Laptops suck. Seriously, they are shit. None of them work right, driver support is abysmal, and it seems every manufacturer is targeting the “space-conscious idiot” demographic, who want a laptop that stays on a desk, plugged in 24/7.
I want a NERD laptop, something made entirely of awesomeness. I want a device that enables mobile wizardry:
- quad-core processor (Core i7 or AMD X4)
- 8+ gb RAM
- 15″ display at 1920 x 1080, none of that 1366 x 768 bullshit
- dual hard drives (SSD + 7200rpm HDD)
- basic GPU, that can handle desktop compositing (Aero Glass, KDE4)
- 5 hour battery life for a 50% average work load
- built to survive daily travel
- ~ $2000 or less
Yes, 5 hour battery life, which is about 4-5 times what current laptops can swing. Make the battery bigger, a LOT bigger. I don’t care if it weighs ten pounds, I want it to survive an extended hacking session. I want something I can drag to the park or pub and write code, tweak servers, fiddle with Cubase, or any other long creative activity that is enhanced by fresh air and/or alcohol. Douchebags have SUVs, I want a sports-utility laptop!
I used to have a pretty respectable one many years ago, a Dell Inspiron 8500 I bought off BitBurn. It was a “gaming” laptop, which meant a GeForce Go 4200 and a 3 ghz Pentium 4. It was actually faster than my desktop PC at the time. Battery life was about 75 minutes so I always had the power adapter and an inverter in my bag, but everything else about it was badass and the thing never crashed or overheated. I want that awesomeness, plus a massive 24-cell battery, today. Now tell me: why doesn’t anyone make that ? Don’t tell me it wouldn’t sell. People already spend more than that on dinky little MacBook Pros.
