“I would like to tell you why I think laptop computers are crap,” Alistair Dabbs writes for The Register.
1. The screen isn’t big enough for real work
2. There’s no numeric keypad
3. The ports are too close to each other
4. Not enough storage space
5. The display viewing angle is acute
6. Trackpads are rubbish
7. Battery life is pants
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Laptops are crap. Apple notebooks on the other hand are exactly the opposite. Dude needs to get himself a MacBook Air already. Overall, and we do not type this lightly, our 11-inch MacBook Airs are nothing less than our all-time favorite Macs.
Enjoying the irony that the annoying pop-up ad on MDN’s take for the work Mac if for Windows 7 and a Wintel machine.
Mine’s a dog – appropriate considering the rubbish article!
Nice white shaggy doggy, which barks 🙂
What pop-up? I get none. Is it just Adblock?
Yes it is Adblock,, http://safariadblock.com/
Careful there enos33. I’ve been censored here for such anti-marketing blasphemy.
(I prefer responsible, user-friendly and user-respectful marketing)
That article is crap. Why even give it mention?
Totally agree about the 11″ Air. I have a 15″ Pro and an 27″ iMac (both SSD) and the Air has become my go-to machine. I can literally take it and run. Close the lid, throw it in the briefcase and dash to the next meeting or airplane. Open the lid and everything is there. Small, unobtrusive, light, yet a fully functional laptop.
The Air is a nice laptop, but some of us have eyes that don’t play so well with that small of a screen. Wish mine did, but presbyopia is a bitch.
13″ MBA is better than the 11″, IMO, unless it is very important to you to minimize the size and weight of your traveling equipment.
I think the author is full of crap
1. The screen isn’t big enough for real work
My 17 inch MBP is just fine. And I use it for CAD work. And you can always attach a large monitor if needed.
2. There’s no numeric keypad
Don’t care.
3. The ports are too close to each other
Not an issue for me.
4. Not enough storage space
500gb is fine for me and now that stuff is stored on the cloud it’s not an issue. And u can always attach more storage via Thunderbolt.
5. The display viewing angle is acute
The author apparently has never used a MacBook.
6. Trackpads are rubbish
The author apparently has never used a MacBook.
7. Battery life is pants
The author apparently has never used a MacBook.
Author is clueless.
i rarely ever need the numeric keypad.
I have a MBP 13″. if I had to buy a new MBP today, i’d go 15″.
beyond that, it’s perfect.
and I just saw a 750GB hybrid drive on amazon for $144 right now..
The guy obviously needs to buy a MacBook Pro/Air
He’s a prat.
This article is crap. I love my 17″ MAcBook Pro!
pants?
Pants= rubbish = trash = garbage = not such a good thing!
Crapped in my pants. Reduced to ‘pants’ in jolly old.
Rotten – lousy – rubbish.
Apparently, the commenters here haven’t actually read the original article. Otherwise, they would have heard that:
6. he said at the end to ignore the whole 6, because the new trackpads (presumably, from his experience with a MB/MBP/MBA).
Also, he added item 8 — ignore all seven above. Apparently, he loves the laptops, and his ideal laptop would weigh 0 kilos, have a cinema screen, massive multi-terabyte drive, full size keyboard, and fit in his pocket. He finishes the article with “Is that too much to ask?”.
Apparently, MDN stripped out all the tongue-in-cheek facetiousness out of the article, making him come across as a jerk.
Laptops are all about power consumption, rather than performance. You always have to turn settings down for the Radeon or GeForce m-series chips.
This looks promising:
http://www.fudzilla.com/graphics/item/25602-external-graphics-over-thunderbolt-in-the-works
You can’t beat a nice big iMac. Laptops are torture, even Apple ones.
I cannot picture not using a laptop because I hate being tethered to a desk, but he’s right. They are crap, even my Macbook Pro.
That said, I’m waiting for Apple to put a small laptop battery in iMacs, Mac minis, and Mac Pros to deal with power surges and drops and for them to ship everything with at least a hybrid SSD/hard drive.
I agree with there being no numeric keypad. But I’d lik to say that laptops were made to be for people on the go. If someone has real work to do it shouldn’t be on a laptop. I’ve had no trouble doing work on my laptop because I use an external cinema display. 2 screens available if needed.
Translation:
1. I have no idea how to manage screen real estate or what Cmd-tab does.
2. I’m an accountant.
3. I have gargantuan hands and always try to plug my USB devices into the Ethernet port. They won’t fit.
4. My massive collection of horse pr0n crowds out my family pics. Also, I do not know how to use external storage (because the ports are too close together).
5. Because I have a $300 Black Friday Acer netbook.
6. They do not handle liquids well at all.
7. See 5.
If he’s talking about the laptops he used he forgot one point
8. The lousy Windows OS it runs on.
As I recall, desktop computers generally don’t have batteries built in. So their battery life is worse than desktops.
… and I’m a hit-whore.
Keep in mind that the Register uses the grand old British tradition of Abuse, Satire and Sarcasm, aka the ASS protocol.
(I tried to spell out ARSE but was too lazy).
try abuse,ridicule,sarcasm and ennui
Stupid Article
Yes, laptops are crap. But there are only two actual reasons why:
Terrible keyboards.
Terrible pointing devices.
But I guess two reasons weren’t enough for a full article so Dabbs had to make some things up.
What else would one expect from the Register.
1. The 15″ screen is bigger than the iPad
2. Who actually needs it when 99% of or language is letters.
3. Yeah so?
4. On board space should be empty except for your apps and current work, externals for storage.
5. The display is adjustable (sheesh)
6. Agreed but that’s what mice are for, that’s if you can bare having it plugged in so close to your printer plug.
7. No smoking.