Current design fads in laptops that you hate.

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).

 

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.

Yup Apple IIe for me(and a bit of commodore 64). Although my dads computer had a amber on black I messed around with.

 

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 )

 

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.

 

Yes... straight power on the side is lame... but front right USB ports could be useful (for mouse or USB drives).

 

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 out I know that Thinkpads do too, but they're not trying to be the hip trend setters or something like that.

 

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 ).

 

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!

 

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:

 

Hmmm. I have been told that the people in Louvre, Pixar, NASA, MARCS, CERN, Gugenheim, WSJ, Juilliard and MET don't do any actual work. I suppose I should have believed that. To use a physical button one has to make use of a finger, or more. The more buttons there are, the more fingers need to be used. Beyond a point, it becomes cognitive gymnastic to operate too many buttons at the same time. Gestures simply combine mulitple button-functionalities into one combined motion-type with a simple surface structure. Much like a motion-tracking technology, only simplified to reduce end-user efforts. But obviously some people won't like it. When the mechanical typewriters were being replaced by computers, there were huge outcries from those tarnished by conventionalities. Understandable. Completely. I do sympathize.

I wish glass trackpads were more common. I wouldn't have the complaint then.

When your viewpoint moves down, your content goes up. Thus a gesture/technique that moves your viewpoint up, effectively and by simple logic of transferability, moves the content down. This in return is something that does not happen in nature. My trackpad does not require ugly lines on it to tell me where I can scroll. I can scroll anywhere I like, and I don't have to worry about accidentally touching a specific portion and scrolling out of view. Neither do I need to tap and hold, or hold a key to move a page up or down. A simple gesture does that for me, and I have to use two less fingers for it. Reductio ad absurdum does not always work, and more often than not backfires.

Yes! The first part of your comment is exactly what I am saying. Attention to details, even the minute parts of it, is how great work is done. Even the adapters should be given much thought while designing. The parts make up the whole, and the whole is gives dimension to the parts. One can not be complete without the other.

*sigh*

 

Gesture is great if all your mouse activity do not require simultaneous input, I wouldn't try using gesture when playing FPS and ARPGs.

 

Another nail in the coffin of our prematurely deceased ThinkPad...

 

I wouldn't mind that if it is not much inferior and fix the stuck going up/down problem.

 

Well, agreed. But gaming, and I am talking about serious gaming, inevitably requires an external mouse. We were talking about inbuilt trackpads.

 

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.

 

Am I supposed to care? :-D

 

Whoa! You nailed it bro! Excellent composition!

 

Nope.

It's just that most manufacturers are not intent on spending more than $0.03 on speakers of a $2K laptop...

 

I believe it has less to do with expense and more to do with physics and case design. Since the trend is moving towards lighter/thinner laptops, to put in powerful speakers with enough space for proper resonance is a design constraint. External speakers have less limitations.

 

Speakers are more or less garbage on every laptop...best use a good pair of headphones heh

 

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.

 

Very true.

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...

 

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.

 

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

 

I know that they do, but most I've seen atleast try to hide it somewhat and don't put it centered in the middle. I don't have experience with an SD card reader on the front since that's a no buy for me. I learned that one by having a laptop with audio in/out at the front (Aspire 9420), it was indeed very annoying.

~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.

 

Well, I hope ARM going big will help eventually.

 

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 off and off course it is always off when I'm typing number

 

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.

 

I don't think so. Look how intel reduces power consumption on each gen, they will eventually catch up to ARM in tems of efficiency.

 

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.

 

Well, most people aren't getting ips for color accuracy, but better view angle and gamut. It become a trend because really crap tn panel existed. Though ips is a pita cause of light bleed and glow.

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.

 

ARM is not sitting still on this. They are producing lower wattage chips and more multi-core chips. The war between ARM and Intel will be fun!

 

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.

 

Current GMAs are just misnamed HD 4000 family GPUs. And you can't replace all dGPUs in laptops with integrated, since we don't have the current technology to integrated something like, say, a 765M without the laptop melting.

 

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.....

 

I would love that so much. I really despise having my keys squished together and really don't make use of the numberpad at all. Tossing it and giving a nice chunk of space for the arrow keys and such would be a dream come true. They could always sell a usb number pad separately. I was tempted to go for 17 inch notebooks just for the extra space figuring the keyboards would expand to it, but at best they seem to shove extra macro keys into the space if anything at all. It confuses me why they make these choices.

 

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".

 

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.

 

Any that is why you get a matte screen protector and welcome back to the awesome world of matte. It also prevents fingerprints from showing as much and protects the display from scratches. I don't care how tough gorilla glass is, it will eventually get scratched in some mysterious way. It always happens eventually.

 

I have the Dell external and the laptop side by side and the laptop has slightly inkier blacks. Otherwise, they're identical up to the laptop's 1080p limit.

Also, the low glare panel does offer some modicum of reflexivity reduction but I'm really not bother by it either way.