15 ms·

I have a crazy idea that would vastly improve modern laptop design. You would build in some sort of a reversible conduit interrupt device (may be lost tech but

I have a crazy idea that would vastly improve modern laptop design. You would build in some sort of a reversible conduit interrupt device (may be lost tech but I hear rumors that it's possible) that would allow the end user to disconnect the battery. This would solve the #1 problem with laptops which is that sometimes I need to use the laptop and it's out of battery because it decided to turn itself on in my bag.

baq 3y ago
That’s only started to happening in the last few years. Before 2015 laptops had good manners - when they were told to shut down, they kept being shut down.
- pbmonster 3y ago
  I thought I was alone with that problem. Do you know what the culprit is? What keeps randomly waking up modern laptops? It's so stupid, too. There is exactly one single case when I want my laptop to wake up with the lid closed: when I plug in the dock. Every single other case where it wakes up with the lid closed is a bug in my eyes.
  - amiga-workbench 3y ago
    Its the removal of S3 sleep states from the BIOS/ACPI tables. Now the processor is kept powered on (in a low power state) but any poorly written driver or software can jolt the machine back into a higher power state and superheat your backpack. Intel's rationale is that PC's should function like smartphones and you should be able to stay connected and receive notifications while asleep. I'm not convinced.
    - baq 3y ago
      I think that's actually MS who wants that. I'm not sure there's anyone other than them who's convinced. Fortunately I moved fully remote when COVID started so this hasn't been a problem and also switched to a mac last year - macs seem to be well behaved in this matter.
hawski 3y ago
One thing that would go a long way would be the return of S3.
- imp0cat 3y ago
  This. It seems to me that nowadays, you can either have a well-behaved older machine or a Ryzen-equipped mobile powerhorse that will glitch every now and then. Unfortunately for me, recent AMD's offerings have greatly decreased the attractiveness of older laptops. But be warned, you gotta take the good with the bad and accept that a modern laptop might wake up at any time (even when stored in your bag).
  - baq 3y ago
    I could perhaps tolerate the wakeup, but it should notice it's in the backpack with a lid closed sensor and a thermometer and maybe go to sleep again instead of trying to melt itself and set the car or house on fire? Just throwing out this million-dollar idea for free here.
    - PennRobotics 3y ago
      Microsoft and Intel are telling us we're holding it wrong. Laptops and PCs should behave like smartphones. The irony is that an Android tablet---about as smartphone-like as you can get with a laptop-sized display---never has heating problems while sleeping.
      - vel0city 3y ago
        I've had bouts of battling hot laptop bags. It's almost always been software other than Microsoft or Intel causing the device to wake and start chugging away heavily. Usually some misconfigured security tool or bad drivers constantly sending wake events. Personally I really like having my device automatically connect to the Wi-Fi when I get to the office, reconnect VPN, get chat and email synced, get ssh sessions reconnected, etc all before I even unlock the machine. It's a great feature IMO, just every now and then there's some boneheaded app that decides 9am is the time to wake the machine and scan every file modified in the last several weeks regardless of the current power state.

baq 3y ago

That’s only started to happening in the last few years. Before 2015 laptops had good manners - when they were told to shut down, they kept being shut down.

pbmonster 3y ago
I thought I was alone with that problem. Do you know what the culprit is? What keeps randomly waking up modern laptops? It's so stupid, too. There is exactly one single case when I want my laptop to wake up with the lid closed: when I plug in the dock. Every single other case where it wakes up with the lid closed is a bug in my eyes.
- amiga-workbench 3y ago
  Its the removal of S3 sleep states from the BIOS/ACPI tables. Now the processor is kept powered on (in a low power state) but any poorly written driver or software can jolt the machine back into a higher power state and superheat your backpack. Intel's rationale is that PC's should function like smartphones and you should be able to stay connected and receive notifications while asleep. I'm not convinced.
  - baq 3y ago
    I think that's actually MS who wants that. I'm not sure there's anyone other than them who's convinced. Fortunately I moved fully remote when COVID started so this hasn't been a problem and also switched to a mac last year - macs seem to be well behaved in this matter.

hawski 3y ago

One thing that would go a long way would be the return of S3.

imp0cat 3y ago
This. It seems to me that nowadays, you can either have a well-behaved older machine or a Ryzen-equipped mobile powerhorse that will glitch every now and then. Unfortunately for me, recent AMD's offerings have greatly decreased the attractiveness of older laptops. But be warned, you gotta take the good with the bad and accept that a modern laptop might wake up at any time (even when stored in your bag).
- baq 3y ago
  I could perhaps tolerate the wakeup, but it should notice it's in the backpack with a lid closed sensor and a thermometer and maybe go to sleep again instead of trying to melt itself and set the car or house on fire? Just throwing out this million-dollar idea for free here.
  - PennRobotics 3y ago
    Microsoft and Intel are telling us we're holding it wrong. Laptops and PCs should behave like smartphones. The irony is that an Android tablet---about as smartphone-like as you can get with a laptop-sized display---never has heating problems while sleeping.
    - vel0city 3y ago
      I've had bouts of battling hot laptop bags. It's almost always been software other than Microsoft or Intel causing the device to wake and start chugging away heavily. Usually some misconfigured security tool or bad drivers constantly sending wake events. Personally I really like having my device automatically connect to the Wi-Fi when I get to the office, reconnect VPN, get chat and email synced, get ssh sessions reconnected, etc all before I even unlock the machine. It's a great feature IMO, just every now and then there's some boneheaded app that decides 9am is the time to wake the machine and scan every file modified in the last several weeks regardless of the current power state.