Gnod Things is my "map products" project. This is my latest iteration. Now you can change the axis and filter for parameters. Any feedback is much appreciated.
That's really a handy tool when looking to buy a new laptop. But since I already did it last week, I was wondering if you plan to do the same thing for smartphone ;)
There are a lot of laptops on Amazon with missing or wrong specs. Im planning to have a "suggest spec changes" button, so we can have crowd-fixed-data.
It doesn't cover base models that can be upgraded to match the constraints.
E.g.: If I add a constraint "laptops with at least 16 GB of RAM" it doesn't show the Retina MacBook Pro 13". Only the 15" model is shown, because there is a default configuration with said amount of RAM.
Because of this, it is pretty useless unfortunately for those that customize their laptops when buying online. This is most useful for those that just want to go into a store and buy something off the shelf, but then having this online isn't that useful.
On #1, you can, there just aren't any laptops with exactly 13" screens in the db, so nothing is returned (the closest are 13.3" and 12.5"). Try 13.3" - 13.3" and you get results. For marketing purposes manufacturers often round down to a whole number, e.g. Apple's 11.6" MacBook Air model is marketed as 11", and their 13.3" model is marketed as 13".
Agreed with the above 2 and 3. It's a nice visualisation but doesn't show the information most important to me when selecting a laptop. In addition to SSD I care about screen resolution.
Indeed, I want small but with lots of pixels, was briefly excited that there might be an easy way to find that when the time comes, then disappointed that it appears not.
Well, it's a handy tool, although I think it's missing some other filters (battery life, GPU / CPU performance... and the obvious "Has SSD as primary storage" filter.
Some indicator of whether it's configurable would also be helpful... but then, this is just an Amazon affiliate play and I guess that Amazon doesn't offer the full range of config options so are you just restricting the results to that which is available via Amazon?
Edit: Just found DPI as a side selector on the axis picker.
Well, my HP ZBook 15 has those keys were they should be. The first row key sequence is ESC, F1 to F12, INS, DEL, Home, End, PGUP, PGDOWN. Maybe this is the only advantage of having a number pad thrown it into the keyboard. This is the layout http://www.pcpro.co.uk/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/DSC0...
FYI, you linked a screenshot of the broken layout we're referring to, with all the keys lined up in the same row rather than stacked in a 3x2 grid as they belong.
That was the laptop I had before the ZBook. The old keyboard was better because of the lack of numberpad but I don't feel the position of those keys on the ZBook to be unconvenient. Obviously this is subjective and I respect your dislike for them. I'm quite picky about those kind of details too.
My old ThinkPad is near the end of its life (the screen is falling off…) and needs to be replaced. There's absolutely nothing out there that looks like a decent replacement, though. Worse yet, I also like not to have a separate numberpad on a laptop (it makes the keyboard feel imbalanced, because it's even more off-center than usual) and finding that on anything with a remotely usable screen size is damn near impossible.
I'm starting to think the best replacement for my 2009-era Thinkpad is just another 2009-era Thinkpad. I don't want a glossy screen, chicklet keyboard, and non-replaceable battery.
Those damned glossy screens. I can't for the life of me figure out why they ever caught on; glare is extreme on them, dust and fingerprints might as well be completely opaque, and actual physical defects (scratches and such)? Game over.
The keyboard on the X230 is actually quite good, especially compared to its contemporaries. I believe you can swap it out for the older style X220 one as well.
(But I think I'll be sticking with my 4:3 T61 until shortscreens fall out of favor)
I was considering that model but ended up getting a T440s, a lot because of the brainfart they had when designing the area around backspace/enter. Being used to European keyboards, I can not see myself ever getting used to that layout.
Not that I'm not satisfied with my T440s, though :)
I hated that so much on my Lenovo work laptop. I kept hitting the buttons accidentally. I hated it right up to the point where I got a new laptop, and suddenly I realized how often I used those keys, and now I miss them.
I really try not to buy consumer (or shoddy business) equipment that falls apart within two years. I wonder if someone has aggregated average lifetime to failure, because that would be very meaningful to me as an axis to consider before purchase.
Apparently all the ZBook HP laptops are missing. I'm writing this with one of them.
At the time I bought it I would have been interested in a query like this: screen 15", up to 32 GB RAM, 3 physical touchpad buttons, no number pad (which turned out to be very hard for 15" laptops - I didn't want a Mac), at least 512 GB internal storage, 4 cores, 1080p or better, next business day on site assistance. Price, battery life, optical drive: don't care. And of course 16:10 aspect ratio, but that would have returned an empty set.
I eventually had to compromise on the number pad even if I almost never used one and I'm not using it now that I have one. I have to shift the laptop to the right to keep the space bar right in front of me. The center of the screen is aligned with my right hand. I wonder what all those PCs designers are thinking about.
I purchased a computer in the past year after using my trusty (overheating) HP TX2510 for more than half a decade. I was baffled as to why numpads were so popular, especially on mid-sized (15" or so) form factors. Was there a significant shift in how the 80th percentile user types, that a numpad would be an in-demand feature? I thought I was taking crazy pills.
Aside from data entry and scientific users, is there a utility-based reason why incorporating a numpad is worth offsetting the keyboard, the typical input method (along with mouse for most users)?
I've bought a handful of 17" laptops in the past and was dismayed to find all the ones I was considering lacked a numpad. Only one I've bought (15") had one. And I really want one.
It's really nice for working in computer networking, where you're often typing long strings of numbers with dots between them. The number row sucks for finding numbers and the dot is way far away.
For home or consumer use, though, I'm not sure why anyone would want a numpad bad enough to make that tradeoff.
> It's really nice for working in computer networking, where you're often typing long strings of numbers with dots between them. The number row sucks for finding numbers and the dot is way far away.
Someone really needs to setup their own DNS server...
(That, or make a programmer's numpad that goes from 0 to 'f')
DNS doesn't work everywhere. If I'm filling out Cisco IOS configuration, not every device has a DNS name. It's gotta be the IP address. If I'm filling in the IPAM, it's gotta be the IP address. Putting addresses into the SIEM? Gotta be the IP address. Telling someone what IP address to use for a server they haven't set up yet? There's no server, so there's no DNS name. Gotta be an IP address.
Saying "you don't need IP addresses because you've got DNS" is like saying you don't need gears because it's an automatic transmission. A mechanic would disagree with you on that. DNS is an abstraction. Why is Linux written in C when we have Javascript?
DNS is an abstraction. A very useful one at that; it limits how many IP address I end up typing. No, I do still need to write some, but I went and found the largest laptop I could get without a number pad. To each their own though.
> ... is like saying you don't need gears because it's an automatic transmission.
Just how many speeds is the transmission on a Tesla Model-S?
> ... Why is Linux written in C when we have Javascript?
I'm not really sure why you've decided that you need to attack someone just because they say they type a lot of IP addresses, but it's not very appreciated.
As a programmer, I would not buy a 15" laptop without a numpad. I use a 13" Macbook Air nowadays and the numpad is dearly missed. But yeah you are right - most people won't need them.
As a programmer surely just a 0 (for starting for loops), a 1 (for off by one errors) and 0-9 (for regexs) suffices for 99% of typing? Typing other numbers seems like it should be avoided wherever possible.
As a programmer I always wondered what a number pad could be useful for so it's interesting to know that there are programmers that put it at a good use. I even upvoted you because I find this interesting.
I usually code web applications. I think that most of my numbers go into CSS hex color strings and into my invoices. What are your use cases?
In the past I used number pads to play video games and nethack. Not much of them in the past 10 years though.
Personally I use mine a lot when typing in bug numbers. Sometimes I can copy & paste it, sometimes it's already in my field of vision, my hands are on the keyboard, and it's faster just to type it.
I think the numpads exist because just about all laptop screens are 16:9 now, which forces the keyboard area to be wider (compared to a 4:3 screen, for example). Without a numpad there would be lots of "dead" space to the right and left of the keyboard, so manufacturers added a numpad to avoid the wasted space. Personally I'd rather have a 4:3 screen and no numpad, but this aspect ratio has ceased to exist.
Hell, I'd jump for joy if I could find a laptop with more than one touchpad button. So tired of those clickpads. Last time I bought a laptop, I searched high and low for a decent laptop with actual, real buttons that could be pushed independent of the trackpad. I was prepared to pay nearly any sum of money for what I wanted, but ended up getting fed up, going to the other end of the spectrum, and buying a C720 Chromebook to throw Arch on. Thankfully, synaptics has come a long way and I could configure it in a way that preserves my sanity.
You may be able to get a MBP with 32GB RAM now (actually I just checked and it doesn't look like you can still), but I was never able to get more than slightly-above-normal memory loaded into the MBP from the factory. As new MBPs have irreplaceable RAM modules, expanding the memory aftermarket is no longer possible (instead of just a massive pain that required ordering several special tools, like various sizes of Torx screwdriver heads, and a few hours of assembly/disassembly time).
Besides the hardware issues, there are many reasons not to buy a Mac. Macs are cool, and I'd like to have one lying around just for fun, but they're pretty expensive toys and I'm not that rich. I can, in general, only justify that kind of expense for a real computer.
for replacing the RAM on a unibody aluminum MacBook Pro? it's one screwdriver (Phillips 00), maybe 10 screws to remove from the edges of the back cover, and the RAM modules are easily accessible without any additional tools. One of the easiest RAM upgrades I've ever done... maybe 10 minutes max.
(not that it matters anymore since the retina models aren't user-upgradeable)
The 2006/2007 versions were definitely a chore to take apart and required three or four different screwdrivers. The unibody ones starting in late 2008 are much easier to work on. (At least when replacing the RAM and HDD.)
I've never upgraded a unibody aluminum MBP. The ones I've worked on were from 2007.
It is nice that there was a temporary respite of upgradability before they decided to go to the furthest extreme possible and make it entirely non-upgradable.
I like my MBPro, but when refresh time comes around I'll be looking at alternatives. With Apple de-contenting them over the years, they just aren't all that "pro" any more.
They're pretty much at the peak of price. I'm interested in a non-Apple product as well, mainly because of high prices and the mess my MBP 2007 logic board ended up being, as well as the high priced accessories (power cord that frayed and they woudn't give me a new one for free, bloated battery, every other LCD backlight going out giving the spotlight effect). I've had issues with other Apple products, and although I've loved using them, my experience getting any support from Apple has never yielded positive results (because I'm not paying for Apple care?). They replaced my first gen nano that merely had a malfunctioned hold button with an eighth generation that died in less than a year (started not turning on and heating up when I plugged it in), which I accidentally dropped before I could attempt to complain to Apple about it. There's more...but I digress...
I love using their products, but I always get this feeling that they have a lot of planned obsolescence built into them. That or they are just so cutting edge that they push the boundaries of hardware failing. Not sure, but I've spent hundreds of hours trying to debug hardware issues with their devices and there is also a lot of fud on the internet making it more difficult to do that. They never respond to any of these issues on their forums, you always just have to wait until it becomes widespread enough that they will make a service announcement.
I know that these sort of problems are not exclusive to Apple and lots of other companies have issues, I just have not been happy with the way Apple deals with them. That MacBook Pro is the only laptop I have ever owned (besides this Chromebook I'm typing on now) and I am very interested in hardware alternatives. I actually love running Mac OS, but to get away from their expensive hardware that I seem to have horrible luck with and their horrible customer support would be worth dealing without it for me. I admit, though, that I brought a lot of pain onto myself by trying to solve problems rather than just letting Apple deal with it. That's why I'm starting to get the feeling that Apple isn't for a computer hardware geek like me. I want something that is designed to last, that has survived the most brutal quality tests, and that I can maintain myself by replacing the parts. I also admit that I am still tempted to stick with the Mac OS world and get another MBP... I just want more options!!
I'd also like to escape from the Mac, but not because it's expensive. The MBP is ridiculously well made, and the high-end models ship with components that should perform well for 3 years or so. Beyond that point, I'd be looking for a generational change (e.g. CPU architecture, RAM frequency, storage interconnect, etc.) which is more about my weakness for new stuff than actual obsolescence.
Yes, that should be the reason for purchasing a new computer. But that doesn't mean that components should be failing in that amount of time. My first logic board issue happened just outside the 1 year window in 2008, but this was an Nvidia issue... So can't blame Apple right? I would say that the logic board design was horrible regardless of the issues with the chip solder, based on my experiences even with the replacement I got from the recall in 2010. I agree with you on paying for high quality, but well made should include not breaking down.
Also, these days the reasons for upgrading that you mention are diminishing. We all know the limits of Moore's law were being reached, and I was able to upgrade my MBP to 6 GB of memory (Apple's weird limitations on it causing 8 GB not to work?) and put an SSD in it for a solid computing experience sans the other issues.
You're totally right to complain about hardware failures and component deficiencies. Maybe I am just lucky in this regard.
Of course, I've just noticed that there is an option for a 1TB PCIe drive (compared to the 750GB SATA SSD I have now). If I could double my RAM to 32GB as well then I wouldn't hesitate to upgrade. As it is, I'll still probably end up going for it before too long, unless an alternative presents itself.
Personal preference: I don't like the OSX desktop environment. The global menu and the bar at the top are a no no for me. I remove them regularly from any Linux DE I use and if I can't I don't use that DE (no Unity here). I tolerated them on the very first Macs, the ones with tiny screens at the beginning of the 80s when we were always working full screen anyway, but IMHO they don't belong to 15" or larger screens.
Using OSX as a hypervisor to run Ubuntu in VMWare or VirtualBox seemed a waste of resources to me. Installing Linux as the only OS on a MBP doesn't always give optimal results, so no Mac. However MBP 15"'s 16:10 screen and the keyboard without number pad are good things (but Fn Backspace to Del, ugh). It would have been great to fit the ZBook 15 inside my old HP nc8430's case, plus the ZBook removable panel at the bottom. BTW, maybe the new keyboard has a better feeling than the old one but that was good too.
According to this interview from June www.businessinsider.com/linus-torvalds-qa-2014-6 he used a Mac Air but switched to a Sony Vaio because of the screen (no details given). Did he change again? Possible. Anyway, obviously Macs work with Linux. There were some little problems with Linux and the latest Macs when I made my research at the beginning of the year. That happened with the old ones too and were fixed along the months. I had to buy something pretty quickly in February (the old laptop was dying) so I went for a HP laptop I knew worked reasonably well with Linux despite being as new as those Macs. HP's cheap on site next business day assistance was part of the reason for buying from them again. Another reason is that I can open the back of that laptop without screwdrivers and swap RAM and discs. Apparently I can swap also the CPU but probably sockets will change before I'll need to do that.
I had similar constraints in some areas, and ended up with a Dell Latitude (so I could get the back-lit keyboard) 14" (so it wouldn't have a number pad), 1600x900 screen. I'm pretty sure most your other constraints could be configured for when buying.
The Tohsiba Tecra series (great laptops; I'm using one right now) is also missing.
As is "battery life." That's a crucial number; I get 8+ hours of real usage on the Tecra, which is awesome.
It also has a number pad, but that's a bonus for me. If you really hate them, Dell has a laptop workstation with no keypad. I have one for work, and I'm bothered by the lack.
Very nice, thanks. Comparable price to the Thinkpad (my current favorite). The only think missing is the button mouse (probably the reason Thinkpads are my favorite), but I just picked up a Logitech T650 trackpad this week, and am forcing myself to get used to it, due to RSI issues. By gosh, this looks like it just might work!
I agree that Linux has probably more users that Windows here on HN, but when I said "a minority of the viewers", I meant "the viewers of the gnod website".
Yeah, I'm too sick of giving money to MS for an OS I never use, and too worried about Apple's approach to computing (wall ALL the gardens!!) to give money to either company at this point, but finding something that doesn't come with an OS or comes with Ubuntu is a pain. You've got a few small shops (in particular system76, with whom I had a pretty terrible experience regarding the galago ultra pro), and the Dell Sputnik.
Thanks for this, it sure is helpful
I'm not a fan of this data visualization, though.
Here is my comment on it for "The tourist map of flash drives" (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7465980):
"IMHO you shouldn't do it in a grid, it's confusing as a graphic and in some cases results in wrong representation of the data (which every graphical representation of data should avoid), for example, outliers can be too close to "normal" data, distance between two points is not representative of actual variables variation (sorry for alliteration), overlapping points seem to be different and you can't infer a drive price/cost to be better than other unless they share one coordinate(the worst, because that's the purpose of the graphic)
I'd say your points need to be smaller or you need to use less points in order to represent your data correctly.(...)"
I would add this time that the chart screen size vs price doesn't make sense to me. I would rather have a compound metric for performance/value in lieu of screen size. This would be made according to "weights" attributed by the user against the several aspects of a laptop, so, for me, screen resolution and memory would be the most valued, followed by HD capacity.
I'm trying to give constructive criticism here, because I believe you have something really good that needs some polishing. The fact that you made this in its current state is already applause worthy. It can be better but it already provides a very good service.
Great idea, well executed. Others have made good suggestions to make it better. I agree with those who have asked for more and more specific search options.
It's worth noticing that Apple is the only one providing high-end 11" devices. The computing industry should take note - quality is more important than size.
But then you're trying to sell a chunky ugly piece of plastic next to a sleek sexy piece of metal. The number of Apple devices you see out in the wild (outside of an office) vs other brands of laptops bears this out - in the laptop industry there's Apple and then there's everybody else.
>* The number of Apple devices you see out in the wild (outside of an office) vs other brands of laptops bears this out* //
None? Doesn't it just depend where you are. I see no (alright very few) Apple laptops as people I know aren't made of money. Some students get them when they first start college/uni because they've not budgeted correctly ... but that's about it.
11.6" 2560 x 1440 touchscreen (can be rotated to use as a tablet) with similar weight and size as the macbook airs. The 11" and 13" MBAs have crappy screens
So many great lines in this one:
"
(yes, you can get by with 64 GB, but at least with my Windows installs I find that I have to think about disk space with 64 GB, whereas with 128 GB I don't have to worry -- ever. Don't make me think, man!) "
"Memory? Dirt cheap, and average users won't need more than 2 gigabytes of the stuff in practical use"
Not a criticism, since obviously that was written in 2010, but I find that with 128GB I definitely have to think about where I'm putting stuff. This is especially the case for software which steadfastly refuses to be installed anywhere but the system drive (looking at you, Visual Studio).
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[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 220 ms ] thread(But of course, it's not.)
My personal choice of axes for laptops would be weight, compute power and price, in that order of priority.
There are a lot of laptops on Amazon with missing or wrong specs. Im planning to have a "suggest spec changes" button, so we can have crowd-fixed-data.
E.g.: If I add a constraint "laptops with at least 16 GB of RAM" it doesn't show the Retina MacBook Pro 13". Only the 15" model is shown, because there is a default configuration with said amount of RAM.
1. I can't filter to a exact screen size. Inputting 13" - 13" fails.
2. What type of disk? SSD vs HDD is a huge concern in laptops. Having a filter for that will be great.
3. Some laptop models can be upgraded. This doesn't appear to cover that.
4. How often are you updating the information?
Hadn't noticed that. Thanks :)
Resolution in DPI also would be helpful.
Some indicator of whether it's configurable would also be helpful... but then, this is just an Amazon affiliate play and I guess that Amazon doesn't offer the full range of config options so are you just restricting the results to that which is available via Amazon?
Edit: Just found DPI as a side selector on the axis picker.
http://www.gibney.de/the_tourist_map_of_laptops
As a laptop search tool this is cool but lacks practicality because there are so many missing search options. Just look at ebay laptops for example.
As a data visualization tool this is cool but nothing I have seen comes close to silverlight deep zoom for displaying and filtering large image sets.
I do appreciate the difficulty of what this is trying to accomplish and I commend the OP for making it this far! Dont stop now!
Sadly, it would be easy to implement in 2014. Just map it to set the entire grid to display:none.
That was the laptop I had before the ZBook. The old keyboard was better because of the lack of numberpad but I don't feel the position of those keys on the ZBook to be unconvenient. Obviously this is subjective and I respect your dislike for them. I'm quite picky about those kind of details too.
(But I think I'll be sticking with my 4:3 T61 until shortscreens fall out of favor)
Not that I'm not satisfied with my T440s, though :)
At the time I bought it I would have been interested in a query like this: screen 15", up to 32 GB RAM, 3 physical touchpad buttons, no number pad (which turned out to be very hard for 15" laptops - I didn't want a Mac), at least 512 GB internal storage, 4 cores, 1080p or better, next business day on site assistance. Price, battery life, optical drive: don't care. And of course 16:10 aspect ratio, but that would have returned an empty set.
I eventually had to compromise on the number pad even if I almost never used one and I'm not using it now that I have one. I have to shift the laptop to the right to keep the space bar right in front of me. The center of the screen is aligned with my right hand. I wonder what all those PCs designers are thinking about.
Aside from data entry and scientific users, is there a utility-based reason why incorporating a numpad is worth offsetting the keyboard, the typical input method (along with mouse for most users)?
It's really nice for working in computer networking, where you're often typing long strings of numbers with dots between them. The number row sucks for finding numbers and the dot is way far away.
For home or consumer use, though, I'm not sure why anyone would want a numpad bad enough to make that tradeoff.
Someone really needs to setup their own DNS server...
(That, or make a programmer's numpad that goes from 0 to 'f')
Or outsource some accounting work...
Saying "you don't need IP addresses because you've got DNS" is like saying you don't need gears because it's an automatic transmission. A mechanic would disagree with you on that. DNS is an abstraction. Why is Linux written in C when we have Javascript?
> ... is like saying you don't need gears because it's an automatic transmission.
Just how many speeds is the transmission on a Tesla Model-S?
> ... Why is Linux written in C when we have Javascript?
Well, there's http://runtimejs.org/ but it's still in development.
I usually code web applications. I think that most of my numbers go into CSS hex color strings and into my invoices. What are your use cases?
In the past I used number pads to play video games and nethack. Not much of them in the past 10 years though.
Best $190 I've spent in a long time.
Besides the hardware issues, there are many reasons not to buy a Mac. Macs are cool, and I'd like to have one lying around just for fun, but they're pretty expensive toys and I'm not that rich. I can, in general, only justify that kind of expense for a real computer.
for replacing the RAM on a unibody aluminum MacBook Pro? it's one screwdriver (Phillips 00), maybe 10 screws to remove from the edges of the back cover, and the RAM modules are easily accessible without any additional tools. One of the easiest RAM upgrades I've ever done... maybe 10 minutes max.
(not that it matters anymore since the retina models aren't user-upgradeable)
It is nice that there was a temporary respite of upgradability before they decided to go to the furthest extreme possible and make it entirely non-upgradable.
I love using their products, but I always get this feeling that they have a lot of planned obsolescence built into them. That or they are just so cutting edge that they push the boundaries of hardware failing. Not sure, but I've spent hundreds of hours trying to debug hardware issues with their devices and there is also a lot of fud on the internet making it more difficult to do that. They never respond to any of these issues on their forums, you always just have to wait until it becomes widespread enough that they will make a service announcement.
I know that these sort of problems are not exclusive to Apple and lots of other companies have issues, I just have not been happy with the way Apple deals with them. That MacBook Pro is the only laptop I have ever owned (besides this Chromebook I'm typing on now) and I am very interested in hardware alternatives. I actually love running Mac OS, but to get away from their expensive hardware that I seem to have horrible luck with and their horrible customer support would be worth dealing without it for me. I admit, though, that I brought a lot of pain onto myself by trying to solve problems rather than just letting Apple deal with it. That's why I'm starting to get the feeling that Apple isn't for a computer hardware geek like me. I want something that is designed to last, that has survived the most brutal quality tests, and that I can maintain myself by replacing the parts. I also admit that I am still tempted to stick with the Mac OS world and get another MBP... I just want more options!!
Also, these days the reasons for upgrading that you mention are diminishing. We all know the limits of Moore's law were being reached, and I was able to upgrade my MBP to 6 GB of memory (Apple's weird limitations on it causing 8 GB not to work?) and put an SSD in it for a solid computing experience sans the other issues.
Of course, I've just noticed that there is an option for a 1TB PCIe drive (compared to the 750GB SATA SSD I have now). If I could double my RAM to 32GB as well then I wouldn't hesitate to upgrade. As it is, I'll still probably end up going for it before too long, unless an alternative presents itself.
Using OSX as a hypervisor to run Ubuntu in VMWare or VirtualBox seemed a waste of resources to me. Installing Linux as the only OS on a MBP doesn't always give optimal results, so no Mac. However MBP 15"'s 16:10 screen and the keyboard without number pad are good things (but Fn Backspace to Del, ugh). It would have been great to fit the ZBook 15 inside my old HP nc8430's case, plus the ZBook removable panel at the bottom. BTW, maybe the new keyboard has a better feeling than the old one but that was good too.
I think you may find this is no longer the case... Linus himself uses a MBP nowadays
As is "battery life." That's a crucial number; I get 8+ hours of real usage on the Tecra, which is awesome.
It also has a number pad, but that's a bonus for me. If you really hate them, Dell has a laptop workstation with no keypad. I have one for work, and I'm bothered by the lack.
(Or is OpenBSD the popular choice and I'm behind the times again? :-) )
"IMHO you shouldn't do it in a grid, it's confusing as a graphic and in some cases results in wrong representation of the data (which every graphical representation of data should avoid), for example, outliers can be too close to "normal" data, distance between two points is not representative of actual variables variation (sorry for alliteration), overlapping points seem to be different and you can't infer a drive price/cost to be better than other unless they share one coordinate(the worst, because that's the purpose of the graphic)
I'd say your points need to be smaller or you need to use less points in order to represent your data correctly.(...)"
I would add this time that the chart screen size vs price doesn't make sense to me. I would rather have a compound metric for performance/value in lieu of screen size. This would be made according to "weights" attributed by the user against the several aspects of a laptop, so, for me, screen resolution and memory would be the most valued, followed by HD capacity.
I'm trying to give constructive criticism here, because I believe you have something really good that needs some polishing. The fact that you made this in its current state is already applause worthy. It can be better but it already provides a very good service.
So for example, you could have "price" as the X axis and "processing power" as the Y axis.
None? Doesn't it just depend where you are. I see no (alright very few) Apple laptops as people I know aren't made of money. Some students get them when they first start college/uni because they've not budgeted correctly ... but that's about it.
Tablets though, mostly iPads.
Flame wars ahead ...
11.6" 2560 x 1440 touchscreen (can be rotated to use as a tablet) with similar weight and size as the macbook airs. The 11" and 13" MBAs have crappy screens
* touch screen would be nice * Screen resolutions would be nice * SSD drive options
Edit: Just notice DPI and other ways of sorting are available by clicking on the axis. Should make this more intuitive.
Nice work overall
"Memory? Dirt cheap, and average users won't need more than 2 gigabytes of the stuff in practical use"
Not a criticism, since obviously that was written in 2010, but I find that with 128GB I definitely have to think about where I'm putting stuff. This is especially the case for software which steadfastly refuses to be installed anywhere but the system drive (looking at you, Visual Studio).