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from the renewed-interest-in-Compaq-Portable-computers dept.
Submitted via IRC for AndyTheAbsurd
The pursuit of thinner, lighter laptops, a trend driven by Apple, means we have screwed ourselves out of performance.
Over the last few days we’ve seen outcry about Apple’s new MacBook Pro, which offers an optional top-end i9 processor, and how its performance is throttled to the point of parody as the laptop heats up over time.
Sparked by a video from YouTuber Dave Lee, who demonstrates that the only way to get Apple’s quoted performance from the MacBook Pro is by keeping it in a refrigerator, the outcry has been brutal.
Thousands of comments on the video say things like “Wow if it cant even maintain stock speeds that's pretty sad” and “Apple should offer a fridge that goes with the Macbook i9,” but the sobering reality is that this practice is normal across laptops—we’re just starting to see it more often.
[...] If Pro users really were Apple’s target market, the company could redesign these laptops to use the older, thicker MacBook Pro form factor from 2015. With that available space, and improvements in processor design, it would be able to better cool the same hardware and squeeze out more performance—but it’ll never happen. Thicker laptops would mean admitting failure.
Thinner and lighter is great, and if we’re honest, we’re all sucked in by the allure. The unfortunate reality for those of us that need these machines for work is that it’s just not good enough, and we’d welcome thicker machines in exchange for hardware that isn’t constrained by heat. Apple insists these new MacBooks are for ‘pro users,’ and while it has some of the best-in-class hardware design out there today, it simply doesn’t hold up if you push them hard enough.
The MacBook Pro isn’t designed for pro users at all, it’s a slick marketing machine designed to sell to the wealthy ‘prosumer’ that wouldn’t notice anyway. That much has been clear since the introduction of the Touch Bar and death of the SD slot—and it’s making a ton of money anyway.
Source: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/9kmkve/thinner-and-lighter-laptops-have-screwed-us-all
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Wednesday July 25 2018, @04:48PM (1 child)
I had a Galaxy S5 until not too long ago. It doesn't seem to be supported with software updates any more, so I finally gave up on it, and got a (used) LG V10, which is a little newer. It's great: it also has a removable battery and SD card slot, and mine has a nice beefy Otterbox Defender on it too. But it is huge, and is considered a "phablet", so it might be too big for you. I like it though. It's still getting updates (for now) and is pretty snappy, unlike the S5. It isn't IP67 though.
I'll probably upgrade to an LG V20 next year. The V30, however, dropped the removable battery IIRC, so I'm not sure where to go in 2020.
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Wednesday July 25 2018, @06:18PM
I put LineageOS on my S5 a couple years back. It's absolutely fantastic. I kinda want a new phone, but I've been saying that for almost two years now and still haven't bought one :) I replaced the battery in my S5 a couple months back and I've upgraded the SD card at least twice...it's been through a lot and it's still pretty much the ideal mobile device as far as I'm concerned. I probably don't want anything too much larger...I could maybe go a tiny bit bigger, but the S5 already barely fits when I stuff it in the cup holder in my car, and it's probably about as large as I could comfortably fit in my front pocket. My previous S3 was definitely too small, but I'm perfectly happy with the size of the S5.
I'm considering getting an LG G5 soon though because that's the best I've seen so far. Been eyeing that one for years, eventually figured it was too old and I needed to start my search over again, so I did, and after a few days of searching I ended up back on the G5. In the past two years it seems that nobody has made a single device that I wouldn't consider a downgrade. But the G5 has marginally better specs than my S5, it's pretty cheap these days on Amazon, and it seems to be well supported for LineageOS...that's the one other criteria I forgot to mention, but that's not particularly difficult to meet these days. I've been told the G5 has some potential hardware issues...but I'll probably take that risk since it's the best option I can find. But maybe I'll get lucky and some manufacturer will stop being an idiot by the time I'm ready to buy this thing, because it's probably going to be a little while...my S5 is still a great phone so replacing it is near the bottom of my priorities. I've got some other toys on my Sparkfun and Newegg wishlists that I want to get first...