Current design fads in laptops that you hate.

As mentioned earlier, keyboards are crappy. I've seen to many keys missing or dangling. Last week I tried repairing an Apple key on a friends computer, but no joy!

I've got six older laptops, the wife has two and the keys are perfect. What is it with manufacturer's today?

 

Well, if those laptops are really old, you could say that they were much better built than current laptops. But older laptops were also much more expensive compared to the cheap ones today.

 

True, they were more expensive and they were built better for the most part.

 

Adding lighting in places that really don't matter, and not in places that make sense. Ahem, HP, ahem. DV6/7 have a lit ring around the touchpad, what the heck does that do? At least you can turn it off. A lit HP logo on the lid that you can't switch off. All that lighting but no lit keyboard? Really HP?

 

Aint that the truth.

Sent from my PG06100 using Tapatalk

 

Well they were also built with another mentality in mind.

"They don't made them like they used to" is only half true. Back then, things were designed with the mindset that you wouldn't replace them. Nowadays any sane computer company knows you're not keeping that computer for more than a few years and as such build them in accordance.

 

I would keep them for longer if they would last longer, my HP hdd crapped out on me after a year and the whole build quality is crap. Even Apple purposely phases out models

Sent from my DROID RAZR

 

Agreed, that smacks of form > function when it should really be the other way 'round.

Although to be fair to HP, my dv4 doesn't have any of that at all. I'd appreciate backlighting the keyboard, but where I come from, they usually sell pre-configured retail laptop models and none of them have it.

 

After two and a half issue-laden years with my Macbook Pro, it's now on eBay, and I'm looking around for a PC laptop to replace it.

I've been looking at Alienware, Xotic, Malibal, and Power Notebooks because I like being able to choose all my components. I can deal with the lack of the Apple aesthetic or even some of the garishness of the MSI and Alienware notebooks, but I don't understand why the trackpad is off-center. It won't affect me too much because I use a mouse most of the time, but still... Who thought that was comfortable, and why are nearly all of the high-end notebooks like that?

I also hate gloss. Screens, chassis, keyboards... I see it, and I just think "Fingerprints."

 

Its really not that bad once you use it for a while. Sure at first I was a bit taken back, but now the added benefit of a numpad is just too nice.

 

I'm curious, I'm looking at a mbp for college what problems specifically?

Sent from my DROID RAZR

 

I'd guess heat issues.

 

So it's centred with the home row.

 

The one exception for glossy screens is the screen on the samsung np700g7c. It's actually amazing for a glossy screen.

 

The universal:
- Thick bezels.
- Low resolution, poor contrast and inaccurate screens.
- Useless trackpads that do not have buttons or are far too small. Too large is also a hindrance when I'm using a mouse.
- Worthless island keyboards. Not all of them are worthless. Sony Z and FW have had good island keyboards.
- Gloss. Gloss anything needs to go.
- Flimsy construction. If it cannot be lifted with one hand without fearing for the structural integrity of the notebook it shouldn't be sold to anyone.

My personal hatreds:
- Wedge shape. I'm fine with a wedge design, but when it tapers to a ridiculously thin point, why bother? The VAIO FW series did this right, in my opinion. Another valid option is a universal shape, like ThinkPads.
- Lack of PgUp/PgDown. Again the VAIO FW did this right: 6 row island keyboard with dedicated keys.
- Number pads. I find that numlock is sufficient for numeric entry. They mess up the rest of the keyboard for an occasional gain.
- The Fn key being in the outermost row. This ruins my computing experience. I have a ThinkPad, and I deal with it (as the rest of the keyboard is topnotch) but I still find it odd.
- Loud fans. I'd prefer a slightly thicker body with slightly larger air vents if it'd accommodate a low RPM fan.
- Uneven screen lighting. Sadly the VAIO FW I have is one of the worst offenders.
- Blinking lights. Everywhere.
- Anything that glows, beside the screen and a backlit keyboard.
- Optical drives. I never use mine on any of my notebooks. Give me a better cooling system/bigger battery instead.
- Power cord on the side. Obtrusive and awkward to deal with.
- Lack of latches on lid. Love these latches on my ThinkPad.
- Extended batteries that raise the laptop. ThinkPad does this right as well. I want a battery to stick out the back, not to seriously mess up the angle of my notebook if I switch batteries midday.
- Excessive speaker bars. When was the last time I didn't use headphones for any serious listening?
- Small palm rests. My HP dm1z is a mess to type on because of this. Well, the keyboard isn't very good either.
- Needlessly difficult access to the internals. Don't deliberately restrict access to the memory and other internal components. The dm1z did this right. Incredibly easy to open up.

I'm fine with pretty much any combination of metal, plastics, polymers and so on as long as it feels sturdy and remains so.

 

Aside from price, has to be heat. When running at full load, the small strip above the keyboard is burning hot. However this can easily be solved with an app called SMC fan controller at the expense of quietness.

 

Besides heat, there could be a problem with OS, depending on your major. OSX and engineering is pretty much a no-go, for example. Check with your department to make sure the software would work with OSX or not.

Even applications that do work under OSX might not be acceptable. Example, my intro. engineering course was in part taught using Excel, but only the Windows version (there were a few key differences between Excel 2010 and Excel 2008/2011 iirc).

 

I don't understand the whole thinness craze that's all the rage these days. Sure the Air is a great notebook, but you give up a lot in terms of usability and utility by being so thin. You can't upgrade anything and your stuck with the battery. I much prefer my X220i where most of the upgrades you'd like to make like the memory, WiFi card and/or hard drive, you can upgrade. I think there's a stronger correlation between weight and mobility than thinness.

 

This. Not only what you mentioned, but you normally pay more money for that thinness. Don't get me wrong, Ultrabooks are really cool but paying more and getting less just doesn't sit well with me.

 

I think 1" is about the perfect thickness. It still feels thin, but you can still cram some great hardware in it, and maintain upgradeability. My E6220 was about perfect.

 

I would agree. I like having a platter drive in my machine as 128 or 256GB isn't enough for me. When I had my X200 and X200t with 80GB SSD I disliked carrying everything on the external.

 

I hate that companies do not diversify their lineups. About 5+ years ago was the glory age of laptops to me. It was when you could choose any laptop size from litterally 7 inches in netbooks all the way to 20 inches in PCs like the HP HDX9000. And resolutions were plentiful in choice in almost all sizes. You could find 16:9 or 6:10 in every manufacturers all the way up to 1920x1200. You also had some great tablets, well we used to call them tablets then apple made the lame big phone and called it a tablet and suddenly short memory people started calling real tablets convertible tablets.

Do not get me wrong I think that things like ultra books are a positive addition for certain people, and I think that eventually slate tablets will come down to $100 where they can be useful as coffee table books and what not. But I just find it really annoying that all the manufacturers have used ultra books and slates as an excuse to get rid of the real diversity in laptops. The HP Tm2t is gone which used to be the only reasonably priced tablet, HP has gone the way of apple with boring uninspiring laptops with almost no diversity. HP does not even sell a legitimate gaming laptop anymore and they have had lots of problems with heat because they think thin and light is more important that you know actually cooling the parts properly.

Other things I hate are upselling. Configuration in laptops seems to also be going down. The top dell XPS now only has a 555M, ya, you want more you are forced to buy an over priced alienware. This was the same crappy tactic that got the US auto makers in trouble and now the PC industry is following.

I think that overall the entire laptop market has just figured out how to charge us more and sell us less. They like to claim simplicity is worth more, but its not to me.

I still have an Acer 5670, it had simple features like a webcam that you could rotate to record in the back of the laptop. This is something every laptop should now have, but instead you cannot find it in any. Laptops that could lock so they would not fall open on accident. Monitors with an extra hinge arm so you could move the display forward. Laptops with extra slide out monitors. Man like all this stuff is gone, you simply cannot buy anything that is full featured anymore. To me it just makes all the laptops from all the companies pretty much seem the same and I have lost any respect I had for any company. Innovation and common sense are absent.


My main complaint is that laptops seem to be going backward instead of forward. They lose functionality over time rather than gain it. You would think by now in 2012 we would have a standard laptop form factor for custom builders where you could actually upgrade your laptop, you know alot of people here complain about poor quality displays. Well one of the biggest reasons is why would anyone pay big money for a great IPS display when you will be forced to trash the laptop 2-3 years later when it is old and you have no upgrade options. Where as on a desktop if you buy a $1000 monitor you can go ahead and use it for a decade and keep hardware current.

We should have cool things like modular laptop displays by now, many companies should be shipping things like a little holder in your laptop for various things like pens, pointers, a small mouse.

To me the whole point of the laptop was suppose to be a mobile device that does all your computing for you. Instead now days I go through the air port and see people with iPads that have keyboards... and that is next to their laptop.... Then the wireless mouse and their breifcase is now like 30 lbs with all the chargers and accessories. yet they rave about how thin and light stuff is. So what if it is thin and light if you have to cart around 3 devices now instead of 1 that would have been lighter than those 3 even if it is heavier than any one of them.

 

I remember a flip phone that had a camera that flipped from back facing to forward facing years ago. It's a brilliant design. Instead of having a good camera in front and a crappy one in the front (which is what is done now), you could have one good camera for both.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2

 

I hate the stickers pasted all over the laptop. Giant advertisements for the brand names found inside. I don't want my laptop to be a billboard.

 

I wouldn't quite call that a "design fad". (But I see what you're getting at).

I dislike chrome. Too much chrome.

 

Firefox!!

(lol)

 

Lmao. Thanks PJH.

Tbh I am not a fan of Chromebooks... 'tis why I installed W7 on mine!

The browser is excellent though.

 

I use both Firefox (12, iirc) and SRWare Iron, which is like Chrome without the Google datamining. Both are excellent imo. Tried out IE9, but it didn't impress me much (more of a "meh", though definitely better than IE8).

 

Don't quite use FF anymore. Used Opera for awhile... and IE9 when I NEED TO. At least it's not as painful as IE8. I use to use another browser but I forget the name.

I think I'll give SRWare Iron a try. Looks interesting.

Did I mention I hate large bezels? I also dislike Acer chiclet keyboards. Not quite a trend for ALL laptops, but Acer really needs to improve on their design.

 

Eh, I'm a little worried about Lenovo's decision to move the entire Thinkpad line to chicklet keyboards; they were the last of the traditionals

I'm about 50-50 between FF12 and Iron. I've found myself having to switch a few times a day because sometimes NBR doesn't want to load under Firefox (probably a server issue; won't surprise me due to the recent changes made). Both have the features I actually care about (bookmarks under the URL bar, ABP), though FF has the benefit of having a separate text field for Google searches (I don't like the idea of having a hybrid URL/search field).

 

Back to design issues, yeah thin is over rated, the macbook pro's and the XPS Z's are thin enough.

 

Alienware and Sager are the only companies not using chiclets now I think

 

Isn't Sager still using chiclet kb's? I know my NP8170 has one...

 

Yeah, but 8170 is last gen

I really really dislike my Toshiba's keyboard....it's messing up my WPM speed.

Mr. Mysterious

 

right, but the 9170 are built on the same chassis as the 8170/Clevo P170.
*Edit* Was looking at the image gallery on XoticPC and apparently they are recycling images from the 8170. Checked Sager's site and now I see the new keyboard which is traditional and backlit. My mistake.
Man, what I wouldn't do to find a way to get one of those keyboards to work in my 8170 LOL.

 

Thick bezels
1366 x 768
Uneven screen lighting / low contrast
Useless shortcut keys above the keyboard (Good: volume, brightness, on/off wifi, etc. Bad: Media Center, email, etc.)
Cheap plastic chassis that flexes
Glossy plastic
Wedge shaped design, especially if the back is like 2 inches high (MSI I'm looking at you)
Ports in the front
Power jack on the side
Less than 4 USB ports
2 USB ports right on top of each other that makes one unusable if you plug in a fat flash drive in the other
90 degree power jack connector
Small / low capacity batteries
Hard to access internals
Badly designed cooling systems
Heat exhaust vent on the side
Fans that are hard to access to clean
Stickers. CPU / GPU / Windows ones are fine. Everything else is not.
Excessive branding
Weak hinges

 

I agree. Not being able to replace or upgrade common parts is not a good thing in my book. Also the lack HDD space is a huge "no go". I have a 500GB HDD that Im already filling and I havent even begun the real process of encoding and putting my movies on the HDD rather then disc.

 

even on slate tablet's. that's why I bought a tablet with a ram slot and a 2.5" HDD. with $500 I've a tablet with 1TB hdd and 8gb of ram. I also added 4G and gps using mini pci-e slots.

on the other side there's the new macbook that is really great /sarcasm
glued chassis, non removable battery, soldered ram, proprietary SSD interface.
really lovely. yet people buy it. I really can't understand.

 

This. I cannot believe nobody had mentioned this before. O man this is one of my pet peeves. Why in the world can manufacturers not put a very nice 4 screw cover on the button of the said laptop so you can remove it and have access to and clean the heatsink and fan with ease and repaste if needed. I really don't understand. Some laptops do it nicely. Some acer ones and the L and SL line of thinkpads, I think latitudes and maybe some toshibas I am not even sure which ones because they are so rare! and I clean at least one of two per week. Its not even funny on almost all laptops you have to disassemble the WHOLE laptop. Step 1: take out the battery. 2: Take off all bottom covers and screws. 3: Take off top panel button where the volume power button may be. 4: Take off keyboard. 5: Take off touchpad. 6:Remove antennas and cables that are connected from the screen to the wifi, microphone, webcam etc. 7: Take off SCREEN (wth! you have to take off screen to clean fan!) 7: remove stuff that keeps you from getting to the motherboard usb cables, front panel connectors, sata cd connector, card reader, etc, 8: remove motherboard (wth!) 9: remove fan and heatsink and clean and now go backwards to install everything. see what im saying why cant all laptops be as nice as this:





see that was nice and easy 7 screws and BAM. Is it because of an engineering challenge? A lot of people dont know this but if your laptop gets hot its probably because your heatsink is full of crap and you need to clean it up from the inside and NO a can of compressed air will no longer work at this point it may even make it worse by pushing some of the dust, lint, or air of whatever the hell is in there into the fan, stopping its motion or something i dont know. See picture

 

Because manufacturers want you to buy a new laptop when it overheats instead of just cleaning it out.

 

I dislike island-style keyboards.

Could live with 768p, cooling problems, stickers/bloatware, plastic, and all the usual complaints. Just give me a REAL keyboard please!

 

Rants? I have a few:
- Glossy screen = dust magnet.
- Thick and glossy bezel. Don't know why OEMs think that's a thing.
- Cramped keyboard, especially half-sized numpad (*cough*Clevo*cough*)
- 2 dozens bloatwares.

 

What tablet is this??? I'm in need of a active digitizer tablet that can travel well with my 15in workstation.

Can't live with all the things you can, but chicklet keyboards are sadly taking over. Hell even Lenovo gave up their legendary keyboard for this craptastic style... To say I'm very disappointed is a HUGE understatement.

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

 

Starting to make me consider babying the W520, since it might be the last mobile computer I'll have with a traditional keyboard. Maybe this is a good time to chant "the desktop will live!!!", unless mechanical keyboards and traditional desktop keyboards suddenly become island-style as well (!!!!!!!!!!!).

To play devil's advocate for island-style keyboards, I like how Lenovo tends to have a curvature on their newer keyboards, which make them closer to a traditional keyboard than other island-style keyboards. For example, I did enjoy using the Y470p and X120e keyboards when I had those laptops for review not long ago (though admittedly the 11.6" form factor is a bit small for me).

 

Ill agree to lenovos style of the chicklet being better then the rest. Also the vostro we have at work is close to the same feel and more tolerable the others, but still quite a PITA to use. No matter how you slice it they are still a terrible design, although some are better then others, and I too am babying my m4600 as the traditional keyboard and numpad are where its at. I feel like I am back on my old vostro 1700 with slight improvements and backlit keys added! I am also VERY happy I went full tilt on it as from the looks of things Ill have to stretch out the use as far as I can until either OEMs come to their senses or Im forced to upgrade as it no longer does the job. But Im hopeful the 2860QM will be more then enough for many years to come!

On the hopeful side the new MS tablet keyboard isnt the chicklet style which is good, IMHO, for the future. As for desktops, there will always be a need for them despite their popularity at an all time low, and thats why Im glad I still have my old PS/2 keyboard and I also bought into the thinkpad USB keyboard as well. So Im covered on the desktop side until they fully replace USB, and then Ill just buy an adapter. But I have started to see alot more chicklet keyboards for desktops/external keyboard fans. Frightening to say the least...

 

1. i hate the thick bezel too
2. i hate the loosy screens, lot of time no other to get than the worst resolution
3. i hate the plastic manufacturers have decided to use, a few are changing, but no many
4. i hate the forced video, what happen to consumer decided on ati or nividia
5. i hate the customization, espcially with dell and hp.....no choices
6..but what i really hate, as i stated, is the plastic laptops, i will absolute not spend my money on it.

 

Not a design fad but a fad none the less. Apple. Mediocre products backed by a great marketing and sales team. Overpriced and under performing. OK I guess for surfing Facebook at the Starbucks trying to "look cool".

Sent from my ARCHOS 80G9 using Tapatalk 2

 

I disagree. Apple sure as hell isn't for everyone and the kids at Starbucks that just use their $2000 MacBook Pros for facebook sure as hell give us a bad name, but Apple products are not mediocre and for people like me who use them for actual work, they are pretty great.

That's besides the point and not in relation to this thread, so if you want to debate with me, feel free to PM me.

 

Yes you can use them for work. But not my work. And they are over priced.

A choice that could come with every product you can buy should be color choice, no matter what it is. I can order a car in about 20 different colors if I want to order it and pay extra, and I would pay extra to have color choices from the manufacturer.

Sent from my ARCHOS 80G9 using Tapatalk 2

 

Last post for this since this is not going with the topic.

You shouldn't impose your uses, likes, dislikes, etc. on a product and call it mediocre, overpriced, etc.

People value different things when it comes to products. For example, I would rather have a Dodge Charger than a Smartcar as I don't like being cramped and in an accident wouldn't want just an inch of material guarding me. Does that make the Smartcar a mediocre product? No. Other people value gas mileage and like the compactness of it.

And really? Color options? There are much greater things you could have said against Apple.