no more 180 degree opening laptops. wtf

D

dr.kevin

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Feb 17, 2006
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I think I have one of the last laptops in existence that opens 180 degrees.

all laptops I've seen recently only open about 120*. WTF is up with this trend.
Are the current hinges supposed to be superior to the old ones?

it's not hard to make a hinge that opens 180*
but the current stupid design makes the lid/screen pivot around and butt against the base, limiting it to 120*.
This also forces them to make extended batteries that elevate the rear of the laptop, rather than simply sticking out the back, since the screen/lid is blocking the way.

I'm at the store playing with the laptops while standing, and i feel i have to break the screen off when it won't open any further.

if i'm standing over a table without a chair, i'd rather open the laptop 170* than hunching over to meet the 120* viewing angle.
 
Yeah, most of the world sits down when they use their laptops, so 98% of people don't care. Minorities always gets neglected -- sucks.
 
What's the issue here exactly?

What you're after is a specialized product. Something that costs more to produce and less people need. So why implement this in consumer laptops that no one cares about, only to increase the cost to the buyer?
 
thecrafter said:
What's the issue here exactly?

What you're after is a specialized product. Something that costs more to produce and less people need. So why implement this in consumer laptops that no one cares about, only to increase the cost to the buyer?
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It's not a specialized product, all laptops used to be like that. I'd imagine having a hinge without a stop would be cheaper to make than one with it. Either way it's not an expensive part of the laptop, when companies started moving the hinge to the back of the laptop instead of the top this was a drawback.
 
thecrafter said:
What's the issue here exactly?

What you're after is a specialized product. Something that costs more to produce and less people need. So why implement this in consumer laptops that no one cares about, only to increase the cost to the buyer?
Click to expand...

There isn't really any extra cost, you are just not adding any stops in the hinge.

all our service laptops are on carts you pretty much need 180 degrees to see them decently standing up. We got a new dell about a week ago that does 180 degrees, I forget the model though.
 
munkle said:
There isn't really any extra cost, you are just not adding any stops in the hinge.
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I'm not so sure about there not being any cost issue to it. When dealing with something like a mass produced product like a laptop with thin margins cost effects a lot of design aspects.

Being a long time convertible Tablet PC user the issue of hinges is a prevalent subject for me, swivel hinges add a good amount of cost and complexity to the design of a convertible tablet. I understand you're only talking about conventional laptops but if most laptops don't open 180 degrees my experiences with swivel hinges leads me to believe there's probably a cost and or design reason why.

For the scenario that you are describing if indeed you need a laptop and a tablet device wouldn't suffice you guys really should look at convertible tablets, they are designed specifically to be used as you're describing.
 
It's just a placement of the hinge. My laptops that open 180 have the hinge inside the lcd, so the back of the lcd gets pointed towards the base. The new units have the hinge inside the base, which means the back of the base is the one that gets pointed towards the lcd.

And it really does affect the laptops functionality because you are *above* the laptop when you're using it on your *lap*. The only way I could use the new laptop is by finding a table or leaning back. We really do take the laptops out of the house and often use them in streets and corridors where there's not a table in sight.
 
Sly said:
And it really does affect the laptops functionality because you are *above* the laptop when you're using it on your *lap*. The only way I could use the new laptop is by finding a table or leaning back. We really do take the laptops out of the house and often use them in streets and corridors where there's not a table in sight.
Click to expand...

You open the screen flat when using a laptop on your lap? Interesting, I've never done this with my convertibles which of course all open 180 degrees but I do use them in tablet mode occasionally in my lap though I usually use then like conventional laptops with the screen at typical 120 degrees or so.
 
I have to admit that even though some "new" laptops are nice, and I wouldn't mind having a truly monster powerful Core i7 based machine with a nice LCD in it, today's laptops - meaning those made in oh, the last 12 months or so - just annoy me to no end. My current workhorse, this old Dell Latitude D830 I have, will stand the test of time and it'll be my laptop for as long as it remains functional (and Dell lets me keep extending the onsite warranty).

I honestly can't stand today's laptops, they're just cheap shit to me. Even Lenovo's ThinkPad offerings disgust me: I won't tolerate a 16:9 panel, I just won't do it. I've got an HP Probook 4420s sitting here a client brought by for a tuneup, etc, and here's the best part:

She's had problems with it since she got it, had to return it twice now for service. The second time they returned it the audio from the speakers didn't work - headphone jack output is just fine, just nothing from the speakers, so I suspected when they did the motherboard swap they simply didn't reconnect the speakers properly. I disassembled the switch guard and lifted the keyboard and, of course, that was precisely what the problem was.

But then I put it back together and started some diagnostics on it, ran CPU-Z and... well, was pretty shocked to find it's a Celeron P4500 dual core processor in the laptop.

That might not seem odd to most folks, but considering the laptop she bought had a Core i5-450M processor in it, and the Core i5 sticker on the laptop will back that up.

HP... uhmmm... ooops. Someone screwed the pooch... :D

So on Monday she's going to call 'em up and I told her don't stop bitching till they offer you a new laptop and I do mean a brand new one and obviously a better model of the Probook and not an exact replacement this time.

But this Probook is a bit disappointing too, even in brand new condition: 16:9 panel (ugh), and yes, it won't do the 180 degree fold-flat move either. I understand exactly what the OP is going on about, we all do, but it's how things are done now.

Guess I'll just keep buying old Dell Latitudes, maybe an older ThinkPad and even older HP business class machines too - those all kicked ass and were just fine for my purposes.

OLD SCHOOL RULES! :D
 
heatlesssun said:
You open the screen flat when using a laptop on your lap? Interesting, I've never done this with my convertibles which of course all open 180 degrees but I do use them in tablet mode occasionally in my lap though I usually use then like conventional laptops with the screen at typical 120 degrees or so.
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No proper sitting place in sight. To use the laptop while sitting down on a bench, I have to push the lcd past my knees which makes it prone to get knocked over by someone or the weight of the battery would tip it over completely. the backs of the benches are commonly at 90 degrees unlike your park benches, so leaning back is not an option.

sitting on the ground with my legs crossed, the laptop is already tilted slightly towards me. Even more if it's with knees together.

My daily commute consists of sitting inside a people carrier waiting for it to fill up and there is literally no room to move my legs. The archos is getting really handy to pass they time but it's not something I can type on.
 
My Dell Latitude E6410 does something like 160°. It's useful at times I guess. The old D620/D630's could easily do 190° or so.

Right now I'm pretty certain that T-series Thinkpads are capable of doing 180°. The new Dell Latitudes (E6420, etc.) also advertise that they can flip open 180°. Other than that I'm not sure of other laptops than can do 180°. Note that both don't tend to be sold in retail stores.
 
Sly said:
No proper sitting place in sight.
Click to expand...


that's exactly what i'm talking about. There are plenty of situations where you would need the screen to open all the way.
even on your lap, hunched over or sitting up straight, opening it to 160* is more comfortable than 130*.
Someone mentioned that if you were making a presentation on a podium stand with tilted surface, you would need more than 130* too.

compared to laptops of years ago, we have lost more functionality for whatever reason.
If today's limited range hinges last longer, OK, I can understand. But I doubt that is the case.


I see that some of the more expensive business models still have 180* hinges, but not because the hinges are more expensive-

hp4530sreview8460p.jpg


but most affordable, consumer grade laptops have gone the way of the Macbook with their limited range hinges. Macbooks have never tilted all the way back since as long as i can remember.
I recently saw an HP probook that I really like, but it sucks that it too has limited hinge range.
yeah, it must have been Apple. and everyone's always copying their shit-

images

HP-ProBook.jpg

Lenovo-G560.jpg



Look at this extended battery tumor.... just because the lid is in the way of the rear....
images
 
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i've had 3 laptops with the 180 degree hinges.. all 3 had their hinges break after about a year of being opened and closed.. so quite frankly they're a pos.. the convertible laptops are the only way to go in my opinion.. yet my non 180 degree opening compaq presario 2100 is still going after being opened and closed well over 10k times in its life since i bought it in 2006..
 
The HP DV6 that my friend has opened to about ~170 deg, and I know my DM1z will go that far as well.
 
my studio 1558 opens flat if you use a standard battery, if you use the extended battery it stops at about 135 degrees
 
sirmonkey1985 said:
i've had 3 laptops with the 180 degree hinges.. all 3 had their hinges break after about a year of being opened and closed.. so quite frankly they're a pos.. the convertible laptops are the only way to go in my opinion.. yet my non 180 degree opening compaq presario 2100 is still going after being opened and closed well over 10k times in its life since i bought it in 2006..
Click to expand...

This.

My experience has shown the same, the 180 hinges just don't seem to have the strength of their 120 counterparts. Personally I'd rather have 8 inches of hinge even if it only opens to 120 vs the 4 inches of hinge split in half opening to 180.

Besides, how often do you really need to work for extended periods without a table. If its something quick like sending an email you should be able to just hold the laptop in your hand or hopefully have a smartphone.
 
Depends. T-series Thinkpads and Latitudes have some of the best hinges in the business and I wouldn't worry about them breaking. I have a Sony Vaio from 2003 that also does 180° and the hinges are broken. So it depends.
 
Joe Average said:
I honestly can't stand today's laptops, they're just cheap shit to me. Even Lenovo's ThinkPad offerings disgust me: I won't tolerate a 16:9 panel, I just won't do it.

OLD SCHOOL RULES! :D
Click to expand...

I've had an i7-2620M Thinkpad x220t convertible tablet for about a month now and at least as far as convertible tablets go old school sucks!;)

I know that a lot of people hate 16.9 1366x768 resolution but on a 12.5" screen it's perfect for me and my 43 year old eyes and works reasonably well for coding in Visual Studio 2010. The thing is just so fast and I for now I just have a mechanical hard drive. Beyond the performance the screen is very good, the battery life is good at a solid 6 hours, it's well built, it's cool except when running at maximum performance when I've tried to game on it which it does rather well and better than I would have thought. It's without question the best laptop and convertible tablet I've ever used including a couple of other business class Thinkpads.

On a larger screen I can understand the dislike of 1366x768 but at 13" and under it's not a bad resolution I think.
 
It's more practical to do a side by side (WinKey+Left Arrow/WinKey+Right Arrow) with a 16:9 than a 4:3. Userful when you're referencing while programming. My IDE on the left, assets viewer on the right. Beats alt-tab.
 
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