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I don't understand the appeal of anorexic laptops. Sacrificing repairability, cooling, features, and connectivity. All so it can be thinner and lighter? What's

I don't understand the appeal of anorexic laptops. Sacrificing repairability, cooling, features, and connectivity. All so it can be thinner and lighter? What's the use case for that? Are there really millions of people who walk around with a laptop cradled in their arms every day? Surely these laptops spend the majority of their active time either on a desk or in a lap? Have desks become so flimsy that they can no longer support the weight of a laptop? Have people grown so weak they can no longer carry one in their bags?

ghaff 7y ago
Travel. So, yes, shaving weight and bag space is pretty important for some of us.
- rbanffy 7y ago
  I can't open my 14" laptop on a regular airplane seat. My (much slower) 11" fits comfortably. I guess I should move to 15+" when I finally move completely to business class. Until then, I'll prefer to travel light. And I really miss my first-gen Acer Aspire One.
codingdave 7y ago
> Are there really millions of people who walk around with a laptop cradled in their arms every day? Yes. The sales force of almost very company I've worked at can be described this way. And their computing needs are pretty basic. A browser, email, word and excel mostly does it for them. They also need to be able to connect to a variety of I/O for presentations at different sites. This may not be a coder laptop, but it makes a ton of sense for sales. > Have people grown so weak they can no longer carry one in their bags? On this point, the answer is also yes. I got that weak after an bad accident. My wife got that weak after falling 25 feet and shattering herself. Don't assume that all users of laptops are young and strong.
- marzell 7y ago
  Coders can and should use remote systems for heavy lifting tasks IMO. A laptop should be setup more like a thin client and not have any ip on it that can be lost/stolen.
  - rbanffy 7y ago
    I don't know why this was downvoted. As connectivity gets more and more pervasive my laptop is increasingly only a front to a cloud instance somewhere. 20 years ago I was running an e-mail client on my laptop. Now most of the client runs on Google's servers.
pnut 7y ago
I think the appeal is that people intuitively understand that computers having a physical form at all is not required - that ultimately, computational ability will be integrated into the essence of every object, and lugging around a stupid, immediately-obsolescent device represents the failures and limitations of current technology more than the potential of computation. That's why they spend extra money on smaller computers, because they represent the next step towards the ultimate elimination of physical computers, which is what people want.
steelframe 7y ago
Have you heard of ultralight travel? https://jamesclear.com/ultralight-travel https://jamesclear.com/ultralight-travel These days I travel with only a 19-liter backpack. It doesn't matter if it's a day trip to San Jose or a 3-week vacation in Europe. That pretty much eliminates all of the stresses, costs, and inconveniences that luggage has a way of inflicting on you when traveling. My last multi-week vacation to London, Amsterdam, and Paris with only this relatively small backpack was a revelation. I'm never going back. For me you can't make a laptop that's lightweight or small enough.

ghaff 7y ago

Travel. So, yes, shaving weight and bag space is pretty important for some of us.

rbanffy 7y ago
I can't open my 14" laptop on a regular airplane seat. My (much slower) 11" fits comfortably. I guess I should move to 15+" when I finally move completely to business class. Until then, I'll prefer to travel light. And I really miss my first-gen Acer Aspire One.

codingdave 7y ago

> Are there really millions of people who walk around with a laptop cradled in their arms every day? Yes. The sales force of almost very company I've worked at can be described this way. And their computing needs are pretty basic. A browser, email, word and excel mostly does it for them. They also need to be able to connect to a variety of I/O for presentations at different sites. This may not be a coder laptop, but it makes a ton of sense for sales. > Have people grown so weak they can no longer carry one in their bags? On this point, the answer is also yes. I got that weak after an bad accident. My wife got that weak after falling 25 feet and shattering herself. Don't assume that all users of laptops are young and strong.

marzell 7y ago
Coders can and should use remote systems for heavy lifting tasks IMO. A laptop should be setup more like a thin client and not have any ip on it that can be lost/stolen.
- rbanffy 7y ago
  I don't know why this was downvoted. As connectivity gets more and more pervasive my laptop is increasingly only a front to a cloud instance somewhere. 20 years ago I was running an e-mail client on my laptop. Now most of the client runs on Google's servers.

pnut 7y ago

I think the appeal is that people intuitively understand that computers having a physical form at all is not required - that ultimately, computational ability will be integrated into the essence of every object, and lugging around a stupid, immediately-obsolescent device represents the failures and limitations of current technology more than the potential of computation. That's why they spend extra money on smaller computers, because they represent the next step towards the ultimate elimination of physical computers, which is what people want.

steelframe 7y ago

Have you heard of ultralight travel? https://jamesclear.com/ultralight-travel https://jamesclear.com/ultralight-travel These days I travel with only a 19-liter backpack. It doesn't matter if it's a day trip to San Jose or a 3-week vacation in Europe. That pretty much eliminates all of the stresses, costs, and inconveniences that luggage has a way of inflicting on you when traveling. My last multi-week vacation to London, Amsterdam, and Paris with only this relatively small backpack was a revelation. I'm never going back. For me you can't make a laptop that's lightweight or small enough.