21 ms·

>> Every PC laptop has a fatal flaw. Given that everyone's got a different use case, every laptop, regardless of maker, has some fatal flaw to someone.

Insanity 10y ago
Happy that someone pointed out the obvious. Was going to post a comment almost identical to yours :-)
rayiner 10y ago
There is a difference between "design tradeoff" and "design flaw." E.g. I'd rather have an SSD-only machine with a bigger internal battery than use that space for a 2.5" drive bay. But I don't consider that a "flaw" in my T450s. But coil whine (XPS), crappy screens with backlight bleeding and PWM (Lenovo), not using Microsoft Precision touchpads (HP). Those are flaws. That's not a trade-off between different peoples' use cases, but just the manufacturer skimping on some part.
- slantyyz 10y ago
  One person's tradeoff is another person's flaw and vice versa. As someone who has a lot of trouble using any trackpad (including Apple's) that doesn't have physical buttons, should I view buttonless trackpads as a tradeoff or a flaw? I don't care about the design tradeoffs made for esthetic reasons, I only care that I struggle with them and get stressed out by them. So to me, the lack of physical trackpad buttons on a laptop is a design flaw, even though it might be a completely sensible tradeoff for 99% of the population.
  - rayiner 10y ago
    > One person's tradeoff is another person's flaw and vice versa. If some people view a design decision positively, then its a trade-off, not a flaw. For example, I hate moving parts on my computing devices (they break). So I'm a big fan of the non-clicking force touchpad. What I'm talking about is flaws. Nobody prefers a laptop with coil whine to one without. Nobody prefers a cheap-o IPS display with an uneven backlight or bleed. Nobody prefers Synaptics drivers to Microsoft Precision drivers. Those are flaws, not trade-offs.
    - slantyyz 10y ago
      >> Nobody prefers a laptop with coil whine to one without. Nobody prefers a cheap-o IPS display with an uneven backlight or bleed. Nobody prefers Synaptics drivers to Microsoft Precision drivers. Those are flaws, not trade-offs. But like anything, you have to be sensitized to these things as a negative. Clearly, you've got plenty of things you're sensitized to. Virtually none of my non-technical friends would even think to complain about uneven backlights, bleed or coil whine, simply because they haven't been sensitized to them. Coil whine and a little backlight bleed have never been dealbreakers for me in choosing a laptop. All other things being equal, maybe they would be dealbreakers. With the wide variety of laptop options out there, the "all other things" never tends to be equal anyways. You can make the argument that I have low standards, and maybe that's true. But I am not you and you are not me. Let's not assume that everyone is sensitized to the same things as you or has the same tolerances as you.

Insanity 10y ago

Happy that someone pointed out the obvious. Was going to post a comment almost identical to yours :-)

rayiner 10y ago

There is a difference between "design tradeoff" and "design flaw." E.g. I'd rather have an SSD-only machine with a bigger internal battery than use that space for a 2.5" drive bay. But I don't consider that a "flaw" in my T450s. But coil whine (XPS), crappy screens with backlight bleeding and PWM (Lenovo), not using Microsoft Precision touchpads (HP). Those are flaws. That's not a trade-off between different peoples' use cases, but just the manufacturer skimping on some part.

slantyyz 10y ago
One person's tradeoff is another person's flaw and vice versa. As someone who has a lot of trouble using any trackpad (including Apple's) that doesn't have physical buttons, should I view buttonless trackpads as a tradeoff or a flaw? I don't care about the design tradeoffs made for esthetic reasons, I only care that I struggle with them and get stressed out by them. So to me, the lack of physical trackpad buttons on a laptop is a design flaw, even though it might be a completely sensible tradeoff for 99% of the population.
- rayiner 10y ago
  > One person's tradeoff is another person's flaw and vice versa. If some people view a design decision positively, then its a trade-off, not a flaw. For example, I hate moving parts on my computing devices (they break). So I'm a big fan of the non-clicking force touchpad. What I'm talking about is flaws. Nobody prefers a laptop with coil whine to one without. Nobody prefers a cheap-o IPS display with an uneven backlight or bleed. Nobody prefers Synaptics drivers to Microsoft Precision drivers. Those are flaws, not trade-offs.
  - slantyyz 10y ago
    >> Nobody prefers a laptop with coil whine to one without. Nobody prefers a cheap-o IPS display with an uneven backlight or bleed. Nobody prefers Synaptics drivers to Microsoft Precision drivers. Those are flaws, not trade-offs. But like anything, you have to be sensitized to these things as a negative. Clearly, you've got plenty of things you're sensitized to. Virtually none of my non-technical friends would even think to complain about uneven backlights, bleed or coil whine, simply because they haven't been sensitized to them. Coil whine and a little backlight bleed have never been dealbreakers for me in choosing a laptop. All other things being equal, maybe they would be dealbreakers. With the wide variety of laptop options out there, the "all other things" never tends to be equal anyways. You can make the argument that I have low standards, and maybe that's true. But I am not you and you are not me. Let's not assume that everyone is sensitized to the same things as you or has the same tolerances as you.