4 ms·

You beat me to it. I came here to say… this is a solved problem. It's called a "desktop machine". ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

by akulbe 6y ago

unethical_ban 6y ago
What if, and hear me out on this, the person needs to take their workstation with them to multiple locations? Or, as can be the case with smaller quarters, simply wants to? Yes, desktops have this featureset. Why don't laptops, is the point of the article. (Answer: either laziness, arrogant design aesthetic, or NSA conspiracy)
- freeone3000 6y ago
  Laptops, by necessity, have smaller fans, since they're smaller. Same amount of cooling with a smaller fan means the fans spin faster, and faster fans are louder. Laptops simply can't have acceptable performance with adequate cooling unless you're willing to compromise on either noise, or running x86.
  - unethical_ban 6y ago
    My macbook does just fine as a zoom terminal, VSCode runner and web browser. Battery can go almost the entire day if I'm not on calls. All code is developed locally and run through pipelines in the cloud. Many people don't need a workhorse machine, simply a portal for communication and reading.
  - toast0 6y ago
    If you stuck the processor behind the screen, you could get a lot more airflow. Let the bottom be essentially be a battery, keyboard, mouse, and a docking station. And the lid be processor, memory, a m.2 for storage and an m.2 for wireless. Put a big, but thin fan on top of the processor and lots of venting on the side. Probably won't be very thin though.
    - freeone3000 6y ago
      This is how the surfacebook has been built. It's a problem because (1) you don't actually have more room on the top than the bottom, since these are the same size (2) the side vents are actually less surface area than simply having the bottom be fans. It doesn't work out well, there's just no way to have the airflow.
      - baybal2 6y ago
        What matter is cubic metres of air per minute, everything else mattering very little. Actual fan inside surfacebook is very tiny. Last surfacebook brings a second fan, but it still throttles. You still can put more, and bigger fans in the lid to solve the issue at 45-55W TDP levels. I actually did some thermal simulations.
    - notriddle 6y ago
      In addition to freeone3000's problems, having the CPU in the screen also means you need a sturdier way to keep it vertical, instead of using the tiny hinges that normal "bottom heavy" laptops use.
    - baybal2 6y ago
      > If you stuck the processor behind the screen, you could get a lot more airflow. This is essentially was the trick I thought of for my project of "genuinely mobile desktop replacement." Ironically, it was COVID which put a pause on it, and prior to it frequent foreign assignments. Were I to proceed with it before COVID, I might have hit the jackpot by now.
    - Const-me 6y ago
      Liquid crystals are, well, liquid. They typically list [ 0°C .. +50°C ] interval. Even laptop CPUs are generally warmer than +50°C when loaded, the limit for various CPUs is often about +85°C .. +105°C. When you place CPU right behind LCD, it’s hard to do good thermal insulation. This means the display gonna fail soon, unless the manufacturer does aggressive thermal throttling of the CPU, like it happens in tablets.
deadmutex 6y ago
Does that work for everyone? I have a desktop, but I often need to use my laptop in different rooms throughout the day. Just thinking about my parents as well, it doesn't work for their use cases. So, I urge you to think beyond just a handful of cases.

You beat me to it. I came here to say… this is a solved problem. It's called a "desktop machine". ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

by akulbe 6y ago

You beat me to it. I came here to say… this is a solved problem. It's called a "desktop machine". ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

What if, and hear me out on this, the person needs to take their workstation with them to multiple locations? Or, as can be the case with smaller quarters, simply wants to? Yes, desktops have this featureset. Why don't laptops, is the point of the article. (Answer: either laziness, arrogant design aesthetic, or NSA conspiracy)

freeone3000 6y ago
Laptops, by necessity, have smaller fans, since they're smaller. Same amount of cooling with a smaller fan means the fans spin faster, and faster fans are louder. Laptops simply can't have acceptable performance with adequate cooling unless you're willing to compromise on either noise, or running x86.
- unethical_ban 6y ago
  My macbook does just fine as a zoom terminal, VSCode runner and web browser. Battery can go almost the entire day if I'm not on calls. All code is developed locally and run through pipelines in the cloud. Many people don't need a workhorse machine, simply a portal for communication and reading.
- toast0 6y ago
  If you stuck the processor behind the screen, you could get a lot more airflow. Let the bottom be essentially be a battery, keyboard, mouse, and a docking station. And the lid be processor, memory, a m.2 for storage and an m.2 for wireless. Put a big, but thin fan on top of the processor and lots of venting on the side. Probably won't be very thin though.
  - freeone3000 6y ago
    This is how the surfacebook has been built. It's a problem because (1) you don't actually have more room on the top than the bottom, since these are the same size (2) the side vents are actually less surface area than simply having the bottom be fans. It doesn't work out well, there's just no way to have the airflow.
    - baybal2 6y ago
      What matter is cubic metres of air per minute, everything else mattering very little. Actual fan inside surfacebook is very tiny. Last surfacebook brings a second fan, but it still throttles. You still can put more, and bigger fans in the lid to solve the issue at 45-55W TDP levels. I actually did some thermal simulations.
  - notriddle 6y ago
    In addition to freeone3000's problems, having the CPU in the screen also means you need a sturdier way to keep it vertical, instead of using the tiny hinges that normal "bottom heavy" laptops use.
  - baybal2 6y ago
    > If you stuck the processor behind the screen, you could get a lot more airflow. This is essentially was the trick I thought of for my project of "genuinely mobile desktop replacement." Ironically, it was COVID which put a pause on it, and prior to it frequent foreign assignments. Were I to proceed with it before COVID, I might have hit the jackpot by now.
  - Const-me 6y ago
    Liquid crystals are, well, liquid. They typically list [ 0°C .. +50°C ] interval. Even laptop CPUs are generally warmer than +50°C when loaded, the limit for various CPUs is often about +85°C .. +105°C. When you place CPU right behind LCD, it’s hard to do good thermal insulation. This means the display gonna fail soon, unless the manufacturer does aggressive thermal throttling of the CPU, like it happens in tablets.

deadmutex 6y ago

Does that work for everyone? I have a desktop, but I often need to use my laptop in different rooms throughout the day. Just thinking about my parents as well, it doesn't work for their use cases. So, I urge you to think beyond just a handful of cases.