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Article jumped the shark for me with the following gem: "... she uses a 2013 Dell laptop: new by government standards, but clunky enough compared with the cutt

by danjayh 12y ago

Article jumped the shark for me with the following gem: "... she uses a 2013 Dell laptop: new by government standards, but clunky enough compared with the cutting-edge devices of her former life that her young son asked what it was." I'm sorry, but while other forms of technology are rapidly replacing laptops, they are still the dominant mobile productivity workhorses (unless you count things like tweeting and facebook as productivity tasks). This quote implies that laptops are so out-of-date that the child of a well-off tech worker wouldn't know what they are, akin to VHS players and cassette tapes. Ridiculous. Also, by whose standard isn't a ~1-2 year old laptop new?

zaphar 12y ago
Taken in context it's not the age or the fact that it's a laptop. It's more that she was probably used to a Macbook Pro running OSX. Compared to that a Dell running windows could rightly be called clunky by some. It looks considerably different too. Depending on the age of her son it's a reasonable question to ask.
- pbhjpbhj 12y ago
  >"Depending on the age of her son it's a reasonable question to ask." // This sort of phrase is not about her son at all. The statement is supposed to acquire the users agreement, as if the point is a truism, by demonstrating that even someone relatively naive to the field in question would be able to clearly see that the point is true - in this case that the laptop being used is antiquated. 2013 laptops aren't antiquated; no amount of "any fool can see" couching of that suggestion is going to convince me of that. It's just a badly judged piece of hyperbole by the writer. Edit: here's a mediocre Dell from 2012, http://www.amazon.com/Dell-Inspiron-i15R-1633sLV-15-6-Inch-Laptop/dp/B009US2BKA http://www.amazon.com/Dell-Inspiron-i15R-1633sLV-15-6-Inch-L... - could anyone who has ever seen a laptop before really be confused that it's a laptop?
AaronFriel 12y ago
My guess is not that they are talking about just any 2013 Dell laptop, but that she is referring to something that is not of "ultrabook" standards of appearance and (probably) battery life optimization. My impression of government hardware purchasing is that even while newer consumer models of laptops have managed to be lighter weight, have better battery life, and so on, they haven't met the litany of requirements needed for the government. She probably has a semi-custom Dell Latitude, which while a workhorse, is big and clunky and has less than desirable battery life. Oh and the screen resolution is probably 1366x768. Compare that to any ultrabook one could acquire today with a greater than HD quality display. My guess is that her son is confused because before then she probably did most of her work with a Macbook Air, an ultrabook (perhaps even a Dell XPS), or even a Chromebook Pixel. These are all thinner, lighter, and with greater battery life. And they probably don't check the boxes the government wanted.
- danjayh 12y ago
  That's a good guess ... but I still think there's a bit of hyperbole going on. I'd think a gigantor-laptop would be similar enough to an ultrabook that the kid would figure it out. If I recast the question of 'what it was' to 'what is that hunk-of-junk looking laptop?', then I guess I could believe it. On that topic ... many of the chunky plastic boxes are actually great machines. We have a choice from a few machines at work ... and almost no engineers choose an ultrabook. While ultrabooks are good for some things (watching videos, basic productivity like word, small excel workbooks, etc.), I wouldn't want to compile an operating system on one. I have a gigantic brick of a 'laptop' at work (I think it's a Precision M6700), and I wouldn't trade it for anything. It's nice to be able to slap it on and off a dock, to be able to connect it to four monitors without any janky USB video cards, and to be able to install tons of RAM.
  - pyre 12y ago
    > I wouldn't want to compile an operating system on one The number of laptop users that actually "compile an operating system" are relatively small. This seems like a poor choice for an example.
    - bitwize 12y ago
      I compile operating systems on a 2010 ThinkPad. It's not fantastic for today's standards, but it's not terrible either.
      - dekhn 12y ago
        I compiled operating systems (linux) on my clunky 486/100 MHz laptop 19 years ago. Ditto.
    - icebraining 12y ago
      Even the number of developers who compile an operating system on any regular basis is extremely small. For me, developing software is much less resource intensive than a light web browsing session.
comex 12y ago
Yeah, that's ridiculous as written. However, I suspect the real issue was along the lines of it being a cheap fat plastic boxy affair with no SSD, rather than a slim metal MacBook or Ultrabook-like laptop - which, of course, Dell also sells.
shmerl 12y ago
Yeah, you aren't supposed to replace laptops every year unless you just like everything new all the time just because. Good laptops can last quite longer than that. However if she was a given a laptop which is several years old when they could have given her something from the current options, that's already questionable. Hardware can age, but giving aged hardware to begin with is not a good idea.
rdl 12y ago
> Also, by whose standard isn't a ~1-2 year old laptop new? If someone is delivering >$10mm of value (conservative estimate) in a position where tool quality affects productivity, I'd probably get the newest/best laptop for her. It's entirely possible this position doesn't deliver that much value, but it should. I've never really been a fan of re-using >1y old laptops as primary machines for new employees; it is a great way to make them feel unwanted from the start, for a $300-500 savings.
- walshemj 12y ago
  You would not make the same argument about cars "on noes government employees are driving bog standard ford sedans and not Porsche's" And unfortunately those expensive mac laptops suck when it come to working in any group larger than a one man band.
cbd1984 12y ago
There might also be a hint of "kids these days"-style ageism, where it's just implicitly assumed that nobody younger than author's age minus five has any idea about technology which is in any way "old" or "outdated" or "not being actively advertised on TV" (and that's another thing... ) And, yeah, laptops are in no way obsolete. Hell, the multi-billion-dollar PC gaming industry relies on desktop PCs, with towers and separate monitors, which is an even older design than laptops are (although, admittedly, not by much, depending on what you're willing to call a "laptop" as opposed to a "portable" or "luggable").
intopieces 12y ago
I couldn't finish the article after reading about a scarecrow made of foil she made at four and taking apart a bicycle. Totally irrelevant and slightly patronizing.

by danjayh 12y ago

zaphar 12y ago

Taken in context it's not the age or the fact that it's a laptop. It's more that she was probably used to a Macbook Pro running OSX. Compared to that a Dell running windows could rightly be called clunky by some. It looks considerably different too. Depending on the age of her son it's a reasonable question to ask.

pbhjpbhj 12y ago
>"Depending on the age of her son it's a reasonable question to ask." // This sort of phrase is not about her son at all. The statement is supposed to acquire the users agreement, as if the point is a truism, by demonstrating that even someone relatively naive to the field in question would be able to clearly see that the point is true - in this case that the laptop being used is antiquated. 2013 laptops aren't antiquated; no amount of "any fool can see" couching of that suggestion is going to convince me of that. It's just a badly judged piece of hyperbole by the writer. Edit: here's a mediocre Dell from 2012, http://www.amazon.com/Dell-Inspiron-i15R-1633sLV-15-6-Inch-Laptop/dp/B009US2BKA http://www.amazon.com/Dell-Inspiron-i15R-1633sLV-15-6-Inch-L... - could anyone who has ever seen a laptop before really be confused that it's a laptop?

AaronFriel 12y ago

My guess is not that they are talking about just any 2013 Dell laptop, but that she is referring to something that is not of "ultrabook" standards of appearance and (probably) battery life optimization. My impression of government hardware purchasing is that even while newer consumer models of laptops have managed to be lighter weight, have better battery life, and so on, they haven't met the litany of requirements needed for the government. She probably has a semi-custom Dell Latitude, which while a workhorse, is big and clunky and has less than desirable battery life. Oh and the screen resolution is probably 1366x768. Compare that to any ultrabook one could acquire today with a greater than HD quality display. My guess is that her son is confused because before then she probably did most of her work with a Macbook Air, an ultrabook (perhaps even a Dell XPS), or even a Chromebook Pixel. These are all thinner, lighter, and with greater battery life. And they probably don't check the boxes the government wanted.

danjayh 12y ago
That's a good guess ... but I still think there's a bit of hyperbole going on. I'd think a gigantor-laptop would be similar enough to an ultrabook that the kid would figure it out. If I recast the question of 'what it was' to 'what is that hunk-of-junk looking laptop?', then I guess I could believe it. On that topic ... many of the chunky plastic boxes are actually great machines. We have a choice from a few machines at work ... and almost no engineers choose an ultrabook. While ultrabooks are good for some things (watching videos, basic productivity like word, small excel workbooks, etc.), I wouldn't want to compile an operating system on one. I have a gigantic brick of a 'laptop' at work (I think it's a Precision M6700), and I wouldn't trade it for anything. It's nice to be able to slap it on and off a dock, to be able to connect it to four monitors without any janky USB video cards, and to be able to install tons of RAM.
- pyre 12y ago
  > I wouldn't want to compile an operating system on one The number of laptop users that actually "compile an operating system" are relatively small. This seems like a poor choice for an example.
  - bitwize 12y ago
    I compile operating systems on a 2010 ThinkPad. It's not fantastic for today's standards, but it's not terrible either.
    - dekhn 12y ago
      I compiled operating systems (linux) on my clunky 486/100 MHz laptop 19 years ago. Ditto.
  - icebraining 12y ago
    Even the number of developers who compile an operating system on any regular basis is extremely small. For me, developing software is much less resource intensive than a light web browsing session.

comex 12y ago

Yeah, that's ridiculous as written. However, I suspect the real issue was along the lines of it being a cheap fat plastic boxy affair with no SSD, rather than a slim metal MacBook or Ultrabook-like laptop - which, of course, Dell also sells.

shmerl 12y ago

Yeah, you aren't supposed to replace laptops every year unless you just like everything new all the time just because. Good laptops can last quite longer than that. However if she was a given a laptop which is several years old when they could have given her something from the current options, that's already questionable. Hardware can age, but giving aged hardware to begin with is not a good idea.

rdl 12y ago

> Also, by whose standard isn't a ~1-2 year old laptop new? If someone is delivering >$10mm of value (conservative estimate) in a position where tool quality affects productivity, I'd probably get the newest/best laptop for her. It's entirely possible this position doesn't deliver that much value, but it should. I've never really been a fan of re-using >1y old laptops as primary machines for new employees; it is a great way to make them feel unwanted from the start, for a $300-500 savings.

walshemj 12y ago
You would not make the same argument about cars "on noes government employees are driving bog standard ford sedans and not Porsche's" And unfortunately those expensive mac laptops suck when it come to working in any group larger than a one man band.

cbd1984 12y ago

There might also be a hint of "kids these days"-style ageism, where it's just implicitly assumed that nobody younger than author's age minus five has any idea about technology which is in any way "old" or "outdated" or "not being actively advertised on TV" (and that's another thing... ) And, yeah, laptops are in no way obsolete. Hell, the multi-billion-dollar PC gaming industry relies on desktop PCs, with towers and separate monitors, which is an even older design than laptops are (although, admittedly, not by much, depending on what you're willing to call a "laptop" as opposed to a "portable" or "luggable").

intopieces 12y ago

I couldn't finish the article after reading about a scarecrow made of foil she made at four and taking apart a bicycle. Totally irrelevant and slightly patronizing.