4 ms·

Thanks for #4, that was a great read. I'm still on my 2012 X1 Carbon and it's surprising how not dated it looks. I'll replace it with another when it breaks, b

Thanks for #4, that was a great read. I'm still on my 2012 X1 Carbon and it's surprising how not dated it looks. I'll replace it with another when it breaks, but hoping it'll last until AMD gets properly into the laptop game.

jorvi 7y ago
Beauty really is in the eye of the beholder, I guess. To me, pretty much any modern Thinkpad[0] looks like 90s laptops[1] made out of crappy, flexing plastic whereas something as sleek as a MacBook Air[2] from the same year looks positively futuristic. If (when?) I jump ship I'll either get an XPS 13 or a T4XXs, and the only reason I'm undecided is because of Thinkpads their design, especially the gratuitous logo-ing. [0] https://cnet3.cbsistatic.com/img/rR1UdxX-DdlR2hDEoq3jjC30Nho=/470x376/2012/08/07/5fceb624-bb76-11e2-8a8e-0291187978f3/ThinkPad_X1_Carbon_35299011_05.jpg https://cnet3.cbsistatic.com/img/rR1UdxX-DdlR2hDEoq3jjC30Nho... [1] https://i.ibb.co/Krb07X4/8-C061277-2-A27-4204-BFAE-03-CFDEFD4-B61.jpg https://i.ibb.co/Krb07X4/8-C061277-2-A27-4204-BFAE-03-CFDEFD... [2] https://tweakers.net/i/4R_rvojQOTIskfm9fHVoeguxcPE=/1280x/filters:strip_icc()/v/2/0/2015384/3304874.jpg?f=imagegallery https://tweakers.net/i/4R_rvojQOTIskfm9fHVoeguxcPE=/1280x/fi...
- sfifs 7y ago
  So... form over function? In my field (data analytics), a Mac indicates the user is in sales :-)
  - jorvi 7y ago
    To some degree? Certainly. Although there is research that people perform measurably better on attractive gear. Aside from that, I believe around a third of all GitHub commits originate from macOS. Perhaps form and function often go hand in hand :)
    - tempguy9999 7y ago
      > Although there is research that people perform measurably better on attractive gear I've an interest in ergonomics, if you could ref this study I'd be very interested.
      - jorvi 7y ago
        https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003687009001148 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S000368700... and https://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/~pcairns/pubs/ChawdaCraftCairns.pdf https://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/~pcairns/pubs/ChawdaCraftCai... are good starting points. The essence is that people rate appealing devices as better performing, even if they factually work identical. Due to that halo effect they will perform on them better. The second source points out that if you measure something like 'type these 100 words' there will be no factual performance difference between appealing and unappealing devices, but on a higher level it does lead to things like more creative thinking. My own guess would be pretty much what the studies say: people enjoy using appealing devices more, which leads to aggregate benefits: less stress which leads to more creative thinking, more use of the device, the device is better maintained, etc.
        tempguy9999 7y ago
        That's new! And interesting. Thanks.

jorvi 7y ago

Beauty really is in the eye of the beholder, I guess. To me, pretty much any modern Thinkpad[0] looks like 90s laptops[1] made out of crappy, flexing plastic whereas something as sleek as a MacBook Air[2] from the same year looks positively futuristic. If (when?) I jump ship I'll either get an XPS 13 or a T4XXs, and the only reason I'm undecided is because of Thinkpads their design, especially the gratuitous logo-ing. [0] https://cnet3.cbsistatic.com/img/rR1UdxX-DdlR2hDEoq3jjC30Nho=/470x376/2012/08/07/5fceb624-bb76-11e2-8a8e-0291187978f3/ThinkPad_X1_Carbon_35299011_05.jpg https://cnet3.cbsistatic.com/img/rR1UdxX-DdlR2hDEoq3jjC30Nho... [1] https://i.ibb.co/Krb07X4/8-C061277-2-A27-4204-BFAE-03-CFDEFD4-B61.jpg https://i.ibb.co/Krb07X4/8-C061277-2-A27-4204-BFAE-03-CFDEFD... [2] https://tweakers.net/i/4R_rvojQOTIskfm9fHVoeguxcPE=/1280x/filters:strip_icc()/v/2/0/2015384/3304874.jpg?f=imagegallery https://tweakers.net/i/4R_rvojQOTIskfm9fHVoeguxcPE=/1280x/fi...

sfifs 7y ago
So... form over function? In my field (data analytics), a Mac indicates the user is in sales :-)
- jorvi 7y ago
  To some degree? Certainly. Although there is research that people perform measurably better on attractive gear. Aside from that, I believe around a third of all GitHub commits originate from macOS. Perhaps form and function often go hand in hand :)
  - tempguy9999 7y ago
    > Although there is research that people perform measurably better on attractive gear I've an interest in ergonomics, if you could ref this study I'd be very interested.
    - jorvi 7y ago
      https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003687009001148 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S000368700... and https://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/~pcairns/pubs/ChawdaCraftCairns.pdf https://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/~pcairns/pubs/ChawdaCraftCai... are good starting points. The essence is that people rate appealing devices as better performing, even if they factually work identical. Due to that halo effect they will perform on them better. The second source points out that if you measure something like 'type these 100 words' there will be no factual performance difference between appealing and unappealing devices, but on a higher level it does lead to things like more creative thinking. My own guess would be pretty much what the studies say: people enjoy using appealing devices more, which leads to aggregate benefits: less stress which leads to more creative thinking, more use of the device, the device is better maintained, etc.
      - tempguy9999 7y ago
        That's new! And interesting. Thanks.