Current design fads in laptops that you hate.

No the color option was not against apple, it was against every manu. that should be a common thing now instead of black/silver.

speaking of charger....hows this one...thats in my driveway!

 

I don't like modern Macs either but...back on topic...
The usual things, gloss panels, perma-RAM, etc, those all suck. For me, chiclet keyboards being marketed as premium. They're harder to type on; not a fan of them at all. And, speaking of weird resolutions, let's hope this isn't pushed any harder (sorry if it's already in here somewhere):

First 21:9 UltraBook Revealed by Toshiba - Softpedia

1792x768. What the hell is that?

I really, really fancy my dumb little stickers, though. I fix enough of these things, those stickers tell me, at a glance, instantly, what I'm looking at: what era the computer is from, whether it's bottom of the barrel or top of the line, etc. This might not be the case if I didn't get this dialog almost every time someone brings me a laptop:
Me: Okay, so it crashes when you start it and it gets to Windows. What is it?
Tech Illiterate: Uhhh...2009 Toshiba. I hard those are better than Dells.

 

1) Cramped I/O ports. I remember plugging in usb mem keys and not having space to plug in stuff in adjacent usb ports
2) Loose power plugs, that fall out with the slightest movement of the laptop. Seen it across almost all brands.
3) Weapons grade laptops, and not due to weight. Just sharp, ultra pointed corners, like on the alienware lids.

 

You can do what I do and just drop your laptop several times until the corners are well-rounded.

Though I'm talking about a business laptop with SSDs. Wouldn't suggest it on consumer laptops >.<

 

Actually the crash tests for those Smart Cars weren't too bad.

 

smart car crash - YouTube

I'd imagine that for most Americans, the Smart Car would be a terrible car to have based on test crashes. Unless you want to be stuck in your town, you'll be out on highways or Interstate highways going at least 50mph+, and at those speeds, the Smart will survive, but you won't.

Much rather have at the least a small sedan than this thing. (2005-ish) Honda Civic would be my smallest, *maybe* a Honda Fit. I don't even see the point of a Smart Car anyway, since the MPG isn't much better (or is lower) than your average smaller car today. Maybe for parallel parking it'd be okay (though I can parallel park an Avalon, so.. ).

 

What I hate in current notebooks? 1366x768... Why, just why?

 

Low contrast, low gamut cheap crappy screens. The screen is what you use most IMO.

 

I don't like cheap construction I like things built to last, proprietary parts, why can't they make laptops easy to mod and upgrade like desktops? (I know the manufacturers need to make money but a guy can dream)

 

- difficult access to hardware on laptop bottoms.
- clickpads; however, the multitouch gestures imrproved a lot.
- centered touchpads, especially on laptops with number pads.
- bad speakers
- nonremovable batteries
- rear exhaust vents with screens that cover them when you open the lid; that's retarded.
(mbp, mba, asus zenbook, etc.)
- shallow and wide-spaced chicklet keyboards
- fused ram/ssd
- copying apple design, hardware, that is. software, i don't mind so much. i do not like the mad design copies that some OEMs are doing.
- beats audio on hp series.


for the office, i know it's a big deal to many techies and whatnot, but i really don't mind the 16:9 ratio; and i do office work full time. i use both 16:10 and 16:9 at work... personal for me that i dont mind, for the most part.

audio is a big one for me, also. i do not know many people who have that on the top of their list, however. i prefer audio to screen >_> <_<

 

I really hate:

- glossy screens
- glossy bezels
- glossy keyboard trays
- glossy body construction
- gloss in general
- flimsy construction which leads to flexing
- horribly executed multitouch pads (oh God why, Synaptics)
- big battery, small battery life
- "premium" Altec Lansing speakers (you'll imagine they'll have some oomph to them especially when it's so proudly displayed)

 

With the introduction of these Windows Hybrids, one thing I am noticing with them is they al have gigantic, even bigger than before, screen bezels. It looks absolutely awful.

 

msata drives. hate them. 2.5" 9.5mm ftw.

 

This has got to be my favorite thread, been annoyed with many of these fads but cant really discuss it with people around me.

They just don't understand.

Here is my list:

+ Crappy resolution, seriously, 1366 * 768 ?! GUess if you put in a laptop, drop the price a bit, people will shut up.
+ Colors, viewing angles, brightness; laptop that i've seen and used has such ty colors (is 50% gamut the new 95?) T61P sucks a viewing angles, brightness, that in turns make whatever color's left ty.

ANd that's me not talking about netbook & ultrabook (going backward here?)

 

To much plastic!!!!

Seriously, it seems like no one makes gaming laptops out of metal anymore but razer and AW (and only for their m18x line). Aluminum adds a solid and premium feel to any laptop, and should be a serious contender for all brands. Why are there some brands that make 1000$ laptops made of anodized aluminum yet they also sell 2500$+ laptops almost entirely made of plastic?

I know plastic cuts down on the weight and heat, and can be very durable, but no plastic compares to real metal as far as "feel" factor goes. If it did, Apple would have switched over loooong ago.

 

While the aluminum does everything you've said, the problem with it is that it doesn't age too well in the "typical" laptop environment...its Titanium (Lenovo Z-series ThinkPads) and magnesium (Panasonic) counterparts suffer from the same set of issues...

My point exactly. These things need to be handled in gloves, and for many users that's simply not an option.

Don't get me wrong: I'm not against the use of aluminum - or other interesting alloys - in notebooks. I do, however, understand why not too many manufacturers offer this option...

 

The thing is plastic is not a current trend, which is what the OP was about, in fact now days we probably have the least plastic in computers we have ever had. Metal is the trend. Also plastic does not cut down on heat, metal spreads heat out and gets rid of it better. So the post about plastic was actually about the only thing right with laptops now days.

 

AW's m17x and m15x used to be made of aluminum, now its just the m18x.

 

ya but one example does not make a trend. There are just way more metal laptops than I ever remember before.

 

I love the feeling of metal. I guess its in my blood, since I'm a general building contractor. However metal in portable electronic devices is a catch 22. Drop a plastic device, from a small height, it may scratch. Drop an aluminum notebook from the same height, a big dent. I was going to get my son a nice cool aluminum notebook to replace his Acer 5650, but his Acer has taken numerous tumbles off his desk and bed. If it were a Mac, or some other aluminum or heaven forbid glass it would be destroyed. What needs to be develop is high quality composites for the exterior. Scratch resistant and crack resistant.

Sent from my ARCHOS 80G9 using Tapatalk 2

 

I have an m17x r3 and it's plastic, but it feels extremely solid. The only flex I have is in the keyboard, but the screen feels extremely strong, never flexes, the body never flexes. I think plastic can be a fine choice when executed correctly.

What do you mean they don't age well?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2

 

Scratches easily, and when scratched looks a lot worse than plastic with the same amount of scratching would. And it's next to impossible not to get there after, say, five years.

 

There is a huge caveat to this: free convection (the kind that happens at the surface of the laptop chassis both inside and outside) just sucks for heat transfer so while a metal chassis does have an edge in heat dissipation, it's not what some think it to be. To make a really noticeable difference, the chassis would have to be in direct contact with the heat generating components and that just ain't gonna happen on today's standard voltage components because even then, free convection won't cut it to cool them down. Don't get me wrong, the metal chassis does help a little, but only a little of the MBPs would be running without fans.

 

VGA ports, this is not really a trend but a port, but they seem unnecessary these days, with HDMI. Get rid of the vga and make the laptop thinner, or add more USB ports, or make the vents larger, it seems like the vents on laptops are made as small as possible to conduct heat. I think people see vents and think its cheap. That is why the premium laptops like MBP and Sony S hid the vents behind the screen. I liked how my thinkpad had a large vent on the side and the thing was always cold and quiet. On my current Dell, they could get rid of the VGA port and make the vent another inch wide, and add a bigger fan etc.

 

VGA is not going away anytime soon on any business model, just the way it is.

 

Keyboards without dedicated Pg/Home/End/Ins/Del keys.

 

Indeed, if they ditch the VGA port, they better include some sort of adapter, anyone using projectors on a regular basis at schools, universities, etc. will want to shoot himself without either a VGA port or an adapter. I've already lost count of the number of mac VGA adapters that were lost (that i know of) at my university.

Pg, Home and End i can live without, but del is a whole other story, I do however agree that those should be included on every keyboard.

 

Look at VGA port as DVD or CD, they may seem obsolete for people who follow tech, but they not going away soon. It took a while to get rid of VCR totally.

 

Well the would not stick around so long if HDMI was not such a horrible cable. VGA just works, and it is flexible, I ran a 2560x1440 display over VGA till I could get a display port cable, it worked, not bad for a 20 year old connection. HDMI was not capable of doing that which is pretty terrible for being a modern connection. It's funny because I and a friend each bought a laptop within the last 6 months from different makers and both recieved VGA ports, ironically we both use them too.

 

You forgot about SysRq, ScrLock, Break, ContextMenu, and Back/Fwd!

Even if you don't use these legacy keys, they are always open for remaps to things that you do use.

Adding to those complaints, I really don't want to part with my 7row keyboard. I was going to jump ship after Lenovo dumped us, but found that there was pretty much no one to jump ship to.

1. VGA isn't going anywhere anytime soon. VGA is pretty much the only video port you are guaranteed to have when you go somewhere. It's incredibly useful due to near universal support.
2. DP > HDMI. Since neither are anywhere close to the level of support VGA has, I think we are better off going with the technically superior standard, which is DP.

 

How about a lack of high resolution screens. I've had a notebook since before I joined this site, and I've always had a pretty high res screen. I go to spend about 1k on something now, and nothing but crap resolution. I finally decided on getting a desktop and to hell with notebooks. Note: I was looking at 15" and higher screen size.

 

This. You pretty much can count on 2 hands mainstream machines that offer high resolution panels.

Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk 2

 

There is no desktop monitor that have higher dpi/ppi than laptop screen though.

 

Yes but I can get 1080p in a screen size that I like with intel graphics. I can't stand to stuff any amd or nvidia graphics cards into notebooks any longer, they just deteriorate over time, even without gaming. I looked around for a while and couldn't find anything new(ivy/sandy) with intel graphics and 1080p screen for a reasonable price(Less than 1000).

 

Keyboard:
Flat buttons (Apple to blame)
Small arrows (Apple to blame)
No Home/End, PgUp/PgDn
No Insert
Numeric keys at the right side

Screens:
glossy
Lo Res
TN

 

I don't like the small negligible arrow keys that some laptops have.

I have no problem with no home/end, PgUp/PgDn keys but laptops without a Delete key really makes me mad.

 

Chiclet keyboards with little spacing.
Brushed aluminium - looks ugly.
Crap cooling. - not really a design fad but many laptops design looks before function.

 

You actually use insert? It just annoys me when I accidentally press it and don't realize it. I've never known anyone to use insert...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

 

I think most old school programmers use [Insert] quite a bit... even anyone who does word processing or document editing.

 

WHat would classify you as an old school programmer? I got my start in the early to mid 90s (middle/high school) and I never use insert.

 

Well... programming prior to Windows... which you probably have done.

In the DOS days, I used [Insert] (and [Delete]) in the IDE quite a bit. There were many times where you wanted to toggle between overwrite and insert to change variable names, values etc.

 

The advent of the mouse has probably also caused less usage of [Insert]. Now most people just highlight the text they want to overwrite (old school x86 PCs didn't have a mouse so you did everything with the keyboard).

 

I agree with the having small arrow keys. I absolutely hate that.

 

Ever since they revamped menu from office 2007, it slows me down to use the mouse XP Ctrl+V for me


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk...Ewww iPhone

 

Well, old school programming - in my book - would have to be related to 1960s or 70s at the very latest...as well as to serious stuff like Assembler if started at a later date...

 

right, when programming actually mean staring at black screen and white text. xD(not even born then)

 

Very well put.

And when people who knew what they were doing (in this particular field) got paid some serious bucks, quids and swiss francs...

 

Hey... the first screens I used to program on were monochrome... but it was more like orange text on black screens from what I can remember.

 

I guess that I'm either too old or not old enough.

Green on black is what I remember...

Then again...I did live in the UK and ate many tons of beef just before the whole Mad Cow thing...

 

Well... I also remember green on black (I think they were IBMs where the computer and monitor were "all-in-one")... but also white on blue... when you hooked up "computers" to a TV because they didn't have dedicated monitors yet (ie Commodores and Atari XLs). The orange text was on the PCs I used (286?).