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I'm caught between a couple of possible use cases: * Perhaps this is similar to a potlatch or a peacock's tail: primarily a demonstration of social or genetic
by ajarmst 6y ago
I'm caught between a couple of possible use cases:
* Perhaps this is similar to a potlatch or a peacock's tail: primarily a demonstration of social or genetic superiority. "If I can publicly waste resources on this sort of scale, imagine the sheer amount of pure nerd dominance I can summon!"
* A related use: Like clothing with an excessive number of pockets and ordinary household tools inexplicably machined from heavy steel and painted black, this is intended to convey the bearer's sheer tacticalness. In certain communities (those likely to append "-ops" to everything they do) this sort of thing can be extremely effective in establishing group membership and even invite grooming behaviour from strangers.
* "Hey, we all need to do our part to support global warming ... wait ... what do you mean we're against that?"
- Hnaomyiph 6y agoThat’s a very bleak worldview. If something doesn’t serve an immediate, obvious purpose, it is a waste and a drain on resources.
- Hnaomyiph 6y agoThat’s a very bleak worldview. If something doesn’t serve an immediate, obvious purpose, it is a waste and a drain on resources.
- Hnaomyiph 6y agoThat’s a very bleak worldview. If something doesn’t serve an immediate, obvious purpose, it is a waste and a drain on resources.
- ajarmst 6y agoYou understand that "doesn't serve a purpose" is literally the defining criteria for waste, right?
- eru 6y agoHence the qualification of 'immediate, obvious' in the comment.
- alanbernstein 6y agoMaybe you should think of this device as an art project?
- flemhans 6y agoI would simply like to have it since I love having all sorts of status displays and windows open at the same time. But I'd cringe a bit folding out all those displays in public, and wouldn't want the attention it would draw, if people thought I tried to be a 'cool' member of the aforementioned groups. At home, I could just have my seven regular displays.
- tarruda 6y agoHe explains the target use cases in another comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25203662 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25203662
- HelloNurse 6y agoFor the use case of setting up shop on a comfortable desk in the morning without moving for a long work day, a laptop form factor is as unnecessary as small size, small weight and long battery life. A large box with suitcase-like handles, mainboard and batteries at the bottom, a detachable keyboard in frontand foldout screens (larger than 17.3 inches!) on top would be more ergonomic and more difficult to tip over, and it would make using desktop/server parts easier.
- ajarmst 6y agoIt's unfortunate that this is necessary, but it seems that some are taking the above a bit too seriously (I had thought I offered sufficient signals that this was firmly tongue-in-cheek). So, for the record, I am thoroughly in the target market for this sort of thing, and even I enjoy a little frisson of delight at imagining unpacking this monstrosity in a student lab or at a client site. That said, I do also believe that it has little productive purpose---it is difficult to imagine a technical use case that couldn't be better and more easily served by carrying a largish spare monitor (perhaps in a blatantly ruggedized case replete with DefCon stickers to maintain the tone.) However, I do not believe it is completely useless. I just think that the uses are primarily in the categories I propose above: conspicuous consumption, in-group signalling, or pure nihilism. And which of us has never made an extravagant purchase in support of those? Certainly not I.