14 or 15 inch Notebook

[Aired66]

Hi guys,

 

just had a heated discussion with a colleague about the notebook strategy our company will do next year or this year to be correct.

We (my colleagues and me from the IT department) only want either a 2-in-1 Notebook for the sales guys and for the other people that need something to take with you a 14 inch Notebook. Now a colleague from the marketing department asked about a new notebook for her and was shocked as we told her that there are no 15 inch Notebooks ready to order.

She called me stupid because people that travel a lot want a 15 inch notebook for sure. I told her most of the people work with 14 inch or less (that is true most people in the company have a 14 inch notebook). Most of our workers use docking stations for the notebooks that is the reason we buy the 14 inch because they have 2 monitors normally at their desk.

I wanted to know if it is really necessary to implement a 15 inch option now or not? IMO it is not necessary because everyone that is travelling wants a smaller device the only person that thinks the opposite is her but she would not believe me or my colleagues. Maybe i am wrong and there are other options or maybe viewpoints i did not consider.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

PS: If you want to know anything about the discussion or the hardware just ask

 

[Clanscorpia]

Just tell her its 15 inch

[LukeSavenije]

it's better to introduce a 17-18 inch then a 15 inch. the market for 14 and 15 inch are about the same

[Aired66]

 

2 minutes ago, Clanscorpia said:

Just tell her its 15 inch

sadly she is that clever and can tell the difference xD But it would be a great idea if the would not know the difference

[lewdicrous]

Does size even matter? It's how you use it that matters.

[GoldenLag]

you could do 15inches that have the footprint of 14inch devices. say like the 15inch surface book 2. (14,8 inches total diagonal)

 

same way the 14inch surfacebook has the footprint of a 13inch. 

 

you also have the matebook x pro that have 14inch screen in a "13inch footprint"

 

 

providing you get solid 14 inch laptops there arent that many reasons to get 15 inch ones. i dont know what hardware you were aiming for, therefore i just picked some examples i knew of

[schwellmo92]

At my company they only offer 12" 2-in-1's (as new devices - legacy devices are 14" laptops). Work devices are definitely shrinking for portability. 

[dizmo]

You're arguing personal preference. There is right or wrong answer. 

[Drak3]

Just try to get her a 15" like the XPS 15. They're not that big, and you don't lose any portability over a 14"

[Syntaxvgm]

nah, I think a 17 inch option would be better. If they want big let them get big. 

I had a 14 incher for a  while. Made my wrists hurt like hell when typing since I held it so close, and I have no such problem with the 15.6 inch (rather large as well) precision im on right now. 

That said go big or go home, offer 17. 

[Tribalinius]

It really depends of the user's use case. I would not recommend an accountant a 14" laptop due to the lack of full length keyboard for example. As for a marketing department, again it really depends of the use case. If it's only for PowerPoint presentations, I'd stick to a 14". Video presentations in a 1-to-1 interview format is a valid point for 15.6" otherwise a 2-in-1 / tablet would be also good alternatives.

 

In the end, YOU are the IT, you need valid arguments to change your mind. If you decided 14" was the way to go for the company, she has the weight to make you change your mind on her shoulder. If it's just a matter of a status symbol (because it seems to be the case here), stick to your guns and give her a 14" like everyone else. If she has valid points and concerns about using 14" instead of a 15.6", listen to her and make your own call afterward. Just don't **** your deployment plan because one user wanted to play princess, that's my advice.

 

Now, personally, if she came to me, called me stupid and gave me as for sole reason that travel excuse, boy she would have left my office faster that she came in! I'm getting too old for that kind of shit lol. Sometimes I feel that we are way too soft with users that just want bigger toys for the sake of it.

[Aired66]

I will stick with the 14" because i already set the budget for next year and calculated with the prices of those. The only thing is that she thinks when you travel you need a bigger screen. I talked to my teamleader about that and the only thing i got back from him was that her complaints are stupid because she is always complaining about everything we do as an IT. The next thing is that she works like 70% of her time in the office on two big monitors that is the reason why i think it is useless to buy a 15" just for that tiny bit of time she works not on those monitors. And also that she can walk out of my office is not really possible we work in an open office environment

Just the travel excuse is not enough for me to even considering changing the strategy because then everyone would order the bigger screen.
We are normally not to soft to users but i am just to tired of this **** because the user cannot understand the reason why the IT is doing that way.

In my opinion the users are more or less spoiled in some kind of way from the IT of the company.

[Aired66]

I talked to her supervisor but this dude is not giving a f*ck, so i talked to the IT-Manager today and described the problem I had with her and he said he will take care of that matter. If she wants to come and discuss that matter again with me or one of my colleagues we are sending her to him.

 

[Crunchy Dragon]

-Moved to Laptops and Pre-built Systems-

[Aired66]

Just now, TimsTips said:

It’s pretty easy to stick a flat 24” monitor in a suitcase. I do it. Monitors are cheap. 

That would not be a problem, she would not even need a montior to go because she either works from home or from one of the offices of the company. Either or she has a monitor that she can use

 

[Aired66]

The whole discussion can go on but for me it is done with today. Similar problems will be handled the same way - talk with the user and explain why we chose this path to go and then show him the options and let him choose from those.

Thanks for all the replys guys and have a nice afternoon.

[Syntaxvgm]

1 hour ago, TimsTips said:

It’s pretty easy to stick a flat 24” monitor in a suitcase. I do it. Monitors are cheap. 

I had an 18.4 inch laptop at one point. It was 18 pounds, but damn was it nice to use on a table top. If it were thinner I'd go for one all over again