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Is the high-end laptop dead?

By | June 22, 2010, 4:00am PDT

Summary: There aren’t many good reasons left to spend a big chunk of cash on a laptop. It’s easy to make a case though for solid remote access to cloud and/or virtual resources.

A while back, I wrote that I was trading my laptop for a server. Finances have dictated that I tough it out with my MacBook for a while longer, which is fine since it does most of what I need it to do as well as any other computer. A server would just be handy to centralize all of my stuff and leverage virtual machines to give the kids and wife their own computing platforms that are more easily managed than random laptops and salvaged desktops.

So the server is coming, as soon as I can make it a financial priority, although it may just be in the form of a high-end PC. Great. That being said, I’m not even writing this on my trusty, if boring, MacBook. I’m writing it on a netbook that Dell has provided me for a long-term evaluation. It’s one of their new Latitude 2110’s and may actually be the most usable netbook I’ve ever, well…used.

The 2110 is designed primarily for the educational market with some slick classroom features and a rugged, rubber exterior (think of those four-square and dodgeball balls you used in elementary school). The keyboard is quite good, even without the “for a netbook” modifier, the high-res screen is great to look at as long as I have my reading glasses on, and I’m getting 8 hours of battery life pretty consistently under normal load. It isn’t the lightest netbook ever (the 6-cell battery that enables those 8 hours is a bit chunky), but it was no problem to toss into my messenger bag for a day in New York with Kid #1 to see a couple shows.

The numerical designation, by the way, for those of you who don’t follow me on Twitter, refers to birth order, not favoritism. Although I do like Kid #1 a lot. Just heading off that particular set of flames before it gets started.

In fact, I’m sitting on the train now, typing away, distinctly not wishing for an uber-speedy, high-end laptop. Don’t get me wrong - I often feel the need for speed. My old MacBook makes movies whenever I tell it to, but the hours that it takes to render a DVD or even output a medium-sized YouTube video is just painful (what was I thinking getting a laptop with integrated graphics when it was intended to be my primary machine?).

Next: Geek lust vs. common sense »

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Topics

Desktop, Apple MacBook, Graphics, Laptop Computer, Netbook, Computer, Netbooks, Nettops & MIDs, Notebooks, Hardware, Notebooks & Tablets, Christopher Dawson

Chris Dawson writes ZDNet's Education IT blog. He is a freelance writer and consultant with years of experience in educational technology and web-based systems. In 2011, he became the Vice President of Marketing for WizIQ, Inc., a virtual classroom and learning network SaaS provider.

Disclosure

Christopher Dawson

Christopher Dawson is the Vice President of Marketing for WizIQ, Inc., by day and a freelance writer and educational technology consultant by night. Well, most of his colleagues at WizIQ are based in India, so really he's working with them whenever he can stay awake. He has worked for his local school district as a teacher and technology director, for the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, and for Biogen, Inc. (now Biogen-IDEC, Inc.). He has also consulted with STATNet and Cytyc Corporation and retains close ties with X2 Development Corporation (now owned by Follett Software, the supplier of the student information system he administered for several years). Follett is paying him a monthly honorarium to act as a presenter for their "SIS Voices for Student Achievement" community (he produces occasional blog posts and hosts a monthly webinar on the use of student information systems to inform data-driven instruction and school-wide change. He regularly purchases and/or recommends Dell hardware. This is because Dell makes good hardware and has truly committed itself to education in innovative ways, particularly with their "Connected Classroom" initiative. It isn't because he has dealings with the company through his role at WizIQ (which he does) or because they have provided him with long-term loans of a variety of equipment for in-depth testing (which they have). Intel (reference designer for the Classmate PCs he has implemented in his local schools) has provided him with long-term loans of Classmate PCs for testing, as have Dell and Lenovo with their educational offerings. He may report on any of these companies as his experiences with them have direct bearing on educational technology; positive reports are not necessarily an endorsement and he receives no direct financial compensation from these companies or any others. Intel paid all expenses for his attendance at the 2009 Intel Classmate PC Ecosystem Summit which he attended as the sole representative of the technology press. He was invited to attend in 2010 but his wife would have killed him if he spent 3 days in Vegas geeking out and left her home alone with a new baby. Acer provided him with a 50% discount on an Aspire One netbook in early 2009 after he tested it for 30 days through their educational seed program. He liked the netbook at the time but it has since broken and sits unused in his office. Canonical sent him Ubuntu lanyards, t-shirts, and mousepads for his kids. He stole one of the lanyards and proudly hangs his keys from it and occasionally features his 8-year old wearing an oversized Ubuntu t-shirt on his Facebook profile. Gunnar Optiks sent him a pair of computer glasses to evaluate for a holiday gift guide. He is wearing them now as he types this because they never asked for them back and they rock out loud. Seriously - they work brilliantly and make it much easier to spend 20 hours a day staring at an LCD. If they ever asked for them back, he would fork over the $99 and buy a pair. Microsoft gave him 2 free copies of Office 2010 professional, a desktop clock, and a useless book on Office 2010 when he attended the launch of Office/Sharepoint 2010. He occasionally uses the SharePoint lanyard they gave him instead of the Ubuntu lanyard for his keys, but feels dirty afterwards. Adobe provided him with a pre-release version of the CS5 Master Collection for evaluation and ultimately provided a full, licensed copy for ongoing testing of educational applications of this admittedly expensive software. Like the Gunnars, if the license expires or they come out with CS6, he'd actually go out and buy it himself. Which is saying something, because he's actually pretty cheap. Any other companies wishing to send him cool things to evaluate, wear, or otherwise adorn his kids are more than welcome to; he promises to disclose it here if he keeps any of the stuff. Finally, because WizIQ is a virtual classroom and learning network provider, Chris, as VP of Marketing, frequently interacts with, seeks out deals with, and directly or indirectly competes with a whole lot of LMS, SIS, and other Education 2.0 companies. In general, he'll limit his reporting about these companies to news that does not impact his relationship with them or with WizIQ. If he reports on them, it's because what they are doing is newsworthy or worth the attention of his readers and not because he's trying to broker some deal, damage competition, or otherwise advance his position in his day job. LMS and SIS companies, along with other online learning communities, are a pretty important part of Ed Tech. If he stops reporting on them completely, there won't be a whole lot left. He'll be sure to call out any overt conflicts of interest if they are unavoidable. Finally, Follett Software Company pays him a little tiny honorarium every month to present on their SIS Voices webinars and to write the occasional blog or discussion thread for them. Since Follett recently bought X2 (maker of an awesome web-based SIS that Chris just happened to have used, served in advisory groups for, and frequently reported on), this is probably also worth disclosing.

Biography

Christopher Dawson

Christopher Dawson grew up in Seattle, back in the days of pre-antitrust Microsoft, coffeeshops owned by something other than Starbucks, and really loud, inarticulate music. He escaped to the right coast in the early 90's and received a degree in Information Systems from Johns Hopkins University. While there, he began a career in health and educational information systems, with a focus on clinical trials and related statistical programming and database modeling. This focus led him to several positions at Johns Hopkins, a couple-year stint in private industry, teaching high school math and technology, and 2 years as the technology director for his local school district. Most recently, he started his own consulting business and is now the Vice President of Marketing for WizIQ, Inc., a virtual classroom and learning network provider. He lives with his wife, five kids (yes, 5), 2 dogs, and a hateful cat in a small town in north-central Massachusetts. Although he is no longer teaching, his roles with WizIQ and ZDNet allow him to continue helping students and teachers add value to education with technology rather than merely adding to the bottom line.
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RE: Is the high-end laptop dead?
tomlin21-24319035676893835085146735905770 11th Oct
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0 Votes
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Light typing, reading and watching...
frgough 22nd Jun 2010
hmmm. Sounds like a media consumption device. Hmmm. Sounds like what you want for that "on the go" is an iPad.

Oh, BTW, integrated graphic has nothing to do with DVD rendering times.
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RE: Is the high-end laptop dead?
StupidTechZealots-23432415690276115908309621553360 22nd Jun 2010
@frgough I thought was the point of the GPGPU? Has nobody moved video processing to the GPU?
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Video processing has nothing to do with playback
frgough 22nd Jun 2010
but rather crunching some very intensive mathematical algorithms. It's cpus with lots of threads and cores that you want.
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DVDFab uses CUDA
Skidpalace 23rd Jun 2010
@Stocklone
They have.
DVDFab6 uses CUDA and DXVA for GPU acceleration of decoding video. Not sure if it uses it for encoding as well.
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Right...
colinnwn 22nd Jun 2010
@frgough
I'm sure he wants to write blogs and articles on a small virtual keyboard. If he wanted to ingratiate himself to the cult of Steve, I'm sure he'd have said so. To me, it sounds like he wants a light weight content creation device.
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What part of light writing
frgough 22nd Jun 2010
did you not get?
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RE: Is the high-end laptop dead?
colinnwn Updated - 23rd Jun 2010
@frgough

The part where you'd want to use an iPad for anything but text messaging. The keyboard is passable for very basic input fields of ~140 char or less. For ANY writing, I wouldn't use it.
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RE: Is the high-end laptop dead?
mwagner@... 22nd Jun 2010
Yes, I think that the high-end laptop is becoming obsolete. At one time the 'road warrior' needed all their data on his laptop to do heir job. The laptop as a 'desktop replacement' was the cost-effective solution.

Today, remote access to workplace desktops and servers allows the netbooks to gain access to all that data, from anywhere - no muss, no fuss.

If a $350 netbook is too small or under-powered, a $500 notebook will do the job. For $750 you can put a Core i7 on your desk at home or the office and still spend well under tha $1500+ you would woud have spent on that 'road-warror' class laptop.
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Agreed.
Cylon Centurion 22nd Jun 2010
@mwagner

I fail to see a reason why anyone needs a Corei7 in a laptop, dueling video cards, and a power brick the size of Staten Island. A buddy of mine has a Dell XPS that is running Win7.... Gets a whopping 45 minute batt life.

My HP Pavillion laptop OTOH, with a dual core 1.6 GHz AMD Neo CPU, and ATI HD 3200 graphics can pull out a nice 5 hours.

There is simply no need for "gaming" laptops.
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battery life
banned from zdnet 23rd Jun 2010
@NStalnecker
how about a fully equipped (even with dedicated graphic cards!) laptop with 10 hours of battery life? can you imagine that? and no, sorry it doesn't come in cheap, superglued plastic as you're used to. wink
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I Don't Get It
ArtShapiro 22nd Jun 2010
The battery life is obviously impressive. On the other hand, I don't see how anyone can live with the severely-limited vertical screen space on these guys.
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Well, I moved up to an 11.6 inch netbook, and, there will hopefully be 13
DonnieBoy 22nd Jun 2010
and 14 inch models that use similar hardware and are not much more expensive than a netbook.
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Takes getting used to
Cylon Centurion 22nd Jun 2010
@ArtShapiro ,

But nothing can beat the batt life of these guys.
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battery life again
banned from zdnet 23rd Jun 2010
@NStalnecker
every macbook and macbook pro easily can. just saying...
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RE: Is the high-end laptop dead?
3D_Animator 22nd Jun 2010
The highend will always have it's niche. I would love to have a core i7 27" iMac with maxed out specs. I'm a photo and videographer semi-pro/hobbyist that dabbles in a little 3d animation and motion graphics for the video stuff. But I got a MacBook Pro to have the ability to be portable but with good processing power when needed. It would be sweet to just have both but I'm not doing enough of the pro side money making stuff for that to be practical. The portability with muscle does come in handy.
I recently did a photo shoot for a black tie ball where I was able to quickly set up the MacBook pro to transfer my photos from My Rebel to iphoto to run in a slideshow to assist the sale of the photos as I shot. It was so much easier to set up on location than lugging a deskstop yet had the power to run Aperture on site with ease. So I think having portability with the CPU and GPU power of high end laptops will always have its place depending on individual needs.
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So, because YOU don't need one, it must be dead?
BillDem 22nd Jun 2010
So, you think the Universe revolves around you? I wish I could get back the time I just wasted reading this self-centered opinion piece.
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Well, the Universe does not revolve around the few that need high end
DonnieBoy 22nd Jun 2010
laptops either. Most can get by just fine with a very cheap laptop or netbook.
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RE: Is the high-end laptop dead?
hiraghm@... 22nd Jun 2010
@DonnieBoy

This is why I've turned against democracy. The exceptional people will have to want what the marching morons want, or do without.
So what if most can "get by" with a cheap laptop or netbook? Does that mean the rest of us have to?
It's like "cloud computing". Because all the stupid lemmings out there want to flock to this new shiny, I have to put up with watching my computer be slowly transformed into a dumb internet terminal, doing all kinds of flashy cool things... most of which I have no need for it to do.

Btw, where's the proof behind this assertion that "most can get by"? Where's the empirical evidence for this? It's an historical fact that 100% of us can "get by" without any kind of computer whatsoever.

Here's a pencil. Here's a piece of paper. Have at it.
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Where is the evidence that a significant percentage of ordinary users need
DonnieBoy 22nd Jun 2010
the power of a high end laptop??? Even Christopher, most of the time, does NOT need a high end laptop.
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RE: Is the high-end laptop dead?
z_saberman 22nd Jun 2010
You mentioned that you run Virtual Machines on your server. I have a similar setup. However, I did purchase a high end laptop (Thinkpad x201) with an i5 CPU (four cores), 8GB of Ram and a 500 GB hard drive so I could take my Virtual Machines with me when I am out of the office. The screen is only 1200 x 800 (as compared to my 1900 x 1200 on the home office box). It is just about 3lbs and fits nicely into a small Tumi bag and on a seatback tray in a coach seat.

Aside from letting me work anywhere it also serves as a complete backup for the Virtual Machines.
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For creating and consuming web content, the majority will also be able to
DonnieBoy 22nd Jun 2010
get by just fine with Android, ChromeOS, WebOS, Ubuntu, etc. It is not just the high end hardware we do not need, it is also the fragile, expensive, bloated software that we do not need.
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Hope you like Win7 Starter edition
Telexer 22nd Jun 2010
Win7 Starter is a severely crippled OS. Not much good for more than email and web browsing.
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Well, it WILL run Win32 applications, still a major advantage.
DonnieBoy 22nd Jun 2010
But, yes, pretty ridiculous.
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The Starter argument is a non-Starter
use_what_works_4_U 22nd Jun 2010
@Telexer
My Dell Mini 10v runs the full Windows 7 Home OS wonderfully. For that matter it runs OS X very well.

Yes, it's an extra $80 for the upgrade to Home, but just because netbooks are packaged with Starter doesn't mean you have to leave them that way.

Incidentally, I don't like Starter but it is a capable OS for most of what people want/need to do.
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RE: Is the high-end laptop dead?
RichardWrite 22nd Jun 2010
@macadam
Agreed. I have Windows 7 Home Premium running on my Acer Aspire One just fine. I do not miss a high-powered computer at all.
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So you buy this computer, only to dump an additional...
Snooki_smoosh_smoosh 29th Jun 2010
@macadam... $80 into it to de-cripple it. Wow what a deal.
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How snide...
Cylon Centurion 22nd Jun 2010
@Telexer

I have Win7 Pro running on my netbook with no problems. Perhaps a little research is in need before commenting?
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RE: Is the high-end laptop dead?
windozefreak 22nd Jun 2010
Why did I know that windows would make it into this conversation. It seems that windows/Microsoft becomes the red herring when some of us have nothing intelligent to say about the subject.
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Well, without a bloated inefficient OS, there is a lot less need for high
DonnieBoy 22nd Jun 2010
end hardware. So, like most do not need high end hardware, they do not need Windows either.
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Once you dip the hook in the water you just keep on trolling don't ya?
use_what_works_4_U 22nd Jun 2010
@DonnieBoy
First, notice my handle. I am not a Windows fan by any stretch. I use Win 7, OS X, Ubuntu, and iOS4 on a daily basis. Windows 7 does NOT need high end hardware! I have deployed Windows 7 Enterprise on netbooks several times and it runs FINE.

Personally, I think that the big main p.c. (that's personal computer - OS agnostic) paired with a smaller, more affordable portable device (tablet, netbook, phone) is a great combination. I think that for most people it's a winner. High end hardware will never go away but in the portable space I think it's going to be less mainstream than it is now.
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BORING!
Lester Young 22nd Jun 2010
@DonnieBoy You love to say "bloat," but you don't know what it means. Just because an OS requires more resources than a lighter but less capable OS doesn't mean it is bloated. If the less capable OS suits your needs, good for you. It doesn't suit everybody's needs.
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looks
The Management consultant 22nd Jun 2010
So Windows 7 and Apple LPD is dead so Opensource has all the ansawers.....

Why buy high end? Looks and style but not OS...
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Very very few people...
fairportfan 22nd Jun 2010
...NEED a high-end laptop.

Many many people WANT one.

Personally, if i need the abilities of a high-end laptop, i'm probably at home, and i prefer a tower for that sort of thing, because i can modify/expand/upgrade it as i need.

If i'm away from home, about the only thing i can think of that i'd want a laptop rather than a netbook for at all (and it wouldn't have to be a high end laptop) would be watching DVDs.
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RE: Is the high-end laptop dead?
fairportfan 22nd Jun 2010
@fairportfan I forgot to point out that the article isn't asking if laptops in general are a moribund market niche, but only high-end (read, generally, "overpriced") laptops.
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I'm with you on the tower config...
Wolfie2K3 22nd Jun 2010
@fairportfan
I'd rather have a mid range laptop that gets what I need done on the road. On the other hand, I can't see having a desktop replacement (17" or larger) laptop. First off, I don't like the keyboards of most laptops. They're just too...flat.

The only reason anyone would need a desktop replacment laptop would be if they're seriously low on space. They have no place to put that tower case.
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Nonsense
hiraghm@... 22nd Jun 2010
I've a trucker friend who spends the vast amount of his time living in his truck. His laptop is more powerful than my desktop. Not only does the laptop provide ability to do his work, surf the web and watch video, it allows him to entertain himself playing games.

As for me, I need to do 2D and 3D graphics work, as well as word processing. I'm excited over the Alienware 11" netbook, as it's getting close to my ideal form-factor. About the right size, a bit heavy at ~4lbs, almost sufficient battery life (between 3.5 and 6.5 hours), and, from what I read, enough graphics power to handle my needs.
On the other hand, I'm *really* excited about Toshiba's new AC100. 1.9 lbs, 8 hrs use, 7 *days* standby, nvidia Tegra 250 chipset, and running Android. The way Android is exploding, I expect to soon see equivalent apps appear to handle my needs.
The fact is, the systems are getting more powerful, cheaper and smaller all the time. What we call a "high-end" system today will be a laughable dinosaur soon. Consider 20-25 years ago when these "high-end" laptops would have been considered amazingly compact and light. Current "high-end" machines are extremely more powerful, lighter, with greater battery life than their equivalent sized forebears of just 10 years ago.

So I really think it's a bit of a moot point. Yes, the expensive, big-arse deskop-replacements will fade away... but only because their replacements will become just as powerful, cheaper, and smaller.
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RE: Is the high-end laptop dead?
dljudd 22nd Jun 2010
No. Not with today's alternative offerings. Period. However, within the next ten years, laptops, notebooks, etc. as we know them now will all belong in a museum. Think wristwatch size -- I won't expound too much, but it's coming -- battery life, storage, virtual display (heads-up), dependable voice input (instead of keyboard), Micrometer Peophole 1.0 OS, (replacement for today's Microsoft Windows 7.0), etc.
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Add Payed For By DELL
yobtaf 22nd Jun 2010
Enjoy you free computer and many more in the future from DELL
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But I need it....
Coors4bob 22nd Jun 2010
So if I have a grill that will cook 4 hamburgers because that is what I use most of the time, I don't need a grill that can cook for 12 at my 4 times a summer party? The difference between a nice laptop with a graphics card and a POS google reader is about $250-300. a laptop will last 5 yrs. For that kind of money, why give up the functionality? Oh, I know an Apple user told me to.
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Very high end laptops have always been niche products.
Jimster480 22nd Jun 2010
They haven't been very popular overall because they are insanely expensive. My dad's only computer is his laptop, and its a $700 laptop. For $400-$800 a laptop will do everything that a normal person needs. If you want a gaming machine there are even a few laptops around 700-800 which give you integrated Radeon HD 4600 or 5600 graphics (which are more than capable of playing basically any game in the laptops native resolution).
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content creators still buy powerful laptops
arminw 23rd Jun 2010
@Jimster480 ---- Apple's MacBook since MacBook Pro are high-end laptops. They are still selling like hotcakes, in spite of the recession. There are two kinds of people out there. Those that consume content and those that created it. An expensive laptop is a waste of time for those who merely want to consume. However those who actually create the stuff that the majority likes to enjoy on their cheap equipment, need something powerful they can take in the field in order to see and edit their creations. The success of Apple computer sales show that the author of this blog is all wet. Expensive portable computers will not go away anytime soon.
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RE: Is the high-end laptop dead?
tonyhunterajh 22nd Jun 2010
Yes! For me at least it is dead!
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Is this journalism or masturbation?
tricktytom 22nd Jun 2010
Who gives a **** about your plight? I don't care that you want a server instead of a laptop...nor does anyone else.
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RE: Is the high-end laptop dead?
jrlambert 22nd Jun 2010
While I understand and agreed with most of the observations made....
The basic issue appears to be .. assuming what the general public needs... or the value of the general public's computer time.

The cost difference between "entry level" and "high end" isn't the issue.
The issue .. is there enough productivity increase (or life style improvement opportunities?) to justify the cost?

Is your time (at the computer) worth $25/hr?
or
Is your time worth $750/hr?
Is it appropriate (valid) to assume what the general computer users time is worth?

The cost difference of a $200 net book vs a $4000 laptop becomes moot very quickly, if your time has much value and you really use the tool (computer).

I run 3-D CAD programs , while on modest length flights.
Am I really that rare?
Without free market incentives in the last 20 years.. I doubt anyone would be making laptops powerful enough for me to do this... after all, how many people NEED this capability?

I want more , I want it all.
more power, more battery life, more connectivity, more portable (size/weight), ..... and cheaper.
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No, not dead.
Lester Young Updated - 22nd Jun 2010
Just becoming a niche market, since the capabilities that distinguish a high end laptop from a mainstream laptop are becoming more and more esoteric. Today, an average laptop is most often good enough. Ten years ago, average was quite limiting. On the other hand, the downsides of added capability in terms of cost, power use and bulk are not as onerous as they once were.
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No - 2 words: desktop replacement
naibeeru 22nd Jun 2010
I have a number of clients who do not need all the portability / battery "pluses" (which have as many negatives) of a laptop, but don't have the room for a desktop with large monitor. Of course, they say they "don't have the room" - what they mean is they don't WANT to make the room and want a small / compact computer. Interestingly, most of these people are 60 years plus, and end up squinting at tiny writing on 14" boat-anchors from a chain store that's as slow as a wet blanket. Still, if they knew how to buy a computer properly, they would buy a reasonably-powered 17" laptop that would still display a reasonable degree of speed / snappiness in 4 years. Did I just hear a collective gasp - keeping a laptop for FOUR years?! Yes, that's right - outside of the US, we keep our computers going because we don't have money to throw away, and many people in the 50-60 years + group see a computer as a one-time purchase (weird, I know, but true).

But I digress. Were people in this category of "space savers" to purchase properly - and they usually don't - higher-end laptops would always have a place as a "desktop replacement". Heck, I might even consider one myself if they weren't so soddingly expensive and difficult to upgrade etc (but then, I have no use for laptops - give me a desktop I can upgrade any time I like, cheaply, any day. When I go away, I don't want work to follow me...). And that is the Achilles heel of higher-end laptops: for "space savers", they are too expensive (even if they are the right buying decision for people who want a bit of horse-power - not for gaming, usually for photo & video work - and want to be able to get 4, 5 or 6 years' use out of it). And they are. It never ceases to amaze me how I can build a desktop with a 22" LED LCD for $1100-$1200 that is pretty quick & capable, and a similar offering in a 15" laptop is $1800-$2000!

Perhaps there should be a new class of laptop: stand-by UPS-like battery only, adjustable screen height, decent keyboard, 20" screen, minimal "add-ons" (e.g Bluetooth & ancillary ports technologies unlikely to be used by the desktop replacement crowd who never travel with their laptop), price tag the same as a similar desktop. There are those that argue for the "all in one" desktop PCs at this point - which are certainly an excellent idea - but there are those who aren't smart enough to consider such a form factor, and who get stuck on "I need a laptop even though I never take it anywhere".

So, I don't think higher-end laptops are going to go away any time soon - there are still enough gamers, photographers, graphic artists / designers et al to keep the segment alive. And if someone could come up with better pricing for higher mid-range laptops, the desktop replacement crowd might be enough to justify that. As always, market forces will rule the day - as is appropriate. If high-end laptops are still economically viable, they will still be sold. When the viability (therefore probably a large part of the demand) goes away, so will the market segment.
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Why would it ever die?
CobraA1 22nd Jun 2010
Why would it ever die?

"However, 90% of the time, I?m writing, reading, listening, or watching. Who isn?t, right?"

Writing: I seriously want a big keyboard for this.

Reading: I seriously want a big screen for this.

Listening: I seriously will be using an iPod-size device for this and not a netbook or tablet.

Watching: I seriously want a big screen for this.

3/4 says I want a power machine for these tasks.

"How many applications do you really need to be running when you?re sitting on a train, or in a meeting, or walking between classes, or flying on a plane?"

Let's see - I don't use the train, I use OneNote to take notes during meetings, I don't need to be entertained for the small walks between classes, and I love gaming while flying. Yeah, I'll be pushing for a power machine.

"And how heavy do you want that laptop to be?"

Trust me - the books I carry in my backpack are heavier.

Lightweight is nice - but it's not really so important that it overwhelms all other decisions. I'm a very practical person - I buy based on my needs, not on style or weight.

"It?s only when I get home to my office that I?d like my PC to be able to really scream."

All the more reason for a power machine, eh?

Personally - a power laptop really is next on my list for the next computing device I want to buy. Okay, next to a smart phone for work. But it's still up there.

I can't really stand the abysmal performance of a netbook or similar low end machine - frankly, it's underpowered even for the internet. Page loading times aren't all that snappy, and the performance of Flash and other addons isn't really all that great either. For something "designed" to surf the internet, it actually is pretty poor at it.

. . . and oh, yeah, when it starts hitting the paging file, watch out, that netbook becomes a 386 all over again. Yet another reminder that yes, the size of your memory is important.

That, plus I really do want to do some 3D gaming while on, say, on a trip. Civilization IV when there's no internet, WoW when there's internet. Plants vs Zombies works well on a netbook, but it's starting to get repetitive, and I've got all but some of the hardest achievements. Yeah, call me "niche" all you want, whatever. I don't think playing games is really all that niche, though.
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RE: Is the high-end laptop dead?
storm14k 22nd Jun 2010
@CobraA1 Yea its a niche like I've been saying all along. It's the only that a convo about Windows is relevant. It's a niche gaming OS and no more needed than the high end laptop.

And I'd sure love to see these networks running full blown 7 I go into electronics stores and look at full blown laptops running 7 sluggish. The difference in Windows and Mint on my wife''s dual boot is like night and day. It's like a total hardware change when Mint is up.
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RE: Is the high-end laptop dead?
CobraA1 23rd Jun 2010
@storm14k It's an awfully big niche then. Bigger than Mint.
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RE: Is the high-end laptop dead?
RichardWrite 22nd Jun 2010
Excellent points....and I'll go you one further. I work at home as a freelance copywriter and journalist. I've been living the past month with just a netbook for my business, due to technical issues with my old laptop. It's working out so well for EVERYTHING I want to do that I'm thinking that when I get a second laptop, as an emergency backup, it will probably also be a netbook. There's just no good reason any more for me to spend all the money for a full-power laptop or desktop.
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RE: Is the high-end laptop dead?
tomlin21-24319035676893835085146735905770 11th Oct
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