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Ars Technica has an editorial on what they'd want in a laptop in 2017. Inspired by this, I figured to make my own list and ask SN for input. I'm not looking for a laptop, but it's fun to think about specs, right?
Anyway, I do think use case is important. My use case: working and travelling daily with laptop, sometimes to various institutes to give presentations. This already leads to some important requirements:
- Lightweight (I frequently take the laptop somewhere)
- Not needing a plethora of dongles. (I've forgotten the power supply more than once already, I'm sure forgetting a dongle or two will happen more frequently).
Thinking about it more, most of the things the Ars Editor loves are things I honestly don't use, or actively do not want (touch screen).
With that in mind, I'd arrive at:
- No touchscreen - it adds weight while I don't use its features
- 13 inch screen seems to balance portability and screen size well.
- 1920x1080 resolution - higher will drain the battery faster, and is not needed on 13 inch
- VGA port - almost all presentation places I come across need converters (dongles) for anything else.
- USB 2 and 3 ports - again, for compatibility
- 512 GB SDD
- 10GB or more memory
- Dual boot compatible with Ubuntu (I use Ubuntu, but for the occasional gadget that can get updates via your computer, you'll still need Windows or MacOS)
- Preferably with regular ethernet port - there are still hotels where wired is free, but wifi is paid.
Other than that I'd go for modern iterations of specs for things like ethernet, wifi, CPU, etc. So Kaby Lake processor, things like that. GPU is not a big issue, so probably the integrated Intel thing on a modern Intel CPU will be sufficient.
Anything I missed? Anything you'd do radically different? If so: why?
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday December 02 2016, @08:55PM
My ideal machine would be something like a modern Thinkpad X220 (that keyboard~) with a 12.5" 1080p panel, 32GB of memory, and one of the HQ-series Core i7 chips. I know a small chassis like that can still cool a 45W-TDP chip, especially without the need for a dGPU in it. Also? NVMe SSD, 128 or 256GB is plenty, preferably the Samsung Pro 960.
This would be insanely powerful, very portable, a pleasure to type on, solid as a rock, and could be hooked up to an external display for stationary use.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by jmorris on Friday December 02 2016, @11:17PM
Yes! X200s here, but same thought process. The key feature in a laptop is the KEYBOARD, otherwise you could just get a tablet. I don't want a Mac, I know where their store is, so why does everyone insist on cloning their crappy keyboards? There are things more important than how thin and light the laptop is. I know, heresy. But there are. The Thinkpad X2xx series is perfect. The keyboard defines the size of everything else. Give me a good keyboard and a real docking connector and most of the rest is negotiable.
Are there any options that fill that requirement?
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday December 03 2016, @01:15AM
Disclaimer: I am a Dell Fanboy.
The feature is probably not unique to Dell Laptops, but my Latitude D600 (which I bought refurbished back in 2006 and is still alive and kicking like a champ) has both the trackpad and the clit mouse in the middle of the keyboard. Good redundancy since as a guy who once repaired laptops for a living I saw more than my share of failing trackpads.
My ideal laptop? A full-fledged PC integrated into the monitor (say, 20" HD) iMac-style but with a picture-frame style stand which allows it to sit directly on the desk surface. Two models of carrying-cases would be available - traditional black soft and serious-looking hard briefcase. The configuration also allows for a proper allowance of physical ports rather than hubs or dongles nonsense, and also better access to manually upgrade RAM (possibly more) if required. And it would have a DB-9 serial port because, yes, that is still widely used in the tech-industry. And a fucking fat replaceable battery with capability to charge not only its loaded battery but another externally while plugged in to AC power. It would have graphics capability sufficient to run two 20" widescreen monitors as an extended desktop, with enough graphics power to smoothly run a recent version of SolidWorks in a drawing or design context. Hell, it might even be decent at playing games.
My M.O. is obviously having as much of a full-fledged PC on the road without having to lug around a tower, but having some beef under my fat, wouldn't mind the exercise lugging it around.