Big, ugly, heavy laptops are surprise PC sales sweet spot

High spec Luggables are still too expensive

I spec'd up a Lenovo Thinkpad a few weeks ago. The thing cam to more than £3000 not including VAT.

This is past Apple price ranges.

I use an upgraded HP8770W (17in/32Gbram/2TB SSD) Laptop for work. We had to keep on at HP to even think about selling it here in blighty. They eventually did about 6 months after the US. Now they don't seem to sell a Luggable in the UK.

If the models aren't there then naturally they won't sell. This is straight out of the MBA 'how to kill something quietly' book (written by Dr Beeching of BR fame)

With the news that IBMer's can now get Apple (is doomed) kit instead of Lenovo I was wondering if the 17in MBP might make a re-appearance?

IMHO, for power developers Thin and light just don't cut it but it is getting harder to get a (top) branded luggable these days.

CAD Portability

AT a previous employer, the CAD engineers were upgrading to hefty (Dell I think) certified laptops back in 2006 ish. The ability to actually model on the fly (as opposed to just review lightweight cad models) when at a customers / suppliers site, or when on the shop floor and engineers are looking at how prototype assemblies are going together is a massive benefit to any company.

You don't need the internet to do truly effective 'collaborative' development, if you have the tools at your fingertips and are prepared to travel and sit down with stakeholders to get the job done effectively.

Meh..

For me at least, its got nothing to do with being certified, its just cause they are the only laptops with a decent gfx card that can support a dock.

I was recently looking at a lightweight Dell with a UHD screen, 4GB gfx card - but the dam thing would not support a dock and didn't have a DisplayPort output, only HDMI 1.4 - So if I wanted to use my 30" 4K monitor, I'd have to have settled using HDMI @ 30hz.

In the end I had to settle on a Precision workstation with a Quadro card, personally I would have preferred a GeForce.

Hardly a shock...

Lightweight "lappies" (sorry) are pretty expensive, and TBH, generally not used for much more than you could do on a tablet. If you really need to write a lot you'd probably want a better keyboard than a lot of lightweights have, so you'd have to throw a USB one of those in the bag too, and then you might as well just use a tablet with an OTG cable, or bluetooth.

A "luggable" however, is a much more justifiable, and capable, machine.

Personally I have no place for an expensive lightweight fashion accessory in my gadget collection... I've got a mobile phone with a 6" screen which handles most tasks... If that's not enough I've got a tablet. Thanks to the aforementioned OTG cable and a mouse, they handle Team viewer, MS Remote desktop, SSH. All from the contents of my coat pocket.

If I need more, then it's probably compiling something, and that's where the i7 SSD powered luggable comes in.

No space for a "toy" in there.

Depends on your requirement.

I have a choice of going ultraslim (one of those lightweight thinkpad) or ultra-beefy (HP 17") on my last round of company issue laptop. I opted for HP 17" because I got sick of sluggish computer and not enough screen space while working from home (hey, I'm not getting any younger, and my eye-sight, lasik corrected is still getting worse).

I can always justify the extra extra weight as more exercise done per day I have to lug this heavy thingie.

Big power MACS are loosing?

I am not an insider with Apple. But from an outsiders view there were (are?) three issues.

1. Apple delayed the big power mac for a couple of years there by letting the portables get a sustained market Apple either intentional did this or stupidity (I don't know which)

2. There was a pent up demand for desk tops (I have been putting off a purchase for a couple of years.

3. The backlog was an idiots dream on how to market (and know) your market.

Great option

while lighter notebooks are need of the hour for basic business applications, higher end notebooks are more functional and can be a great business tool for higher end applications like solid works , cad cam, Corel , illustrator and even maya for that matter. To get things done onsite can be a very big advantage. But yeah their too heavy to lug around. Wish they could make these things sub 2 kg with all that power and yet a great battery life. I am sure they can do it down the line.