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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: 2) by takyon on Friday December 02 2016, @08:56PM
1080p minimum is a good idea. Let's kill 768p resolution already.
I would consider wasting money on a 4K screen for 15.6" and up, but check to make sure it isn't a piece of crap. There are other properties to consider when getting a screen/laptop, such as:
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by KiloByte on Saturday December 03 2016, @12:16PM
1080p minimum is a good idea. Let's kill 768p resolution already.
I haven't heard about usable screen aspect ratios of that vertical resolution. Did you mean 1024 or 1200, or sometimes 1536 or 2048?
Ceterum censeo systemd esse delendam.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday December 03 2016, @06:54PM
Check ur industry.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by toddestan on Sunday December 04 2016, @06:35AM
I think he's referring to the dark years of ubiquitous 1366x768 laptop screens, which we've really only recently emerged from.
(Score: 2) by KiloByte on Monday December 05 2016, @01:28PM
We still haven't emerged from the dark days of 16x9 everything. Aspect ratios are getting even worse, not better.
Ceterum censeo systemd esse delendam.