Opinion: 15 is the new 14

[Redaktion]

Who doesn't want an extra 1.6 inches? Due to the popularity of small bezels, Editor Douglas Black predicts that 14-inch laptops will lose their niche in the market — at least until there's a breakthrough in heat dissipation.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Opinion-15-is-the-new-14.223444.0.html

[dthrp]

While I'm here, hoping for light 17+" systems to become a profitable niche.
Just imagine, the already thin & light 15" Gram and Notebook 9 coming at 17", stuffed with battery. Or an XPS 17 and Aero 17, with extra juice and perhaps room for more ports, better speakers, and dedicated macro keys on the left to balance those off-center keyboards.

[Jeroen1000]

It has been bugging me for quite some years Lenovo is not making a T570 with a quad core Intel CPU but does put it in the a 14 inch model (T470P). It doesn't make sense from a thermal point of view. Why specifically Lenovo you might wonder?

Dell, being practically the only serious competitor for the Macbook,  have the XPS 15 which is a nice device if they would just address the thermal issues haunting each generation. They always seem to have fan issues either spinning them up unneeded, too early, too load, too agressively or only making them silent on battery operation, as with the latest model. Or they have other noise issues like coil whine.

So if manufacturers would drop 14 inch models and go all in on 15 inch we might see some more devices rivalling Apple including good thermal management. My Mid 2015 Macbook is so very quiet during office tasks.

Sorry for the rant, which is hopefully also a bit informative.

[Gary]

I fly weekly all around SE Asia and after owning 3 generations of Gigabyte p34's 14" decided to go for the 15" p35x with gtx 1070... The extra power is great but  I really regret the extra weight and size...

the powerpack is massive...

the notebook weight just makes it easier to drop when pulling out of my back at security checks,

It is too large to open in flight in economy...particularly with passengers infront suddenly and voilently reclining their seats...

screen size is not an issue.. its either plugged into a 4k TV or 2k monitor at office/home or projector / TV in clients office...

The p34 was 1.8kg... the p35 is 2.3kg  it makes a difference if you are on the road...

Now, if I could get a 14" narrow bezel, gtx 1070 with "light" battery (I dont need 9 hours gaming on battery).. I would be in heaven...

[Ian]

A 15.6" screen diagonal is 13.6" wide. So as bezels get smaller these laptops are becoming the new 14" wide laptops, with extra screen space. The laptops themselves could be the same size as the 14s, although depending on company the widths are all over the place. For example the msi gs62vr probably has a smaller volume than the alienware m14x, and the screen would probably fit on the m14x if bezel were decreased (although for some reason the gs62 is particularly wide and thin), etc.

[alex.gray]

15' comes with useless keyboard number pad and non-ergonomic shifted to left keyboard.

Someone didn't do his homework.

[Douglas Black]

15' comes with useless keyboard number pad and non-ergonomic shifted to left keyboard.

Someone didn't do his homework.

I don't know what 15-foot laptop you mean -- but assuming you meant 15 inches: is it a requirement that a 15-inch laptop have a numpad? I certainly don't think so, and neither do manufacturers.

[systemBuilder]

I'd love to own a 14.5 inch laptop with an infinity display...

[ofek]

I don't see any of the arguments here really relevant. I owned the Samsung series 9 15" of 2012 for 5 years. It didn't have much bezels nor was it thick or heavy even compared with latest 2017 ultrabooks. I still moved to a new Asus ux410ua because it was much cheaper than the 15 inchers of the category and my old laptop started to die on me. My new Asus is 14" and practically bezelless, exactly what you expect to be eradicated, but it is also in a sweet spot in my opinion:  Full HD is still manageable on it without zooming like I need on 13.3 (125% scaling) and it is smaller than my old timer 15" one and easier to travel with. Yes LG gram 15 is lighter than my 14" but it is still much bigger and doesn't fit in every bag nor can be opened in every bus or train as easily. No they won't be going away, small bezels won't make full hd comfortable on 13.3" nor will it make 15.6" small enough for opening in cramped places. If all laptops move to bezelless form, basically the gaps stay the same, just upgraded. So what's the point in killing a line? Maybe a new 16" ultrabook line will just come to life cause of it.