Am I the only one who likes 17" laptops? I miss my old lunch tray.
Love my ThinkPad P51 with 15.6". Which laptops have 17"?
Dell XPS
The Perfect Laptop
51–60 of 354 posts
Re: The Perfect Laptop
#52> the body of a 12" laptop I've always owned 15" laptops, and i've never had any trouble fitting them in bags, even in a sleeve. I understand why people might want 7" or 10" netbooks, but a 12" machine just seems like a waste of space to me. I understand that most people feel very differently, though! > webcam that doesn’t make it look like your laptop (or you) are a potato during a videoconference And also doesn't l…
I downsized from a 15" MBP to a 13" M1 Air, and I haven't felt much pain from the smaller screen. My approach to IDE-driven development is about the same on both. The big difference is solo laptop vs laptop+external monitor(s). As someone who travels frequently, the M1 Air has been simply amazing. It's so small and sturdy, and fairly light compared to the bigger/bulkier/heavier 15 I had before... and I'm at far less…
I kinda followed a similar trajectory. Started with a 15" MBP (2011) for years, and was super happy with that. It was a beast. But it was also a tank of a laptop.
Then I got a Surface Pro 3. It was FAR more portable, enough to make me realize just how much less portable my MBP was. I couldn't bear to bring the 15" back out. However, the SP3 was definitely too small of a screen for dedicated work. Great for college & notetaking, but reliant on external displays.
Now I've been using a 13" surface laptop for a few years and that's really struck me as the right portability vs productivity balance. 13 inches is big enough for two columns of code, and fits in basically any backpack pouch easy. I probably won't be going back to 15" when this dies.
Re: The Perfect Laptop
#53> the body of a 12" laptop I've always owned 15" laptops, and i've never had any trouble fitting them in bags, even in a sleeve. I understand why people might want 7" or 10" netbooks, but a 12" machine just seems like a waste of space to me. I understand that most people feel very differently, though! > webcam that doesn’t make it look like your laptop (or you) are a potato during a videoconference And also doesn't l…
> Ability to charge from USB-PD
Not a given on the Thinkpads the author mentions as being near-perfect, which are known to get perma-bricked using PD from a charger while plugged into a monitor also providing PD: https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-X-Series-Laptops/X1-Ca...
2016-2019 MBPs also had an issue with PD on the left side causing thermal throttling.
Re: The Perfect Laptop
#54Two aspects in which Apple's newest Macbook Airs fit at least my own "peak laptop" definition are: 1) no fans whatsoever 2) no coil whine when I plug my headphones in and stress the CPU The keyboard is exactly the right size and the right font for me, but I'll concede that muscle memory is an individual thing. I've owned Apple's laptops and keyboards made in 2005, 2007, 2010, 2015, 2019, and 2022, and they are very h…
I don't know if I won the lottery, but I have sensitive hearing and I've never heard a coil whine from my XPS 13 (9300). The charging brick did develop a whine which I replaced. It also had the perfect keyboard with no wiggling key caps. Later production 9300 models and recent XPS laptops do have key caps that wiggle (once you notice, it's super annoying, I think I've been spoiled).
Re: The Perfect Laptop
#55MacBook Pro is near perfect. Just needs one USB-A port.
Re: The Perfect Laptop
#56>good quality DAC or audio interface (headphone jack), this is also something Apple tends to do a little better than competitors
No laptop has a decent DAC. If you want a good dac, just get something external. Don't need to spend a lot either, even a relatively cheap ~$70 product will vastly outperform anything in a laptop, desktop or phone.
Re: The Perfect Laptop
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
> there is no reason There is a very good reason called "profit margin"... Good luck charging $500 for an extra 768 GB of storage if there is an m2 slot.
Then it's a good thing no one charges that. I'm all for calling out Apple for bullshit, but their "768 GB more" model is a $200 upsell, not $500. And yes: it's a huge leap from $200 to $500.
Depends on the model. The MBAs and Mac Mini ship with 256GB by default and getting 1TB (768GB more) is an extra $400 USD. The MBPs and Studio/Pro start at 512GB so 1TB is "only" $200.
Re: The Perfect Laptop
#58Unconventional choice: Panasonic Let's Note. Sadly JDM exclusive and has soldered RAM, but the latest models come with a 3:2 display, decent I/O (e.g. RJ45, full sized SD card reader, even VGA (!)), magnesium alloy chassis and a removable battery in a sub 1.1 kg package. Can't speak for the quality of the trackpad or keyboard though. https://panasonic.jp/cns/pc/
The trackpads are great (assuming new models are similar to past models), and the keyboards are IMO very good, but watch out for the squashed key dimensions on the SR and QR, and the Japanese layout.
The 12.x" models occasionally make it in to other APAC markets with US ANSI keyboards: https://ap.connect.panasonic.com/sg/en/products/toughbook/to...
Shame that they are not more widely available.
Re: The Perfect Laptop
#59>good quality DAC or audio interface (headphone jack), this is also something Apple tends to do a little better than competitors No laptop has a decent DAC. If you want a good dac, just get something external. Don't need to spend a lot either, even a relatively cheap ~$70 product will vastly outperform anything in a laptop, desktop or phone.
People disagree with you when it comes to modern Apple hardware: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/2021-macbook-pro-14s-dac-sou...
They actually put a really good audio subsystem in these things.
Re: The Perfect Laptop
#60>good quality DAC or audio interface (headphone jack), this is also something Apple tends to do a little better than competitors No laptop has a decent DAC. If you want a good dac, just get something external. Don't need to spend a lot either, even a relatively cheap ~$70 product will vastly outperform anything in a laptop, desktop or phone.
People disagree with you when it comes to modern Apple hardware: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/2021-macbook-pro-14s-dac-sou... They actually put a really good audio subsystem in these things.
In my experience, Apple's offerings are only marginally better than the average, and are still vastly outperformed by something external.
You don't need to spend a lot, but it really comes down to a couple things:
* External, dedicated DAC
* The software doing playback has exclusive control over the device (no Windows/Apple/Android audio mixers messing it up)
* Set it for bit-perfect playback (this will disable any mixers available in the application)
* [If possible] Play a lossless copy of the audio or use a streaming service that offers that option (space is cheap in 2023)
Bam. Those steps will be night-and-day over anything integrated, it's not even close.