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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: 5, Informative) by Celestial on Friday December 02 2016, @10:39PM
I don't know if it's actually the case, but I've been told that System76 is basically your standard Sager/Clevo notebook reseller. Those you can get cheaper at a lot of places. With System76, you're paying for Ubuntu support. Now, that may be important and useful to you. It may not be. Just something to take into consideration.
(Score: 2) by opinionated_science on Saturday December 03 2016, @10:55AM
this is why I got a generic Dell - (K)ubuntu works pretty much. I'm a complete Penguinista, but we all know laptops are a special breed of corporate-anitconsumerism...
I like the idea of Linux branded laptops, but think it's a bit like Branded Music....
Not going to be great , just ok.
I must say, the cheap XPS11 I got (touchscreen, folds over to make tablet, works with kubuntu, got free android tablet and amazing battery life) has only one downside - weak GPU.
I was given this Apple MacBook Pro, nice construction - curiously weak GPU (intel), suggesting Apple makes a nice profit by designing software to the edge of performance.
Still Apple's presence in the market, has force the Windoze segment to up their game...