Test your product on a crappy laptop • Hacker News Board

Re: Test your product on a crappy laptop

#11

Post by londons_explore » Sun, Dec 19, 2021, 4:02 AM UTC

eatonphil wrote: post #3

Any recommendations for a solid, representative crappy laptop? $100 xSomething Thinkpad off Ebay? Or is there something more representative of today.

While this is good for testing during development, A crappy laptop with a fresh install of windows, will be far less bad than a crappy laptop with a 6 year old full-of-crap windows.

I suggest doing the final test of your your site on:

* A friends old laptop, on their wifi, still logged in as them, and with them clicking the buttons with you watching over their shoulder.

* The same, but a friends old android phone, preferably with 'samsung browser'.

Re: Test your product on a crappy laptop

#12

Post by TulliusCicero » Sun, Dec 19, 2021, 4:03 AM UTC

eatonphil wrote: post #3

Any recommendations for a solid, representative crappy laptop? $100 xSomething Thinkpad off Ebay? Or is there something more representative of today.

Just go to Walmart or Best Buy or your local equivalent and buy a cheap laptop, something that’s $600 tops and feels like the plastic is just barely held together.

Re: Test your product on a crappy laptop

#13

Post by NullPrefix » Sun, Dec 19, 2021, 4:06 AM UTC

reaperducer wrote: post #4

eatonphil wrote: post #3

Any recommendations for a solid, representative crappy laptop? $100 xSomething Thinkpad off Ebay? Or is there something more representative of today.

Just see what's on offer at your local thrift shop. I don't recommend garage sales, however. People tend to overvalue their electronics. I tried to buy a radio that was worth maybe $20 from some guy. He wouldn't part with it for less than $150 because it reminded him of his father. That's nice, but I'm not paying $130 for your memories.

Could it be that he was forced to sell it?

Re: Test your product on a crappy laptop

#14

Post by kome » Sun, Dec 19, 2021, 4:07 AM UTC

I believe that most of the "web developers" have absolutely no idea of how to build a website using bare html+css. Actually, I worked with "web developers" that are basically not touching code much, but using all sorts of tools and framework - without fully understand what they are doing. And that's also why website looks like each other more and more. And that's the silent majority of the industry.

Re: Test your product on a crappy laptop

#15

Post by londons_explore » Sun, Dec 19, 2021, 4:07 AM UTC

There is a hidden feature in Chrome Devtools to apply a CPU slowdown...

Simply head to Devtools > Performance tab > Gear icon > CPU > 6x slowdown.

That isn't a perfect representation of an old laptop (doesn't throttle GPU operations or trigger low memory behaviours), but it's a good start. As a bonus, it makes your fans spin up wildly whenever loading a page!

Re: Test your product on a crappy laptop

#16

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Dec 19, 2021, 4:13 AM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Test your product on a crappy laptop

#17

Post by MattGaiser » Sun, Dec 19, 2021, 4:13 AM UTC

scblock wrote: post #2

"It’s also no secret that the average size of a website is huge, and it’s only going to get larger." This attitude seems common, that websites are just going to be fat and get fatter. That's a lie. Not if you, as a web developer, stop the bloat. The power is in your hands, you just need to use it. No, you don't need that 8 MB hero image. No, you don't need that bloated framework. No, you don't need those 37 tracking…

And as a dev, I make none of those decisions.

Re: Test your product on a crappy laptop

#18

Post by yjftsjthsd-h » Sun, Dec 19, 2021, 4:15 AM UTC

Spooky23 wrote: post #5

eatonphil wrote: post #3

Any recommendations for a solid, representative crappy laptop? $100 xSomething Thinkpad off Ebay? Or is there something more representative of today.

Try the shittiest laptop at Walmart. Like an HP stream. Remember the low res 1366x768 screen.

> Remember the low res 1366x768 screen.

The low... um. One of us is in a bubble. I'm typing this on a laptop with a 1280x800 screen and it's perfectly fine. Like, not super spacious but I code and browse the web on this box and I don't have any problems. (To be clear, it might well be me in the bubble; this laptop is over a decade old)

Re: Test your product on a crappy laptop

#19

Post by paulryanrogers » Sun, Dec 19, 2021, 4:23 AM UTC

londons_explore wrote: post #15

There is a hidden feature in Chrome Devtools to apply a CPU slowdown... Simply head to Devtools > Performance tab > Gear icon > CPU > 6x slowdown. That isn't a perfect representation of an old laptop (doesn't throttle GPU operations or trigger low memory behaviours), but it's a good start. As a bonus, it makes your fans spin up wildly whenever loading a page!

Not only CPU but slow networks and mobile screen sizes too. These are all very helpful for quick sanity checks and reproducing races.

Re: Test your product on a crappy laptop

#20

Post by icelancer » Sun, Dec 19, 2021, 4:26 AM UTC

eatonphil wrote: post #3

Any recommendations for a solid, representative crappy laptop? $100 xSomething Thinkpad off Ebay? Or is there something more representative of today.

Yeah a T-series Thinkpad. We use them at work for dumb terminals for forms, COVID compliance nonsense, and random data entry points. They are surprisingly durable and still pretty solid.