My biggest pet peeve is notebooks where the lid opens less than 180 degrees. I use my computer in a variety of positions and situations and I want it to be able to accommodate however I want to use it. It seems 90% of the current notebooks out there only open to just over 90 degrees.
I also don't like clickpads, systems with no optical drive, and when all the ports are on one side (instead of being spread out for convenience).
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Bad built in mice. Im definite hater of the built in point stick and touchpad opn my dell precision. Then again I did come from thinkpads that have without a doubt the best built-in mice.
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The !_=&#~!@^*%@! Apple inspired touchpads!
Horrible Cooling (Thank god I have an FW)..
No Insert and the lifesaving Pg Dwn and Pg Up keys.
!****@ 1366x768 in 14+ laptops these things are lifeless and were put there specifically by the manufacturer to cause pain in suffering in your 14 in or higher laptop
Horribly made Island-Style keyboards (Apple you ruined it!!!!) (My Sony used to feel exclusive)
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768p ranting for the win. Can't stand that resolution on bigger laptops. And I'd rather have my TrackPoint than any touchpad
Would rather have the traditional keyboards back though. This island keyboard nonsense needs to go away -
I hate a lot of things, begins rant now:
1) Only 3 USB ports, most older laptops go at least 4 of these, and needs to be better positioned because sometime its too close to each other and other ports like HDMI.
2) Low screen resolution. Nowadays tiny smartphones got FullHD resolution screen with IPS and such so why not laptops? At least give minimum 1600x900 resolution. On smaller screen 16:10 screen are more preferable because more vertical spaces. Low contrast and bad view angle TN panels need to go too.
3) Poorly designed chasis. Bad airflow inside the case makes one part of the laptop hot while others cool (ASUS A42J for example, harddrive roasting to 55C while CPU is about 40C)
4) Thick bezel. The screen itself isn't that big but the bezel is huge. Get rid of it. Make smaller bezel and narrower case
5) Crappy onboard speaker. Toshiba N520 and NB550D proves tiny doesn't mean bad sound quality. Cheap laptops usually have crap speakers that even smartphones can go higher volume and better sound quality than laptops. What gives??
6) Small arrow keys like everyone said. Annoying when you wanted to use them.
7) Need better access to internals for upgrade and cleaning. Don't put harddrive buried deep underneath keyboard that I need to disassemble everything to get it (Dell I'm looking at you) -
-no option for keyboards without number pads in gaming laptops
-ethernet port on the right-hand side
-3.5mm headphone jack on the right-hand side
-only 3 USB ports
-poor microphone placement (shouldn't be anywhere near the keyboard, preferably beside the webcam) -
Not reading the other 19 pages, but straight power plug on the right-side. USB ports towards the front right.
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Yes... straight power on the side is lame... but front right USB ports could be useful (for mouse or USB drives).
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1. Any trackpad that has keys on it! Who needs an extra mechanism to do something that can be achieved with a gesture?
2. Plastic bodies that creak whenever touched.
3. Physical bezels instead of edge to edge glass display.
4. Plastic trackpads.
5. Unnatural scrolling. When I push a paper upwards on my desktop, it goes up NOT down. I expect the document on my screen to do the same, and not act unnatural and push the contents down!
6. Rectangular blocks of plastic bricks for adapters!
7. Adapter ports that require physical pushing in for the adapter to connect.
8. Low resolution screens with terrible color reproduction.
9. Lack of aesthetics and originality in design. -
^^^ You're assuming that the software-based trackpad won't screw up. I'm fine with either design, and I know that with buttons, you won't be able to mess it up with a botched driver update.
As far as I know, it's possible to change the scrolling settings on the trackpad to act like a Mac. I know for a fact that the Dell Latitude E5430 allows that, and I'm sure most notebooks do.
Design is subjective. If you ask me, MBPs look boring since the look the same year in and year outI know that Thinkpads do too, but they're not trying to be the hip trend setters or something like that.
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Software based trackpads do get screwed up. But only in Windows machines. My brother's VAIO has a buttonless trackpad, and it is useless. First of all it's made of plastic, second it wobbles around too much, third it set so bad you can hear it vibrating if you so much as blow on it, and finally the gesture recognition sucks. My Mac on the other hand, has never once frozen in the one year I have been using it- NOT ONCE. It has never missed a single gesture, and the glass surface is a pleasure to touch.
I agree about the scroll-direction changing part.
I would be royally pissed with Apple if they changed the MAC's design without making any significant upgrades aesthetically. If they want to make it more minimal, sleeker, quieter, I don't mind changes. But if it's just to change the looks, that does not make sense. The Monalisa doesn't get repainted to change its looks. And there is a reason for that- it's an aesthetic masterpiece. Johny Ive uses design techniques that are often lost on those who are not properly educated about aesthetics or industrial designing. As one small example, Ive took three years to determine the radius of the curve around the screen hinges... it's exact measurements. That's because he wanted the whole product to be aesthetically proportionate. That's the kind of attention to details that makes the MAC what it is. Precision. Aesthetics. Reliability. Those are things based on ZEN philosophy that make the MAC ecosystem so very superior. It's not just about getting something done that counts. It's how you get it done that adds value to it. -
I realize that, fundamentally, you'll pretty much disagree over my overall opinion ("MBPs look stale"), but bear with me here...
Symmetry is your trump card? I've yet to see a laptop that's physically lopsided, and I think you're severally underestimating the capabilities of other laptop designers. Making something look even on both sides and making sure that your corners all point to the center is Design 101. So we're back to square one: they design is simple, and some like it, and some think it's boring. I understand why the Thinkpad style has stayed mostly the same (until recently...) since businesses don't buy laptops for looks (it's for work, and just work), but the MBPs don't have that excuse (Macs aren't used in corporate environments excepts as pretty toys for the higher-ups, and even in what was once traditionally-strong OSX workplaces have transitioned mainly to Wintels or Linux thanks to things like Apple botching up the newest FCP... ask KCETech1 about this stuff as she knows more about it than I).
Overall, we're just nit-picking over minor details in a laptop's design (well, that's the purpose of this thread lol!). Personally, I'm a practical guy and lean more towards "function over fashion" since my priorities first start in the computer hardware (CPU, GPU, display, etc.), then I'll move on to looks (I bought a workstation since I wanted some gaming capability, long battery life, and I didn't want an Alienware, which looks silly imo). For hardware, both "camps" use the same stuff: Foxconn, Asus, Samsung, Intel, and both laptops are made by ODMs and not the companies themselves ("Designed in America" means jack-all if most of the engineers, designers, and builders are off-shore).
Haven't played with a lot of newer touchpads in awhile, but my girlfriend's Latitude E5430's touchpad feels pretty good to the touch (don't recall if it's plastic or glass). And last time I've read up on reviews, there are several Wintels with large, glass touchpads (whether or not the software is an exact match is something I don't know, but I don't read a lot of bad things about these touchpads). However, overall I prefer trackpoints since I don't have to move my finger at all; basically, I can scroll and move my cursor to infinity (try that on any touchpad or mouse).
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I hate:
- Whitelisting specific wi-fi cards only
- Buttonless trackpads
- Glossy screens
- Hewlett Packard (HP)
- Bad cooling
- Fingerprint readers on the SIDE of the screen... HP!
- Stickers on palmrest (unless it's the ultrabook silver ones)
- Painted aluminium
- Non-removable batteries
- Glowing logo's (HP, Apple)
- Non-backlit keyboards
- Small trackpads
- Recessed hinge design
- Plastic AND aluminium mixed together... Choose one or the other OR GO HOME!
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A fad that I like that should get wider implementation is the optical trackpoint. I first saw/tried it on the Sony Duo and it's very easy to use compared to the traditional physical trackpoints.
It looks like Lenovo is now doing it too:
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*sigh*
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Gesture is great if all your mouse activity do not require simultaneous input, I wouldn't try using gesture when playing FPS and ARPGs.
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Another nail in the coffin of our prematurely deceased ThinkPad...
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You know what's annoying?
Why is it that we can put some amazing sound quality into higher-end headphones (Sennheiser, Audio-Technica, etc.), yet we don't have the ability to put some decent speakers into a laptop? If we have the technology to pack in powerful, quality speakers into a set of portable headphones, why do OEMs not do the same for the majority of their laptops? -
@Kuroi:
You can make speakers that cover your ears sound better than speakers that are in a laptop and are farther from your ears. -
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It's just that most manufacturers are not intent on spending more than $0.03 on speakers of a $2K laptop... -
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Speakers are more or less garbage on every laptop...best use a good pair of headphones heh
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Sure, that's the best solution now. But I'm convinced that in "real" laptops (normal-sized ones), there's enough room to transplant the speakers from decent headphones into a laptop. Hell, if I exclude the padding, my HD 429 headphones are thinner than my laptop, and they sound better even if I'm not wearing them (such as on a desk near me).
It's just companies being cheap and customers not knowing any better. Same reason we're still stuck on 768p displays as being the norm. -
You'd be floored with the quality of sound (compared to the rest of laptop world) my ancient A31p is capable of producing...granted, it's a huge machine by today's standards, but it's also ten years old...and the technology has moved forward in so many respects... -
killkenny1 Too weird to live, too rare to die.
I could actually live without in-built speakers. I'm either hooked up to headphones or normal speakers. Couldn't care less for the in-built ones.
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I got a new one to add: the SD card reader on the new Dell Inspirons, what were they thinking? Putting a gaping hole smack in the middle :laugh: It's even worse on the 15R because of the color difference.
What's next, USB and HDMI moved to the front instead of the side as well?
~Aeny -
~Aeny -
I have to say, I think Intel's push for progressing ULV CPUs is great and all, but it seems as though, besides the GPU, the past two years has seen very little progress in the CPU department for the normal-voltage CPUs. It's crazy to think that my Sandy Bridge MacBook Pro is only 10-20% slower than the forthcoming Haswell MacBook Pros.... it seems as though just a few years ago every year the CPU development was astonishing. Now.... besides ULV CPUs.... not so much.
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currently kinda hate the keyboard of Y580, backspace and enter key is shorter.
Backspace key is right next to Numlock so I'm never sure whether numlock is on or offand off course it is always off when I'm typing number
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Tinderbox (UK) BAKED BEAN KING
I really hate that a manufactures are producting notebook without hdd/ssd ativity led, i have had two notebook like this and it does my head in not knowing if my machine has frozen, if you see the led flashing you normaly know you are ok.
I had an HP notebook with an hdd/ssd led, but they put it on the side next to the power socket, crazy or what.
John. -
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I hate the trend of "everyone must have an IPS screen" or "pick an IPS screen".
For me it's just a waste of money considering i don't do photography, i don't want people peeking at my screen and i prefer the lower costs and improved response times. -
Personally, I will take va panel over ips, but ips won the marketing war. -
Things that I dislike in laptops
1366.x768 LCD's of any size.
16:9 LCD's of any size
Island keyboard / chiclet keys
Non-removeable batteries
Hard to access RAM / HDD
Cheap plastic. Plastic is fine, just use a polymer with some strength
Logo's and stickers everywhere. KISS.
Tiny touchpads. I use trackpoints, but on the occasion I use the touchpad, it better be of a decent size.
Button-less trackpads. Bite me Apple.
Huge display bezels. It's quite obvious you (the mfgr) are trying to save money by using a smaller LCD.
Media keys other than volume up, down and mute.
Crappy cooling in the name of looks.
+ others.
I am very discerning when it comes to my laptops. I prefer the traditional black slab with some elements here and there to spics it up. Good examples of what I love are the Apple Powerbook G4 Aluminum, Thinkpad T4x Series, and the E6500/M4400 series. -
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This is actually a wonderful post. I've enjoyed reading the 26 pages and it really helped me see what is going on in the trending of laptop.
Some questions though:
Why do you so hate chiclet keyboard? Would be all mechanical be an alternative (considering cost)?
Some stuff that I dislike:
-Glossy surface, yuk i can see the difference of cleanliness on the bezels of my 11.6" ASUS compared to its matte textured wrist rest.
-Impossible to open computer; how are we supposed to clean the fans?
-Stickers: I've actually managed to cut myself pretty badly on one of them..; I don't know how I manage that though...
-Fn touch: RAH so annoying! So counter intuitive.
-Nothing to do with aesthetic but how some resellers sell 4 years old computer with say a 460 for as much as recent computer with a 765... It just frustrates me to imagine people who don't really know that market buying and getting $¨%*!d.
- In the same area: Overpriced laptop that you pay for brand. It can of remind me of the 90s where you would be bullied if you did not wear the cool brand. That is one of the reason why I don't like Macbook, Alienware and others. They cover good niches but people tend to overestimate their value. -
intel HD graphics below the iris.
they should just discontinue discrete gpus and replace them with intel iris pro graphics. some still ship with intel gma YUCK. -
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inaccessible fan and cmos button for gaming laptops (with unlocked bios)
soldered anything except CPU and GPU because its understandable
thick bezel i.e. 15 inch chasis with 14 inch screen, i'm looking at some alien here
glossy anything, including the laptop i own
i wish somebody can make an external MXM slot so that we have a machine that is lighter when mobile but powerful at home, if somebody can make us a fully modular laptop..... -
HTWingNut likes this.
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In my research for a new workstation I have found a few (the machine I chose is has a minor infraction):
- Glossy/reflective anything! if I want a mirror Ill either get up and use one or tape one to my laptop
- Single fan for GPU and CPU. OK for 14in and smaller but for larger "desktop replacements" (never understood that term) is a big NO NO!
- Chicklet keys yet again...honorary mention to the one of the worst ideas ever (tied with 16:9 downgrade!)
- Offering higher resolutions only in 15in and smaller laptops while 17in and larger are stuck with 1080p. Doesnt make a lick of sense!
- Windows 8 anything. Great for tablets not for a workstation IMHO. Hope the next windows goes back to normal.
- Lack of battery technology improvements. Everyone is so focused on CPU and GPU power and it seems we always ignore battery technology. Sad that battery tech hasnt changed much -
^^ agreed. I would love to have a 1440p (or better yet 1600p, but now we're just getting crazy) display on my 17" laptop. 4k would be awesome too, and the larger screen would help make everything not quite so tiny if you kept native scaling. Heck, we can't even get wide gamut panels in a 17".
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It must have been said over and over again, but glossy displays! I knew about the display specs on the T100 before buying, but damn it's really annoying being next to a window with this thing opened.
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Also, the low glare panel does offer some modicum of reflexivity reduction but I'm really not bother by it either way.
Current design fads in laptops that you hate.
Discussion in 'Notebook Cosmetic Modifications and Custom Builds' started by TSE, Dec 28, 2011.