26
irene
5y

I hate buying new laptops. HATE IT. The manufacturers are always trying to do something that makes it more complicated to buy a laptop confidently.

Why not name all of the laptops with numbers? Make them really hard to differentiate. Then offer the same model number across multiple years so it is difficult to determine which year the laptop is from.

Oh. And let’s make sure every laptop has a major flaw in the form factor.

Let’a add a numpad that squishes the keyboard to the left in a weird way. Lets do something to the trackpad to make it awkward to use. Maybe the keyboard should have a weird configuration. Maybe we can put 4 spare characters of various colours on the symbol key caps. How about a battery only lasts a few hours. May we add specialized hardware so you are stuck with windows. Maybe we can make it super thick and heavy. Lets have a screen with terrible viewing angles. Since this laptop has no major flaws we should overprice it. No repairs or upgrades on this one because we filled the computer with glue. Lets double the amount of useless media keys.

It is like manufacturers are trying to design laptops like RPG game character classes. The fighter has no magic or stealth. The magician is weak and gets fatigued. The rogue is very stealthy but has poor defence and attack. The cleric can use magic but only to heal so it is useless in battle. The ranger is good at distance but has poor defence and no magic.

The only notebooks sold that are trying to make balanced character classes are MacBooks. Those cost a premium and aren’t reparable.

Comments
  • 2
    so get a used 2015 macbook pro?
  • 3
    The design of most products will have compromises, because budget. Heck, most RPG characters have compromises because of lack of stat points (unless you're at a really high level anyway. If you want the "perfect" laptop be prepared to shell out a ton of money.
  • 2
    A million times this. Its like they are really hell bent on following the model in which they sell phones and laptops need to be replaced every six months.

    For what is worth. I got my asus rog for 1000 bucks. Its pretty ok thus far and even though i just wanted it for school i have been able to successfully game on it(dunno if you are into pc gaming) i can give more details as to the exact model. Pretty decent all around laptop, not too heavy, not to light and the form factor is comfortable enough.
  • 2
    Get a P series thinkpad (P53 or P73), you get:
    Better hardware for less money
    They are certified for RHEL (so you can run a proper OS on them)
    and they are easy to upgrade/repair
    (+ you can get 128gb ram)
  • 3
    This rant deserves more ++'s
  • 3
    Oh I feel your pain. I'm in a search for a pc too...

    Current: Macbook pro 2015. Issues? No upgrades + slow performance already.

    Options? NONE!!!!@#!@#!@!%!@$!@#!@

    Why?
    Mac's - I hate the keyboards, I hate touchbar, I hate the service, people around it AND FFS price.
    Windows machines - None that would really fit my needs OR it's like 5k EUR where I live (2.3k USD but 5k in my country, ayyy). If I find one - yay, but battery lasts 1 hour OR it's heavy as fuck or screen covered in shit OR fucking hell - trackpad/keyboard is unusable....

    So yeah, we need to build a new brand for developers with everything upgradable. Who's in?!
  • 3
    @ItsNotMyFault I have a P71 at work, and while at least it's got some power, damn is it fucking heavy, and also for all people keep saying about Lenovo have good build quality, this thing has the mushiest keyboard I've ever touched, whereas my colleague's one's just fine. So my opinion on their QA is far less positive, because that thing is still really expensive
  • 1
    @CptFox sadly I have to agree on qa of Lenovo. My T460 is great except a couple of months ago it refused to boot. And now I noticed yellow tint at left edge of the screen.
  • 2
    @Lythenas The thing is: whenever I complain about our 2.5kg dual cores that cost 1000€, people always answer "yeah but at least they're reliable", but really, they're not any better than other brands, so why stick with one of the lowest performance/weight ratio on the market, of it's neither cheap nor especially reliable ? Grinds my gears
  • 0
    I heard good things about the T and P thinkpads, keyboard seemed nice.

    I personally use a Clevo Chassis Laptop that is often used by sellers like system76 and the like. Linux support seems fine for me. Keyboard is nice to type. I personally added an SSD to mine and i could have replaced the RAM and battery while i had it open.

    stay away from hp, they cannot build keyboards. My work pc is one and i really dont like this so called "Elite"Book

    Comparison:

    System 76 https://system76.com/laptops/galago

    Schenker: https://bestware.com/en/...
  • 0
    My last work computer before my current work computer was a Lenovo 43 and its keyboard was so mushy.The trackpad was also about 1.5 cm off centre because of the fingerprint reader. The top of the trackpad was dedicated to huge mushy paddle buttons for the trackpoint in the keyboard. The built-in screen was super high resolution and caused scaling problems when docking/undocking. Dust magnet.

    My current machine is a Dell XPS 15 and it has terrible battery life. The USB-C docks are totally inadequate and force you to mix HDMI and Displayport of you want two monitors. I get low power warnings on bootup if I only use the USB-C.

    My home computer is an upgraded 15" MacBook Pro 2016 model. I had issues with the USB-C ports, keyboard, touchbar freezing, the screen would flicker and get weird bars. Apple replaced it. Replacement now has a bunch of quirks so I don't want another Mac.
  • 0
    I have a 10yo Notebook that was like 1000$ back then and only ever upgraded the hdd to an ssd and got a high capacity battery pack. It runs on Arch (I use Arch btw) and works like a charm for +10h. I have to admit that it's relatively heavy tho but that doesn't relally bother me
  • 0
    Last november I bought a Asus FX504 and added 16GB ram and a 1TB drive.

    The FX504 was 800 usd and the addons were about 300 usb.

    Overall it has been a nice machine and I am really liking the 8750. The biggest issue I have are lack of USB ports. Also, if the battery could last longer too.
  • 1
    I recently bought used Thinkpad T480 and it's an amazing machine
  • 1
    Let me know how you like your chromebook lmao
  • 0
    @irene I feel like my surface pro 4 is the nicest thing I own. My gaming machine is a beast but not nearly as awesome in every other way. They aren't cheap, but if you trick it out, you aren't upset with what you get.
  • 0
    @irene I feel like my surface pro 4 is the nicest thing I own. My gaming machine is a beast but not nearly as awesome in every other way. They aren't cheap, but if you trick it out, you aren't upset with what you get.
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