Basic ergonomics

Since most laptops’ screens are attached to the keyboard, I need to choose between either of two uncomfortable positions. If I place the laptop at elbow level, for comfortable typing, I need to bend my neck down to look at the screen. If I place the laptop on a stand for a comfortable viewing angle, I need to raise my arms to type. Barring the use of an external keyboard or screen, laptops force me to make this uncomfortable tradeoff.

The mouse

I much prefer using a mouse over a touch pad (or over the essentially-extinct pointing stick). Having a touch pad below the space bar on the keyboard is mildly annoying, but fortunately I can disable it and use an external mouse. I mildly dislike many users’ preference of a touchpad to the exclusion of a mouse, since that means I need to remember to bring my own mouse to plug in when providing them with tech support. A much greater annoyance stems from the placement of USB, audio, or power ports on various laptop models. If they’re placed on the right edge (and even worse, on the bottom, right-hand edge) they cause any cables I connect to obstruct the area through where I move my mouse. (A left-handed version of myself would likely complain about ports on the left edge.)

The keyboard

Probably the main reason why I’m significantly less comfortable using laptops has to do with the keyboard. I much prefer a desktop keyboard to a laptop keyboard. [1] I prefer the sturdy feel and action of full-height keys over that of the thin slivers of plastic on laptop keyboards. I like having a full set of keys and prefer the traditional location and arrangement of the arrow and navigation keys. Though I don’t use it as often, I also like having a numeric keypad. [2] I’ve also noticed that I much prefer typing on a cool or room-temperature keyboard than on the inevitably warm keyboard offered by a laptop. A warm keyboard feels a bit icky to my picky palms and fingers. Unfortunately, given current designs, a laptop’s keyboard can’t help but absorb the heat generated by the laptop’s internal electronics.

An additional, tactile consideration

For all their wonders, Mac laptops get a special mention for a particular annoyance. Current MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models have an anodized aluminum case. Its metal finish looks sleek and elegant… yet I really dislike its tactile feel. Yes, the keys on the keyboard are plastic (and pretty nice, actually) but the palm rest has an anodized aluminum surface–rough and uninviting to my palms. I don’t like how such an aluminum case feels in my hands or against my bare arm when I carry it, either. When I have to carry such a laptop, I prefer to move it as quickly as possible to its next resting place, or insert it into a case or sleeve for carrying. Older MacBooks with polycarbonate cases may not look as elegant but feel much better. If I ever own an aluminum-encased Mac laptop, I’d probably take steps to cover the aluminum with a more tactilely-appealing surface.

Price, performance, maintenance

I have also long preferred desktops due to price, performance, and maintenance considerations. An equivalent level of computing power has historically been cheaper to obtain in a desktop. Since components inside a desktop aren’t packed together as closely, they tend to last longer and perform more reliably. Also, it’s not as difficult to open, upgrade, or maintain a desktop. I’ve thus preferred desktops’ value propositions over laptops’. (My current impressions in this area are likely to become obsolete, though at present it’s a bit hard for me to imagine that hard drive and processor capacities and performance would ever become equivalent on desktops and laptops. I doubt that high-quality laptops would ever offer the same performance for the same price as high-quality desktops.)

Conclusion

For all the benefits I see in desktop computers, laptops’ portability is an extremely important feature, one that trumps other user-experience considerations for most users. The various design tradeoffs laptop makers have made in pursuit of portability are very reasonable and understandable. Yet I still haven’t found a laptop that would tempt me to give up my desktop. You probably won’t see me working on my computer at your local coffeehouse anytime soon.

Notes

[1] I actually use an ergonomic keyboard, which no laptop is ever likely to incorporate. In any case, even a standard, 104-key desktop keyboard beats a laptop keyboard hands down, in my opinion.

[2] I do wish a numeric keypad could be detached from the rest of the keyboard and placed elsewhere when not in use. For a right-hander like me, the keypad forces my mouse hand to travel much farther between the mouse and the letter keys. But that’s a topic for a different article.

Sometime after watching this scene, I was struck by the realization that Facebook is like the island of the lotus-eaters to me.  I usually log in with a definite purpose in mind, such as looking up an old friend or confirming an invitation to an event.  However, immediately after logging in and before I know it, I find myself scanning through the News Feed, looking at random, yet interesting tidbits about friends and old-time acquaintances.  Many minutes will pass…  Once I finally realize what I’ve been doing and break out of the hypnotic effect, I’ll typically have forgotten why I initially logged in.  It takes me a couple of minutes to remember.

Facebook is not the only “island of the lotus-eaters”, but it is a very striking example.  The digital world is full of such islands.  It takes superhuman levels of self-discipline to stop landing on those islands or binging on lotuses.  Yet there are more important and substantial things, and I must resume my quest…

As happened with my inaugural article, strong sentiments drew out an article from me, this very night.  I’ll post it very soon.  Perhaps others will follow it…

As a nascent, independent, software entrepreneur, I’d like to share various ideas pertaining to software development.  My primary audience will be fellow coders.  However, laymen may be interested in my other articles, which will cover topics in software usability, IT, and digital culture in general.

I expect to post an article at least once a month, for starters.

If you’d like to receive an e-mail whenever I post an article, please e-mail me at andres@HashCollisions.com .  You can also subscribe to the RSS feed.

I’ll allow comments on this blog., but will review them prior to publication.  Here’s the RSS feed for the comments.

Before signing off, I’d like to thank several strangers.  They are talented software coder/writers whose respective blogs were a serendipitous find for me.  I’ve picked up other influences since then, but my first Fab Four will always be (in the order I met them) Joel, Eric, Paul, and Jeff.  Let’s see if I can make the most of not only your writing but also your coding advice.  Thank you.

Here we go…

P.S.  I know there’s not much on this blog for now, but how about if we get the comments rolling?  Fellow developers: who are your favorite coder/writers?  Who are your own Fab Four (or Fantastic Five, or Stupendous Six, or Superb Seven, etc.)?