Note: with “top specs” I include everything Mobile Workstation, All-Around, Desktop Replacement and some Gaming laptops.
I used to love (and still I do) high end laptops and how they offer lots of raw power, effectively removing the need of a desktop computer even for work. Newer ones offer SSD + Hard disk combo for both fast loading and a good amount of local storage, four ram slots for upgrading, 120Hz 3D displays supporting Nvidia active shutter technology (the only one that doesn’t make me want to rip off my eyes), 7.1 audio, BlueRay drives and tens of ports exactly like their desktop counterpart, while costing two times more.
But they still miss two things that are making those laptops not really filling the gap:
A retina-like display.
I like apples a lot, but I usually don’t like tech products that shows in searches when I google for apples. I have nothing against that particular company, and even if you reader fall in the “I have to absolutely hate a company, whatever it does” category, there are some innovations you simply can’t pass over.
One of those is the higher resolution displays.
Making it short: I don’t care about a 10 inch 2048×1536 display, what I’m really saying is that HD was cool in 2006, 2007. Now its dead. It is time to sell laptops with higher resolution, because in a 15 or 17 inch computer displays, having more resolution means having more work space and having more work space means, usually, more productivity for developers of any kind.
The old fashioned 4:3 displays
While most people I know will say “I hate black bands while I watch films”, I learned to love with them. As my current configuration is a 17 inch 16:19 laptop plus a 17 inch 4:3 monitor, I still have those on both displays, and I absolutely don’t care about them. The problem is that my 4:3 is on a side and I’m currently using my laptop keyboard, this means that using a code editor on the 19′ requires my neck to be rotated by around 45 degrees, making it uncomfortable for longer time spans and completely useless for working outside office/home. I’d really like to have my main screen (laptop one) in 4:3, it will have more work space for a coder, as it will show more code lines than 16:9 and 16:10 displays. I know it will be bulkier, but as I love black bands I will learn to love having a bigger notebook. “The bigger the better!”
This is obliviously only a personal preference but in my opinion top specs laptops are for working people, not for the casual user.