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0 pointsfpgeek14y ago0 comments

> When Apple says that battery-life is important in mobile devices, they mean it

No, they don't. They mean battery life is important in mobile devices as long as it doesn't get in the way of making them thin (among other things). After all, the modern smartphone with the best battery life is the Droid RAZR MAXX (soon to be dethroned by its international sibling the Motorola RAZR MAXX, which doesn't have the battery-life handicap of an LTE radio).

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9 comments · 1 top-level

its_so_on14y ago· 8 in thread

Apple would never release a laptop with a 1.5 hour battery (wifi web browsing). an unimaginable number of such laptops are brought out by every major brand other than Apple.

(likewise apple has its standards in a phone, which is not the standard you cite, but not 45 minutes either.).

Apple is opinionated on every part of the user interface and design, on usability and ease-of-use. They then go on to put their money where their mouth is, and practice what they preach. (For the most part.)

It's very hard to find design decisions at Apple that seem to have 0 thought or discussion behind them. This is the norm at other companies.

steverb14y ago

The 1.5 hour battery laptop serves (for me) an important niche. You see, I don't actually need a laptop. I need a portable desktop with built in battery backup, which is what the 1.5 hour battery laptop is.

Of course, it's entirely within Apple's prerogative to ignore that very niche market (I would if I were them) and it seems to be working well for them, but every odd ball computer configuration you see was created to meet the needs of at least one market. You are not the target market for the desktop replacement laptop. I am.

freehunter14y ago

In college I loved my desktop replacement. This was before wifi was campus-wide, so bringing my laptop to class didn't give me much more benefit than bringing a pad of paper, so the laptop stayed firmly put on my desk all semester. What was really important to me was being able to haul my computer out of the dorm in one trip. A desktop would require multiple trips and would need to be shut down to move (the laptop lasted and hour on battery and 5 hours in sleep mode). A desktop replacement offers almost all the benefits of a desktop, but with a built-in UPS and a one-piece form factor.

gms14y ago

Said market needs may exist, but addressing them is not guaranteed to be profitable.

redthrowaway14y ago

>It's very hard to find design decisions at Apple that seem to have 0 thought or discussion behind them.

That doesn't mean the result of said thought was good, however:

http://i.minus.com/dQhzPuq2CZUc/264182-apple-mac-os-x-lion-1...

2muchcoffeeman14y ago

There will always be miss-steps. But I don't think you ever achieve great design without being very opinionated. I feel that it helps to edit yourself.

I really hate all these fake textures they are going though.

cryptoz14y ago

Windows XP didn't ship with a user-level calendar. If Apple had a calendar before 2006, they'd be winning the calendar design front without much effort.

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huggyface14y ago

Apple would never release a laptop with a 1.5 hour battery (wifi web browsing)

That's too bad. I use my laptops as portable desktops, seldom away from a plug. So I have to heft around a giant battery because Apple decides that only one usage model is right?

RIM devices have, generally, dramatically more endurance than Apple mobile devices. Apple seriously compromised battery life on the burgeoning smartphone market because they prioritized other things like a nice interface and a bigger screen. They weren't the leaders in battery life, and it's weird that you compare them particularly to Samsung when most Samsung devices have comparable or battery performance.

eropple14y ago

> That's too bad. I use my laptops as portable desktops, seldom away from a plug. So I have to heft around a giant battery because Apple decides that only one usage model is right?

False assertion. With a Macbook Pro, you get one of the lightest laptops of its size, plus very competitive specs in pretty much all areas. (This goes for the new Retina one as well as the standard one.)

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9 comments · 1 top-level

its_so_on14y ago· 8 in thread

Apple would never release a laptop with a 1.5 hour battery (wifi web browsing). an unimaginable number of such laptops are brought out by every major brand other than Apple.

(likewise apple has its standards in a phone, which is not the standard you cite, but not 45 minutes either.).

It's very hard to find design decisions at Apple that seem to have 0 thought or discussion behind them. This is the norm at other companies.

steverb14y ago

freehunter14y ago

gms14y ago

Said market needs may exist, but addressing them is not guaranteed to be profitable.

redthrowaway14y ago

>It's very hard to find design decisions at Apple that seem to have 0 thought or discussion behind them.

That doesn't mean the result of said thought was good, however:

http://i.minus.com/dQhzPuq2CZUc/264182-apple-mac-os-x-lion-1...

2muchcoffeeman14y ago

There will always be miss-steps. But I don't think you ever achieve great design without being very opinionated. I feel that it helps to edit yourself.

I really hate all these fake textures they are going though.

cryptoz14y ago

Windows XP didn't ship with a user-level calendar. If Apple had a calendar before 2006, they'd be winning the calendar design front without much effort.

1 more reply

huggyface14y ago

Apple would never release a laptop with a 1.5 hour battery (wifi web browsing)

That's too bad. I use my laptops as portable desktops, seldom away from a plug. So I have to heft around a giant battery because Apple decides that only one usage model is right?

eropple14y ago

> That's too bad. I use my laptops as portable desktops, seldom away from a plug. So I have to heft around a giant battery because Apple decides that only one usage model is right?

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse