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Comment by hospitalJail | Hacker News Reader

Can anyone explain why so many people want this?

If I am running a beefy single threaded or multi program with CPU, I want the best, not some low power device. Gaming laptop.(Or whatever we want to call it)

If I'm running consumer/enterprise software, I likely want a beefy GPU. Gaming laptop.(Or whatever we want to call it)

If I'm taking a 7 hour bus ride in a bus without a 120V outlet, I want this.

If I'm taking a 6 hour bus ride in a bus without a 120V outlet, I want a gaming laptop.(Or whatever we want to call it)

What is the use case? I got a feeling these companies are chasing Apple's insignificant metric of compute/watt, which doesn't matter as far as I understand.

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Why would you want a beefy GPU in anything except a gaming laptop or full blown workstation replacement?

Also on the bus ride. I certainly wouldn't want to unpack a 17" gaming laptop on a bus of all places. You couldn't use a external mouse anyways. There I'd want a steam deck or Nintendo switch.

What is a better word for a laptop with good specs? "High end laptops" are usually garbage when I search for them. 19" monitor and a 3060 for $2000, RGB keyboard 512GB ram, 16gb Ram.

I just use the word gaming laptop because you can get high quality stuff for under $1000, or you can get ultra high quality for $3000 like a 4090.

I don't actually play games. Its a shortcut word.

Sure, i get that. I still don't think I'd want to travel or commute with that kind of laptop.

That's the kind of machine I'd want docked at my desk, connected to multiple displays and all other peripherals. At that power efficiency and battery life are of little concern.

I kind of know what you mean. My bro had a gaming laptop that was gigantic and the fans sounded like a jet engine.

I snagged an Asus the other day with a 3060 + 16gb ram for $800 and its small/light weight. I don't think I've heard the fans on it, but I have kids hahaha

If battery life is a concern, how long do you need to remain on but not plugged in? I've used it in enough 2 hr meetings and I don't think I broke 50% battery. I'm doing CAD work/GPU work.

> I'm doing CAD work/GPU work.

Then you have a good reason to go for a gaming laptop, because your GPU isn't one-ssh-away.

Gaming laptop also don't mean "high qualify", they just mean "high spec". Unless you really have need for higher spec (for example, you have, because of CAD work and needs GPU attached to a screen), it's better to allocate money to build quality, battery life, lower weight or even keyboard feeling.

That doesn't mean everyone else should do. Most of the software guys need "just enough" CPU power and close to zero GPU power on their laptop. When they need more compute their beefier desktop is 1-ssh away. (Or 1 aws ec2 run-instances away for even more power)

For now I'm equally pissed off because it seems like only Apple makes proper "just enough" laptops. And Apple isn't going to stop using aluminum any time soon so their laptop will be too heavy for me to consider.

>it's better to allocate money to build quality, battery life, lower weight or even keyboard feeling.

I'm sure you are coming from something well intentioned, but those are specs as well. Not that I think they are worthwhile paying for, but these are still specs.

>Most of the software guys need "just enough" CPU power and close to zero GPU power on their laptop.

But if that was the case, I have a $100 craigslist laptop that has windows 7 on it from a long time ago. Heck, its good enough my kid can play minecraft on it, I'm sure it can SSH.

Seems like people really do want something nice, or they are okay with barebones. Somehow these low power CPUs are capturing a market that is overpaying or getting lower spec/$.

> but those are specs as well

Well, sure, for weight. The other three I just can't tell until I try the thing for a week, it isn't spec if you can't tell anything after reading the spec.

> I'm sure it can SSH.

"just enough" means running a web browser, an IDE with a few background indexers for the code base I'm working on. That's a little bit too much for the $100 craigslist laptop, but yeah you are right, a $200 Chromebook works totally fine, except it had poor screen, poor keyboard and poor storage options. Want to know why I buy laptops with low power CPUs? They come with premium non-CPU parts and is both lighter and cheaper than ones with better CPUs.

Like, it's easy, anything >1.2kg is trash for me (which is equally arbitrary as your "non-low-power" constraint). Can you find me a nice <= 1.2kg laptop with so-called "non-low-power" CPUs? If so I'd be glad to try it, as it means maybe I can replace my laptop after 10 years instead of 5.

"Mobile Workstation" is what the PC industry generally calls big, heavy machines with discreet GPUs, but not all the leet stickers / RGB of a gaming laptop. They're pitched to people who CAD, for example.

Higher power also means it has to dissipate more heat, so it has to be heavier. And we're not talking about a couple of grams to have an ethernet port or an M.2 connector instead of soldered storage. You need a bigger heatsink, which is made of metal and dissipates heat in proportion to how much mass it has. They typically also have bigger, heavier batteries and power bricks. And you then have to dissipate the heat from discharging the battery at a faster rate.

They also have to dissipate the heat into something, which is often the chassis, and therefore your lap. Not fun in the summertime.

The higher power chips are only significantly faster on threaded workloads, so if most of your applications are poorly threaded it's a trade off in exchange for almost nothing.

If I want something sleek, not awfully hideous, 13" screen but with relatively good performance? Everything BUT a gaming laptop.

It doesn't replace a beefy GPU but the 780m is more than enough for many workloads and playing older games. It's maybe roughly comparable to having desktop GTX 1050.

There's a decent chance that ryzen models with 740m or 760m that we'll probably see in cheaper ThinkPads won't be half bad either compared to the Intel alternative.

Eh 1050 is really bad in 2023.

I wouldn't even get another 1650 even though it can do the job(CAD, AI Art, etc...)

Yet many people are happy with the Steam Deck which has a roughly equivalent GPU[0]

>The Steam Deck GPU is based on hardware that is difficult to compare to typical PC video cards. However, the GPU’s maximum throughput of around 1.6 teraflops makes it loosely equivalent in power to an Nvidia GTX 1050 or GTX 950.

[0] https://www.gamerevolution.com/guides/687871-steam-deck-gpu-...

I don't think console gamers are a great way to determine demand of computing platforms. Look at the Switch.

You mean the platform that sold 120MM+ units?

No True Scotsman aside, people can game how they choose. The bottom line is that many people are running new, AAA games on this tier of GPU. Is it the best possible fidelity? No, but presumably it is enough for them to derive some enjoyment.

Steamdeck is running PC games though...

Pretty obvious reasons. As long as performance is "good enough", people very much prefer thinner, lighter and better battery life. So "luggables" have the very tiny niche of "ultrabook not powerful enough" and "still low enough requirements to not need a desktop, server, ...". Not to mention that e.g. a Razer Blade 14 starts at 2800€.

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