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Comment by unixhero | Hacker News Reader

Can we have kick ass laptops again?

We already started getting them imo. Look at the 14in MacBook Pro for example.

I’ve been just as happy or happier with my company provided M1 Pro 16” than I was with the much vaunted pre-touchbar 2015 15”. I can’t think of too much more that I’d want from a laptop.

HDMI 2.1, DP 2.0, ECC RAM, replaceable SSDs, non-adhesive batteries, and, ideally, a cellular modem. In my case, it's likely I'll be waiting a long time.

What's your company's policy on data safety? I would hope there's something in place should your Mac's motherboard fry.

My use case at least would benefit little from any of those listed features. Not that I wouldn’t take them if they were available without sacrifices elsewhere, but they’re cherries on top, not dealbreakers.

Data safety isn’t a concern because changes are pushed regularly. The amount of work lost would be at most two or three hours’ worth.

> ideally, a cellular modem

Does this make sense, these days? My phone's connection is a click away, in my Mac's WiFi menu. What does an integrated modem solve?

You can take the cellular modem in my X1 out of my cold dead hands and not a moment before. Open laptop, connected - no matter where you are in the world.

> Open laptop, connected - no matter where you are in the world.

This is how I have mine set up, when I travel. Open lid, and it automatically connects to my phone. Maybe my use case is different, since I always have my phone with me. I suppose one technical advantage would be the possibility of a better antenna, within the screen.

the more obvious advantage is better battery life on my phone having its own on my laptop

Two monitors.

It's a lot better than the old Macbook Pros, but that's only because they've been terrible for so long.

All I want is a Mac in a Thinkpad-like shell, with ports and docking support and all that 1990s-style jazz. But they can keep the modern monitor, that's pretty good.

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