
Ask HN: Will you buy a 5kg (11 pounds) 17 inch notebook? - baybal2
Hello,<p>A small shameless market survey. Would you buy a 17 inch notebook with 320Wh batteries with and a desktop class display panel with it, if it weights 5kg?<p>The idea is basically trying to make a DTR class laptop with genuine portability.
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dangus
No.

Can’t take it on a plane due to battery regulations, I’d have to ground ship
it to myself if I travel.

Can’t carry it in my backpack without damaging my body.

Can’t power that thing within the 100W USB-C standard. Add more weight for the
huge power brick.

Can’t figure out what I can’t do with my 2kg laptop that this machine will be
able to do. I’ve already got 8 cores, more RAM than I’ll ever need, and a
dedicated graphics card. What is more than doubling the weight going to get
me?

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rmason
It might get you a higher response rate is you gave the equivalent to 5kg
which is 11 pounds.

I've been totally hooked on 17 inch laptops for ten years, sadly fewer and
fewer manufacturers make them. I've had them weigh 10 pounds and 6 pounds, I
prefer 6 pounds! I don't care much about battery capacity as I keep mine
plugged in 99% of the time.

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WheelsAtLarge
I've switched from a desktop to a laptop for my daily computer needs. I would
exchange Weight for other benefits. I would have to see the display to decide
in this case but I'm open to the situation.

I would definitely switch speed for weight but better display is a maybe.

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eloff
I do body building. The weight doesn't bother me. I often carry two laptops
around plus power supplies, keyboards, mice, sometimes a metal stand. I'd buy
a heavier laptop if it had a better screen, better perf.

~~~
Antoninus
This guy lifts.

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mstaoru
~8 years ago I had an Acer 21" "laptop", and I loved it. I think it was 7kg-
ish, but I always carry a backpack with some water, a small Chinese tea
ceremony set, some books etc so this didn't bother me at all. I'm probably in
a lower single-digit minority though.

Pros:

* full-size keyboard with proper travel, * bigger battery, * 21" is bigger than 15", * it runs cooler and less noise.

Cons:

* weight, * no more working from Starbucks.

320Wh sounds fun but you can't travel with it. 99Wh is max and some airlines
even less.

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Ghjklov
I can take a power bank with me if I need more battery. I probably can't leave
the 320Wh thick boy at home if I want to get rid of some weight. Around 2.5kg
is probably the max I would carry and even then, that's very annoying. Note,
that's about how much the Thinkpad P50 weighs. If you want to offer battery
life, it should be an option, but you should have a base option that is
reasonable, but has the potential for upgrades. Modularity is cool.

How about a 17 inch notebook with a 100Wh battery + 100Wh battery extension
and a good display that weighs 3kg~ (with only one of the batteries)?

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Tomte
Portability would be there, but since it would be quite uncomfortable (so more
for "I need to work from home every now and then" instead of "let's grab the
laptop and go sit in the park"), I'd probably have more trust in a NUC style
desktop.

If the product category took off in the market, okay, but a single offering
from an unknown player? Not for me, I fear.

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diehunde
No. I own a Thinkpad p52s (4.4 pounds) and that's already too much weight to
carry around.

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pravula
Why stop at 17"? Asus makes an 18" [https://www.asus.com/us/Laptops/ROG-
GX800VH-7th-Gen-Intel-Co...](https://www.asus.com/us/Laptops/ROG-GX800VH-7th-
Gen-Intel-Core/)

~~~
muzani
because bigger isn't better for portability

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DrNuke
I got an Acer Predator 15 inch gaming laptop with a GTX 1070 8GB for deep
learning three years ago and it is just a desktop to be fair, only moved with
it a couple of times for long gigs away... the latest iPad Mini became my
portable device, instead.

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a-saleh
When I was in college, I did enjoy my 17in, 3kg (6.6 pounds) notebook a lot.
Was considering buying additional kilo in batteries :-)

I was in lecture-halls all the time, so there usually was power, and having
the extra screen real estate was nice.

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rajacombinator
No chance. 5 lbs is a clunker. 5 kg better come with suitcase roller wheels.

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brudgers
Dual batteries to allow hot swapping seems like it would be more flexible. One
larger for primary power. One smaller to facilitate the swap. Then battery
weight is a tunable parameter of the overall loadout.

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baybal2
Actually the plan is for 2 x 160Wh cells.

We thought of single 300Wh, but discovered half way that this would impede
some users who need to use their notebooks on flights outside of China.

So we rewired the setup for 2 x 20V packs. This way each pack will be below
160Wh limit used by many airlines.

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Raed667
I don't think I can live with a laptop heavier than 3kg to be honest. My old
15" used to be a little under that and it was a literal pain my back.

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Trias11
Yes.

MSI GT-76 laptop with 128GB RAM, 3x1TB Samsung SSDs, i9-9900K CPU, Nvidia GTX
2080, 17” 4K screen.

It comes with 2 power supplies like 2 bricks. Gigantic, heavy and super fast
laptop.

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simonblack
Wouldn't you be better off with a lighter notebook for portability, and an
additional large display for those times when that is practicable?

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baybal2
A large display is one thing, but it's the usage of a 45W DTR CPU that pushes
requirements to the extreme

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photawe
I would definitely buy it. Mine (thinkpad p70) already has 3.5Kg I think.

