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Why do people buy laptops that don't have this stuff already on it? I run an engineering course and it's almost comical how often students have to set aside th

by Evidlo 5y ago

Why do people buy laptops that don't have this stuff already on it? I run an engineering course and it's almost comical how often students have to set aside their $2000 Macbooks and use the desktop workstations because they forgot their dongles at home. My Thinkpad has 6 USB ports (2 USB 3.0), SDCard, DisplayPort, VGA, ethernet and also e-sata and Firewire which I've never used.

hpb42 5y ago
I got a new laptop for work that has: 1 USB3 type A, 1 USB-C, 1 Thunderbolt4 in USB-C connetor, 1 HDMI, 1 audio jack, and 1 Power connector. No ethernet. My boss bought me a caldigit element hub to be able to connect mouse and keyboard... We were all disappointed when we realized there was not enough "normal" USB ports.
loudthing 5y ago
Honest answer: Apple is a lifestyle brand, however they manage to offer a superior product to the layman because they have tight control over both hardware and software codevelopment. In my experience, people tend to also like Apple hardware because Apple stores are ubiquitous, so when you need a repair done, you just take it to your local mall and get it fixed rather than mailing it away to Lenovo and hoping for the best. Out of curiosity, in your engineering course, what are students expected to used to their own computers for? In my experience, any engineering course with labs that would require dongles supply desktop computers anyway. Your school doesn't have desktops in the classroom right? What equipment are you interfacing with that would be easily both mac and pc compatible anyway?
- dymk 5y ago
  > Apple is a lifestyle brand If "I want it to just work" is a lifestyle, then yeah, it's a lifestyle brand.
  - TillE 5y ago
    It's astounding how difficult it is to find non-garbage build quality on, well, pretty much anything. Even just for something as basic as a charger, Apple is probably the only company you can rely on to not use third-rate electrolytic capacitors. Maybe Anker too.
  - mst 5y ago
    I've had a lot of "just works" with thinkpads' pre-loaded windows installs. Every other windows laptop brand, not so much. Mileage will of course vary - any thinkpad centric thread on here has a bunch of people with experiences like mine and a bunch of horror stories, after all.
    - loudthing 5y ago
      Back in the day I had a Thinkpad T40 tablet that served me very well. Absolutely bullet proof PC, and it could run Crysis on integrated graphics :)
  - loudthing 5y ago
    "I want it to just work" is a very subjective phrase. I think you'll find the majority of users have very different use cases for technology than you do. Also, try to read past the first sentence before you downvote me.
    - dymk 5y ago
      I didn’t downvote you.
- Evidlo 5y ago
  People prefer to use their own development environments, and the microcontroller family we have designed assignments around (Atmel AVR) has a cross-platform toolchain.
kuschku 5y ago
The T470 is IMO the percect thinkpad. 3× USB 3.0 1× Thunderbolt 3 (with USB-PD support) Lenovo Charging port Lenovo Docking port HDMI, SDcard, Ethernet, SIM, SmartCard It works with the oldest thinkpad docks and the newest thunderbolt docks at the same time.
andrewia 5y ago
Because it's convenient to carry around thin and light notebooks. Especially the ones that flip around to a tablet, making it easy to sketch ideas with a stylus. In addition, it becomes annoying to plug in multiple cables every time you wish to dock. USB, audio, power, ethernet, and video. USB-C is much more convenient when it works. I went through a similar churn as the author and finally settled on a StarTech-branded hub that has few bugs. Now, when I want to switch my setup between my work and personal laptops, I just unplug a single cable and switch devices. I can even connect my phone to the dock if I need to type a lot in an app, download a lot of data to it, or connect external storage.
Gigachad 5y ago
Because I don't use any of that stuff and don't care. I can plug my macbook in with a single cable and it charges and runs the display. I will literally never need VGA, e-sata, or firewire. I'd put just the aesthetics of the device over having useless ports.
daveoc64 5y ago
Even on a laptop with plenty of ports, it's very convenient to be able to plug in just one cable and get power, video, ethernet, mouse, keyboard etc.
djur 5y ago
Cheap laptops also have a lot of cheap shitty hardware on them supporting those peripherals. It's not as clear cut as "on board good, on hub bad".
drstewart 5y ago
You bought a laptop without a SCSI port? Can I ask why you bought a laptop that doesn't have that already on it?
- Dylan16807 5y ago
  Is this really supposed to be a counterargument? The question is obviously why people buy laptops without ports they need.

by Evidlo 5y ago

hpb42 5y ago

I got a new laptop for work that has: 1 USB3 type A, 1 USB-C, 1 Thunderbolt4 in USB-C connetor, 1 HDMI, 1 audio jack, and 1 Power connector. No ethernet. My boss bought me a caldigit element hub to be able to connect mouse and keyboard... We were all disappointed when we realized there was not enough "normal" USB ports.

loudthing 5y ago

Honest answer: Apple is a lifestyle brand, however they manage to offer a superior product to the layman because they have tight control over both hardware and software codevelopment. In my experience, people tend to also like Apple hardware because Apple stores are ubiquitous, so when you need a repair done, you just take it to your local mall and get it fixed rather than mailing it away to Lenovo and hoping for the best. Out of curiosity, in your engineering course, what are students expected to used to their own computers for? In my experience, any engineering course with labs that would require dongles supply desktop computers anyway. Your school doesn't have desktops in the classroom right? What equipment are you interfacing with that would be easily both mac and pc compatible anyway?

dymk 5y ago
> Apple is a lifestyle brand If "I want it to just work" is a lifestyle, then yeah, it's a lifestyle brand.
- TillE 5y ago
  It's astounding how difficult it is to find non-garbage build quality on, well, pretty much anything. Even just for something as basic as a charger, Apple is probably the only company you can rely on to not use third-rate electrolytic capacitors. Maybe Anker too.
- mst 5y ago
  I've had a lot of "just works" with thinkpads' pre-loaded windows installs. Every other windows laptop brand, not so much. Mileage will of course vary - any thinkpad centric thread on here has a bunch of people with experiences like mine and a bunch of horror stories, after all.
  - loudthing 5y ago
    Back in the day I had a Thinkpad T40 tablet that served me very well. Absolutely bullet proof PC, and it could run Crysis on integrated graphics :)
- loudthing 5y ago
  "I want it to just work" is a very subjective phrase. I think you'll find the majority of users have very different use cases for technology than you do. Also, try to read past the first sentence before you downvote me.
  - dymk 5y ago
    I didn’t downvote you.
Evidlo 5y ago
People prefer to use their own development environments, and the microcontroller family we have designed assignments around (Atmel AVR) has a cross-platform toolchain.

kuschku 5y ago

The T470 is IMO the percect thinkpad. 3× USB 3.0 1× Thunderbolt 3 (with USB-PD support) Lenovo Charging port Lenovo Docking port HDMI, SDcard, Ethernet, SIM, SmartCard It works with the oldest thinkpad docks and the newest thunderbolt docks at the same time.

andrewia 5y ago

Because it's convenient to carry around thin and light notebooks. Especially the ones that flip around to a tablet, making it easy to sketch ideas with a stylus. In addition, it becomes annoying to plug in multiple cables every time you wish to dock. USB, audio, power, ethernet, and video. USB-C is much more convenient when it works. I went through a similar churn as the author and finally settled on a StarTech-branded hub that has few bugs. Now, when I want to switch my setup between my work and personal laptops, I just unplug a single cable and switch devices. I can even connect my phone to the dock if I need to type a lot in an app, download a lot of data to it, or connect external storage.

Gigachad 5y ago

Because I don't use any of that stuff and don't care. I can plug my macbook in with a single cable and it charges and runs the display. I will literally never need VGA, e-sata, or firewire. I'd put just the aesthetics of the device over having useless ports.

daveoc64 5y ago

Even on a laptop with plenty of ports, it's very convenient to be able to plug in just one cable and get power, video, ethernet, mouse, keyboard etc.

djur 5y ago

Cheap laptops also have a lot of cheap shitty hardware on them supporting those peripherals. It's not as clear cut as "on board good, on hub bad".

drstewart 5y ago

You bought a laptop without a SCSI port? Can I ask why you bought a laptop that doesn't have that already on it?

Dylan16807 5y ago
Is this really supposed to be a counterargument? The question is obviously why people buy laptops without ports they need.