Serious Laptops

Acer Aspire S7 Ultrabook series classifies as LW900+

eterps — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 14:16:15 +0000

The Acer Aspire S7 Ultrabook series has been available for a while now, although we have no experience with it, it fits our LW900+ label with a weight of 1.3kg and a resolution of 1920×1080.

We are not alone

admin — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 12:44:40 +0000

I made a funny observation today, I was browsing the Lenovo blog and got sucked into the comments on the announcement of the Lenovo T431. In the blogpost the company was bragging about the new placement of the logo among other changes they made to the original design.
The comments speak for themselves as they hush the marketing mumbojumbo by complaining about the same issues we’re discussing on this website.

A masterpiece, really ? Do you watch the competition ?

- IPS/PLS display … No ?
- Reasonable selection of display resolution option, FHD at least for 14″… No ?
- More productive display aspect ratio 16:10 or 3:2 … No ?
- 4G/LTE module supporting European frequencies (AirPrime MC7710) … No ?

Or:

The only thing people were asking were:

- don’t change anything
- put a high resolution screen
- put a 4:3 screen
- remove huge bezels around the screen

Jump over there and vent your opinion as well, let them know we mean business!
New T431s Illustrates How ThinkPad Loyalists, Techies and the People Will Define Future Design

You see, Lenovo is missing the point completely, they have a huge crowd of loyalists who are just about leaving the brand. Its users are coders like us, and we need screens that at least are up to par with our phones. Is that too much to ask for?
But Lenovo spends days, nights, weeks on how to make the logo stand out from the crowd. It’s sad to see them fail at creating the next generation workhorses.

Google chromebook pixel

admin — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 14:25:29 +0000

First it appeard to be a hoax, the leaked video of the Google Pixel, but after a few days the leaders from Googleplex in Mountain View spoke, the Pixel is for real. And based on the specifications I would say this is a developers dream. A 3:2 aspect ratio, which means height, not width, a 2560x1700px 12.85-inch screen should offer a highly configurable screen with as much lines as your eyes can distinguish.
There is however a tiny problem, the computer runs ChromeOS, and as a developer who wants to run his own local servers, has his own database, installs packages and has Git running to version his source, it’s un-imaginable how one could do all that on an internetOS based on the Chrom browser.
Luckily, someone pointed me to the first patches to the linux-kernel submitted to have the computer recognised by the Linux-kernel. And that makes me happy and joyful. Can’t wait to take the train to London and grab me a Pixel. Yes, it’s expensive, has a ridiculously small SSD (because Google offers 3-years of 1TB on Google drive for free with the Pixel). But if my laptop dies on me now, this is the machine I would buy to replace it, and I would try to live with it’s quicks while going through the motions of installing Ubuntu and learn new programs to replace my Windows habbits.

The Pixel will be available only in the US and UK from april. As soon as it available it will appear in the 1200+ list of purchasable laptops.

Google Pixel, if only

admin — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 15:01:34 +0000

The guys at the Verge wrote down what i wanted to say about this laptop that probably isn’t going to be. Throw any OS on it you’d like and I’d be a happy puppy. Please somebody make this, right now!

Macbook pro 13″

admin — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 14:36:55 +0000

After the introduction of the 15″ retina Macbook Pro, apple also unveiled this 13″ Macbook pro. Native resolutie: 2560 x 1600, maximum visible resolution: 1680 x 1050 (see also The retina myth). Comes with 8GB of RAM and SSD, this is a lovely machine to own I’m sure.

The retina myth

admin — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 14:06:55 +0000

While we are still waiting for other computer brands to come to par with Apple, I think it’s time to put some things straight about the so called Retina displays the new Macbook pro currently sports. On the technical sheet it states that is has a 2880 x 1800 display resolution. For starters this is not a lie. The panel does consist of all these 5.184 M pixels and that is great. Also the pixel density is 220 Pixels Per Inch. So far the facts.
But that is not the whole picture because when you buy a Macbook Pro with this display panel you will not be able to use all this pixels you’d hope to. By default the display will show a resolution of 1440×900 pixels and up-scale that by a factor 4. Just enough to make it into our LW900+ category, that is, if it wasn’t so heavy. The Macbook pro has four other display settings, of which two give you more view on the screen: 1680×1050 and 1920×1200. (see: Anandtech: How retina display macbook pro handles scaling)
That’s it and there you have it. This is why this laptop makes it into our 1200+ category. Alas there is no option to select a scaling of 0 on this laptop so you’d never be able to use all of the 1800 pixels of height unless you’re willing to write your own driver/software to unleash that power.
Believe me I love this new Macbook, and it’s high on my list of computers that qualify to replace my slowly dying Dell latitude e6500 but it will only give me back the same resolution as i currently have, not some outerspace new megascreen. And I’m curious how the scaling will look when the setting is 1920×1200 since it will be 1.5 pixels per pixel, and on common panels this is only sub-optimal.

Linus Torvalds: Make 2560×1600 the new standard laptop resolution

eterps — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 09:48:32 +0000

Link to Linus Torvald’s Google Plus page.

Link to Hackernews discussion.

Samsung readies their 2560×1440 laptop

eterps — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 05:52:48 +0000

On display in Berlin this week is a prototype of Samsung’s Series 9 ultrabook running a 2560×1440 display.

The Samsung Series 9 is an existing laptop that is ultrabook-approved, quite thin, and a reasonable 1.63 kilograms. It’s a 15-inch laptop, just like the new, slimmed down MacBook Pro, though there is a 13-inch variety as well. The current model has a resolution of 1600×900, which is pretty good for an ultrabook but not even close to 2560×1440.

Source: geek.com

Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon

admin — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 21:35:52 +0000

Lenovo will release a new ultrabook that qualifies for our LW900 category. It’s the X1 Carbon, a real Thinkpad but with some considerations. The display is glossy (yuck), it does however have a pointing stick on the keyboard, and personally I love that little stick. The display is 1600×900, which is enough to qualify.
The laptop has en ultra fast charging battery price is yet to be known.
Lenovo X1 Carbon

Apple macbook pro 15″ retina

admin — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 22:32:45 +0000

So here it is, the long awaited upgrade for laptop displays, Apple introduces a 16:10 2880×1800 15″ Macbook. Hurray! Expensive? Yes, it features an SSD and a less-glare display. Can’t wait to get my fingers on one of these babies. Finally a laptop on which you look at your code and have a tablet simulation running beside.