Ehhh I deploy a lot of these thin and light machines in place of desktops. The goal is to use a dock and have the IO that is needed at a desk but also have the portability of the small laptop that can do work remotely. The benefit is that you don’t have to remote into your work PC.
Portability? If you want a desktop replacement laptop, don’t buy one with a single USB port. If you want a machine you can easily carry, has a keyboard and can run a slide deck? 1 USB port and Bluetooth will get you there.
That’s a Lenovo E480. There are two other USB-A and a USB-C and HDMI on the other side, plus you can’t see behind the dongles but there’s an ethernet port on the laptop as well.
I only have two complaints with what I’m looking at. One is there’s probably not enough power for whatever you have connected to all of those USB things. And two, there’s not enough support for the port that you’re plugging this into to resist the weight of all of the dongles, which could damage the motherboard.
Depends. Modern keyboards, mice and controllers use just a few milliamps and the laptop must be able to supply 500 mA. However, just about anything that charges will use the whole 500 mA or even try to negotiate more. There are even non-compliant devices like heating pads that draw 2 A without asking.
The worst one was the pre Raspberry Pi 3 boards. The early ones used an on board Ethernet chip set that was slaved directly to the USB controller. It was USB 2.0 so it could negotiate 100, but really run much less than that.
Then, if you put in a keyboard, mouse, and a USB thumb drive the USB host would multiplex over them and your bandwidth for data transfer would drop precipitously.
I was so happy when they moved to a real Ethernet chip instead of a USB adapter. The new limitation became the microSD… Of course they also introduced the grounding reset issue on the USB port, but just don’t plus or unplug anything and it’d be fine.
Not always. Some laptops use a daughterboard for ports on one side. It might be connected over USB 3.0 and contain one or more USB ports, a SD reader and even audio jack.
I wish… unpopular opinion but I love Apple’s approach with the MBAir. I want a skinny device with 2-3 C Ports max.
I’m done with USB A, on the rare occasion I need it I gladly use an adapter to improve portability the other 90% of the time.
Any hardware made for Linux by non-US companies has several A ports, a few C, ethernet, HDMI, SD card… nope, I got a tower with all the ports. My portable should stay portable.
And luckily there are plenty of options out there for people who want to attach peripherals to their laptops.
I’m just not one of them.
My ideal device has two C ports on each side and a solid trackpad like the mac books do, just without all the apple bullshit of locking stuff down. @tuxedocomputers, pretty please 👀
Good to know Dell makes these. I am running CachyOS on the 2020 Intel MacBook Air and it’s okay… she runs a bit hot, so battery life is about half of what I would get with macOS.
As much as I like the look of Apple hardware, I despise them locking everything down. I’m glad there are smart people out there, like the Asahi project, cracking those macs open.
The Dell I have (few years old; I don’t keep up with models) looks very much like a MBA. It works great, and I’m glad it runs Linux well (so far). I’m thinking about moving to CachyOS on my desktop.
3000€, 1000 GB HDD, 32GB RAM, 15" screen, 1 port.
I hate laptop manufacturers.
Hey it’s fine if you have a docking station which totally defeats the purpose of a laptop.
Ehhh I deploy a lot of these thin and light machines in place of desktops. The goal is to use a dock and have the IO that is needed at a desk but also have the portability of the small laptop that can do work remotely. The benefit is that you don’t have to remote into your work PC.
Portability? If you want a desktop replacement laptop, don’t buy one with a single USB port. If you want a machine you can easily carry, has a keyboard and can run a slide deck? 1 USB port and Bluetooth will get you there.
For over 17 years or so, I’ve envisioned a laptop (and, later, also SBC) design where the entire sides are jam packed with usb ports.
Your hate reinvigorates this idea, knowing other people also hate the shortage of usb ports on laptop designs.
That’s a Lenovo E480. There are two other USB-A and a USB-C and HDMI on the other side, plus you can’t see behind the dongles but there’s an ethernet port on the laptop as well.
I only have two complaints with what I’m looking at. One is there’s probably not enough power for whatever you have connected to all of those USB things. And two, there’s not enough support for the port that you’re plugging this into to resist the weight of all of the dongles, which could damage the motherboard.
Depends. Modern keyboards, mice and controllers use just a few milliamps and the laptop must be able to supply 500 mA. However, just about anything that charges will use the whole 500 mA or even try to negotiate more. There are even non-compliant devices like heating pads that draw 2 A without asking.
What if they’re external drives with their own power supplies? I’ve done things nearly this convoluted, but used self powered devices.
Then you’re just constrained by the data bandwidth
I’m quite familiar with that one.
The worst one was the pre Raspberry Pi 3 boards. The early ones used an on board Ethernet chip set that was slaved directly to the USB controller. It was USB 2.0 so it could negotiate 100, but really run much less than that.
Then, if you put in a keyboard, mouse, and a USB thumb drive the USB host would multiplex over them and your bandwidth for data transfer would drop precipitously.
I was so happy when they moved to a real Ethernet chip instead of a USB adapter. The new limitation became the microSD… Of course they also introduced the grounding reset issue on the USB port, but just don’t plus or unplug anything and it’d be fine.
It’s plugged into the USB port not the motherboard.
The USB port is attached to the motherboard.
Not always. Some laptops use a daughterboard for ports on one side. It might be connected over USB 3.0 and contain one or more USB ports, a SD reader and even audio jack.
And the leg bone connected to the knee bone.
There is a generic leg bone?
duh, do you not know the song? idiot
(I’m kidding) <3
Yup totally it probably just means femur, tibia, or fibula.
Ohh! Now I get why my knees hurt when I stomp my feet!
No that’s because you’re old.
But then shouldn’t it just be my foot that hurts?
What does it have to do with my knee?
It is yet to take an arrow.
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What do you think will break first with enough downward force? The port, or the motherboard solder joints holding the weight?
No this is a schooner.
I hope you’re remembered like Ken M. I always find these funny, even when, or perhaps especially when, they don’t land well in the thread.
I will never not upvote the ‘Fart
You guys got 32 gigs of memory?
I wish… unpopular opinion but I love Apple’s approach with the MBAir. I want a skinny device with 2-3 C Ports max.
I’m done with USB A, on the rare occasion I need it I gladly use an adapter to improve portability the other 90% of the time. Any hardware made for Linux by non-US companies has several A ports, a few C, ethernet, HDMI, SD card… nope, I got a tower with all the ports. My portable should stay portable.
USB-C isn’t a straight upgrade of USB-A though. Both have their pros and cons.
USB-C has much higher bandwidth and allows more power draw. 2 nice features, but totally useless on something like a mouse.
USB-A is soo much cheaper and more sturdy. A much better connector for simple peripherals like mouses and keyboards.
So a laptop with only USB-C is quite dumb. It costs nothing to add a couple of USB-A ports, and it will save you a lot of money.
And luckily there are plenty of options out there for people who want to attach peripherals to their laptops. I’m just not one of them.
My ideal device has two C ports on each side and a solid trackpad like the mac books do, just without all the apple bullshit of locking stuff down. @tuxedocomputers, pretty please 👀
My dell is that. Runs Mint rn
Good to know Dell makes these. I am running CachyOS on the 2020 Intel MacBook Air and it’s okay… she runs a bit hot, so battery life is about half of what I would get with macOS.
As much as I like the look of Apple hardware, I despise them locking everything down. I’m glad there are smart people out there, like the Asahi project, cracking those macs open.
The Dell I have (few years old; I don’t keep up with models) looks very much like a MBA. It works great, and I’m glad it runs Linux well (so far). I’m thinking about moving to CachyOS on my desktop.
I’ll look into Asahi project!