3 ms·

Why does the screen need to go 180°+? It’s kinda neat it can do that, I just can’t think of a good reason to bother. Can any of you? I mean would anyone compla

by MBCook 3y ago

Why does the screen need to go 180°+? It’s kinda neat it can do that, I just can’t think of a good reason to bother. Can any of you? I mean would anyone complain if it “only” went to 150°? Overall, it’s nice looking. I just found that one detail odd.

dingnuts 3y ago
as I get older I do this less but there was a period where I enjoyed computing laying back in bed with the laptop fully open (180 degrees) or nearly 180 degrees, propped up on my legs and it always annoyed me if a laptop wouldn't open enough to do this
- jamesbvaughan 3y ago
  I do something similar. I primarily use a MacBook these days and I really miss how my ThinkPad could open up to 180 degrees while using it laying down on the couch.
inhumantsar 3y ago
this is a very old feature carried over from IBM-era thinkpads. the main benefit for me was always accident resilience. something could thwack a bezel and it would just lay flat rather than stressing the hinges. it's also very handy in at-desk and road-warrior scenarios. since it can basically stand on its thin edge, you can position an adjustable laptop stand to hold the laptop nearly vertical. puts the screen in a much more neck friendly position and frees up more of the desk/table for a full-size keyboard and mouse.
SilverBirch 3y ago
I'll put the counter to you - if you could have a hinge that goes 180 degrees why wouldn't you? There's no advantage to limiting it. With cheap laptops there's always the kind of implied "this hinge is cheap and crap so in 3 years time it's just going to sit at the maximum open point", but the Thinkpads are way more resilient than that.
FirmwareBurner 3y ago
> Can any of you? Yes, several. I sometimes use my laptop on my ... lap, and the 150 degree angle is not enough to get my gaze perpendicular to the display. Or I can use it while lying in bed/cough on my back and prop it on my lap with the display towards my knees and 150 degrees doesn't work. But the most common daily use, I also bought one of those adhesive kick stands/feet from Amazon that lifts the back of your laptop off the table by a few cm, useful for cooling and for ergonomics by bringing the keyboard at an angle and the laptop screen higher up so you can view it while looking more straight ahead rather than hunched down looking towards the table to strain your neck and ruin your posture, and again, if your laptop only opens 150 degrees than you won't view the display perpendicularly but at an angle which sucks. 180 degree hinge means I can prop it up as high as I want and still view the screen at the right angle. >I mean would anyone complain if it “only” went to 150°? Yes, I only buy laptops that open >150 degrees which sadly automatically means no Macs. It's sad that Apple and others have conditioned users so much to only restrict themselves and their working positions to places that only accommodate the limited hinges of their displays, that somehow a rudimentary feature like a 180 degree hinge now baffles people and requires an explanation. It's like learning to walk on one leg your whole life then asking people walking on two legs why they'd want that. Once you get to know this freedom, you can't go back to the old ways. Like what's their problem? The manufacturers I mean. Why can't they all make their hinges 180 degrees? Are there users out there who would be bothered if their screen could tilt over 150 degrees, or does Apple think tilting the display more than 150 degrees looks ugly and ruins the product's sleek aesthetic in the Apple store? It just feels like a stupid arbitrary restriction and not a technical one.
jwells89 3y ago
I use this feature a lot when using my X1 Nano while lounging on my bed. Opening the screen to its near-maximum extent and holding the laptop vertically puts the screen at eye level in that position, making it more comfortable to use for an extended period because it doesn’t keep my neck craned down.
feike 3y ago
You can put it upright on a piano and put sheet music at eye level. I personally use flowkey + an electrical piano connected through USB. Beats a tablet for me!
- ziotom78 3y ago
  I would have never thought of that. Great idea, thanks!
- PennRobotics 3y ago
  ^ Sheet music is the only use case I've ever had for portrait mode on a laptop.
miahi 3y ago
In the 'olden days', when external displays and projectors were scarce, we used this feature for collaboration/presentations in non text-heavy interactions. Four people can sit at a table around it and they can all see the screen when it's flat on the table, albeit one of them would see it upside down. Now I mostly use it for comfortable position in bed, as many others say.

by MBCook 3y ago

dingnuts 3y ago

as I get older I do this less but there was a period where I enjoyed computing laying back in bed with the laptop fully open (180 degrees) or nearly 180 degrees, propped up on my legs and it always annoyed me if a laptop wouldn't open enough to do this

jamesbvaughan 3y ago
I do something similar. I primarily use a MacBook these days and I really miss how my ThinkPad could open up to 180 degrees while using it laying down on the couch.

inhumantsar 3y ago

this is a very old feature carried over from IBM-era thinkpads. the main benefit for me was always accident resilience. something could thwack a bezel and it would just lay flat rather than stressing the hinges. it's also very handy in at-desk and road-warrior scenarios. since it can basically stand on its thin edge, you can position an adjustable laptop stand to hold the laptop nearly vertical. puts the screen in a much more neck friendly position and frees up more of the desk/table for a full-size keyboard and mouse.

SilverBirch 3y ago

I'll put the counter to you - if you could have a hinge that goes 180 degrees why wouldn't you? There's no advantage to limiting it. With cheap laptops there's always the kind of implied "this hinge is cheap and crap so in 3 years time it's just going to sit at the maximum open point", but the Thinkpads are way more resilient than that.

FirmwareBurner 3y ago

> Can any of you? Yes, several. I sometimes use my laptop on my ... lap, and the 150 degree angle is not enough to get my gaze perpendicular to the display. Or I can use it while lying in bed/cough on my back and prop it on my lap with the display towards my knees and 150 degrees doesn't work. But the most common daily use, I also bought one of those adhesive kick stands/feet from Amazon that lifts the back of your laptop off the table by a few cm, useful for cooling and for ergonomics by bringing the keyboard at an angle and the laptop screen higher up so you can view it while looking more straight ahead rather than hunched down looking towards the table to strain your neck and ruin your posture, and again, if your laptop only opens 150 degrees than you won't view the display perpendicularly but at an angle which sucks. 180 degree hinge means I can prop it up as high as I want and still view the screen at the right angle. >I mean would anyone complain if it “only” went to 150°? Yes, I only buy laptops that open >150 degrees which sadly automatically means no Macs. It's sad that Apple and others have conditioned users so much to only restrict themselves and their working positions to places that only accommodate the limited hinges of their displays, that somehow a rudimentary feature like a 180 degree hinge now baffles people and requires an explanation. It's like learning to walk on one leg your whole life then asking people walking on two legs why they'd want that. Once you get to know this freedom, you can't go back to the old ways. Like what's their problem? The manufacturers I mean. Why can't they all make their hinges 180 degrees? Are there users out there who would be bothered if their screen could tilt over 150 degrees, or does Apple think tilting the display more than 150 degrees looks ugly and ruins the product's sleek aesthetic in the Apple store? It just feels like a stupid arbitrary restriction and not a technical one.

jwells89 3y ago

I use this feature a lot when using my X1 Nano while lounging on my bed. Opening the screen to its near-maximum extent and holding the laptop vertically puts the screen at eye level in that position, making it more comfortable to use for an extended period because it doesn’t keep my neck craned down.

feike 3y ago

You can put it upright on a piano and put sheet music at eye level. I personally use flowkey + an electrical piano connected through USB. Beats a tablet for me!

ziotom78 3y ago
I would have never thought of that. Great idea, thanks!
PennRobotics 3y ago
^ Sheet music is the only use case I've ever had for portrait mode on a laptop.

miahi 3y ago

In the 'olden days', when external displays and projectors were scarce, we used this feature for collaboration/presentations in non text-heavy interactions. Four people can sit at a table around it and they can all see the screen when it's flat on the table, albeit one of them would see it upside down. Now I mostly use it for comfortable position in bed, as many others say.