The terrible situation of Windows laptops (2024)

Windows laptops are so bad I think I'm actually finished buying them - the last one being a Razer which had a "spicy pillow" AND malfunctioned fans. I can spend a couple hundred bucks fixing this but I feel like that's a "sunk cost fallacy". And while it falls apart I still have to fuck around endlessly with subtle issues because I have zero interest in using Windows as my daily driver and that's not likely to change.

Most recent purchase for family, a Lenovo that periodically loses sound. That, despite having an astonishing number of cores cannot run a Linux virtual machine smoothly. That has to be charged every night or it will be dead by morning. Can't even blame Linux for this because it's got the stock Windows install.

Meanwhile I could not be more impressed with my Steam Deck, with its power management, with its hibernation management, being able to underclock the CPU and GPU. My next "portable computer" will be another SteamOS handheld with an OCuLink port for heavier workloads. The only thing they could do better for me is partner with Pop_OS! to make desktop mode more productive.