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The Last PC Laptop

codinghorror.com

141 pointsjanerik150 comments

"Want the smallest most portable device you can get away with? "

"Want to be always connected to the Internet? Sure you do;"

"Just try opening a laptop on a crowded subway train or bus."

Someone needs to stop trying to arrange their life around their tech and try it the other way around.

If you are so overloaded with work, or so keen at your work, or so behind in your work, that you need to open your laptop on the train and start tapping away then some part of your work-life balance is in serious need of adjustment.

If you're THAT valuable to yourself or the business that you MUST be hunched in front of the keyboard, or online, every waking moment then why are you on a train? Your value/benefit demands that you be driven everywhere so you can work in the back of the vehicle and that you have a PA to handle messaging. Right?

I am an IT Manager for a high-tech company. Here's my solution, based on my personal values and my value/responsibility/benefit to the business:

Samsung Galaxy Note

It's a stupidly-big phone AND a moderately-sized tablet. I can keep in touch with emails, speak to people(!), do video calls and Skype/VoIP, check messages and do remote support via RDP/VNC/SSH/OpenVPN if there's a serious crisis when I'm on the move. If needed (rare), I can use the phone for reading/editing documents and PDFs, minor coding work and, if I really want to fill another pocket, it will work with a bluetooth (or miniature USB wired) keyboard.

Acer Aspire 5735 laptop.

It's a dual-core, 15.6" screen model, about three years old. The laptop comes with me very occasionally when I need it for a meeting or if I need to hook up to some kit when I'm on site. As it happens, the Galaxy Note has an MHL (HDMI) video connector and so I can use it for meeting presentations anyway. Laptop for use on a train? Maybe - on the extremely rare occasion that I need to type up a report on the way back home as it's needed first thing the next day. Typing stuff on the way TO work or site? That was done in the office the day before, or maybe at home if things get sprung on me at very short notice. If I don't grab the laptop, an original Acer Aspire One AA150 netbook comes with me.

In a nutshell, I have boiled down my tech-demanding activities to:

Desk-based: Use a conventional PC, or my laptop, or my phone (for calls and simple networking diagnostics)

On the move: Phone for about 95% of the time. Take laptop or netbook if needed.

Considering that the phone is always with me, that means I'm automatically setup for almost all my work and personal tech needs all the time.

Would I consider buying a UX31A or similar ultrabook (or a tablet for that matter) - sure, if cost/benefit was not an issue, but the device would probably spend most of its life on a desk, and all the things that make it what it is (size, lightness etc.) would be wasted - unless of course, I turned things on their head and altered my work/lifestyle to fit around the technology - mind you, that would mean taking the train to work instead of driving - and, no, I don't have a chauffeur!

Train rides are kind of boring. Why wouldn't I get out my laptop on a train? I did, recently, to add depth-of-field compensation to a blurry image detector I'm writing for my own amusement. I don't think that would be nearly as fun on a stupidly-big phone.

> Train rides are kind of boring. Why wouldn't I get out my laptop on a train?

To allow yourself a momentary disconnect. To watch the world out of the window, or the people around you. To take an interest in the weather and season. To give your mind a chance to digest what you mean to do or what you have done.

I cherish my time travelling from one place to another, even if that is just a walk to the shops, a trip on the bus or ride on the Underground.

I also like to have 100% focused work time and space. It's hard to find that focus when you're willing to mix work with everything.

> To watch the world out of the window,

It's the same tunnel it was yesterday. And the day before. And last week. And last year. Come to think of it, the tunnel hasn't changed much since it's inauguration in 1984. And the soundwalls lining the surface parts of the railway line aren't that captivating either.

In my case, the track ways have not changed since 1860 or so. However we go through the 'green belt' (UK) between a large city and a smaller town. One notices changes with the seasons, new makeshift huts in the allotments, the sky and light is always different. A bit of the wabi-sabi really - same frame, but small changes.

I can tell which station we are pulling into by the sound and the feel of the track! Sometimes, I leave early on a Friday and walk the 10 miles back by canal footpaths.

If you need a break, take a break. I recommend a session at the gym or a long walk at lunch. But commuting is a horrible time to take breaks, IMO. The morning commute comes right after your longest break of the day. The evening commute comes right before your most enjoyable break of the day (aka time with the wife & kids). Sometimes you need a break during the evening commute, so don't be afraid to take it, but other times the change of context from the office is just the thing you need.

>To allow yourself a momentary disconnect. To watch the world out of the window, or the people around you. To take an interest in the weather and season.

I'm sorry to sound misanthropic or otherwise cynic, but people on the train are, for the overwhelming majority, uninteresting or annoying. I don't take that much interest in the landscape or weather, either. I'd much rather disconnect from that and hack on my laptop instead, thank you.

>but people on the train are, for the overwhelming majority, uninteresting or annoying

And they're usually the same people every day, if you catch the same train.

The odds are pretty good that someone on your train works is quite interesting.

For example... I happen to know that if I take a commuter line into Boston in the morning, I am likely to encounter one or more of: a senior scientist at an R&D lab, a bunch of Google programmers and engineers, a non-profit fundraising expert, or an IP lawyer. I don't know what the guy with the MongoDB sticker on his laptop does, but eventually I'll say hello and find out.

Maybe you should drink your coffee before you get on the train and try finding out who people really are.

Wow. People talk to each on the T? Never seen it.

UK: random conversation breaks out when there is an unusual delay or we get stuck at a signal set to danger. After an initial silence, someone will make a joke, and then it breaks out. Those are good delays.

I talk to the same people on the bus every day, it's been 4 months now and it's fabulous, I'm never bored!

That's a global trend, not a local one.

I've seen it, but usually they are some brand of crazy.

This. As much as i'm an always on, 2 smartphones per pants guy, i desperately need a forced disconnect on a daily basis.

If you are always in the stream of data that the internet provides you don't find the time to contemplate if you are moving in the right way on the short term stuff... Most of my best decisions have come from going to wash my hands or just walking outside the office for 5 minutes. Our ever connected world makes it harder each day to see the big picture.

"To allow yourself a momentary disconnect. To watch the world out of the window, or the people around you. To take an interest in the weather and season. "

I'd rather do those things in an environment and at a time of my own choosing. Work done on train or bus = work that doesn't have to be done at office -> more free time.

I'd love to look at people on the train but there's a pretty serious ethic against staring at other people on New York City subways. There's also no bandwidth at all. It's a rough and loud ride. Podcasts, music, and casual games help the time pass. YOU try meditating on the 5:45 C train some time.

Trains are my favourite place to get work done. I'm not sure what exactly it is about it but I can get 3 solid hours of focused work done, usually the work I've been avoiding for the previous fortnight.

I knew a guy who bought a flat-rate take-every-train-for-free ticket (ca 4000$ in Germany) instead of renting an office. Not my idea of the perfect working place, but it worked for him.

So .... where does he go?

Oh, you know, lunch in Cologne, dinner in Munich, then back home. Or maybe a leasurely afternoon stroll in the Black Forest or on the shore of the North Sea.

Something like that.

Aha - it's the work/life balance thing then, mixed in with procrastination!

Glad you enjoyed yourself. Can't fault that.

Point is, I don't feel the need to be laptopped-up and my work/life balance doesn't demand it. Sound's like this was an optional activity for you too.

On a very long train journey, I'd listen to the radio, read the news, watch a video (on the phone's 5.3" screen), talk to people, check my email - do anything I want too.

It was an optional activity, and was the most enjoyable thing I could reasonably do on the train.

Reading the news, watching a video and checking email all seem like more pleasant tasks on a laptop than a smartphone of any description. Perhaps we have different preferences.

> Someone needs to stop trying to arrange their life around their tech and try it the other way around.

I work on my laptop on my commute on the train. This saves me two hours every day and allows me to live in a beautiful place.

Someone does indeed needs to stop trying to arrange their life around their tech and try it the other way around, Mr. IT Manager For a High Tech Company with a ridiculously giant phone, a netbook, a laptop and a PC.

Not sure I read you right?

So your day in the office is shortened by two hours as you can count your commute-work as part of your work day - like, instead of , say, 9-5, you arrive at 10 and leave at 4? Sounds like a fair trade off if you're happy with it.

I don't think you get my tech angle - although I have multiple devices at my disposal, the phone is all I need for 90% of the time as I have no obligation to work on a train - unlike you, apparently.

> like, instead of , say, 9-5, you arrive at 10 and leave at 4?

Exactly. But I work on the train. Also, I work from home two days a week.

Watch your back. I know two people who have been mugged after using a laptop on a train or subway.

Related: I took a late (~11 pm) transbay bus home a few nights ago (San Francisco to Berkeley), and in between some stops, the bus driver started scream, "Put y' phones up! Put y' phones away! Turn 'em off and put 'em away!" and then repeated that several times.

The passengers and I looked at each other like "WTF?" (Is this a plane now?) but since she seemed rather adamant, and wasn't going to go on to the next stop until we complied, we all put our phones away. Then the driver said, "I'm just trying to warn you here, people outside can see you on y' phones, you has to watch out."

Then, at the stop, some teens got on that looked sort of sketchy, and it occurred to me, "The driver was trying to warn us not to show our smartphones because she thought the people at the next stop would try to steal them."

Of course, I still thought it was overkill because the kids didn't look nearly dangerous enough for me to worry about my safety or possessions (though they did flout the bus rules), and there were enough people on the bus that a criminal wouldn't want to try anything, but it got me to think about a risk that I hadn't before.

I've been reading that there's recently been a huge increase in phone-snatching on the NYC subway, much of it quite brazen (grab phone while person is using it, jump out door, run).

Maybe your driver was just paranoid, but on the other hand, maybe she's seen the stats...

Well, I live in rural Germany and the trains I am taking are mostly filled with commuters between small towns. And swiss people. I don't think there is any reason to fear being mugged here.

Depends. Birmingham UK commuter trains during peak hours tend to be full, and full of fairly middle class people as the fares are much higher than the bus. Late at night, yes, a little more care is needed.

I have about an hour round trip on a train, and I can get a few interactive whiteboard screens or a handout written in that time (I'm a teacher).

I use a refurbished laptop so if any funny stuff starts, I just hand it over.

What city?

A lot of people I know have 40 minute train rides each way. If they can get work done on the train, they can leave early and have more time for their family.

The basic premise of your post is that people only use technology to do work. To put it lightly, this has not been my experience.

The basic premise of my post was a response to Jeff's original one using the same, work-related context.

On a broader perspective, of course you are right.

There are plenty of use cases for a portable computer. Moving to New York for 3 months for Hacker School comes to mind (it starts next week). I want the lightest one that works well. The End.

I'm gonna be that guy and say that you're probably looking for a Mac Book Air

But this Asus on the article certainly looks good if you put Linux in it

Funny you mention that. I, a Linux user, was deciding between the 13" Air and this Zenbook Prime, and chose the former, because the Zenbook reportedly has lots of issues and annoyances:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AsusZenbookPrime

Installing on the 2012 Air wasn't exactly a walk in the park either, but that wiped out any Zenbook advantage. Now that it's set up, I absolutely love my Air running Xubuntu — it's the nicest laptop I've used. I'd recommend it to anyone. And as a bonus I can reboot into OS X if I ever want to.

Even if you are eschewing OSX (as I will when I upgrade my current MBA) you should probably get a MBA.

I see more and more galaxy notes here in China, even in the hands of tiny girls. They hold it under the armpit, like a bag. Own one myself and rarely power on my pc when back home.

"On the move: Phone for about 95% of the time. Take laptop or netbook if needed."

I use notebooks quite a lot as well (the paper kind). Planning/idea capture.

I personally would just like a lightweight portable laptop to throw in my bag, as I cycle to work.

I wanted to buy a new windows laptop that was light, strong, and looked good. I really, really did. Then, because of work reasons, I ended up getting a MacBook Air instead.

Now, I've been dead-set against switching to a Mac for a long time, because I am incredibly invested with Windows, more so than almost anyone I know. I didn't want to have to relearn everything, plus rewrite all the scripts I have on my Windows machine.

Still, I'm pretty happy with the switch so far. The laptop is everything you could want - small, fast, amazingly easy to pull out and turn on for quick use. I haven't actually tortured the laptop with too much programming yet, but OSX has a lot of small advantages over Windows. I'm not finding it too hard to switch, much easier than I thought I would find it.

I can't help feeling that, unless the hardware makers get their act together, I'll never be going back to a Windows-based laptop. The MacBook is just too good.

Ironically, in the 'other recommended articles' section of Atwood's post, there's a 2006 article entitled "Apple Laptops: Good, Cheap, Fast—Pick Three"

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2006/05/apple-laptops-good-...

He couldn't have been more right, but somehow he never caught on even after 6 years of constant improvements, and the introduction of the Air. His quote "Sure, you can find a few edge cases where Apple loses, such as the ultraportable category" would elicit laughter these days.

In my (and many others') opinion, apple makes some of the best laptop hardware around. It's hard to argue otherwise. Just look at Atwood's complaints about the Asus' trackpad—a defect almost inexcusable in this day and age, especially given that the Mac trackpads are so damn good. Put OSX, Windows, or Linux on it, whatever you want, it's still extremely well made hardware and will be durable, usable, and hold resale value better. Indeed, other manufacturers are simply trying to play catch-up, and cloning the style and being forced to emulate the build quality (albeit unsuccessfully) of Apple laptops. This is not opinion, this is not zealotry, I have no horse in this race—it's simply appears to be true at this point. It's even hard to argue on the economic standpoint with the price of the base 13" MacBook Air being $1199.

Like I say, I have no horse in this race; I don't care what Jeff Atwood prefers in his computers. It simply seems that there's an interesting faith-based exclusion being made, and I would warn others against making the same conclusion without using facts and experience of their own.

I need to know your secret then.

About three years ago, I purchased my first Mac. It was an early 2009 iMac. Before then, I had only owned a Windows machine, and like you, I was also incredibly invested in Windows.

But when I got my Mac, I just found doing simple things a challenge, and the various interfaces not powerful enough. To this day, I still struggle using Finder, mostly because there's no (native) way of browsing folders and files separately like in Windows.

But that's just one example, and I really don't have time to list the many other ways I found the switch difficult.

So again, I'm curious to know your secret. I don't know, maybe I was even more invested in Windows than yourself.

Like I said, I haven't done as much work yet (I bought the Air right before a vacation, so most of my use has been casual). Still, I've got one thing going for me: I'm very quick at picking up new keyboard shortcuts and habits. I'm a vim user, and every few weeks I switch around some shortcut to make things easier for myself - and it usually only takes a day to adjust. I don't know if this is abnormal or not, but a lot of people really complain very loudly every time shortcuts are changed on them, so maybe I'm the odd one out here.

Also, I work hard at fixing big incoviences. For example, I can't stand the way maximize works on the Mac... but it doesn't matter, since I have a program that makes it work like in Windows. The trick is to give the new behaviour a fair shot before "fixing" it, since sometimes the new behaviour is better - for example, using command+tab (alt-tab in windows) only work between different applications, and having a separate shortcut for switching Windows in the same application - that's much better than in Windows, but at first I really hated it.

My biggest gripe with OSX right now, by the way, is the Finder. On Windows I used Total Commander, which is very easily one of the top ten colossal wins for me on Windows. on OSX, I don't have anything comparable, which is a big problem. But I'm working on that one too :)

Here is my bag of tricks that I apply to OSX/Finder to make it a more usable UI (and by usable, I mean more like ion/ratpoison/etc.)

http://blog.kozubik.com/john_kozubik/2009/11/making-the-mac-...

... although who knows how well any of this works on Lion, etc. - I am a "once snow leopard is EOL, I leave OSX" kind of user...

Shift+click the "plus" button and it'll maximize. I've been using BetterTouchTool's window movement abilities to set hotkeys to maximize and halve windows. It'll also do an aero-snap-esque thingy. Pretty useful

Cmd+tab is pretty nice, keep in mind you can use Cmd+` to switch between windows of the current application. It's a bit different than the way Windows does it, but once you use it for a little bit you get used to it and Windows feels a bit awkward ;)

If you're looking for better maximize/window management, check out the open source app ShiftIt. Works sort of like aero snap in windows 7, with a quick keystroke to fully maximize a window. I use it all the time.

I refreshed it for 10.7+/retina and compiled a build - check it out here: http://trisweb.github.com/ShiftIt/

100% agree about giving the default Mac configuration a chance. Often it's better thought out (or actually thought-out at all) and will work better if you learn the "mac way" to do things. Except the window maximizing—that's really an inexcusable shortcoming of the OS IMHO.

There are plenty of Finder enhancements and replacements. This is one of the more popular: http://cocoatech.com/pathfinder/

It's Unix—use the command line too.

(Shhh, don't tell anyone else the secret)

i work with multiple monitors and always hated this on OSX. The Menubar is only on the main screen, no matter where program is located (there are tools to replicate it to the second monitor but still) and i hate the OSX dock. The windows taskbar with a multimonitor enhancement like UltraMon or DisplayFusion is just unbeatable when having many open windows imo, on OSX it always takes more time/clicks to find the windows i want which is annoying... As a Developer currently working mainly with C#, no Visual Studio on OSX is a big pita since MonoDevelop is nowhere as good... I still have a Macbook Air for toying around on the go, holding presentations etc. Its a very nice consumer device but i still prefer Windows as my main work enviroment.

I am a virtual desktops fan (I think they are called Spaces).

Unfortunately, the way Alt+Tab works in Mac, which shows the list of all open programs, instead of the ones with windows in the current virtual desktop, is a loser for me.

Also, the fact that when you make a window "full screen" (with the arrows int he top-right corner button) you lose one monitor when using two monitors setup.

And also, regarding shortcuts, why isn't there a Cut file shortcut (say, pretzel+X) like the copy button?.

I have to use Mac/OSX for my job, but man I hate all the quirks of this operating system

See, I, the exact opposite when it comes to Alt+Tab. At work I have to use Windows and I hate the fact that if I have multiple Windows of one program open I may have to Alt-Tab several times just to get to the window I want. I prefer how it is on the Mac where if I switch between to programs, both of which have multiple windows open, it'll just show me all the windows stacked on one another in the order they were used. To me, doing this then clicking into the stack to get the window I want is much faster than trying to see which window looks closest to the one I want using the Alt Tab icons in Windows. They're just too small for me and often multiple windows of the same program look exactly alike at the size Windows shows the previews. Same with the task bar on Windows. I hate clicking program icon and instead of just showing me the windows I have to once more hunt for what looks like the one I want before it brings it to the fore.

I've never used OS X With multiple monitors but I do use dual monitors at work and I can bet it definitely would be frustrating to lose a monitor just to have one app full screen. Hopefully they fix that. For now I'm good with Spaces. Actually I think Spaces are gone since Lion and they're something else now.

There's a $15 program that will replace ⌘-tab and it has an option to just look in the current space. http://manytricks.com/witch/

There's a Microsoft store three storefronts down from an Apple store in our local mall (Bellevue Square, near Seattle).

I looked at the Asus UX31, wrote down its specs and went to the the Apple store. Nearly exactly the same specs for an Air, but the UX31 was about $400 cheaper.

(The UX31 didn't come with any crapware, either).

I'm somewhat disappointed with the keyboard, but other than that it's a great little machine.

That store moved a little while ago, it's on the top floor now.

I find it a little amusing since it appears that the decision to move was prompted by the near proximity of the much-larger Microsoft store. (I have no idea if it actually was, but on the face of things that's how it looks).

The new Apple location is about the same size as the existing Microsoft store.

Ah yes, I'd forgotten the Apple store had moved. It certainly felt cramped compared to the MS store.

I don't know if you would feel the same way after you code on XCode. I feel like in a cage when I have to touch code on that thing...

I plan to try working only from vim if I possibly can. Don't (yet) know how possible it will be.

There is gvim for OSX. But personally I prefer vim inside terminator or terminal. That was before I switched to Arch Linux after 12 years of using mac.

MacVim is the standard OSX.

At least for the Airs, they are currently all TN displays, and significantly lower res than the Asus model discussed.

This very much reminds me of the Steve Jobs quote that in the future, laptops and desktops will be like trucks. They will always be around for those who need them, but most people don't need trucks.

Personally, I don't quite see that yet with today's hardware and paradigms. The processing power is certainly getting there. My tablet today is significantly more powerful than my laptop in 2006 but still not quite fast enough for compiling stuff etc. Also, tablet user interfaces are still a bit too unwieldy and rigid for programming work and there is something to be said for huge monitors.

But then, Windows 8 looks like it could be the solution: A tablet that can run Windows on the go, but transforms into a regular desktop when connected to a keyboard/mouse/screen. The future.

> My tablet today is significantly more powerful than my laptop in 2006 but still not quite fast enough for compiling stuff etc.

What kind of laptop did you own? If you've got an iPad 3, any Tegra 3 or Exynos 4412 powered Android Tablet known to my knowledge you have in no way the processing power of a 2006 Laptop. To remind you, a reasonable Laptop in 2006 had a Core (2) Duo CPU, discreet graphics aside. I've used such a Laptop until 2011 to work flawlessy with Eclipse, Photoshop and even older versions of Premiere.

Performance-wise the current ARM CPUs still are lagging behind anything the Desktop had roughly ten years ago.

It's only their power consumption that made them interesting for Apple and only that only with the uprising of very power efficient gpus aswell so the iPhone 1 could have that level of responsiveness at basically no cpu power.

And it's not a fault of X86, which is shown by the newest Intel Medfield CPUs which are starting to outperform the ARMs at the same level of power consumption. At these levels of engineering it boils down to physics. ARMs CPUs aren't just more "cleverly" designed, they had a different scope, different instruction sets and therefor different power specifications.

You can only get so much CPU Speed from a CPU at a certain NM scale with a certain intructionset at a certain power level, and if it's arm or x86 doesn't change that.

ARM should start to feel Intel's breath in their neck, since ARM doesn't have nearly the kind of spending power Intel has to strongarm(no pun intended) the technology beyond the reach of ARMs financial possibilities(The NM race is becoming exponentially more expensive with each iteration...).

Motorola has started to build the RazrI which will be very interesting to watch in the market.

What is the Razrl? Google search isn't being very helpful.

I haven't done much testing of ARM versus Intel, but the experience that I do have with ARM, compiling software wise, using an i.MX6Q (Freescale), it takes roughly 3 1/2 hours (softfloat) to build Firefox 15.

While the current market of ARM devices won't win any speed tests, there are more features to it than just power consumption. My mx51 netbook has no moving parts and doesn't burn my legs even when its been running a long compile (such as Firefox) versus the Core i7 I have that can build it much faster however it cuts the battery life almost in half. There is also the fan noise when those cores start churning, not to mention the heat.

I'm talking about this Phone http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2409833,00.asp which as very recently been announced.

With your mx51 netbook you've traded power consumption, noise and heat production against performance. If you value the former more than the latter, there is no discussion.

Ah. Okay. I'm reading/responding on my phone and I thought the i was an L.

The intel chip is definitely interesting.

Indeed it depends on what your needs/wants are. There are still quite a few people out who do expect an ARM device to have the same performance as an x86 one.

There are actually 2 different ARM cores that can be licensed, one is power efficient, and one is for performance. As far as I know, "everyone" licenses the power efficient one. I'd be interested in the performance one, but I'm not sure who licenses it. I could see Calxeda licensing it since they are in the server space, but I don't believe they are.

The laptop in question was a 1.6 Ghz Core Solo with 2 Gb of memory and integrated graphics. Even with x86 outperforming ARM at similar clockings etc., a current generation quad core 1.5 Ghz tablet will probably be in a similar performance range as that laptop.

But you are right in that I am comparing a mid range laptop from 2006 with a top of the line tablet in 2012, which is unfair. However, it does not alter the argument much: Tablet/phone processors are getting fast enough for desktop work.

As an aside, it does not really matter if future tablets will run ARM or x86. What matters is that we are talking about slim, light devices that can not afford laptop caliber batteries or active cooling.

Even a 1.6 Ghz Core Solo with 2Gb of memory will outperform a 1.5 ghz quad-core tegra 3 tablet with 1gb of memory(low power ddr3 memory is very expensive and unused ram still consumes power) for about any day-to-day task, software very specifically crafted for the tegra 3 soc aside.

The instruction sets and core design are just not as performance oriented on those ARM chips.

To put insult to injury, especially on mobile there are not many apps that use the multi-core capabilitys of those quad-core cpu's very well, even the Android OS is not very optimised in the sense that modern Desktop OSes are. That is one of the major reasons why a dual-core A15 SOC is faster than a Quad-Core A9... There is no true multi-threading available in browsers, thats why Intels Medfield chips win handsdown all browser benchmarks. Having a fast single-core with hyper threading is obviously going to kick a lot of ass in the browser department.

PS: If you want to see for yourself, install Ubuntu on those Tegra 3 tablets and compare it to ubuntu on your core solo: http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/ASUS_Eee_Pad_Transforme...

As far as performance goes, the iPhone 5's A6 is only 10% slower than the June 2004-released [1] Pentium 4 540! High end ARM processors (high end for phones at least) should be more powerful than midrange desktop processors from 2003, or 9 years ago. Unless Geekbench changed since then, which I didn't check for. Laptops with Core Duo processors (circa 2006) were indeed faster than the A6 though.

Geekbench numbers for each:

Pentium 4 540 (eyeballed average from [2]: 1800 iPhone 5's A6 [3]: 1623

[1] http://www.intel.com/pressroom/kits/quickrefyr.htm#2004

[2] http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench2/search?q=pentium+4...

[3] http://www.macworld.com/article/2010360/lab-tests-iphone-5-l...

> And even programmers, the audience who would most need all the power and flexibility of laptops, are switching to tablets.

programmerS? the link is the only guy I heard of so far, and I even know die-hard ipad fans who laugh at the idea of a tablet being a serious workstation.

Just looking at his setup gave me back pain. I mean, why settle for a small tablet screen with a separate keyboard when you can have several huge screens giving you so much more screen space? What is the point there?

Of course a portable device is great to use when I'm away from my desk, but that's the exception not the rule.

I quite agree with Derbasti; my dream device would be a tablet that I can dock at my desk and have it transformed into a full blown workstation. Even better, make it a phone with a large-ish screen.

This is where dropbox has changed the game for me. If I can get at my stuff from anywhere, I don't care if it's the same device accessing it. Sure, there's some overhead to configuring multiple devices, installing software, etc. But this overhead comes with the advantage that if they are two different platforms, they have different strengths.

I have a desktop and a tablet. Needing to stay flexible between platforms means that switching the OS on either one is not nearly as painful as it used to be.

I would never consider working on a tablet, even if it could perfectly run my development environment. I absolutely need a keyboard, and I might as well take the laptop if I'm going to pack a keyboard with the tablet.

Agreed, it's not only the keyboard but also the blazing fast application switching (at a keyboard shortcut distance), decent code editors.

The only thing that come near that for me are the asus transformer series running ubuntu, but I'm still encountering multiple fatal issues (plus the touchpad is sub-par).

Also the storage space. Tablets and ultrabooks still don't give you enough space if you need to install a lot of development software, database servers, etc.

Oh, and if you need to develop in more than one OS, then a tablet isn't going to cut it, and the 128/256GB SSD in an ultrabook is a pretty tight squeeze for dual boot.

Those factors, the RAM and the back pain are the reasons I stick with larger devices for now. I do have my beady eye on the forthcoming Asus U500 though.

Several people have told me they do the same. It might not be thousands, but there are programmers out there working like this.

It works for programmers because the iPad isn't your workstation, it's just your connection to a remote workstation. I'm not sure this is applicable to e.g. graphic design.

you know, working on a terminal (thin client) is nothing particularly new. and when you attach a keyboard and a mouse/touchpad to assemble a kind-of-laptop-but-not-laptop terminal it's by strict measures no longer 'working on a tablet', so what's the point of it exactly? carrying around a keyboard to say you don't use a netbook, it's a tablet? trying to prove something?

I hate to disagree with you because I abhor the idea of using a tablet for my work. However, it's still a machine that gets longer battery life than a laptop, is smaller (so theoretically more portable), lacks a lot of the power of a laptop, etc. It isn't the same as using a laptop. It's both more and less convenient.

He explains the reasons pretty well in the original blog post http://yieldthought.com/post/12239282034/swapped-my-macbook-...

Interestingly, I'm having the opposite thing happen. Due to this MacBook Pro Retina (I have the fully spec'd version), I firmly believe that my Mac Pro will be the last desktop computer I own.

While the Mac Pro (about a year old) still smokes this laptop in a lot of areas, it's not enough smoke that I find myself turning it on half as much as I used to after I got this laptop. Occasionally, if I'm doing some heavy duty OpenFrameworks hacking, I'll switch over.

I've moved almost all my video editing to the MBP, mostly because I went with the G-RAID thunderbolt RAID (wrongly assuming they'd introduce a Mac Pro line with Thunderbolt sometime soon). And render times aren't so bad that I miss it all that much, though when I do I will begrudgingly shuffle some files around and fire up the Mac Pro. (I do video installation art as a hobby).

I think I will miss how warm the Mac Pro keeps my office in the winter though.

I also can't wait to see what next year's line refresh brings.

That sounds like the same process (desktop -> laptop -> tablet) rather than the opposite to me.

The Mac Pro is woefully out of date at this point: It's almost as if they've abandoned that line of hardware altogether. Has Apple actually said that they're going to bring the hardware up to date?

Yes, but not until next year some point: http://www.macrumors.com/2012/06/12/apple-spokesperson-confi...

Along with this, I'm considering the Thinkpad X1 Carbon or the Samsung Series 9 -- they're all advertised as lightweight, powerful, and with more vertical resolution than the usual piddling 768px. Anyone tried them and want to weigh in?

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/08/a-worthy-ultrabook-ap... (edit: previous discussion at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4428262 )

I'm leaning towards the Thinkpad since I get the impression Thinkpads usually go well with Linux. (I might need to run Windows too, alas.) This will replace a Mac laptop.

I reviewed Thinkpad X1 Carbon, Samsung Series 9 and both Zenbooks recently (tech journo here) at our test lab.

Samsung has the best battery-per-weight ratio, but it has the worst screen out of the three. Still better than average, except its gamut which is typical = bad. The screen is the brightest out of three and 2nd best in contrast after Zenbook. The mouse has some problems, it likes to think you meant to select/drag'n'drop when you just move the cursor and try to click. If you need ultra light, this is the way to go.

Thinkpad's battery life is a bit disappointing, an hour or so less than Samsung's. The screen in general is better, the gamut is almost full sRGB. It's a very solid performer in all aspects. But it's much more expensive; you can get two (cheaper) Zenbooks with the price of one X1 Carbon.

Zenbook (UX31A and UX32VD) has superior display because of the fullHD, almost full sRGB gamut, best contrast ratio and almost as bright display as Samsung. UX31A:s battery lasts IIRC longest out of these, or at least it's similar to Samsung's. UX32VD is a tad cheaper, has the same excellent display, but with power-hungry Nvidia graphics makes its battery last as long as Thinkpad's, so not that long. (3ish hours playing video.) Also, hard drive makes it suck compared to other laptops with SSD.

Out of these, I'd choose UX31A. Good battery life, excellent screen, good performance, light and thin, and not insanely expensive. IMHO not worth the extra 1000 euros/dollars for X1 Carbon.

Oh, and if battery length is the most important thing for a light laptop, MacBook Air 13" is the way to go. Its display is though worst out of these mentioned in this post.

Since you reviewed it recently, I'll assume you used the second-gen Series 9. I've got the first-gen running Linux, and it runs quite well. I can definitely attest to the screen being quite bright, but it is more then good enough for side viewing (although the 1366x768 resolution isn't that great, but usable). At least under Linux the touchpad works perfectly though, much better then any touch pad I've used under windows. Probably the best thing about the first-gen though, is that being a pre-ultrabook, it has removable memory, so I've currently got it ramped up to 16GB.

The Zenbook Primes are not actually half the price of an X1 Carbon in the U.S., it's more like 75%. Also, the MacBook Air 13" has the best display for programming because it's physically taller than all the other 13" or 14" netbooks' 16:9 displays.

I considered all the laptops you mention and settled on the 13" Air. What's wrong with its display? I think it looks great, and seems to have a very wide viewing angle.

Compared to the others: bad gamut (color reproduction/range). Also, even if it's better than the typical low-resolution 1366x768, it still isn't 1600x1900 or full HD. Brightness- and contrast-wise it's great. But still, there's better displays in the cheaper price range already, like on Zenbook. Or if you want to compare against much cheaper iPad, iPad also has far greater resolution, much better (almost perfect sRGB) gamut, better contrast, and so on. MBAir's display is better than average though, so it's not bad. It's just there's better options available.

Of course, if you're not interested about the color reproduction, this might not affect to you. But if you want to edit photos or see movies like they're supposed to be, then it matters.

I've installed ubuntu on the x1 carbon this weekend after hacker news recommendations about thinkpads for linux. UK model with US-English keyboard, i5 processor. Seems to be flawless with ubuntu. All drivers worked out of the box. Wireless, audio, suspend, wake up, volume keys on keyboard, battery warning. I've been able to use 'CompizConfig Settings Manager' to hack unity to be the way I want. I found a way to disable the low trackpad.

It's fast, light, beautiful keyboard. I'm really happy with it. I googled for discount vouchers when I ordered and got 10% off.

I'd recommend against buying it for Windows use. I tried it for a couple of days just to see what it was like. It comes preloaded with lots of rubbish (including aggressive Norton popups) and no install media. Awful. The base installation took up half of the 128GB hard disk, which seemed crazy. I uninstalled as much junk as I could, and it worked OK for a bit but later my VPN client stopped working.

If you can get an ISO image of Windows maybe you could install windows in virtual box.

> I'd recommend against buying it for Windows use. I tried it for a couple of days just to see what it was like. It comes preloaded with lots of rubbish (including aggressive Norton popups) and no install media. Awful. The base installation took up half of the 128GB hard disk, which seemed crazy. I uninstalled as much junk as I could, and it worked OK for a bit but later my VPN client stopped working.

I think that any hackers who are going to use a Windows laptop should be familiar and OK with doing a clean install. Nowadays, it's an extremely easy process. You can get an ISO via direct download straight from Microsoft's servers[0] (the one you want is probably "English x64: X17-59465.iso"). You would be surprised how nice a clean Windows 7 install is.

You may also want the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool[1], which will let you install Windows from a USB drive.

I'm pretty sure you can use the OEM key to register the clean Windows install, but I've always just used the Windows 7 Loader[2]. It's fast and easy, and always works.

0: http://www.mydigitallife.info/official-windows-7-sp1-iso-fro...

1: http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/html/pbPage.Help...

2: http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/24901-Windows-Loade...

Great description, thanks.

Can I ask if you can plug in 2 external displays to your X1 on Ubuntu? (my latest Thinkpad did not allow that and I had to switch to something else because it's kind of a show-stopper for me.)

(I didn't order the dongle for this, and don't know. Hopefully someone else does.)

I'm also considering the thinkpad as a replacement, mainly because once I got used to the trackpoint I can't imagine working on a notebook without one.

Existing Thinkpad fans have been unimpressed with the display on the X1 carbon. You may take that with a grain of salt, as some of us remember when high-end models came with UXGA IPS panels and a few could even be ordered with a QXGA option.

Thanks. I like that the screen is a bit larger than the others (14") even if lower resolution, but maybe I should worry about the quality.

It is possible that a better future tablet would have good enough programming tools - it will be fun to wait and see.

I got rid of all three of my desktop systems (1 Mac, 2 dual Linux/Windows boxes) a few years ago. I don't plan on buying any more Apple gear, but will use what I have until it needs to be replaced: MacBook Pro running Ubuntu, Air 13', a Toshiba laptop Linux/Windows, and a iPad 2. My wife and I live in a very small house in the mountains and not having as much computer clutter is great.

The biggest recent technological change in my work/life mix has been the purchase of a Samsung Galaxy III S super sized phone (1280x720 screen resolution). I am amazed by how much I use this device: for just about everything but coding and writing. I do most of my programming in Ruby and Clojure so I don't need much horsepower on my development systems so I can imagine a future where a more powerful phone with a docking station might cover most of my work, writing, and entertainment needs: skip the tablet!

All that said, I am likely to purchase a Surface when they are released and the early adopter bugs are ironed out. I used to have fun bashing Microsoft but there are a few things that have softened my view: Bill and Melinda Gate's good works for making the world better, the fact that the surface would fit my needs, and I still have pleasant memories of writing a Windows 1.03 app (the SAIC ANSim neural network tools that had a nice UI for managing training, etc.)

How come are you giving up on Apple gear? I'm starting to think it's almost a trend and I'm curious about your reasoning.

I like Apple gear, but I don't feel like giving them anymore of my business.

Is this an ad or genuine? I'd trust it more if it didn't come with an amazom affiliate link.

He's been doing the Advertorial thing for a while now:

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2009/06/regular-expressions...

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2008/03/adventures-in-recha...

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2008/11/coding-its-just-wri...

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2007/09/lcd-monitor-arms.ht...

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2007/04/software-projects-a...

I get what you're saying, but I don't see why adding an affiliate link to an honest endorsement makes it any less honest.

While I don't agree with everything Jeff has to say, I wouldn't call him a shill. His reviews have always seemed perfectly honest to me. I've even bought products he's recommended and agreed with said recommendations - not caring whether or not he made a dollar off said purchase.

Isn't that the underlying reason for affiliate links? No doubt, they've obviously been bastardized in thousands of ways, but the initial reason for them was to make linking to a product mutually beneficial.

I thought it was parody, myself, because the bottom half of that laptop looks exactly like a MacBook Air, down to the arrows, slot ordering, and specs, and yet not once does he mention the "elephant in the room" of how it compares to the MB-A.

Same feeling. I hate apple, but recommending a MBA clone + win8 preview is very weird. Especially the win8 part, the author didn't tell any feature that makes it a big improvement over win7. Perhaps this is not about software after all.

Regarding Win8, the author did write a separate post about it: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2012/07/betting-the-company...

yep, definitely an affiliate link. in previous posts atwood would disclose the affiliate links in the post (not sure why he didn't do so this time). amazon usually pays 4% on referrals (in this case 42$), so depending on the loyalty of his readership this "review" might be moderately lucrative.

Any idea why it's on the front page? Is he using bots to juice his posts?

Well the perfect laptop is something most developers have an interest in, why couldn't the post have made it to the front page on its own merit?

Probably because he's a well known blogger?

In case anyone doesn't know, he's been one of the most popular Programmer bloggers for many years. He also started StackOverflow with Joel Spolsky (another very popular blogger). So his posts tend to be noticed.

He has a desktop computer with a bunch of monitors, so I guess his laptop is mostly for email, entertainment and web browsing. Of course a tablet can do that just fine. If you're using a laptop as your main machine, you have different needs.

Personally I am planning to retire my desktop computer and buy an ultrabook, probably a Samsung 900X3C. The Samsung is tinner and lighter, and I read it's a bit more solid in the build than the Asus.

Anyone tried both the 900X3C and a UX31A? Anyone tried Linux on them?

I've been considering both the 900X3C and 900X4C myself, but Linux support isn't quite there yet. The most annoying outstanding issue (maybe the only one when Ubuntu 12.10 hits) is a nasty ACPI bug that causes Linux to fail to recognize when certain events take place, like lid close/open and battery charge/discharge, both pretty much show stoppers for a laptop IMHO. It seems to affect lots of Samsung laptops, not just the series 9. Here are a few useful links if you want to keep track of the overall issues:

https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=44161

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SamsungSeries9

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1737086&page=24

If they ever get the ACPI bug worked out, I probably wouldn't go for the X3C. Even though it has a better display (IPS) and is slightly thinner the RAM isn't upgradeable at 4 GB, unlike the X4C which comes with 8 GB and is upgradeable to 16 GB.

Edit: Forgot to mention that you need Windows installed in order to upgrade the BIOS.

I have the original series 9 (900x3a), and I don't have all those problems (although I did have to do some manual fixes, which all should now be included in the latest kernel and udev). I admit I've never tried to upgrade the BIOS, probably been quite a while since I've checked for an update. Not having windows, it might be an issue if I needed to update, but it works fine as it is. The other advantage of the 900X3A is interchangeable ram, I've currently got 16GB in there.

Interesting, I had no idea the original 13'' series 9 had upgradeable RAM.

I also almost never upgrade the BIOS unless I run into problems which are fixed in a more recent revision, and most manufacturers don't even provide updates past the first year or so anyway, it's just the general attitude of having to have an OS installed as a requirement to update something as low-level as the BIOS that rubs me the wrong way.

Lots of other manufacturers get it right. Live CDs (Lenovo) or in-BIOS upgrades (Intel and possibly ASUS if I remember correctly) are a much cleaner way of handling these upgrades.

My biggest problem with PC laptops is getting Linux to run on it painlessly (their trackpads are a close second). How does Linux run on this one?

Being and UX31A user myself I share your joy. I ditched windows and installed archlinux and tailored it to my liking. This is indeed one fine laptop.

I think that until we get something that makes keyboards and screens obsolete there will be room for a laptop.

Is the UX32A any good?

from what i read the difference is that the UX32A has hybrid storage against the SSD only UX31A so it should be alright.

I have been using the Ux31 (previous version, only 1600x900) on Arch and Windows 8, and I am quite impressed too.

I have been a heavy Thinkpad (T42 and T61p) and Macbook Pro user, and I had the chance to test other Ultrabooks, like the Samsung S9 and some cheap Acer. I was quite prejudiceed against Asus, but this machine is really the best I had so far.

He does bring out a point about something I have never understood: why does the PC industry love putting stickers on laptops? It is a really annoying and ugly practice.

I'd assume the small "Intel inside" and "Designed for Windows" ones (as well as the "X recommends Windows Y" notices on product pages) are in some extent considered paid advertising, as they ate part of pricing agreements.

Yep, back in the days when I was involved with a PC assembly company, the Intel Inside marketing programme had financial benefits for those who put the stickers on their machines.

IIRC it involves money. And the Wintel manufacturers have a lot of history in distinguishing on price, so they'll gladly gunk things up with stickers in exchange for some bucks off of the components.

I don't see myself typing long texts on a tablet or phone in the foreseeable future. For consuming on the road, it turned out the 10.1" tablet is actually too big and the phone is sufficient.

What about the Asus tablet with the detachable keyboard? I saw it in a shop recently and it looked surprisingly solid.

Another, perhaps stupid thought: with screen resolutions blowing up, could it become possible to use glasses to see a phone display in a size equivalent to 27"?

I have considered Zenbook over my MacBook Air but I have not changed yet. I am somewhat reluctant moving back to Windows but in the same time I am not much of a Apple fan either. I guess I am on deadlock here, waiting a linux miracle. So, it all boils to software.

But you can run both on the Mac, at the same time too. I do a lot of OpenFrameworks stuff for in-store retailing (touch screen, interactive displays) and I can run opengl openframework apps in Parallels 8 at 60 fps no problem in coherence mode (WIndows apps run in windows integrated with your mac desktop). They aren't exactly trivial apps either (some run at 2560x1440 and are doing Kinect processing + OpenCV + 3D). I develop with XCode, flip over to Visual Studio to recompile and debug (we dev on macs, deploy on Windows).

Guess he didn't look very hard for the specs he's quoting. I had a Dell Dimension D430 which was awesome a few years ago (actually it was great until a few weeks ago when I dropped it) and got 6+ hours of battery life easily, and the Z-series Vaio I'm typing this on are just a teeny bit heavier than what he's talking about and also get similar battery life. Plus, for longer times without access to power outlets, there's always the second battery. Better to go from 5 to 10 hours by taking a second battery than going from 5 to 7 by adding extra weight that most of the time you don't use, imo.

The UX31A has a full HD (1920x1080) display, whereas the D430 has WXGA (1280x768). I don't see many laptops with Full HD displays at that price point.

Sure, but the D430 was available 5 years ago. I was more referring to his claim that there were no good laptops in the ultra portable category since 2003. My point was that there have been several.

The Asus A95V is another one - real workhorse, huge & heavy (18.4 display) but has latest i7 Ivy-Bridge chip set, 2 hard disks, 16GB mem, full HD.

similar price point - actually a bit cheaper than the UX31A but originally only available in Germany.

It is a bit strange that there is a differentiation between battery life and portability. As far as I'm concerned portability is (battery-life * (1/weight)), assuming that you give them the same importance.

It seems he wants a super-powerful tablet. That'd be reasonable for on the go. He'd have a good docking system at home to connect to proper monitor and keyboard, with big storage. There'd be a portable keyboard too, for proper work on the go.

He'd still have to take a phone.

And, of course, he'd have a struggle with OSs not knowing if they were using horrible tablet interfaces or desktop interfaces; and having to adjust between mouse and touch all the time.

The first thing I did when I got the laptop was wipe it and install the Windows 8 preview

That's why it won't be your last laptop.

My conclusion of this article is that even after so many years, it is still not possible to find a decent computer that fits normal needs even when money is not the issue.

I completely agree with the needs of the article: something usable in a subway, with a good screen, 10 hours of battery life, a descent CPU, an (optional) keyboard for productivity and a descent OS.

By emphasizing that this is his last "PC" laptop, I assume he might still buy a laptop in the future but not a PC one. However, all the points listed in the article are reasons for why tablets are more awesome.

The only thing I find appealing about tablets at the moment is the ARM CPU, which translates directly to low heat and long battery life.

I don't want to run a tablet OS. I don't want to have to attach an external keyboard. I don't care about touch. I want more than a gig of RAM. I want a laptop-class SSD, not an SD card. I'm actually considering building my own ARM laptop because I haven't seen anything on the market I want.

My thoughts exactly. I cannot help but think there's a rather big opportunity for HW companies here...

I'm actually inclined to think there isn't. The things I want from a computer and what finds success in the market don't necessarily line up that well.

I built the laptop I'm typing this on out of parts from three different Thinkpads because I wanted a 64-bit machine with a trackpoint and a high-quality 4:3 screen and nobody made one. About one in four of the programmer/IT types I talked to about it agreed that was a good use of my time and money.

How do you actually go about building your dream laptop? The parts needed just doesn't seem to mix-and-match like what we used to in desktop PCs.

It's essentially a 14" 4:3 Thinkpad T61 motherboard in a 15" 4:3 T60 chassis. They don't quite mix and match perfectly and I had to file down a couple places on the frame to make it fit. This is a fairly popular modification among enthusiasts of the classic Thinkpad line, as it's generally thought to be the best possible 4:3 Thinkpad. The keyboard came from an unknown machine (ebay) and was on a W500 for a while; I chose the part number generally regarded as slightly better than the others. The wifi card, hard drive, AC adapter and battery came from a W500. The wifi card required a BIOS hacked to remove the hardware whitelist.

The current specs are:

    Display: 15" IPS panel, 1600x1200, matte
    CPU: Intel T7700, upgradeable to T9500
    GPU: Nvidia QuadroFX 570M, 128MB
    Memory: 8GB DDR2 dual-channel @ 667 MHz
    Disk: 320GB 5400RPM, hacked BIOS supports SATAII
    Optical: DVD multi-burner

I'm not done. Planned upgrades:

    Display: QXGA (2048x1536) panel, when I can find one for less than $400
    CPU: If something Penryn shows up cheap or free, I'll put it in
    Disk: An SSD, obviously, perhaps with a hard drive in the optical bay
    Battery: I'm betting there are some modern cells with higher capacity I can put in the old shell

Pretty much everything that can be done with these has been done by somebody on http://forum.thinkpads.com, so it's pretty low-risk if the idea of a semi-custom laptop appears to you. 4:3 T61 motherboards and QXGA panels are rare and often priced higher than you would expect, but the rest of the parts are cheap and easy to come by. Careful ebay shopping may procure the rare parts for a more reasonable price.

I have a UX32VD and I really like it - except for the fact that the integrated display sometimes doesn't wake up when it goes to sleep. Did anybody else notice the same problem?

Very good article. I think the leadup lends to a profound conclusion - all this work reaching perfection, and laptops may cease to exist in a few years.

I am predicting more Lap Docks coming out. They look really nice and it's basically just a screen, keyboard and battery.

What's with the `?tag=codihorr-20` at the end of the Amazon link?

Why on earth is that a problem for you?

Why on earth did you imagine that it is a problem for me? I simply wanted to know what its function was.

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