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Bikeshedding, or why I want to build a laptop

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Re: Bikeshedding, or why I want to build a laptop

#101

Post by prmoustache »

miningape wrote: post #61
chungy wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The blog is premised on the idea that Apple and MacBook are not doing fine.

You missed my point, the original comment is stating that the market for such a device doesn't exist because developers are too finicky and customisation focussed. As a counter example - look at macbooks which are about as un-customisable as they come, but a large portion of developers use them. Meaning the market exists even if it's currently dominated by Apple (which as you/the post points out is slipping)

Not everybody use/choose macbook though.

Having said that I do believe that many brands have way too mamy SKU and I widh they would be more opinionated on what they believe is better for their customers while maintaining clear and strong ethics (reliability should be #priority)

Re: Bikeshedding, or why I want to build a laptop

#102

Post by Nextgrid »

forty wrote: post #90

I think the kind of laptop this person wishes should simply be made illegal to make. We cannot sustain having all electric devices being thrown after a year or two, these things need to last, to be repairable and make it easy to grab pieces and materials when they die anyway

There's no reason such a laptop can't be repairable. Sure, it may be harder to do, but that's the tradeoff you choose when buying such a device.

The main obstacles to repairability in such devices are intentional: part serialization, lack of documentation, and so on. Those don't help making the device any more compact or easier to manufacture, it's pure greed.

Address those problems and you can happily have your ultra-slim, tightly integrated laptop. It may be slightly less repairable, but as long as repair isn't intentionally being prevented, life will find a way.

Re: Bikeshedding, or why I want to build a laptop

#103

Post by rikafurude21 »

Yokolos wrote: post #92
forty wrote: post #90

I think the kind of laptop this person wishes should simply be made illegal to make. We cannot sustain having all electric devices being thrown after a year or two, these things need to last, to be repairable and make it easy to grab pieces and materials when they die anyway

> I don’t care one bit about upgradability or customizability. After a year or two, I’m happy to throw it out and buy a new one. It’s not like upgradability is a bad thing, but it usually comes with tradeoffs to weight and power draw, and I’d rather it all be in one solid package glued together. And I don’t like customizability because I like when all the testing and polish work is put into one configuration. Jesus c…

Selfish how, because he clearly does not say that upgradability or customizability are bad things? Its also not like hes proposing something that isnt reality for most manufacturers, especially Apple.

Re: Bikeshedding, or why I want to build a laptop

#104

Post by icemelt8 »

> I’m typing this blog on a HP ZBook Ultra G1a 14. Question to HP, who names this crap? Why do these companies insist on having the most confusing product lineups and names.

The reason is that they are not serious companies, this is why anything other than a real macbook and with a real macOS is not worth having spent time on.

Re: Bikeshedding, or why I want to build a laptop

#105

Post by beeflet »

Nextgrid wrote: post #102
forty wrote: post #90

I think the kind of laptop this person wishes should simply be made illegal to make. We cannot sustain having all electric devices being thrown after a year or two, these things need to last, to be repairable and make it easy to grab pieces and materials when they die anyway

There's no reason such a laptop can't be repairable. Sure, it may be harder to do, but that's the tradeoff you choose when buying such a device. The main obstacles to repairability in such devices are intentional : part serialization, lack of documentation, and so on. Those don't help making the device any more compact or easier to manufacture, it's pure greed. Address those problems and you can happily have your ult…

There is such a reason: it isn't modular enough for the economics to favor repair over replacement, what with the economies of scale and that.

Re: Bikeshedding, or why I want to build a laptop

#106

Post by nehal3m »

sapphire_tomb wrote: post #64
tambourine_man wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've never been happy with a trackpad: they feel too imprecise Everything non-Apple is. Apple's trackpad are great and have been for decades. I’ve done professional image editing on the go even with the tiny by today’s standards PowerBook G4s trackpads. The real tragedy of our industry is that Apple got the basics right a few decades ago but seems determined to make their OS worse for pro user with every release. Y…

I see this comment about how awesome Apple Trackpads are all the time here, and just assumed I was missing out because I'd never used a MacBook. But I got given a MacBook Pro recently for work, and I'm super underwhelmed. The trackpad on it is no better or worse than any other trackpad I've used.

Part of their magic is the integration with the operating system in the form of gestures. Their UI for discovering those used to be stellar; every gesture had a little video preview. Right now I'd describe it as just okay. Check the 'trackpad gestures' section in system settings, or this: https://support.apple.com/en-us/102482

Re: Bikeshedding, or why I want to build a laptop

#107

Post by dcanelhas »

rikafurude21 wrote: post #103
Yokolos wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don’t care one bit about upgradability or customizability. After a year or two, I’m happy to throw it out and buy a new one. It’s not like upgradability is a bad thing, but it usually comes with tradeoffs to weight and power draw, and I’d rather it all be in one solid package glued together. And I don’t like customizability because I like when all the testing and polish work is put into one configuration. Jesus c…

Selfish how, because he clearly does not say that upgradability or customizability are bad things? Its also not like hes proposing something that isnt reality for most manufacturers, especially Apple.

I think the selfishness here is related to being fine with generating a pile of electronic waste that becomes a problem for everyone else, as long as he can avoid carrying a few ounces extra.

It's hard to recycle electronics, because separating materials that are chemically bonded together is very labor intensive and isn't worth it from the price of aluminum, copper, lithium, etc alone.

It would have to cost more to dispose of a laptop for this to work out financially.

Re: Bikeshedding, or why I want to build a laptop

#108

Post by blitzar »

gherkinnn wrote: post #88
daemonologist wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The old ones had hot-swappable batteries (a second internal battery - of decent size - kept the device going while you replaced the external one). I used to keep a couple of extra 50 Wh batteries in my backpack and therefore had excellent battery life. The power efficiency wasn't great though. I now have a Z13 Gen 1 (AMD 6850U) running Fedora and the battery life is passable. It draws 7-8W at idle from a 51 Wh batter…

So the battery life wasn't excellent. My laptop can go on for days as well as long as I plug it in to a power bank. I just need to lug them around, defeating the purpose.

I get near infinite battery life on mine if I plug it into a wall outlet.

Re: Bikeshedding, or why I want to build a laptop

#109

Post by ndr42 »

jedbrooke wrote: post #43

> Consumer electronics naming is very simple. Make a good product with a simple name. “iPhone”, “comma”, “Z Fold”. Then every year or two, add one to the number of that product. If it’s a small refresh, you can add a letter after the number. “2 3 3X 4” “4 4s 5 5s 6 …” “2 3 4 5 6 7” Why is this so hard for companies like HP? Oh man I feel this every time there’s a games console launch. I still have no idea what the la…

This reminds me of the parody from 20 years ago of what would happen if Microsoft would re-design the iPod packaging - including the name of the product. It seems that nothing has changed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUXnJraKM3k

Re: Bikeshedding, or why I want to build a laptop

#110

Post by beeflet »

mrpippy wrote: post #62
adalacelove wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You cannot uninstall Apple Music. That alone is alienating.

IMO, the benefits of an immutable OS install outweigh being able to uninstall/remove particular apps.

do the benefits of a closed-source OS outweigh being able to do whatever you want?
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