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Comment by bluGill | Hacker News Reader

These are not laptop computers, they are notebooks. The only laptop I've personally seen had a 80286 processor... We call them laptops, but historically that name is wrong.

While it is possible to use a notebook on your lap, you are not supposed to. It is a terrible place that is unergonomic. You are supposed to put them on a table of some sort. If you are using it for more than something quick you should have a separate keyboard and mouse (ie attached to a docking station on your desk). The portable form factor is useful for meetings, presentations, or other such - but for real work they are terrible.

Since the lap what it was designed for, and a lap is a bad idea anyway: putting vents on the bottom isn't bad.

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I frequently sit on my balcony, with my MacBook Pro in my lap. I'm still alive.

I also frequently use that computer, that doesn't have vents on the bottom, for watching movies in bed. And I don't need to think about vents. My last non-Apple computer was some ThinkPad, with vents on the bottom, and I remember always chasing some book to put under the computer to make the vents free. Boy, how I hated that.

I doubt any computer you can lift will kill you if you put it on your lap. It might be uncomfortable, but it won't kill you. (I'm not about to put some of VAXen I've seen on my lap even though I can technically lift them, but...)

People do all kinds of terrible things to their body. That you do something and seem to be getting away with it doesn't mean you should. Talk to a real doctor trained in this (your regular doctors probably is not) for details.

When I'm working, I'm at my desk, with a keyboard, mouse, and monitors. But the reason why I have a light laptop instead of some beefy desktop computer is the convenience of having a computer when I'm not at my desk. At a café. Or to check emails when I'm at relatives'. Or to work on my hobby project in a car, waiting for my daughter to finish her training session. Or to be next to me, on a carpet, while I'm checking why the network under the TV is behaving strangely.

I've been living laptop life since 2002, IIRC. In all that time, the most stupid design decision I saw was on some HP EliteBook, where designers, in their infinite wisdom, put tiny legs on a laptop. Those four stupid pieces of plastic and rubber bite my legs every time when I try to use the convenience of having a mobile computer.

Fans on the bottom of the laptop case are firmly in the second place on my list. And no amount of ackchyually you're holding it wrong will change that.

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