE tried it, what model is working well for you?

I have three. I used one of the original Seikis that came out ($500), then I got a samsung (don't remember the model) and that is probably my favorite, and the same TCL you have. I think the TCL is my least favorite.

Rtings does highlight how much difference there is, but even the TVS that are a couple steps up from the TCL are only a couple hundred more, so the cost per unit of screen real estate is still pretty good.

I think the 8ks will have such significantly better pixel density (because it's not like I'm going to use an 86" monitor for 8k, rather a 60" and have about 50% more pixel density). Maybe even a 50-55".

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

#190

Post by scpedicini »

WalterBright wrote: post #179
alekq wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Besides power, the arguments for the desktops are also price, simple(r) upgrades and repairs.

It also seems that once you festoon the laptop with replacements for its components - monitor, keyboard, mouse, disk drives, camera, mike, etc., what have you got? An expensive desktop that performs poorly. > repairs I've replaced a couple screens on laptops. It's a fair amount of work, and in the meantime your laptop is dead while you await the arrival of the new screen. I keep a spare monitor around, and when a mon…

It's all a matter of use cases, sounds like you need a desktop. As for me, I have a ninth GEN Intel laptop that weighs less than 6 pounds connected to a docking station that easily let me use my audio interface, all my peripherals, external hard drive's and dual monitor set up.

I often have to take the laptop with me to do work in other locations which completely rules out how cumbersome it would be to do this with a desktop. It takes me less than five minutes to pop it off the dock and throw it in my backpack.

Not to mention how much of a pain in the ass it would be if I had both a desktop and a laptop, constantly having to synchronize the data between the two, and having to have multiple installations of the same software which may be difficult depending on EULA/licensing.

Performance is in the eye of the beholder. The system I have performs more than adequately for all the tasks that I require, I rarely have to wait on compiles for any significant amount of time, video renderings can take a while but that just gives me an opportunity to stretch my legs and take a break from the computer.

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