I don't understand the obsession over thin and light

[XA33]

Why do laptops these days HAVE to be thin and light? They can't pack too much power in a thin chassis without thermal throttling, and it's annoying especially if you pay over $1200 on them. What if you're doing CAD work, play games, edit videos or you just want a retro-style laptop that will last for a long time, have all the ports you need, upgradability options and an excellent keyboard? That is the Lenovo ThinkPad P53... but I don't really see reviews of it anywhere I've looked. I think the sweet spot for a laptop is between 2 and 3 kg. What do you guys think?

[Drak3]

Lighter laptops are easier for weaklings to carry.

 

 

IIRC, you can still get some beefy laptops. They're mostly gaming laptops though.

[kelvinhall05]

Imo an X1 Carbon is the thinnest you should need. *maybe* the display can be made thinner, but a chassis that's basically as thick as a USB A port is thin enough.

[Gegger]

well if i wanted a thin and light laptop it would be for portability, mainly carrying it when walking

 

but if i wanted performance in a not desktop form factor and not so much portability i'd take something like a thonkpad or gaming laptop

[jiyeon]

Some of us want thin and lights because we don't want to have to do gym curls whenever we're carrying our laptops around campus for example.

You sacrifice some horsepower for the weight and form factor, but the ability to have a desktop environment on the go is enough for some of us.

[Tsuki]

thin and lights are great for people who mainly go from meeting to meeting giving powerpoint presentations and who live in excel buried by spreadsheets.   they dont need some beefy laptop powerful enough for cad or video editing.

[TomvanWijnen]

Because I have to take my laptop with me. On the bike. Then on the train. Then on the bike again. Then through university for the entire day - and the distances you need to walk there aren't always little). Then all the way back home again. My poor shoulders. Also, light = easier to get in/out and easier to move, and thin = easier to get in/out.

 

I do have to be honest in that I got a laptop that weighs 2.3 kg and is 2.0 cm thick, but that was the only laptop available from my university that actually was a large improvement from what I already have.

 

Oh and there are also many people who buy something because they like it or think it looks good.

[5x5]

Apple and Razer forced the thin and light craze with their deceptive marketing and quality claims. Years later, Apple and Razer are the laughing stock of the industry but everyone is making thin/light everything cause reviewers are foaming at the mouths over thinness. Gone are the days of rigid laptops with enough cooling to run reasonably quiet under load. Now it's a jet engine or bust

[XA33]

3 minutes ago, sowon said:

Some of us want thin and lights because we don't want to have to do gym curls whenever we're carrying our laptops around campus for example.

You sacrifice some horsepower for the weight and form factor, but the ability to have a desktop environment on the go is enough for some of us.

To be honest, if you're travelling a lot, I can see why you can prioritize an ultrabook. But personally I don't really carry my laptop around my campus because I live in a country where we still tend to use pen and paper lol. 

 

[Commodus]

1 hour ago, 5x5 said:

Apple and Razer forced the thin and light craze with their deceptive marketing and quality claims. Years later, Apple and Razer are the laughing stock of the industry but everyone is making thin/light everything cause reviewers are foaming at the mouths over thinness. Gone are the days of rigid laptops with enough cooling to run reasonably quiet under load. Now it's a jet engine or bust

Most people don't need a big, bulky laptop, and thin-and-light can be a distinct advantage if you have to carry your laptop around for a long time, such as on a campus or at a trade show.  You may think that shedding a couple of pounds of weight or a few tenths of an inch wouldn't mater, but if you've ever had to carry a laptop in a shoulder bag while you traipse across a college or convention centre (especially if you have loads of extra gear), you know it matters.

 

I've said it to people before, and I'll say it again to you: please don't declare yourself the sole arbiter of taste.  There are good reasons for thin-and-light portables, just as there are good reasons for beefy gaming and workstation laptops.  It's not that much of a stretch to accept that there's no such thing as a one-size-fits-all design; you can address a wide range of people, but a frequent business traveler shouldn't be stuck with a big machine just because you want to play Apex Legends.

[The_Prycer]

This is my complaint with mobile phones as well as laptops. We do not need to keep going thinner and lighter, we have achieved a perfectly reasonable level of thinness and lightness, please work on better cooling solutions instead. If thinness and lightness happen to be byproducts of this, totally awesome. I feel like I'm going to crush any mobile phone I use now if I don't put a beefy case on it because they're so thin and light even if that's not the case.

 

I wouldn't even be mad about the thin&light form factors if EVERY SINGLE MANUFACTURER didn't try to make all their models the Macbook Air/Chromebook. The Macbook Air and Chromebooks were great ideas in making low profile and low weight units that were really just Netflix/Facebook/Email machines that didn't need much processing power and therefore could cool almost entirely passively. However, when I'm looking at getting anything that costs more than $1,000 for the purposes of mobile work actually getting done on audio or video projects that need power and therefore cooling, I don't want a waif of a computer that thermal throttles at the slightest provocation. Give me something about the size of a nice late 90's to early 2000's laptop and use all the extra room for improved thermals so I can actually get work done with a prosumer model.

[Tamesh16]

3 hours ago, Commodus said:

-snip-

i agree though, i travel with my alienware on my back, which is 10 lbs with the charger, and its a pain to carry around, and i travel with my laptop a decent amount 

[harryk]

1 hour ago, XA33 said:

What if you're doing CAD work, play games, edit videos

Then use a desktop or deal with the limitations of a laptop. Laptops are supposed to be portable thus weight and size are high priority on the list of design constraints. The fact you can do CAD or game or edit video on a laptop today is incredible compared to the laptops of ten or fifteen years ago.

[TempestCatto]

I like the idea of a thin and light for school use. Mostly because a cheaper thin and light won't have much in the way of gaming power, which will prevent someone like me from getting distracted by gaming while having to do school work. It's also nice not to carry around a power brick that's thicker than the already thick laptop you have.

 

But I do get where you're coming from. Especially with Apple and Razer, since they have the same basic design and same super high failure rates. Chokeir laptops make more sense for longevity and just overall practicality when price to performance comes up. But most users of a thin and light will treat them just like a modern day cell phone, keeping it for only a few short years before upgrading.

 

That's how our society is now-a-days. A disposable one.

[vong]

You don't understand it because you don't have the need for it. If I wanted a laptop for everyday use and am always on the move then I would 100% get a thin and light laptop. If I wanted a workhouse then I would have to get a regular sized laptop because the specs and purposes for both are different.

[Murasaki]

Sadly the days of IBM 5155 have passed. The future is slimlining mobile devices while preserving the most functionality possible with some compromises.

These are mostly targeted to people who do every day general tasks and the likes. Not something like CAD, video editing or heavy gaming. Find what is best suited for your needs!

7 minutes ago, The_Prycer said:

nice late 90's to early 2000's laptop and use all the extra room for improved thermals so I can actually get work done with a prosumer model.

I have a Dell Latitude C610 with dual batteries, love it to death. It isn't even that heavy.

[PlayStation 2]

My laptop is a generic 15-inch copy-paste HP that's not really thin but hardly bulky and heavy. And it's the perfect form factor for me, especially since it has a DVD drive! But it's hardly perfect for some. I don't need nor desire a particularly thick laptop like a 2000s IBM ThinkPad because that's not an ecosystem that I have any investment to make in, but super thin and light is hardly desirable to me, too.

Really, the perfect laptop size is subjective to people. Some desire 11 inchers that are tiny, light and thin while others desire durable, expandable and heavier laptops that have great battery life. For my needs, I like a laptop that'll get me through a decent session of web browsing in the living room that isn't too heavy, and my laptop serves that purpose excellently.

[Commodus]

5 minutes ago, Genwyn said:

People who consider the weight of a non thin and light laptop to be heavy are just manlets.

No other statement needed, if you complain that a 5 pound laptop is heavy, youre weak.

 

I'm sorry, but there's a difference between 3 pounds and 5 pounds when you're shouldering it for hours at a time.  And just because you can carry something heavier doesn't mean you want to.

 

Also, nice of you to assume that everyone who would want to carry a laptop is a man, and that not being a man is "weak."

[Commodus]

Just now, Genwyn said:

There definitely is not, its 5 pounds. It is not a lot of weight at all.

The upsides to two extra pounds? Your laptop isnt a housefire, isnt generally flimsy, theres no keyboard or display flexing and it can actually hold hardware capable of doing things more intense than powerpoint.

 

Women apply too, 5 pounds is not a lot of weight. If you cant carry 5 pounds all day youre weak.

Theres no getting around this, thats what it comes down to. If you notice a difference at all between 3 and 5 pounds of laptop weight you need to lift your laptop more often, preferably repetitively, and then slowly add more laptops to the stack you lift over time, 3 days on 1 off...

 

There is a difference, sorry.  I've carried laptops at both weight levels for extended periods of time and can make the distinction.  Oh, and the 3-pound laptop was sturdy, safe and capable of media editing.  You do know that laptops like the XPS 13 and 13-inch MacBook Pro can do some serious computing, right?  This isn't 2008 anymore.

 

If you genuinely believe women count as well, please don't use misogynist language where you claim that people are either men or inferior.  You might not have meant it that way, but that's what you did.

 

And I go to the gym three times a week, in case you're wondering, but then it's clear by now that you have a habit of making unfounded assumptions.

 

[Blademaster91]

2 hours ago, kelvinhall05 said:

Imo an X1 Carbon is the thinnest you should need. *maybe* the display can be made thinner, but a chassis that's basically as thick as a USB A port is thin enough.

I agree, thin enough to still include USB type A, any more and you're sacrificing too many ports, cpu cooling, and durability. People, especially reviewers whining over a 3lb vs. 4lb laptop aren't taking into account for all the dongles or hubs youl'll have to carry to make up for basic ports an ultralight laptop is missing.

[mr moose]

I with you bill,  give me 1 inch think 3 kilo monster that goes all day on a battery, boots in 15 seconds can multitask properly and lets my use it as a wheel chock when changing the tyre and I'll pay a premium for it.

[Tsuki]

2 minutes ago, Genwyn said:

-snip-

acer predator laptop is almsot 19 pounds(not including charger).   carry that all day

 

be a  business person who caries their laptop into meetings all day, and works on projects while on the bus.

 

we dont need monster laptops all the time.  a thin and light is perfect for people in a professional environment.  its not about being a "manlet" its about convenience and the actual need of the person.  

you just arent the target audience,   fortunately, 90% of people outside the gaming community are.

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

XPS 15 gang. Thinnish, not too heavy, goes 2 days w/o charging sometimes, but pretty damn powerful when you need it. Could use an extra USB port though. I also have mine driving a 3440*1440 UW and a secondary 1080p monitor and it's running like a champ (through a WD19 dock)

[mr moose]

6 minutes ago, Tsuki said:

acer predator laptop is almsot 19 pounds(not including charger).   carry that all day

 

be a  business person who caries their laptop into meetings all day, and works on projects while on the bus.

 

we dont need monster laptops all the time.  a thin and light is perfect for people in a professional environment.  its not about being a "manlet" its about convenience and the actual need of the person.  

you just arent the target audience,   fortunately, 90% of people outside the gaming community are.

 

When you consider that majority of the workforce are constantly carrying more than 20pounds (think gardeners, mechanics, any of building trades, hardware retail, logistic and delivery just to name a few) then arguing a pound or two between meetings is really insignificant.  it barely even rates on the scale of things that are important unless people have run out of things to complain about.

[kelvinhall05]

39 minutes ago, Blademaster91 said:

I agree, thin enough to still include USB type A, any more and you're sacrificing too many ports, cpu cooling, and durability. People, especially reviewers whining over a 3lb vs. 4lb laptop aren't taking into account for all the dongles or hubs youl'll have to carry to make up for basic ports an ultralight laptop is missing.

Yeah, and my 4th gen X1C is only 2.61lbs, and it doesn't need to be any lighter lol.

I wish one thing, though; that laptops included bigger batteries. 52Wh isn't enough (at least for an older laptop like mine).

 

34 minutes ago, Genwyn said:

If you cant carry a heavier laptop for a long period of time you are a manlet,

It's not that we can't, it's that we don't *want* to.

Why would I carry around a gaming laptop when an X1 Carbon can do all my school work and weigh a third of the gaming laptop while still retaining all the functionality?