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StarBook 14-inch

starlabs.systems

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Re: StarBook 14-inch

#61

Post by tverbeure »

2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #19
ilrwbwrkhv wrote: post #5

How does the touchpad and the 2 finger scroll compare to the MacBooks? Having used those I haven't found anything matching those.

Nothing compares to the Apple track pad. My XPS 17 from 2020 has a worse trackpad than my 2012 MB Air.

2021 Dell Precision 5750. It's a $3000 laptop and the trackpad is a disaster due to flakey palm or loose t-shirt rejection. 15 years after the introduction of the glass trackpads of the first aluminum unibody MacBooks, you'd think that others would figure it out, but no.

(The rest of the laptop is equally bad, but that's a different story.)

Re: StarBook 14-inch

#62

Post by kajaktum »

Damn, I wished I had bought the mini-PC from them instead!

I really don't understand the appeal of laptops, it only makes sense for the people that is really on the move like university students or blogger. Even then, they only need cheap laptop for browsing (cue memory hod jokes). That or you prefer to do your work at public spaces like libraries or cafes.

What's the point of spending huge sums of money on a laptop that performs 1/3 compared to its PC equivalent? You're also stuck with that keyboard and monitor for the rest of its natural life.

Re: StarBook 14-inch

#63

Post by aidenn0 »

goosedragons wrote: post #46
aidenn0 wrote: post #38

It would be nice if there were any DP on the AMD version; I assume the Intel does DP over thunderbolt and the AMD does not?

It says in the specification it has DP alt mode for the USB C. You just don't get thunderbolt on the AMD models. This is pretty typical and it's the same case on the AMD ThinkPads.

Thanks; I feel like I need a rubric for grading USB C connectors because I cannot keep all the zillion things straight.

Re: StarBook 14-inch

#64

Post by X-Istence »

Why only a single USB-C port? Almost everything I buy these days has only USB-C ports/cables/charging.

It's gotten to the point now that I am increasingly frustrated with the fact that there are no good USB-C capable hubs that take a USB-C USB 4 and turn it into an 8 port USB-C hub. With a mix of 10 Gbps/5 Gbps/480 Mbps speeds.

I can get plenty of USB-C to USB-A hubs, but that is not what I want.

Re: StarBook 14-inch

#65

Post by 3np »

goosedragons wrote: post #56
3np wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The biggest disadvantage seems to be that the screen is bog-standard 16:9. Bigger than that IMO is 14" @ 1080p. It's just too little for daily use for me. Framework are so far the only ones in this market segment who have ever marketed >1080p laptop displays AFAIK. I have a hard time understanding why there is such a lack of higher-res panel options across the market, even when seemingly all other relevant specs ar…

You can get a 14" 4K ThinkPad (e.g. P14s).

I do not count Thinkpad as open enough to be in the same segment anymore. I have owned many generations of them and some are still in use but will not be getting a newer one the way things look now.

One practical aspect is how they are very inconsistent in making crucial firmware updates available. In theory, they're on fwupd/LVFS. In practice, that can lag behind by months or even years and the only way to get necessary updates to get security fixes or get certain hardware working is many times to boot from Windows.

Re: StarBook 14-inch

#66

Post by burnt_toast »

tomrod wrote: post #34
BSOhealth wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I purchased and returned an XPS last year and the trackpad was unbelievably bad. After using Mac laptops for the previous 10 years, I hadn’t thought the difference in hardware quality could be so far apart. MacBooks are at least a generation ahead of the best PC hardware (generation as in, 10 years)

Likewise, 2021 Dell XPS 15. Had to retire it very early -- trackpad issues, then frame deformation caused by moving the laptop would cause the RAM or the CPU to crash. Framework working great now.

> 2021 Dell XPS 15. Had to retire it very early -- trackpad issues

Me over here with a 2021 XPS 15 using a mouse 24/7 because the touchpad lags hard on linux but refuses to admit I got burnt lol. I'd be over the moon if framework released a 15" model.

Re: StarBook 14-inch

#67

Post by Hello71 »

bscphil wrote: post #49
2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing compares to the Apple track pad. My XPS 17 from 2020 has a worse trackpad than my 2012 MB Air.

I know this back-and-forth happens every single time there's a conversation about this on HN, but I just want to point out that trackpads are extremely personal, and I've had nothing but bad experiences with Apple trackpads until recently. The "hinge" models of the previous decade border on unusable for me because of the force required to click them, whereas my (early decade) XPS model has the best trackpad of any la…

huh? apple hasn't used the "hinge" touchpad since 2015, more than 7 years ago. unlike afaik every other touchpad out there, the actuation force is actually adjustable. i'm not sure whether this is necessarily a good change, but it certainly is a change, and your data seems woefully out of date.

Re: StarBook 14-inch

#68

Post by leeoniya »

1920x1080 on a 14" display is unfortunately not something i will be okay with anymore. i feel like 2k resolution is the sweet spot for this size display.

EDIT: sorry, i meant QHD (1440p) (2560x1440)

Re: StarBook 14-inch

#69

Post by 3np »

zozbot234 wrote: post #55
3np wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The biggest disadvantage seems to be that the screen is bog-standard 16:9. Bigger than that IMO is 14" @ 1080p. It's just too little for daily use for me. Framework are so far the only ones in this market segment who have ever marketed >1080p laptop displays AFAIK. I have a hard time understanding why there is such a lack of higher-res panel options across the market, even when seemingly all other relevant specs ar…

8px font size works fine with good hinting. In general, 1080p would be a near-optimal resolution given pixel-perfect rendering. Higher resolutions are useful when the rendering is too fuzzy, they're simply about hiding that imperfection.

Come back when you have tried that with CJK. There is no font or rendering that can make that comfortable to read.

If it works for you, great, I'm just tired of people telling me I don't understand what I want and I shouldn't have to write a blog post justifying myself everytime I claim that higher screen res makes a huge difference for my use-case. It's not like Chinese language is an edge-case.

Re: StarBook 14-inch

#70

Post by eptcyka »

zozbot234 wrote: post #55
3np wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The biggest disadvantage seems to be that the screen is bog-standard 16:9. Bigger than that IMO is 14" @ 1080p. It's just too little for daily use for me. Framework are so far the only ones in this market segment who have ever marketed >1080p laptop displays AFAIK. I have a hard time understanding why there is such a lack of higher-res panel options across the market, even when seemingly all other relevant specs ar…

8px font size works fine with good hinting. In general, 1080p would be a near-optimal resolution given pixel-perfect rendering. Higher resolutions are useful when the rendering is too fuzzy, they're simply about hiding that imperfection.

Th e so called perfect rendering you're referring to is just infinite layers of havkd that rely on the subpixel layout of your panel to appear smooth. Monospaced, unaliased bitmap fonts will look great and I use them too, but most fonts out there are not designed to be pixel perfect but instead to be rasterized to different sizes, and for that, higher resolutions do help.
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