4 controversial laptop trends that should never have made it mainstream

[Redaktion]

Laptop hardware has come so far since its inception. We have gone from having hideous, slow, thick monstrosities to thin, beautiful designs that come dangerously close to rivalling desktop performance. So where did these next wacky ideas come from?

https://www.notebookcheck.net/4-controversial-laptop-trends-that-should-never-have-made-it-mainstream.599710.0.html

[123]

1. 16:9 screen ration
2. shitty keyboards
3. notch

[RobertJasiek]

123, right. As to the keyboards, especially tiny arrow keys and missing page navigation keys.

[vertigo]

123, right. As to the keyboards, especially tiny arrow keys and missing page navigation keys.

Exactly. There's no excuse for the crappy half-height arrow keys. They're not exactly saving a ton of space, and on a computer that you're going to be using the majority of the time with the keyboard it comes with, it's critical that keyboard is properly designed. Arrow keys are frequently used by many people, and they should be full-sized just like the rest of the keys. Not sure why manufacturers keep thinking those keys are somehow unique and don't need to be. And, IMO, home and end need to be dedicated keys. As much as I don't like about my T14s, it proves there's plenty of room for all the keys, or for them to be sized properly (even there, the arrow keys aren't full-sized, which occasionally causes issues, but it's significantly better than most).

I'd also add that while the minimum memory should be higher, *every* laptop should have the option to upgrade to at least 32GB *without* requiring a CPU upgrade. Selling computers today without even providing the option, or only providing it if the customer pays extra for a more powerful CPU they not only don't need, but that in many cases run similarly to, or even worse than, the cheaper one, is ridiculous (I'm looking at you especially, HP). Mine has 16GB, and I'm constantly running into problems because of it, especially since it's integrated graphics, so no dedicated VRAM. It amazes me that factor doesn't seem to occur to them.

I also wish more laptops would come with a pointing stick. The patent Lenovo held on it expired a while ago, the circuitry barely takes any space, and people that don't like or want them don't have to use them, but they're popular for a reason. I bet if they were on more laptops, and more people experienced them, more people would learn to appreciate them, and it would certainly be nice to have more options opened up to those that find them useful and even borderline necessary. I was hoping the Framework laptop would be a good option, thinking they'd offer a keyboard with one, but sadly that's not the case.

Finally, I'd like to see most, if not all, laptops implement a 360 hinge. I see no reason it can't be done, and it shouldn't add much, if any, size or weight to the laptop, or at least very minimal, but it would allow it to be used for things like watching videos much better in certain situations. Even for ones without a touchscreen, where you couldn't use it as a tablet, it would still come in handy, and I see no reason not to.

What's the point of sticking an Intel Core i9 processor into a laptop if it's going to throttle so hard that you may as well have bought the Core i7 model?

The point is they can charge more for it, and we all know there's a big markup for upgrades. They don't care if it's actually better, or even worse, performance, and most users will just assume it's better.

I'd ask what's the point of building an otherwise nice computer with good quality components then half-a$$ing the drivers/firmware, because that's clearly what Lenovo does. My T14s with a 4650U is often uncomfortably warm just idling and can't even play 4K HEVC videos without the CPU usage spiking so much the video starts stuttering and goes out of sync. And anywhere from a few to several times an hour the audio cuts out for about half a second. Every now and then, typically while playing a game but sometimes even just doing normal stuff, the performance will go to crap, and everything will lag and stutter. On paper, it should be great, but in reality, the performance is terrible, because they've done a lousy job with actually making the hardware work properly. And that's not even getting into the keyboard and TrackPoint issues.

[randomguy]

Good, and needed article. You can make the same one for phones:
- no replaceable batteries.
- the removal of the headphone jack (and in the same move the FM radio) and of micro usb-c card slot.

Furthermore, if you really need to remove ports how about a second usb-C port on phones. So that you can and listen to your device wired when it charges?

[Yahwah]

In smartphones, apart from easy battery replacement there should be easy usb port replacement as well.

Because the port also got damaged after years of use.

So a replacement usb port in the box which can be changed just by two screws would be useful.