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HP Made a Laptop Slightly Thicker To Add 3 Hours of Battery Life (theverge.com)
When a technology company like Apple releases a new product, chances are it's going to be thinner than its predecessor -- even if may be slightly worse off for it. HP is taking a different approach with its new 15.6-inch Spectre x360 laptop, which was recently announced at CES. The machine is slightly thicker than its predecessor, and HP claims it features three hours of additional battery life. The Verge reports: The difference between the new x360 and the old x360, in terms of thickness, is minimal, from 15.9mm to 17.8mm. (For reference, the 2015 MacBook Pro was 18mm thick.) It's an increase of 1.9mm for the Spectre, but HP says it's now including a battery that's 23 percent larger in exchange. At the same time, the laptop is also getting narrower, with its body shrinking from 14.8 inches wide to 14 inches wide. Unfortunately, the claimed three hours of additional battery life aren't meant to make this laptop into some long-lasting wonder -- they're really just meant to normalize its battery life. HP will only be selling the 15.6-inch x360 with a 4K display this year, and that requires a lot more power. By increasing the laptop's battery capacity, HP is able to push the machine's battery life from the 9.5 hours it estimated for the 4K version of its 2016 model to about 12 hours and 45 minutes for this model. So it is adding three hours of battery life, but in doing so, it's merely matching the battery life of last year's 1080p model. The x360 is also being updated to include Intel's Kaby Lake processors. It includes options that max out at an i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and Nvidia GeForce 940MX graphics. It's supposed to be released February 26th, with pricing starting at $1,278 for an entry-level model.
Back in the days of the Motorola Razer (ultra-thin/light phone, cutting edge....), they made another phone called the 810-something, we had two of them in the family. Basically, it was the Razer with a real battery - lasted over a week on a charge. I would so-love to carry a Nexus 5x that's 3mm thicker with the extra volume filled with high efficiency LiPo.
Multiples of 3 are just so much more useful in everyday life than multiples of 10. I used the base 12 pica/point system in printing for many years, and always admired how trivially easy it was to calculate layout proportions. The human attention is drawn strongly to things in threes: three panels, three points in an argument, three parts to a story, and many others.
More than just the magic of 3. Since 12 has the three smallest (non-trivial) integer divisors, and four of the five smallest, it is simple to do many proportional (ratio) calculations and measurements. 10 only has two (non-trivial) integer divisors.
This extended to adding 5 and 6 as divisors gives the 360 degree division of the circle, invented by the Sumerians and adopted universally around the Old World (along with their division of the day into 12, then 24 hours, for similar reasons). Utility is proven by use.
Starships were meant to fly, Hands up and touch the sky - Nicky Minaj
Don't know about anyone else, but, for my usage, I don't care how thick something is. I don't want to be a "wallwart" always plugged into an outlet, just to use something. My smartphone has a 4,000mAH battery, my laptop has an "ugly" bulge on the bottom to support the larger battery. It's a tool, not a fashion accessory for me. My phone & laptop are my life, during the workday. It's a free country, you want a stylish fashionable phone/laptop, fine, get one, but I'll stick with the thicker ones that have a larger battery. (and most times are more dependable/rugged than their thinner counterparts).
A normal person who spends $2500 to $3000 for a seriously performant machine in order to be the backbone of their work doesn't want an appliance. They want a machine that can be quickly and cost effectively repaired.
Do tell the location of this magical laptop where nothing is integrated and everything is replaceable/upgradeable.
Put a designer and a MBA together and you get a team that does not understand that while the MacBook Air is perfectly acceptable as a throw away appliance, that is because it can be had for less than $1k.
I still have a mid '11 Air that's running everything I throw at it on a professional basis.
While I question Apple's current ideas and durability both, fuck me, this Air was worth three times what Apple charged for it - because any equivalent turd from HP, Lenovo or the rest would've been completely fucking useless by now.
We care about thinness, of course. But not beyond some level. Of course, 4 centimeters thick is too much. But between 2 cm and 2.4, who really cares? We think it's too thin if the device may bend. If making it a bit thinner loses 1 hour battery life. Actually what's probably more of interest is the weight.
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
This. To parent post and to HP.
I've yet to meet a single person that needs, or even wants, a laptop/tablet/phone that is 0.5mm thinner. But everybody needs longer battery life and more durable devices. And many of us need features (looking at you, headphone jack) that are sacrificed in the dubious pursuit of thinness above all else.
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I just replaced the battery on a 2011 MBP and replaced the DVD drive with an extra SATA bay for a second SSD. That's to augment the SSD that is already in it, which was already a replacement from the original because it has more capacity. I upgraded the RAM from a mere 4GB to 16GB (the max). It was made a lot easier and cheaper by not having everything glued or soldered in, and because storage and RAM-wise it's all pretty standard stuff. I paid a premium for the machine when I bought it, but it was worth it. It's sure a heck of a lot cheaper to do this kind of upgrade than buying a new one. That makes the higher initial cost pay off down the line.
When I look at the new MBP, everything is more difficult to upgrade (if it is even possible), and the initial cost is even higher. I don't see upgrading to a new MBP any time soon, because they've undermined half the reason to pay more initially: maintainability.