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Seems like a deliberate design choice, not some inevitable consequence of modernity. Why exactly does the board need to be cell phone sized when the actual form

Seems like a deliberate design choice, not some inevitable consequence of modernity. Why exactly does the board need to be cell phone sized when the actual form factor of even a netbook is substantially larger?

dhosek 5y ago
To fit more battery. Other than my Mac mini, every computing device (including watch and phone) I own is mostly battery inside.
- vimacs2 5y ago
  Which you could also do by simply making the device a little thicker and have a battery run the entire width of the device. Point is past a certain point, thinness becomes more of a drawback than a benefit, especially given the trade-offs involved.
  - ineedasername 5y ago
    You might want that trade off, but consumers in general have been leaning towards thinner and lighter for years. Just look around at complaints about the thickness of early android watches being too big and chunky. Or the huge popularity when the first MacBook Air came out. Given the option between thicker w/ a bit more battery life or thinner and lighter, consumers are choosing thinner and lighter.
    - nightski 5y ago
      Of course engineering is always a trade off, and it is possible to go too far in one direction. But it's not all or nothing, Apple is the one feeding us that false dichotomy.
    - CRConrad 5y ago
      > ...consumers in general have been leaning towards thinner and lighter for years. > ...consumers are choosing thinner and lighter. A) I'm guessing actually lighter more than thinner. B) Are consumers really clamouring all that intensely for "Thinner! Thinner!", or is that a) because that's all that's offered, and b) the relentless hype from manufacturers -- above all, bendy phone maker Apple -- amplified by rarely-critical media?
      - jzb 5y ago
        B. Definitely B. I’d happily choose a phone that’s chonkier if it was an option.
- littlestymaar 5y ago
  Battery is a big part of mobile devices of all kind, but it's not “mostly battery” for most of those. For instance, in a iPhone 11, the battery occupies less than half of the surface of the phone[1]. On a Macbook pro, it's about the same.[2] [1] see this ifixit video if you want to see it by yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Feyqwf3cYtw&t=161s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Feyqwf3cYtw&t=161s [2] https://guide-images.cdn.ifixit.com/igi/noPvQ2CLs1jptX2p.huge https://guide-images.cdn.ifixit.com/igi/noPvQ2CLs1jptX2p.hug... You can see that the motherboard is much, much bigger than a smartphone.
  - dhosek 5y ago
    Looking at the picture from [2]. it looks like the motherboard is really not much much bigger than a smartphone. There's a lot of space dedicated to ventilation (note the two large fans and the black cooling ducts under the hand in the picture. Some fraction of that motherboard is also the solid state storage. The picture here of the internals of an iPhone 11 https://www.zdnet.com/article/heres-whats-inside-your-new-iphone-11/ https://www.zdnet.com/article/heres-whats-inside-your-new-ip... (I don't do videos) sure looks like it's mostly battery. If I discount the empty space, the insides are more battery than not battery.
ineedasername 5y ago
It is mostly only a deliberate design choice in the sense that consumers have leaned towards designs that are smaller, lighter, and with longer battery lives. It doesn't matter that the rest of the form factor is larger: there's not a lot of empty space in these, so a larger main board will still mean a larger and heavier device.

dhosek 5y ago

To fit more battery. Other than my Mac mini, every computing device (including watch and phone) I own is mostly battery inside.

vimacs2 5y ago
Which you could also do by simply making the device a little thicker and have a battery run the entire width of the device. Point is past a certain point, thinness becomes more of a drawback than a benefit, especially given the trade-offs involved.
- ineedasername 5y ago
  You might want that trade off, but consumers in general have been leaning towards thinner and lighter for years. Just look around at complaints about the thickness of early android watches being too big and chunky. Or the huge popularity when the first MacBook Air came out. Given the option between thicker w/ a bit more battery life or thinner and lighter, consumers are choosing thinner and lighter.
  - nightski 5y ago
    Of course engineering is always a trade off, and it is possible to go too far in one direction. But it's not all or nothing, Apple is the one feeding us that false dichotomy.
  - CRConrad 5y ago
    > ...consumers in general have been leaning towards thinner and lighter for years. > ...consumers are choosing thinner and lighter. A) I'm guessing actually lighter more than thinner. B) Are consumers really clamouring all that intensely for "Thinner! Thinner!", or is that a) because that's all that's offered, and b) the relentless hype from manufacturers -- above all, bendy phone maker Apple -- amplified by rarely-critical media?
    - jzb 5y ago
      B. Definitely B. I’d happily choose a phone that’s chonkier if it was an option.
littlestymaar 5y ago
Battery is a big part of mobile devices of all kind, but it's not “mostly battery” for most of those. For instance, in a iPhone 11, the battery occupies less than half of the surface of the phone[1]. On a Macbook pro, it's about the same.[2] [1] see this ifixit video if you want to see it by yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Feyqwf3cYtw&t=161s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Feyqwf3cYtw&t=161s [2] https://guide-images.cdn.ifixit.com/igi/noPvQ2CLs1jptX2p.huge https://guide-images.cdn.ifixit.com/igi/noPvQ2CLs1jptX2p.hug... You can see that the motherboard is much, much bigger than a smartphone.
- dhosek 5y ago
  Looking at the picture from [2]. it looks like the motherboard is really not much much bigger than a smartphone. There's a lot of space dedicated to ventilation (note the two large fans and the black cooling ducts under the hand in the picture. Some fraction of that motherboard is also the solid state storage. The picture here of the internals of an iPhone 11 https://www.zdnet.com/article/heres-whats-inside-your-new-iphone-11/ https://www.zdnet.com/article/heres-whats-inside-your-new-ip... (I don't do videos) sure looks like it's mostly battery. If I discount the empty space, the insides are more battery than not battery.

ineedasername 5y ago

It is mostly only a deliberate design choice in the sense that consumers have leaned towards designs that are smaller, lighter, and with longer battery lives. It doesn't matter that the rest of the form factor is larger: there's not a lot of empty space in these, so a larger main board will still mean a larger and heavier device.