Laptops Are Boring

[russell_314]

I looked this up the other day "It just works" was never Apple's official slogan apparently as I'm finding myself saying "it kinda works" 🤣

I think the days of thin laptops are coming to an end. With cpu's, gpus & ssd's getting faster, power & heat is increasing. Even raspberry pi's need heatshinks and fans now.

No... I don't think so. Not everyone needs that much power so when people start crying about the Air not having a heatsink or fan it drives me crazy. My M2 Air is thin and light. Sure they could have made it thinner but that would have been at the cost of battery life.

As to the Raspberry Pi heat sinks are are a good idea but you don't always need a fan. I have one running Pi-hole and it stays around 52º C without a fan.

 

[Ashbash75]

No... I don't think so. Not everyone needs that much power so when people start crying about the Air not having a heatsink or fan it drives me crazy. My M2 Air is thin and light. Sure they could have made it thinner but that would have been at the cost of battery life.

As to the Raspberry Pi heat sinks are are a good idea but you don't always need a fan. I have one running Pi-hole and it stays around 52º C without a fan.

Totally agree that thread was highly amusing

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

The fundamental design of the laptop is old. However, a MacBook is in many ways better, more exciting, more interesting, and much more functional than a tablet like an iPad. And that's because:

• The MacBook has precise, to one pixel, point and click functionality built-in. This is where an iPad struggles because that is not built-in. So user interfaces have to be much more simple with large hit targets designed for fingers... with what ends up being reduced functionality in software, etc.
• The MacBook has the form factor to be able to use it like a portable desktop computer, meaning it can be used on a lap, desk, etc. without hardly any compromise with the best portable typing and pointing and clicking experience available.
• Finally, and most importantly to this discussion, the MacBook ALSO HAS MULTI-TOUCH. The advent of this years ago on MacBook has slowly grown to the point where literally every multi-touch gesture available on the iPad is available on the MacBook. This is huge, and people just don't seem to understand how big of a deal this is.

Overall, a MacBook is the superior product to the iPad for the reasons mentioned above.

Don't forget the fact you can do whatever you want with a MacBook. You're not locked down to a single app store and free to install any available software and modify the OS as you see fit.

 

[Bodhitree]

I want a real “cloud” computer… a computer shaped like a cloud.

 

[iPadified]

It is fun to see the defense of laptops. I think you forgot the very exiting features of more ports.

 

[eltoslightfoot]

It is fun to see the defense of laptops. I think you forgot the very exiting features of more ports.

You won't catch me in your trap that easy. Oh wait, I guess I responded. Dang it!

 

[960design]

Laptops are boring.

My laptop is laughing at your comment... literally laughing.

 

[eltoslightfoot]

My laptop is laughing at your comment... literally laughing.

I had one of those a year ago, and man! Mine got hot playing any games. Had to swap it out for a gaming PC...I did like it though.

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

I want a real “cloud” computer… a computer shaped like a cloud.

And I want prebuilt computer manufacturers to make Hot Wheels PCs again but we can't always get what we want, can we?

 

[russell_314]

I had one of those a year ago, and man! Mine got hot playing any games. Had to swap it out for a gaming PC...I did like it though.

Every gaming laptop I've had got hot playing games. It's just their nature.

 

[Reggaenald]

You realize that was a joke yes?

How could I? Opinion pieces like this are shared and featured on here regularly, I figured this must be just another and quit reading.
Good to know it wasn’t meant to be serious though 😄

 

[lima90001]

I too have been looking for something less 'boring'...
I must be careful for what I wish!! (Maybe you too?)

In my pursuit for more fun, I have come a long way... but reached nowhere!

Although I have MacBook of all sizes (11,12*,13,14* and 15 inches) *=My favorites that I use, all from the first Titanium and Mac Plus, I also had iPad Mini, iPad regular sizes, Pro, Biggest Pro.... but I had always looked for fun elsewhere:

I had always found (bare with me) fun in my PCs: The YogaBook C930 is definitely the most futuristic one: The Keyboard appears on a PaperWhite half and its thin, and the screen goes 360.... and then I have the Windows Surface Pro 7+ Tablet that runs Running GTA V fluently enough for casual, not for professional play and the Lenovo X12 Detachable keyboard tablet for the best Keyboard experience.

And my conclusion is as following:

Tablets and detachable are no fun to use on your bed for demanding work that require keyboards! Only laptops work for typing!

I love the fun of the hardware of my PCs..... I remember having very small PCs... a Fujitsu Windows® 7 F-07C Mobile Phone, with full Windows (spoiler: You really don't want a complete Windows in your Phone!!! what a horrible mistake!!) While it was fun putting it on a cradle and have a real keyboard, attach monitor, mouse in theory, in real life it was more of burden than anything else.

I do try so hard to have fun with my PCs and touchscreen Windows tablets but at the end of the day, although the study says you are about 35% more productive on a Mac than a PC, I really really don't believe the numbers hold: While I do enjoy Windows 11 clipping of windows to borders (I feel MacOS very Flintstone approach too slow), for everything else, using multiple virtual screens in just 1 screen (mind you, I turn of the option for the Mac to arrange them by itself, I rather arrange the order myself), everything in the Mac seems Jetson like and Windows seems pre-FlintStone in terms of productivity just nowadays with a nicer looking mask that is Windows 11, but it all seems a gimmick skin-deep, without giving you any real power at all:

I always refer to the day the Internet from the office went down, and they needed to sent something to the IRS* (*IRS equivalent, in an another country) and in the Mac, without any manual, google or anything, I could share the internet from my Phone into the Ethernet of the office so easily with a few clicks!!! Try to do that on a Windows machine, without Googling it!!

There is a great difference in power in MacOS Unix underpinnings, OS itself, but that example is one of the most objetive ones I can find.

I love my PCs. I wish my macs had touchscreen (although I do believe Steve saying that for a workday trackpad might be wiser and less work for most), but I love the fun.... I have the fun hardware.... but at the end I am writing this in my Mb 14. Fun vs reality.... Still, do you know any fun laptop alternative that I might be missing?

 

[BB1970]

How could I? Opinion pieces like this are shared and featured on here regularly, I figured this must be just another and quit reading.
Good to know it wasn’t meant to be serious though 😄

Well. I simply meant the part about the “youtube overlords” (the way it was phrased I figured was tongue in cheek). But, my overall opinion on the subject is all me.
Nice to see a spirited debate here. Though, I think some keep coming back the old argument of which device is more powerful etc (and ”better”) which kinda missed the overall mark.

 

[generationfourth]

I can kinda see where you're getting at. My girlfriend is overdue for a new machine to replace her 2014 air. I was super excited for the M2 air for her but when we were at the apple store she looked at it for about 2 seconds... before being completely enamored by the iPad Air. Now that I have experienced M1 power I can see a lot of potential for the iPads and after 20 years as a pro user the only programs/apps that excite me are on the iPad (Lightroom, illustrator, Fresco, Procreate, etc)

 

[Blue Quark]

Laptops are boring.
.....
Instantly, the feeling changed. Like, here’s something that feels modern. Say what you will about iPadOS, it still feels and looks better than MacOS, which again, is just refreshes of decades old design.
.....
Look. I know this all sounds dumb and ridiculous, and I’m probably gonna get roasted in comments, and while the MacBook Air hardware is nice (more girthy and solid than expected) it’s still just a rectangle with limited options. No detachable screen, no onboard rear camera, and a keyboard that’s nice but still physical ONLY (I’m a weirdo that has no problem typing on glass).
I want to see Apple innovate here. A “laptop” with BOTH glass screen AND keyboard able to make the keyboard anything (piano keys, drawing area, etc), yes please!

Ein paar Gedanken...

So, first off, I can't tell from your post if you're talking about the computer or the OS that's running it. You keep vacillating which makes it truly impossible to know for certain what you mean. Therefore, I'll address both.

First, the UI design dates to the late 1970s and Xerox PARC. It's been iterated so many times since then just by Apple, let alone everyone else who's come along and take a whack (or three!) at it. The reason Apple kept it all throughout the Classic Mac OS days, and through the transition and into Mac OS X, along with NeXT using it themselves, and why Microsoft kinda-sorta implemented it in Windows, and why most Linux-environment desktops use it, is because of what others here have said: it just freakin' works. Period.

And on the subject of Linux desktops, most of them (from the most stripped down to the the most elaborate) use nearly the exact same style of UI as Classic Mac OS / Mac OS X. Arguably KDE is the most Windows-like, but nevertheless they're all relatively similar. The popularity of the classic desktop UI metaphor was amply demonstrated when the Gnome Project decided to "tablet UI" their desktop interface, and caused one of the greatest schisms in memory within the Linux community. "Thanks to" the Gnome Project, we now have Cinnamon (yay Clement Lefebvre!) and MATE, etc.

It doesn't have to be one or the other; one can have both, as they each appeal to different demographics, people, markets and needs.
.....
Besides, not all of us are "techbros" and not all of us are addicted to novelty, and what is new and breath-taking; I'm what could be described as "une femme d'une certain âge", and I loathed the iPad, above all, its keyboard (yes, I had a few and gave them away to my brothers).

You're right to point out this is not by any means a zero-sum game.

The iPad, on the other hand IS a new product category (relatively speaking), not meant to specifically replace a laptop (though for many, many people it will fit their needs, but they may be turned off by the form factor).

Your points on general concepts remaining around being a shared thing within and outside of the computer world are well taken, and I think particularly apt. However, how exactly is the iPad a new product category? It's a tablet.

 

[NT1440]

Ein paar Gedanken...

So, first off, I can't tell from your post if you're talking about the computer or the OS that's running it. You keep vacillating which makes it truly impossible to know for certain what you mean. Therefore, I'll address both.

First, the UI design dates to the late 1970s and Xerox PARC. It's been iterated so many times since then just by Apple, let alone everyone else who's come along and take a whack (or three!) at it. The reason Apple kept it all throughout the Classic Mac OS days, and through the transition and into Mac OS X, along with NeXT using it themselves, and why Microsoft kinda-sorta implemented it in Windows, and why most Linux-environment desktops use it, is because of what others here have said: it just freakin' works. Period.

And on the subject of Linux desktops, most of them (from the most stripped down to the the most elaborate) use nearly the exact same style of UI as Classic Mac OS / Mac OS X. Arguably KDE is the most Windows-like, but nevertheless they're all relatively similar. The popularity of the classic desktop UI metaphor was amply demonstrated when the Gnome Project decided to "tablet UI" their desktop interface, and caused one of the greatest schisms in memory within the Linux community. "Thanks to" the Gnome Project, we now have Cinnamon (yay Clement Lefebvre!) and MATE, etc.


You're right to point out this is not by any means a zero-sum game.


Your points on general concepts remaining around being a shared thing within and outside of the computer world are well taken, and I think particularly apt. However, how exactly is the iPad a new product category? It's a tablet.

Actual viable tablet computers shipping in numbers worth talking about has only been around for under 15 years now. That’s what I meant by “relatively” new compared to the desktop and laptop categories.

 

[Jmausmuc]

Why would you expect a laptop to be exciting?

For me, it is a device to basically make work less painful. Since I have had the new MacBook, tasks like updating salesforce or writing email just feel a bit less boring. Switching apps is more efficient. Not having to plug in the laptop feels convenient.

If you want to get something done, a MacBook is simply more efficient than an iPad.

If you don’t really need to do work than I agree, an iPad feels more modern and exciting.

 

[planteater]

Why would you expect a laptop to be exciting?

For me, it is a device to basically make work less painful. Since I have had the new MacBook, tasks like updating salesforce or writing email just feel a bit less boring. Switching apps is more efficient. Not having to plug in the laptop feels convenient.

If you want to get something done, a MacBook is simply more efficient than an iPad.

If you don’t really need to do work than I agree, an iPad feels more modern and exciting.

I disagree with your last sentence. I don’t understand how a device like an iPad that impedes efficient workflow can be exciting.

It impedes by its less efficient operating system for its imprecise object selection method, inefficient use of screen space, and for hardware factors like having to carry and setup multiple parts.

The only viable use I’ve found for an iPad is for limited but specific uses like displaying sheet music. As a general purpose device it is frustrating at best.

 

[Jmausmuc]

Yea, I never really understood the appeal of the iPad either. I have owned two iPads, the original iPad Mini and a relatively recent iPad Air I got from work.

Never really used either. But I imagine it can be nice for media consumption for some people.

 

[Mainsail]

I remember the late-2010 MBA introduction by Jobs. It was really exciting. Earlier in the year Jobs had introduced the iPad, which he described as a third type of device that sits between a laptop and a smartphone. In this intro, Jobs asks the question; what if a MacBook and iPad hooked up? The new 2010 MBA was Apple’s answer. Jobs checks off a list of iPad attributes that Apple wanted to bring to the MacBook. As always, he is an excellent salesman and makes a compelling presentation. Enjoy!

 

[Shanghaichica]

I‘ve been moving away from computers being my device of choice since I got my first iphone in 2009. They are big, take up a lot of space, are not as easy to carry as an ipad or iphone. However Mac OS is unintrusive, it gets out of the way and allows me to have an enjoyable experience when I use my Mac. Mac hardware is aesthetically pleasing and for me has been stress free. The Mac belongs to a great ecosystem of devices and software which makes it just another part of my workflow and because of the tight integration between devices transitioning from an iOS/iPadOS device to my Mac is a pleasant experience. So that is why I still own a Mac despite it not being my first choice of computing device.