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Whatever happened to Japanese laptops?

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Re: Whatever happened to Japanese laptops?

#111

Post by huxley »

Tepix wrote: post #72
coldtea wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> that and Apple and others catching up in terms of "sleekness" and aesthetics. Wasn't Apple always ahead of the Japanese laptops in terms of sleekness and aesthetics?

No. I remember my wife bought a Sony Vaio N-505 back in 2000. An amazing machine with a magnesium case, very thin and very lightweight. Only the 10.4" screen was pretty crappy (but they all were back then). Apple had the Powerbook G4 at that time which was a very high-end machine but much much bulkier of course.

Not quite at that time, the Powerbook G4 wasn't announced until January 9, 2001, at the time it was the Powerbook G3 Pismo that was Apple's main pro notebook.

I don't think the magnesium case played much a role in the weight difference between the 12.1" VAIO N-505 (3.75 lbs / 1.7 kg) vs the Powerbook G4 (5.3 lbs / 2.4 kg), so much as the bigger 15.2" screen and integrated optical drive in the Powerbook (which at the time was remarkably unbulky for its size)

Re: Whatever happened to Japanese laptops?

#112

Post by yaakov34 »

notoothpaste wrote: post #107
yaakov34 wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And you think that someone from Fujitsu (where it's 8 in the evening, BTW) is going to jump in here and explain their factory layout to you, because you've put your foot down? The best general answer you are going to get is "They made it using whatever process they used to make prototypes. Probably". You want names, ranks, and serial numbers - try writing to Fujitsu. Preferably while being more polite.

So in other words, you have nothing useful to contribute, but wikiable factoids. Don't fucking respond. It would be better for everyone involved if the thread died, than if I wasted my time trying to cajole information out of people that clearly know no more than I do. This entire thread was me taking a shot in the dark to see if any experienced EEs/industrial engineers/etc. had any interesting insight to give on the…

Guess what - you can't tell us what to do, any more than you can order Fujitsu's management to appear before you and testify. Not being the dictator of the universe is very unpleasant, but most of us have learned to live with that by the age of 3. And if you think I've been commenting here specifically for your edification, that's wrong too.

As for being downvoted and needing a new account - I personally never care enough any more to get involved with that, but yeah, that's a good guess by the time after the West Coast wakes up, so have fun with that.

Re: Whatever happened to Japanese laptops?

#113

Post by XJOKOLAT »

carsongross wrote: post #18

I spent a lot of time on http://www.dynamism.com/ looking at the ultralight computers they had in Japan. Almost pulled the trigger a few times, they had awesome stuff. The OQO was from that era too. Good times.

As we speak, I'm literally looking up OQO on wiki/elsewhere to reminisce ... good times indeed.

Re: Whatever happened to Japanese laptops?

#114

Post by kafkaesk »

pwg wrote: post #105
dep_b wrote: post #92

I bought a Sony VAIO MultiFlip 13A for my wife because she loves Sony's design and she wanted a touchscreen, so we bought the basic model with an SSD. a) of a 128GB SSD, only 90GB was left after Sony took wat they thought was necessary b) the fan was incredibly noisy, it would crash randomly and would eventually die and take the notebook with it c) when put in a less performant mode, it's really less performant and s…

> a) of a 128GB SSD, only 90GB was left after Sony took wat they thought was necessary > e) it still ran Windows Your "e" item indicates that it was not Sony who took 90G of the 128G SSD, but rather it was Microsoft who took 70% of the drive space. Lay the blame where it belongs, on Microsoft, they created an OS that consumes 90G of disk space. Sony did not create mswin, Sony just installed it because it is what most…

90 GB is what was left, not what was used. But even 38 GB seems a bit too much for a fresh OS, I assume that includes a recovery partition or the good old GiB/GB mix-up.

Re: Whatever happened to Japanese laptops?

#115

Post by yaakov34 »

notoothpaste wrote: post #107
yaakov34 wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And you think that someone from Fujitsu (where it's 8 in the evening, BTW) is going to jump in here and explain their factory layout to you, because you've put your foot down? The best general answer you are going to get is "They made it using whatever process they used to make prototypes. Probably". You want names, ranks, and serial numbers - try writing to Fujitsu. Preferably while being more polite.

So in other words, you have nothing useful to contribute, but wikiable factoids. Don't fucking respond. It would be better for everyone involved if the thread died, than if I wasted my time trying to cajole information out of people that clearly know no more than I do. This entire thread was me taking a shot in the dark to see if any experienced EEs/industrial engineers/etc. had any interesting insight to give on the…

Yeah, the Man has been busy keeping you down, hasn't he?

I appreciate your offer of friendship, but since this morning, after a conversation with the neighborhood not-quite-right-in-the-head lady, it would appear that I am getting all the crazy douchebag cultural immersion that I could possibly want. But thanks anyway.

Re: Whatever happened to Japanese laptops?

#116

Post by aembleton »

Theodores wrote: post #57
zumu wrote: post #10

My current laptop is a toshiba, and I bought it in the US. I've had good luck with the brand over the years.

From the start Toshiba have had a vision that laptops will replace desktops. They were also first to market. http://articles.latimes.com/1989-11-07/business/fi-1099_1_co... I have fond memories of the Toshiba Satellite Pro models that had the battery charger built into the laptop. The power cord was the same figure eight lead that you could find powering radios and other home electricals. If you worked in server room…

Really interesting, here's some more about BN22 http://www.computerweekly.com/photostory/2240107195/Photos-H...

Re: Whatever happened to Japanese laptops?

#117

Post by imglorp »

themodelplumber wrote: post #51
chemmail wrote: post #34

Japan is really behind in PC/Laptop. I was just there last week and the big PC and electronic stores only stock up to Geforce. Asus also has a big presence there now, but the prices are a lot more than US pricing for the same stuff. Not much innovation in the computer space. Home eletronics and appliances are amazing though. Their high end electrolux style vacuum stick cleaners easily clear $800 USD and are really aw…

> The mcirowaves have built in toast oven in one unit, and it works amazingly well I had one in my apartment outside Nagoya in 1996. Still can't believe I have never seen one in the states. I wonder if they just can't justify the potential marketing friction.

It's the same reason we still have 2 piece washer/dryers: so they can sell two appliances instead of one. Until our market demands a combo mike/toast, we won't have one.

Re: Whatever happened to Japanese laptops?

#118

Post by [deleted] »

jpatokal wrote: post #91
TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The keyboard is both english and Japanese So, Japanese, then? Or does it have English labels on the modifier keys?

This usually implies a QWERTY keyboard with Japanese kana printed on the keys and a way to switch modes: https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSH1YLn...

[deleted]

Re: Whatever happened to Japanese laptops?

#119

Post by dep_b »

pwg wrote: post #105
dep_b wrote: post #92

I bought a Sony VAIO MultiFlip 13A for my wife because she loves Sony's design and she wanted a touchscreen, so we bought the basic model with an SSD. a) of a 128GB SSD, only 90GB was left after Sony took wat they thought was necessary b) the fan was incredibly noisy, it would crash randomly and would eventually die and take the notebook with it c) when put in a less performant mode, it's really less performant and s…

> a) of a 128GB SSD, only 90GB was left after Sony took wat they thought was necessary > e) it still ran Windows Your "e" item indicates that it was not Sony who took 90G of the 128G SSD, but rather it was Microsoft who took 70% of the drive space. Lay the blame where it belongs, on Microsoft, they created an OS that consumes 90G of disk space. Sony did not create mswin, Sony just installed it because it is what most…

Nope, that was wat Sony took for all kinds of rescue stuff. After that we were still looking at Windows and various Adobe Software plus scratch (working with external drives for storage, naturally).

Re: Whatever happened to Japanese laptops?

#120

Post by dep_b »

kw71 wrote: post #110
dep_b wrote: post #92

I bought a Sony VAIO MultiFlip 13A for my wife because she loves Sony's design and she wanted a touchscreen, so we bought the basic model with an SSD. a) of a 128GB SSD, only 90GB was left after Sony took wat they thought was necessary b) the fan was incredibly noisy, it would crash randomly and would eventually die and take the notebook with it c) when put in a less performant mode, it's really less performant and s…

Your disappointments are not reflective of the Japanese industry. I can criticise Japan a lot, but honestly your complaints are only about Sony. Sony was floating in the bowl during the mid-80s and becoming a content producer was what flushed them into the sewer. The quality, innovation, engineering and thoughtfulness that Sony Electronics worked so hard to build their reputation on did not disappear overnight, but i…

> Your disappointments are not reflective of the Japanese industry. I can criticise Japan a lot, but honestly your complaints are only about Sony.

Sure, but I was still expecting to get a Sony

I love Japanese stuff in a lot of other categories. Can't beat Korg or Roland in terms of price and quality, even the cheapest stuff.

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