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So he advised them to change to a needlessly complicated power button and friction hinge, because I cant count the amount of times I've needed a position betwee

by nikau 3y ago

So he advised them to change to a needlessly complicated power button and friction hinge, because I cant count the amount of times I've needed a position between open and closed on my record player.

hakfoo 3y ago
For sixty grand, I suspect you are supposed to call someone when you need it opened or closed.
brailsafe 3y ago
Looking at the old one, this edition looks rather different, more refined in a way. Doing great design work can be as much about not doing as it is about doing. In those two examples alone, one of the stark differences between either an old macbook and new, or a new one and any other computer, is a lack of an extra power button, one hinge instead of two, and (less rare now) being able to gently open the lid and have it remain there in place without the lid wobbling. When you use a macbook for 10 years and then go and try to use any other laptop, you realize that unless they've copied everything, they're usually trash.
- nikau 3y ago
  ironic example given johnny ive was responsible for the piece of crap previous gen macbooks with faulty keyboards, no in-real-world-use ports, throttling due to poor thermals, no matte screens, missing escape and function keys, and the rest.
  - brailsafe 3y ago
    I definitely don't want a matte screen or ports I don't use, but I agree that particular generation wasnt so good. I think some of the issues came down to engineering durability problems rather than industrial design though. Seems a bit childish to point one failed product in 20+ years and use that to try and dismiss someone's skill. Sometimes your thing just doesn't land.
    - brailsafe 3y ago
      I'd add that although the new macbooks are much more compelling, what makes them more compelling is not some wild departure from the previous industrial design; they basically just added ports, ironically one of which is best suited for office projectors more than anything; I'll never use HDMI unless I'm doing a presentation or am issued an HDMI-only monitor. One of the macbook's longest running flaws that fits somewhere between design and engineering, is the tolerance between the screen and keyboard that will eventually have a high likelihood of eroding the coating on the screen. Does that mean I think the rest of the computer is a bad design? Hell no.
      - nikau 3y ago
        My car has tires that rub against the wheel arches and doesn't have a fuel filler compatible with normal pumps, but its not bad design.
        brailsafe 3y ago
        Your Lenovo example was quite surprisingly expensive for what it is. I don't personally consider them to be very appealing, but they do have a particular aesthetic that's more or less remained consistent for at least a decade, same as MacBooks, presumably with a few iterative changes. I'm looking at $4800 CAD for a 14" with 32gb of ram, 1TB SSD, and a pretty miserable looking screen. 1920x1200 seems insane to me in the current era, and I've used those screens, they ain't brilliant even for what they are imo. By the same token however, I do think direct cellular connectivity is probably quite nice to have, and that would make any future upgrade a much easier sell. Pretty good connectivity though. Would I like a USB-A port? It's a tough call, but I'd take it in-place of HDMI if given the choice. Comes down to personal preference I guess. Don't have a car though, sometimes rent, but I'd say most are pretty hideous and rarely avoid design flaws.
        nikau 3y ago
        1080p is pretty reasonable on a 14" display, you can option a 2.8K OLED display but personally I think its overkill. The x1 carbon is a light weight option, for similar weight to the macbook you can get a X1 Extreme which has 4K panels including oled, discrete graphics, etc. No org ever pays list price for a Lenovo, typically they have around 40% discount. I picked up my carbon X1 on sale for around 1300 AUD.

by nikau 3y ago

So he advised them to change to a needlessly complicated power button and friction hinge, because I cant count the amount of times I've needed a position between open and closed on my record player.

hakfoo 3y ago

For sixty grand, I suspect you are supposed to call someone when you need it opened or closed.

brailsafe 3y ago

Looking at the old one, this edition looks rather different, more refined in a way. Doing great design work can be as much about not doing as it is about doing. In those two examples alone, one of the stark differences between either an old macbook and new, or a new one and any other computer, is a lack of an extra power button, one hinge instead of two, and (less rare now) being able to gently open the lid and have it remain there in place without the lid wobbling. When you use a macbook for 10 years and then go and try to use any other laptop, you realize that unless they've copied everything, they're usually trash.

nikau 3y ago
ironic example given johnny ive was responsible for the piece of crap previous gen macbooks with faulty keyboards, no in-real-world-use ports, throttling due to poor thermals, no matte screens, missing escape and function keys, and the rest.
- brailsafe 3y ago
  I definitely don't want a matte screen or ports I don't use, but I agree that particular generation wasnt so good. I think some of the issues came down to engineering durability problems rather than industrial design though. Seems a bit childish to point one failed product in 20+ years and use that to try and dismiss someone's skill. Sometimes your thing just doesn't land.
  - brailsafe 3y ago
    I'd add that although the new macbooks are much more compelling, what makes them more compelling is not some wild departure from the previous industrial design; they basically just added ports, ironically one of which is best suited for office projectors more than anything; I'll never use HDMI unless I'm doing a presentation or am issued an HDMI-only monitor. One of the macbook's longest running flaws that fits somewhere between design and engineering, is the tolerance between the screen and keyboard that will eventually have a high likelihood of eroding the coating on the screen. Does that mean I think the rest of the computer is a bad design? Hell no.
    - nikau 3y ago
      My car has tires that rub against the wheel arches and doesn't have a fuel filler compatible with normal pumps, but its not bad design.
      - brailsafe 3y ago
        Your Lenovo example was quite surprisingly expensive for what it is. I don't personally consider them to be very appealing, but they do have a particular aesthetic that's more or less remained consistent for at least a decade, same as MacBooks, presumably with a few iterative changes. I'm looking at $4800 CAD for a 14" with 32gb of ram, 1TB SSD, and a pretty miserable looking screen. 1920x1200 seems insane to me in the current era, and I've used those screens, they ain't brilliant even for what they are imo. By the same token however, I do think direct cellular connectivity is probably quite nice to have, and that would make any future upgrade a much easier sell. Pretty good connectivity though. Would I like a USB-A port? It's a tough call, but I'd take it in-place of HDMI if given the choice. Comes down to personal preference I guess. Don't have a car though, sometimes rent, but I'd say most are pretty hideous and rarely avoid design flaws.
        nikau 3y ago
        1080p is pretty reasonable on a 14" display, you can option a 2.8K OLED display but personally I think its overkill. The x1 carbon is a light weight option, for similar weight to the macbook you can get a X1 Extreme which has 4K panels including oled, discrete graphics, etc. No org ever pays list price for a Lenovo, typically they have around 40% discount. I picked up my carbon X1 on sale for around 1300 AUD.