Current design fads in laptops that you hate.

I'm not sure why it wouldn't even be an option though, since the cost of put a UHD screen on a laptop is literally peanuts.

p.s.
That's two brands, not 3. Aorus is merely a glorified Gigabyte. When I shopped for the P35x, the Aorus version was around $400 more, and the only additional "feature" on it was a multicolor backlit keyboard.

 

Point taken, though I consider the designs different enough to compete against each other in the same class. Still amounts to 4 models across, we'll call it 2.5 brands that have this configuration available and one of which is pretty much the highest performing 15" out there (NP9155/P750TM1-G)

 

All USB ports on one side or the other
WiFi on/off switches in locations that make them easy to toggle by accident
Odd-resolution screens with weird aspect ratios. Shouldn't 1080p be the minimum now?
BIOS which limits you to changing boot order and time/date
Bad cooling

 

Wouldn't say these are current design fads, its been going on for years.

Agree with the exception of aspect ratios. 16:10 is superior to 16:9 in my opinion though there can be a case made for 4:3 too when it comes to productivity. 16:10 though is a nice sweet spot between the two and is the most pleasant to use imo.

 

Maybe.... I feel like the laptops I got before my most recent purchases had much more robust BIOS settings and didn't suffer from the other issues I listed. I feel like most of the current ones I'm seeing are trying to compete with MacBooks' 'simplicity' at the cost of versatility and convenience. Maybe I got lucky before, but I just love the old Dell Precision laptop my new less-convenient OriginPC replaced.

 

That is true, everyone is trying to cash in on the Apple cult. I can't stand laptops that are overly minimalist at the expense of functionality, ports, cooling etc. IMO BIOS options depends on what laptop you go for. Generally gaming laptops and workstations have more options there, but they are still not advanced enough for my liking. Proper controls for fans, voltages, overclocking, RAM timings etc would be far more useful. The Apple design fad is to blame for ports being on one side, and yes you are correct that laptops are getting worse for ports. Some of us still have a use for an optical drive too, it would be nice to see some more laptops with one or at least that are sold with an external disc drive in the box.

The Wi-Fi switch issue has been around for years imo. The one complaint I have of my old M17X is that its easy to accidentally touch the Wi-Fi switch when using the numpad.

I agree on cooling even though some old laptops (mainly HPs) had abysmally designed cooling systems. Some old laptops had completely overkill cooling systems, like a Gateway I had about 10 years ago which had a substantial copper heat sink to cool a pretty weak Intel CPU (and no dedicated GPU) and the chipset. It even had a copper plate to cool the hard drive. I think it has got worse in recent years as manufacturers are trying to cram the most power possible into a small space. The Macbook Pro for example - 45W i7 and a dedicated GPU with the most pathetically thin and useless heat sink i have ever seen with barely any ventilation for the fans to intake or expel air. That abomination of a machine is one of the best examples as to why taking thin and light too far is a very bad idea. Not to mention the grand total of zero user serviceable parts it has. I think it has become more acceptable now to run your components at throttling temps, which is a retarded idea.

 

I would love for Apple to have less influence on designs in general, but I think consumer expectations need to be massaged a little bit back into realism. A lot of people seem like they're expecting some sort of version of Moore's law in relation to laptop thickness, like by 2022 we're going to be shoving XX80s into iPads or something.

 

Agreed. I'm tired of it. I'll take a 3" thick laptop if it will have better cooling & a top end GPU. I mean, the thickness of this P35x is nice and all...but this sucker can get insanely hot.

 

3" laptop with good cooling? Clevo P570 stock is running thin, so harry up.

If we only want to stay on GTX 1080 level performance, that might happen in a few years.

The problem is the XX80 of that time has to be much stronger.

 

True. It seems like the power/heat specs of the top end card will always require a similar form factor.

 

I think the primary factor is fab.

Cooling systems can be scaled up and down to a large extent (especially on desktops, but laptops are diverse as well). However one processor die can only be so large before it becomes economically unpractical to produce. The largest economically practical single-die design multiplied by its thermal density (which can only vary so much due to physical constrains of the semi-conductor material used) gives the heat flow a typical high-end system should be designed for. Notice how server/HPC orientated dies with higher expected margins can be somewhat larger (the 610mm^2 GP100 is the best example among GPUs). This effect will trickle-down to laptops.

Multi-die systems like those AMD has been pushing for (TR/EPYC, Navi) might alleviate the issue, until we scale to the point where the interconnect hits its physical constrains again.

 

Agreed, though I'm still of the opinion that the increases in performance will match or exceed how much the cooling can be scaled down in laptops. (Desktops I'm not worried about as much because there are so many options for cooling them)

 

Uhhh.. yeah. The whole thin thing is really rubbing me the wrong way.

Product Manager: Ok, thin is in. Cut the thickness down by another 10mm.
Engineer: But were are we going to put the cooling?
Product Manager: Meh, make the whole laptop 2in wider and 3in deeper. And throw some gaudy bezels on there while you're at it.

I think there are 3 backpacks on the entire planet, that the 17r4 will fit in. Thanks Dell.

 

I bet one of them is the old ROG backpacks from the G73 era, those would fit the giant Sagers of the day, as well as more recently an MSI GT80/GT83.

 

Checkout the Aorus X series. GTX 1080 slim and fairly cool.

 

Edge-lit keys. I love RGB, even just for the flexibility of choosing a static color. But does almost every RGB keyboard need to be edge-lit? Like yeah, it's colorful, I get it. They look SO much nicer and cleaner with just the symbols lit like the GS65.

 

I concur. Having only the alphanumeric lit makes a cleaner presentation. Makes it easier to see a key I want to press.

 

Wow! A thread I made years ago in high school is still super popular!

For me, I don't like the webcams below the screen, and I hate, hate, hate that they are doing away with full-sized SD Card Slots! Who the hell uses MicroSD cards?!

 

I dare say anyone who uses SD cards NOT in a DSLR. =p

I currently hate soldered WLAN cards the most. We're expecting 802.11ax very soon; I can understand a soldered WLAN card in a 10" tablet, but not in something like Dell XPS 15 2-in-1.

 

Another thing which thin compromises is build ruggedness.

Laptops companies need to realize that not everyone is enamored with apple design. If we wanted thin fragile crippled laptops, we would buy apple. There is a reason why many people don't buy apple (and it's not just cost).

 

I don't think that's completely true. Alot of the gaming thin and lights have full metal chassis and are pretty sturdy. My wifes plastic MSI on the other hand, which is probably twice a thick as a thin and light, is about the least structurally sound machine I've ever seen.

 

Really? Because I trust MSI build quality WAY more than I trust the half-as-thin Gigabyte.

Maybe "feel" isn't an appropriate judge of quality. The cooling capacity on an MSI never left me question it. This Gigabyte will spike to 100 C and then spontaneously shut off. I have to run games in 100% fan speed just as a preventive measure. Even then, sometimes it overtasks.

Nothing wrong with putting a 1070 in a 15" with a 4k screen. Just a silly idea to try and make it look like a macbook air.

 

Don't forget not all metal is equal. Aluminum is especially soft - people just believe it's the "best choice" because Apple does it.

A metal chassis that meets a mil-spec rating probably has a magnesium frame, which is stiffer and stronger.

 

I'd still rather have an aluminum frame than alot of the flimsy plastic ones. My Y50 (not sure if qualifies as a thin & light, but was aluminum) stayed as solid as the day I bought it up until the mobo shorted out 3 years later. While my wifes GE60 has been falling apart since about a year after she got it, as well as many other plastic MSI laptops from what I've heard.

 

Dell said to release new carbon-fiber notebooks in 2H19 digitimes.com | 25 April 2019

Carbon fiber notebooks will stage a comeback soon, as Dell is reportedly to launch new notebook models adopting carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic chassis in optional colors in the second half of 2019 and HP is also expected to follow suit. And their Taiwan chassis partners are gearing up to roll out different colors of carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic casings, according to industry sources.


Taiwan notebook chassis makers are actively moving to develop multi-color carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic chassis for notebooks by directly coloring carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic plates instead of conducting surface coating. Among them, Mitac Precision Technology, an affiliate of Getac Technology, is expected to ramp up its shipments of color carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic chassis to notebook brand vendors in the US in 2019.

Not all plastic is created equal. And not all create the chassis equal as MSI.

 

I have had 3 MSI laptops. None of them were "falling apart", despite extensive plastic construction. I don't know who you are talking to on that.

 

Not all aluminium is created equal either: the thick stuff that Alienware used on the M17X R1/R2 was great, but the crap that Dell put on my old XPS was pathetic. The palm rest on that thing has deep holes in it where my hand has corroded the aluminium. I'd take plastic any day over that stuff, since it is less reactive and will not corrode.

 

Agreed. Nothing annoys me more than hearing a product is made from "aerospace grade aluminum" - different parts of the plane/rocket are made from different alloys, whether 6061, 7075, or a cheaper grade like 5052.

Salespeople love to oversimplify.

 

I love plastic. It's cheap and lightweight. But there are two things that worry me.
One is plastic hinges. The other is dropping a plastic laptop/notebook.

My "pet peeve" with laptops/notebooks is unnecessarily long heat pipes.
I prefer short, simple, compact yet effective heat pipe routing/layouts such as:

https://www.notebookcheck.net/fileadmin/_processed_/0/3/csm_DSC_0918_933573d78c.jpg
https://www.notebookcheck.net/fileadmin/Notebooks/News/_nc3/xps_shared_heatsink.jpg
http://forum.notebookreview.com/media/orca-image-1506636895068-jpg_1506636895922.1732/full
https://www.mobiletechreview.com/notebooks/image/lenovo_y700_guts.jpg
https://www.notebookcheck.net/fileadmin/_processed_/4/d/csm_Dell_G3_Maintanance_2e87bbbc96.jpg
http://www.cartoonaday.com/images/cartoons/2011/07/modbook-mod-heatsink4-598x446.jpg

 

Plastic is cool, but it needs proper reinforcement. Not like cheap junk MSI uses, where the display hinges failed on my GE63 in less than a year. When I disassembled it, I saw why - MSI put the metal nuts (the things which you screw the hinge screws into) into very thin and flimsy plastic standoffs. And yes, I know that I can buy a top portion of the case with these standoffs from AliExpress or places like these for like $45 but why bother if they use same design and materials?

 

I've only ever bought their GT series. I don't know that I'd trust lower end.

 

Glossy screens are a huge improvement over the ancient-looking matte ones.

Anyway, my list:

• Tablets with the power button on the middle side where you're likely to accidentally hit it
• Laptops that are essentially big cellphones and have to be pried open with special tools
• Laptops where you have to take out the system board to reach the RAM slots
• Display port out but no HDMI
• Trackpads that are off to one side of the palmrest

Also, I don't get why non-touch laptops are still selling, or why we haven't got to a point where all laptops over, say, $400, have backlit keyboards.In the last 5 years laptops haven't really improved much in terms of stats, resulting in PC makers trying to add a bunch of gimmicks to sell their products.

 

I totally agree with you on your second and third points, but I only want a matte non-touch screen - clearly this is a preference that varies by user. And I have no issue with an off-center trackpad (centered on the keyboard but shifted over because of a numpad).

 

Matte > Gloss anyday. Gloss only became popular to hide an otherwise horrible screen. No touch screens on laptops. Get a tablet or a yogabook or something. I don't need/want the additional cost.

Agreed about backlit keyboards.

I keep hoping for a roll-up screen intended for use with a laptop. 15" feels very cramped when i switch from my desktop.

 

Improvement? Yes they generally have greater contrast but if I have to position the screen just right to avoid looking at my own face, the sun, or ceiling lights it's a real problem. The reason I didn't switch to Apple some years ago was them removing all matte screen options, probably a good thing given the crap they produce nowadays.

I don't want touch screens as they aren't ergonomic and (almost?*) invariably means a mirror instead of a usable screen (also non-ergonomic). Actually many touchscreens have extra problems with glare due to design and have the touch layer reducing brightness to boot.
(* think I've seen one laptop with a semi-matte touchscreen)

But I'd not have any problem with glare screens and touchscreens being options if the buyer wants it - no need to force it onto the buyer Apple style.

 

Agreed. Want the option, just don't force feed it. Like how 4k should always be an OPTION, not just force-feed people 1080p.

 

If manufacturers are intent on stripping most all ports then they should include a magnetic dock of some sort.

 

I'll go one further. If USB-C is the future, we should have MORE of them. And ideally at least 3x USB ports on the left side. Nothing like having to fight for space to use my mouse with a clunky USB plug poking out the right side of my laptop...because there was nowhere else to plug it in.

Also, can we PLEASE stop with the 4"+ deep palmrest? It's annoying.

 

How about making USB C ports power delivery enabled? Like I get that I can't power a 1060 off the usb c port but at least let me charge my laptop trough the damn port. Would save me the hassle of carrying a 2kg brick of a charger to places where I don't need the horsepower of the laptop. I just need a laptop.

 

I don't know if this is "current", but why can we 1) turn off blue hues via Night Light in Windows but still 2) laptop keyboard backlights are a nice cool 6000K:

 

Anything RGB. Control panels with preinstalled apps.

 

My biggest problem is *anything* with a 1366x768 screen. Why is this still a thing? Minimum spec should be at least 1920x1080. Or hell, at least make a *nice* 1366x768 display, with good color repro, vibrancy and good viewing angles. Why are all 1366x768 panels turds?

 

Why is anything < 1080p...even a thing at all?

 

The sick skinny trend continue, and now rebranded to lure you into thinking the notebooks become even thinner.


Updated | Official XPS 13 9300 specifications are at odds with Dell's claim of it being thinner and lighter than its predecessor notebookcheck.net | Jan 30, 2020

Is the XPS 13 9300 thinner and lighter than the XPS 13 7390? Well, Dell seems to think so at least, even though its product listings state otherwise. Confused? So are we.
Update: Dell has clarified that it has changed how it measures the thickness of its laptops. Accordingly, the XPS 13 9300 is 1 mm thinner than its predecessor.

 

Yup, you can't have a stealth gaming laptop when it's putting on a light show.

 

They have their own way of measuring everything based on what's best for sales. Just like the world's most powerful laptop they sell that isn't. They just make stuff up as they go along and change the rules to fit the situation, and people believe them. I bet they didn't change how they measured the old one.

 

Retarded attempts to be a gaming laptop. My father-in-law found himself getting an Acer Nitro laptop with, brace yourselves, 1650M Max-Q with a goddamn red backlight that can't be switched to different, less annoying colour, and once switched off it turns itself on after a reboot.

BGA ********.

Plasticky and, frankly, Freudian design of new Alienwares (Aurora, anyone?) Shoddy casings, woeful attempts to leap away from the true design of <2013 design that was 'the stuff' to Star Trek/Apple-looking-sheyt.

Incredibly limited upgradeability, resorting to even soldered RAM.

Lousy, proprietary drivers for basic stuff, such as some cameras, touchpads, and so on.

Departure from MXM slots...

The fact that eDP doesn't equal eDP. If I want to create a Frankensteins monster of a laptop and plug in an 18" screen into a 13" laptop, let me do it goddammit, there can't be too much difference between one FHD screen to another. And, since I can plug in any FHD screen via VGA/HDMI, why not standardize the eDP and not shackle us to a specific revision of a specific model?

 

You forgot the soldered WIFI

 

Yeah, that's bollocks. We're supposed to be in the future,dammit, where laptops advance, not retract to worst practices of CrApple...