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Comment by mikhailt | Hacker News Reader

Dave (the guy who Apple mentioned working with to find this issue) already tweeted that the performance is "soo much better". Source: https://twitter.com/Dave2Dtv/status/1021817313555755009

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Has he tried setting it on his bare legs during the test?

Why would anyone put a high end laptop on their legs while doing a prolonged intensive task such as video rendering??

Louis Rossmann on YouTube has a take on this "you're using it wrong" culture of Apple products I find interesting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hYHwkIuEMo

I find Louis hard to watch if I am honest. Yes I know Apple don't make the best products but let's be honest they are not actually that bad. I know he doesn't like Apple, he hates all the soldered components making things hard to impossible to repair, etc. He loves his ThinkPad's which is cool (I love them also) but I just got bored of his constant Apple hating.

> his constant Apple hating

I guess that's normal for someone fixing Apple stuff as his day job and thus always only seeing apples bad side. Especially with seemingly Apple not wanting such repairs to happen.

And the whole Apple threatening to take down his YouTube channel thing.

Watch any content provider enough and you'll probably get tired of them IMO

All computers get really hot when doing stuff like video rendering, not really apple specific

Actually i only sweat with my thinkpad, but that might come from it having 1) slightly lower TDP (30W instead of the 50 I read above), and 2) a thermal design that does not result in any part being too hot to touch. Even in ambient temperatures that are no longer healthy for a resting human.

Isn't part of the definition of a laptop that it should be able to be used comfortably resting on the user's lap?

The versatility of a laptop doesn’t mean that it should be expected to violate the laws of physics, or only use chips with maximum TDP such that it is always comfortable on your lap.

Having a chip which can max out thermal load while plugged in at your desk, with the expected thermal results, and then throttle down when you go mobile, again with the expected thermal results, is actually the best of both worlds.

And with one click the user can actually choose which power mode they want to operate in.

A laptop that throttles back to avoid getting hot when you need the CPU/GPU operating at peak performance would be much less useful, particularly for professional use.

Violate the laws of physics? Is that the term for limiting the amount of power you dump into the chassis? There's an unlimited amount of air to soak up the bulk of the heat.

That's why they're explicitly not referred to as laptops but notebook computers. It's the reason Apple calls them MacBooks only and not laptops.

You have to be kidding.

What you're referring to is a branding tactic. It has nothing to do with some subconscious direction on how to use the device. It's not only reasonable, but expected, that customers will use the device in their laps... no matter what the naming convention. Come on.

Not kidding at all. The entire industry made a huge hard stop and turn on the terminology around 2001/2001 after Dell was sued because a man claimed that his "laptop" burned his thighs/penis when the CPU/battery heated up and the fans didn't turn on. The courts ruled that "laptop" implied that the machine was safe to use in that manner and the guy was awarded damages. After that, it became exclusively "notebook" or "portable" computer industry-wide. I haven't really put any thought into it recently but I think you'd be hard-pressed to find any manufacturer referring to their machines as "laptops" now.

Edit: It was a Dell Latitude that burned the man's penis: http://ftp.compal.com/Download/NB/NCL50/User-Service%20manua...

>I haven't really put any thought into it recently but I think you'd be hard-pressed to find any manufacturer referring to their machines as "laptops" now.

Oh, really? Let's see.

Dell: https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/sc/laptops

HP: https://store.hp.com/us/en/cat/laptops

ASUS: https://www.asus.com/us/Laptops/

Lenovo: https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/c/LAPTOPS

Toshiba: http://laptops.toshiba.com/computers-tablets/home/

Acer: https://us-store.acer.com/laptops

Samsung: https://www.samsung.com/us/computing/windows-laptops/

I will stop there, because it's obvious that 'the entire industry' did not make a 'huge hard stop and turn on the terminology'. Stop being a fool.

I'm not being a fool. The lawsuit must have worked out in their favor or they appealed. I worked for 2 separate computer manufacturers during that time where we were explicitly told not to refer to any of the portable computers as "laptop" computers in any of our outgoing communications or marketing. I had associates at other manufacturers that were told the same thing.

If that's not the case anymore, then that's just because I haven't bothered to keep up with the industry as I no longer work in comms for PC manufacturers. As I said, I haven't put any thought into it recently. I'm neither being a fool nor am I lying, as you seem to be implying. Times change and I prefaced my statement to admit that the info might be outdated.

I can't even believe you put all that effort into collecting those links. That literally does not change the fact that there was an industry-wide aversion to using the term "laptop".

Laptop is the same thing as notebook computer and Macbook is just a brand name while the actual device is laptop.

Well you can put it on your bare legs if you really want to and during general use doing so is fine but rendering video is going to make it get hot and very uncomfortable.

Place a W-series Thinpad on your bare legs on a warm summer day (think you can just still survive/think at all without A/C). You will want to get it away as you can't sweat well under it, and it's dumping some heat into your blood. That's it, despite some discomfort you won't mind it. And apparently the make them with more TDP than apple seems to be able to handle, but instead of an i9 they appear to jump directly to a Xeon. Those start at over $3500 in base configuration though....

If you look carefully, Apple (and probably other manufacturers) call their portable computers "notebooks" and not "laptops" because using a computer on your lap is bad both thermally and ergonomically.

Laptop and notebook is the same thing...

... except that one conspicuously avoids the assertion that one should use it on one's lap.

You never need to compile things sitting in a coffee shop? I do it at least two three times a week.

So you put it on your bare legs? That's a good do-it-yourself vasectomy alternative.

Sure but I put it on a table so the fans can work properly.

is compiling as taxing as video rendering though?

Sure, if the compiler is able to leverage all cores in an intensive task

Once, the place I was staying in was so cold that I put my laptop onto a CPU intensive task and stuck it in between the covers as a sort of hi-tech hot water bottle.

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