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[igpayatinlay]

Why do I not like a single fucking laptop being sold right now? Seriously, I've been to three stores, I've searched online, I don't like anything I've seen. I just want a power cord on the side of the computer rather than in the middle of the back, a mouse track pad that will respond to my thumb so that I don't have to take my fingers off home row to select anything, and an Intel processor.

Does anyone have a laptop that they love? I've always had Dells, and I've never used a HP that didn't have this problem with the tracking pad; if I change the sensitivity options on my mom's then it jumps around selecting things willy nilly.

This is so frustrating I legitimately think I might cry. I just want a new computer, why is it this hard?

Comments

[ginge.insanejournal.com]

:( I've always had Dells and love mine. I have a studio 1558 and it's cord plugs into the side? I love their warranties. It's kind of heavy, and I would love if it was lighter - but I rarely take it anywhere, so it's okay. The battery life isn't great anymore, but I originally got a 9 cell that had 4-5 hrs.

[igpayatinlay.insanejournal.com]

Same here, I've only ever had Dells and two of the three have had side cords, but I can only find one business model right now that has that feature, a Vostro, and I know nothing about them. I don't remember what the first one I had was, the second was an Inspiron (least favorite) and the one that just died was a Latitude and I loved it. I had a 6 cell, and it's 3 years old and my battery life was still 3.5-4 hours.

[jennavette.insanejournal.com]

This isn't helpful, but I have never once considered using the track pad with my thumb as to not have to take my fingers off the home row and my mind is blown a little right now.

[igpayatinlay.insanejournal.com]

Yeah my mom was like "But why do you do it like that?" and I said "Saves time, less movement?" I mean... I use my thumb as my mouse almost exclusively. The idea of moving my hand to use the actual pad of my index finger frustrates me tremendously. o.O

[igpayatinlay.insanejournal.com]

FYI, if you DO want to do that, Dell in my experience the last two days seems to be pretty much the only laptops with enough sensitivity to actually accomplish it. I was trying to do it on an HP at Costco today and I was ready to scream in the middle of the store because it just would not move, nor would it acknowledge that tapping with the side of my thumb was my way of clicking.

[jennavette.insanejournal.com]

Nah. I have a wireless mouse because using the touchpad at all happens to annoy the shit out of me, but after reading this post I definitely sat and started playing around with my thumb on the touch pad on my dell laptop.

[zigazigah.insanejournal.com]

THIS.

[igpayatinlay.insanejournal.com]

You use an external mouse, or you're just like WTF, THUMBS?!

[diadem.insanejournal.com]

I have a Sony Vaio. Mine has the cord plug into the side and for me the battery life on it is pretty damn good. I can probably watch an episode through netflix and not a lot of the battery life will be used. It's an intel inside, core 13. I have no idea what that means, but it says that on the sticker!

[diadem.insanejournal.com]

and by 13 I mean i3. I'm so computer savvy.

[igpayatinlay.insanejournal.com]

I guessed! :) I'm nervous about Sony and Acer and Toshiba and I can't logically explain why. I think possibly because I've never touched one/they're not quite as popular so I don't know if I should trust the reputation or not. Thoughts?

[katling.insanejournal.com]

I have a Toshiba Satellite L755 that has the power cord on the side. I couldn't tell you how it goes with the thumb on the mouse track pad though. Just looking at it, the spacing between the keyboard and the track pad might be too wide to do that comfortably. Though that would depend on the size of your hands, I guess.

[igpayatinlay.insanejournal.com]

I've only ever even seen on Toshiba in person, yesterday at Office Depot. I confess to not really doing anything with it because I was sort of wary of the Toshiba, Sony, and Acer models, for no good reason other than extreme unfamiliarity with their products. Can I be nosy and ask how long you've had yours, if you've had other Toshibas, etc?

[katling.insanejournal.com]

I've had this current one for a little over a year now and my previous one, which I had for about six years, was also a Toshiba. The price and internal specs are probably variable depending on where you are but I've found them good value for money and they've been reliable.

[zigazigah.insanejournal.com]

I'm a Dell girl. My current laptop (Inspiron 1520) has a power cord in the back, but my power cord just died so I got a new one from Best Buy that lies flat, and it's kind of amazing and I like it way better than my old one.

[igpayatinlay.insanejournal.com]

Sorry for the double questioning, I'm doing this on my Dad's desktop in MOTHERFUCKING INTERNET EXPLORER because he doesn't have Firefox or Chrome. My soul is crumbling away as I type.

Can I creep on that power cord if you have a link or a product name by chance? I was thinking about something I saw that's a 90 degree adapter, it's just a little 'L' shaped thing you plug in the computer and then plug your cord into it. I'm curious how long they last, if they actually hold or if the cord falls out a lot, etc. The one time I had a cord on the back of my Dell, two things happened: one, it regularly pressed into my thigh if I was laying on the couch with compy, two, it wore the cords out twice as fast because they're either getting bent by being pressed against my legs, or if I'm sitting up using it, the cord would still hang down at a 90 degree angle, causing more wear. I feel like this 90 degree adapter may be my only actual option, here. I'm thinking about just buying the cheapest Dell Costco can offer me with an Intel processor, the adapter, and hoping it lasts me at least a year or two without making me crazy; at which point hopefully there will be some more Dells with side power ports and better design?

[zigazigah.insanejournal.com]

The brand is Targus, and I think it's this one?

One issue that I did have with it at first was that since there are different tips, my tip would fall out occasionally at first if you tugged it wrong - but I just taped it in place and it's been fine.

[kavalier.insanejournal.com]

i have a mac, which meets your requirements (bonus, you can turn on tap-clicking so you can click with your thumb too), but those are really expensive (tg for bill me later). but if you're looking for a pc, sherlock used to swear by her lenovo!

[igpayatinlay.insanejournal.com]

I really want a macbook pro 15", but... yeah, money. And it's not even just like, the cost of the computer; if I needed to lay down $1500 as a one time thing I'd think about it, but I would need a lot of new software too and the Adobe Suite is not cheap, etc. Making the conversion would cost me thouuuusands of dollars I do not have right now. :(

I honestly don't know where I would go to see a Lenovo in person. o.O Costco only has HP, Dell, and Acer; Office Depot had HP, Toshiba, Acer, and one Sony; Staples had Dell and HP and Toshiba.

[chthonian.insanejournal.com]

I'm so sorry this is turning out so difficult 8( The last couple times I bought new laptops, I had a tech-savvy friend advising me on the latest brands and graphic cards and such.

What do you mean about the trackpad problem? Wouldn't you be able to tweak the sensitivity so that it responds the way you'd like it to? Like, with gradations of sensitivity so that it doesn't jump around?

[igpayatinlay.insanejournal.com]

You would think so, right? But I think HPs must use some sort of different system for sensing the movement than Dells do because HPs really don't register a thumb movement (the side of my thumb) instead of the pad of a fingertip, regardless of pressure or warmth or anything. If you up the sensitivity levels to 100%, it comes close to the sensitivity of a Dell in that it can acknowledge the movement, but then it jumps around like mad. Move one step down the scale to 90%, and it says 'Thumb? What thumb? You don't need no stinkin' thumbs!'

Or, at least this was the case on my mother's computer; the ones at the stores didn't allow access to the control panel so I couldn't adjust their settings, but, all had a similar baseline level of not recognizing the movement of my thumb.

[upsofloating.insanejournal.com]

I run Ubuntu and got a System 76 laptop. They don't make my model anymore, but I like it a lot! And they only seem to have gotten better. (eg, my casing was kind of weak plastic and has cracks in a bunch of places and that seems to have gotten better. it runs perfectly, though. well, my fan is a little scary, but that's my fault.)

idk if that is at all helpful, especially if you're deadset on running Windows (though really you could probably just install Windows on this?), but anyway. that's what I do~

[igpayatinlay.insanejournal.com]

Yeah in this case I do need to run Windows because that's what my adobe suite software is for, and tbh I'm not sure I'm tech savvy enough for that?

[incite.insanejournal.com]

My boyfriend has an Acer that I use and meets your conditions. It is an AWESOME computer -- I'm a mac user and I feel like physically it is not so different (it's bigger, but doesn't feel so bulky). I use the thumb for my trackpad too, and it responds well to it!

[igpayatinlay.insanejournal.com]

Maybe I will look into Acer a bit more. I was wary because they're kind of one of the smaller manufacturers, but Dell has nothing I want to keep right now and everyone else seems to think opposable thumbs are stupid.