I was recently invited to join a group for HP regarding the future generations of laptops. They want myself, among others, to share our "ideas, designs, thoughts or rants." This is really a great idea, and in a way reminds me of Dell launching the IdeaStorm site.
I haven’t actually owned a HP laptop in over 5 years, and I’ve gone through more computers than I care to mention. Lately Dell has been my brand of choice simply because they’ve just worked for me, and I’ve never had a single hardware problem with any of them that I’ve owned. Okay…I’ll cave. Here are the computers that Ashley and I have owned in the last five or so years: 1 HP, 1 Compaq, 1 Sony, 2 Averatec, and 6 Dell’s. Some of those had been given to me, and some of them were new when I bought them.
With that being said I’ve had quite an experience with different manufacturer’s of computers. Therefore coming up with a list of things that would make one manufacturer stand out over another wasn’t extremely difficult:
- Make the hinges that hold the monitor the body extremely sturdy. I can’t stand when those get loose and the screen wobbles. This really is my biggest pet peeve for laptops.
- Make an integrated wireless card that is swappable. That way when 802.11n gets into full swing (as well as future technologies) we can upgrade the wireless card ourselves.
- Make upgrading the RAM easy for goodness sakes! There should be one cover on the bottom of the computer that I have to unscrew, and then I should be able to pop in the RAM from there.
- At least 5 hours of battery life.
- Some sort of video outputs. HDMI would be nice, but I haven’t seen that on a laptop before.
- Low-cost solid state drives (SSD). I know that they are expensive right now, but they are much more energy efficient and faster than traditional drives.
- Small power cord that doesn’t weigh as much as the computer itself. My dad’s power supply for his laptop is insanely massive.
- Put a few small buttons down by the mouse that let you do things like launch Alt-Tab or Flip-3D for switching between programs. I want the ability to quickly switch between windows with the same hand that I’m using the mouse. And no, going to the Taskbar doesn’t count. A button wouldn’t be necessary if the next bullet was implemented:
- Make the touchpad multi-touch capable. That way putting my finger in one corner
and tapping another corner could initiate some sort of command that I assign it
(like copy and paste). - Built-in webcam. A lot of laptops are getting these lately, and I think it is going to become a standard.
- On-site repairs included…I hate sending a computer in to get fixed!
So now I want to know what your dream laptop is like. What would the perfect laptop be for you, and what kind of price would you be willing to pay for it? Let us know in the comments below…and HP will probably be checking up on what you have to say!
The new HP laptops with the nvidia cards have an HDMI output.
A trackpoint. I just can’t handle the touchpad. It seems only Lenovo computers have this now.
I agree with Irian about the trackpoint. Why did they disappear? They were not taking up no room at all and I liked them better. put them back in along with the touchpad and give the user a choice.
I too would like longer power life and the SSD drives would definitely help out there. For me, a 15.4″ Widescreen monitor is enough.
I think for the majority of consumer laptops, you can do away with PCMCIA ports. The main thing they were used for was wireless cards, network cards, and modems, all of which are standard items now.
Along with the easy to swap RAM, I say you should make the processor and video upgradeable by the consumer as well. I would gladly pay $100 more if I could get a laptop with a motherboard that will support future cards and have the video and CPU user swappable. My current desktop has the ASUS A8N5X motherboard for over 2 years now and has seen a processor, RAM and video card upgrade which will allow it to last for a few more years. I can still even go newer and faster with the CPU.
I love my current and first laptop, the Toshiba Satellite A135-S4487, but I would like to be able to upgrade the CPU at least.
My HP laptop is very good, but my video card could have been bit better (especially since the Linux drivers suck). But other than that, I love my laptop and I think I have made a very good choice.
Personally I hate trackpoints. I could never figure out how to use those damn things. But since they don’t take up much space, I wouldn’t really care if they were brought back and they left the touchpads on the laptops, as well.
Then again, I prefer to just hook up a mouse to my laptop anyways…
I have a Dell, and it’s been great for the past 3-4 years.
Making laptops easier to upgrade would be cool, but I could honestly live without it, provided that manufacturers give you the option of how much ram you want.
Built in webcams would be cool, as well.
Also, software wise, I’d love to have options of bloat free laptops that have none of those free trial programs on them….I hate having to waste 20+ minutes of my time uninstalling useless BS when I get a new computer.
I’m not a big fan of those trackpoints because they hurt my finger after awhile, but I don’t see why laptops don’t have both of those options. It’s not like it takes up all that much room.
Eee PC seems like a logical answer to many people
Definitely not a fan of trackpoints either, but like DKong mentioned, I prefer to hook up a mouse to my laptop anyways.
I’m not real picky when it comes to a laptop, so I guess a dream laptop would be one that just gets the job done without problems! Kinda like my laptop now.
Bloatfree would definitely be my number one. If I saw a laptop advertised as “Windows Vista Premium, that’s it” in the Software specs I think I’d buy it without much other consideration. Seeing as the first thing I do upon a friend getting one is spend about an hour removing rubbish and working out if anything installed is actually needed for the laptop t work.
The onsite repair is an extra, including it by default is a waste for those who wouldn’t mind and want to save money.
My HP makes installing memory simple (one screw) but my hinges are failing & the battery stunk from the get-go & now gives me about 20 minutes. Absurd! Give all video & audio dedicated memory so as not to impact puter memory and yes make audio/video outputs standard. And wouldn’t it be cool if more of the parts were user changeable? One more request, don’t make it so difficult to wipe the proprietary stuff off & do a clean install of the OS w/out having to hunt long and hard for drivers.
I just bought a Laptop with High Definition 15″ monitor , Core 2 Duo T5250 , 2 GB DDr2 ram , Geforce 8600GT w/ 256 MB dedicated ram up to 1GB shared , 160 GB HD , High Definition DVD-r/DVD-RW/CD-r/CD-RW , Dolby Suround Home theater w/ Subwoofer. All for $1149.00. I looked at 2 Dell Laptops in the same performance range , But went with another company for 3 reasons. #1: One of the Dell Laptops had a High Definition Drive , but no High definition Monitor and the other dell had a High Definition Monitor but no High definition Drive ???? My 14 year old son could figure out whats wrong with that picture. #2 The 2 Dell computers in the same Quality range were allmost $3000.00 Twice the price for 1/2 half High Definition. #3 The custormer service person I talk to was in India Where Dell has sent jobs hat sould go to Americans , and I couldn’t understand this person , their English was so bad.
My Dream Laptop would have upgradible Video and cpu, The first company to come out with a upgradible laptop at reasonable prices will win the mojority of Laptop sales . I hope Dell reads this and takes it to heart , The public has wanted a upgradable laptop for a long time and the Lptop makers don’t listen. L. C. Norton Blackcomp6513@yahoo.com
My dream laptop is a bit on the odd side.
Basically, I don’t currently want a full laptop. I’m a university student, so I want a laptop to take to class for notes and the occasional bit of web surfing and casual games between classes. The laptop would be a lot like the “One Laptop Per Child” machines, only less gaudy. Ideally, it would be be small– full-size keyboard, but I don’t need a huge screen– lightweight, and sturdy. 20 gigs of Flash-based memory instead of a hard drive would be sufficient for my needs; I could plug in an external hard drive if I needed more room. (It would be interesting if there was a way to take a handful of small, cheap Flash cards– the kind used in digital cameras– and wire them together, somehow, to act as a larger drive. Might hooking up 20 1GB cards be cheaper than one 20GB flash drive?) It would need built-in Wifi, and the screen should actually be visible in direct sunlight. Finally, I want something cheap, ideally under $200; Linux would probably be the best OS for this machine. That way, even if it does get stolen I’m not out nearly $1000.