Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Perfect Laptop

blog.brossia.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

221–230 of 354 posts

Re: The Perfect Laptop

#221

Post by dsego »

treprinum wrote: post #122
pico303 wrote: post #84

> another Apple can’t put my finger on why this is so much better than everyone else things Once you’ve used a Mac touchpad, it’s impossible to go back to a Windows/Linux laptop. I’ve tried…

Dunno, my Zenbook S UX393 has a glass touchpad as well (with some mini display underneath) and feels like the one on my MacBook but I can set up three buttons at the bottom, not just one. Moreover, it has 3300x2200 screen with slim bezels and without any insane notch and it can run Linux smoothly without waiting for GPU drivers to be usable.

That's ok, but why limit triggers to button areas when 1-finger click anywhere on the trackpad can be left-click and 2-finger click anywhere can be right-click. Macs also have force touch for additional actions. There is probably a 3-finger click option as well. I don't have to know where the buttons are or look for them, no eyes need to be on the touchpad or keyboard, it's just an extension of my fingers.

Re: The Perfect Laptop

#222

Post by dtx1 »

willsmith72 wrote: post #219
dtx1 wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But, nothing compares to the new 15 inch MBA. That is hands down the best laptop made in the history of the Earth Hitchens's razor applies. It's certainly not the best laptop to play video games. Or to use outdoors in rough weather. Or...

Can you expand on the using it outdoors part? I work outside a lot but have never thought about that when choosing a laptop

There are rugged notebooks you can use in the rain or under extreme conditions like this https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7dpdqO1EZK0&pp=ygUUbHR0IG91dGR...

Try using "best laptop made in the history of the Earth" for 10 minutes in the rain and see what happens

Re: The Perfect Laptop

#223

Post by lucb1e »

jollyllama wrote: post #79

Author forgot swappable battery

And no soldered-on RAM while we're at it

Checking that this isn't in the article, I noticed the word "RAM" isn't mentioned at all. Did someone say 24GB? I ordered 2x16 but then found that Lenovo ( >:( ) soldered on one of the sticks and I ended up with 24. Haven't run out yet. Though that may not be the most hedged against developers' speculation on user hardware progression for no reason other than to be more lazy (looking at Signal and Telegram here, among others).

Re: The Perfect Laptop

#224

Post by pmontra »

slingnow wrote: post #172
grecy wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought my current MacBook Pro, used, in 2016. I drove it 54,000 miles around Africa on the worst roads in the world, using it every day in the heat, humidity, dust and sun. I drove it 30,000+ miles around North America using it heavily. I drove it 36,000 miles around Australia, using it at least 30 hours a week in the dust, heat, sun, etc. It's had many dings and bashes and a few drops. It still works great, and I'…

Since when is "miles driven around" a good indicator of build quality for a laptop? Your laptop isn't a car. There's no odometer on it.

Not all miles are created equal. Surviving the vibrations of some African and Australian roads is testament to a solid build. Of cars too.

Re: The Perfect Laptop

#225

Post by ArchOversight »

dhruvmittal wrote: post #113
pico303 wrote: post #84

> another Apple can’t put my finger on why this is so much better than everyone else things Once you’ve used a Mac touchpad, it’s impossible to go back to a Windows/Linux laptop. I’ve tried…

I've very happily left a Mac touchpad. Not once but twice. While the gesture support in the OS is nice, I don't like how big the touchpads are. I feel like it regularly gets in the way of typing. I'm okay with the size of the trackpad on the Framework laptop, but it could have been smaller. I really miss my old Thinkpad trackpad with the physical buttons between the trackpad and spacebar, which I felt was really usab…

Apple's touch detection for when you place your hands on the touchpad while typing is top-notch though.

It's what allows them to make the touchpad so big, while still making the keyboard easily accessible.

Re: The Perfect Laptop

#226

Post by semireg »

bitwize wrote: post #151
RajT88 wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm just surprised that people feel so passionately about touchpads/trackpads. Apple can have the best one, sure, I believe it. But they still are bad pointing devices as a type of pointing device. People have gotten used to them, because what else can you really fit into a laptop?

Other manufacturers' trackpads are a compromise vs. having a mouse. Apple trackpads are a mouse replacement . There are literally people who have a Magic Trackpad instead of a mouse for desktop use. That's how good the Apple stuff is.

I haven’t used a mouse since the first magic trackpads came out. Coincidentally, I have avoided RSI ever since abandoning mice and trackballs. Part of me feels that apple magic trackpads saved me from a lifetime of pain. They are that good.

Re: The Perfect Laptop

#227

Post by oktwtf »

Gosh, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano Gen1 and Gen2 are awful, dreadful, terrible machines. I can understand having a thermal constraint tied to the thinness of chassis, but you would think it’d maybe throttle instead of shutting off in the middle of work. After blowing through 4 separate nano configurations all with the same fundamental problem and riddled with quality issues and borderline abusive support getting bounced around “specialists”; I’m much happier with a M1 Pro MacBook Pro. Not nearly as light, but it’s worked every time I open the lid and want to use it for as long as I want. And that to me is the bare minimum.

I have a desktop with a few gpus in it for “fun”, so a laptop for me often is a client to access more power if needed. I run Sunshine and get 4k60 streaming for desktop, 3d modeling, video editing, and even gaming on occasion. Now with a MacBook instead of a thermally constrained thinkpud I can even do that stuff on the m1 locally do a degree.

Re: The Perfect Laptop

#229

Post by semireg »

dsego wrote: post #221
treprinum wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dunno, my Zenbook S UX393 has a glass touchpad as well (with some mini display underneath) and feels like the one on my MacBook but I can set up three buttons at the bottom, not just one. Moreover, it has 3300x2200 screen with slim bezels and without any insane notch and it can run Linux smoothly without waiting for GPU drivers to be usable.

That's ok, but why limit triggers to button areas when 1-finger click anywhere on the trackpad can be left-click and 2-finger click anywhere can be right-click. Macs also have force touch for additional actions. There is probably a 3-finger click option as well. I don't have to know where the buttons are or look for them, no eyes need to be on the touchpad or keyboard, it's just an extension of my fingers.

I turn on the 3-finger-drag accessibility option on my Mac trackpads. It works amazingly well. You can drag, cmd-tab, and even add an additional click to focus a part of an app without losing the drag. I’m amazed every time.

Re: The Perfect Laptop

#230

Post by pmontra »

bombela wrote: post #37
lylejantzi3rd wrote: post #14

Am I the only one who likes 17" laptops? I miss my old lunch tray.

Same, I don't mind carrying a big machine. Problem is most have a numpad, which shifts the keyboard and touch pad to the left. Being right handed, I find this very annoying.

It seems that the 16" Framework will come with separate keyboard and numpad. The numpad can be placed on either side or taken away, and the keyboard centered. If only they had a touchpad with physical buttons...
Post reply on HN