> Can you not find a real computer that's comfortable to use in bed?
Real computers are not made for that. I don't think there's a comfortable way to use a keyboard and mouse while lying down.
I had better luck trying to find a bed for use with computers instead of the other way around. Even that was extremely difficult. I'd need an over bed or zero gravity workstation that's more expensive than the computer itself. I can't justify this cost for my recreational programming.
> Why on earth would I restrict myself to a stationary computer when I can have a portable one that I can take everywhere I want with no hassle?
I don't see this mentioned often but the ergonomics of a laptop are rather poor, you'll end up with RSI much quicker that with a desktop. And this can become quite debilitating.
I don't think this is an issue for a couple of hours usage a day, but I would not want to spend all my computer time on a cramped keyboard with my head down.
> At first, it seems like an easy, clear-cut problem to solve. We all use recliners, we all use desks, we all use chairs...surely, you can just take a part from this and a piece from that and call it done. Well, we tried all that and came up with prototypes that kind of worked, at best.
What about pointing a projector to the ceiling above the bed and using a split keyboard?
Another idea could be setting up a monitor with an arm[1] attached to some furniture or wall at the head of the bed.
Making use of the bed seems both easier and more space efficient.
> Oppressive vendor practices aside, I just don't get the laptop fixation some people have, in general.
Different people have different perspectives born from different priorities, life experiences, and constraints.
> I find it extremely hard to be productive on a laptop; the form factor is entirely wrong for concentration. Small screen, mushy crappy keyboard with a bad layout, etc.
I prefer laptop keyboards to the extent that I've used them on desktop based machines for easily ten years. Same thing with touchpads. They work better for me, both in terms to typing accuracy and reduced hand pain.
Regarding the screen, it's a bit of a tradeoff. More screen space means more screen space to manage. (I recently went from three screens to two and don't miss the third screen at all.)
The counterpoint is that I find it hugely valuable to be able to move my computer around. I've had a few desktops over the last ten or fifteen years and the common element between them is that they're very difficult for me to fit into a longer term workflow and so never get used.
> But the worst thing about a laptop was while I was working from home there was just always the temptation to sluff off to a couch or bed and zone out.
That's less an issue with the hardware and more an issue with the habits formed around the hardware.
> lately I just got tired of sitting in front of the same screen I do my work on.
This has been the case for me as well, except regarding computers in general. After staring at my laptop all day at work I find it difficult to sit down in front of my desktop in the evening. Sitting in front of a TV or my phone doesn’t yield the same effect for some reason.
> Surely nobody can work like that for a long time without getting injured.
Not at all surely. Some people need that stuff and some don't. Just the luck of the draw.
I have a macbook plugged into a monitor, wireless kbd, trackpad. I use that setup about 30% of the time. The rest of the time I just use my laptop on whatever surface is near: my lap (shocker!), train or plane table, lying on the couch with the laptop on my thighs. On a plane if I have the window seat I often jam myself in at an angle and use it while twisted.
My gf thinks that is crazy: she needs an ergo mouse, special pillow on her chair, monitor at the right height etc. Her hight is a factor, also she's a parent so her carpal tunnels (and some other tendon guides) have narrowed. But she needs a neck pillow for the car as well, which I don't.
In general the physical environment is designed for people around 180 cm +/- a few. Car seats, star risers, chairs and tables... Fair or not that's how it seems to be. And luckily, I'm just a smidgen over 180.
> Or if you are working from home nearly all the time, a desktop will be a better and more economical choice.
If I'm not doing something that requires huge wattage, the only thing a desktop computer does is to force me to sit at a desk 100% of the time I'm using it. Hard pass. Tablets are nearly all toys, and the ones that aren't weigh more and cost more than a good laptop (but with a cumbersome UI). If you want to sit at a desk to work, a laptop still has you covered.
Desktops are a very impractical, niche product these days, they're a Ford F-350 when most people just want a decent hatchback.
> And then the rest of the hardware is—if not remarkable—very solid, so the computer is an enticing package.
A bit offtopic, but I've been a bit annoyed lately that we have to treat the computer as a package. Why should my choice of keyboard (Brazilian ABNT2) and trackpad (I want three physical buttons) restrict my choices of CPU or screen?
> Laptops are similar because that's really the only way to make them work. A keyboard over the monitor isn't usable: your arms would block your view. This is just silly.
With tablets like the iPad, the monitor is the keyboard, and your arm does block your view. Maybe it is 'silly' but a whole lot of people buy and use them.
There's been lots of other laptop designs, and they seemed much less silly to me than tablets. Compaq used to put the trackball on the right side of the case (even lefties I know mouse right-handed). HP made a laptop with a little pop-out mouse, which didn't even require a surface to place it on. IBM made a keyboard wider than the case, which unfolded when the lid was opened.
Everyone I know who tried or owned these laptops loved them. Why did they die out?
> Are there really millions of people who walk around with a laptop cradled in their arms every day?
Yes. The sales force of almost very company I've worked at can be described this way. And their computing needs are pretty basic. A browser, email, word and excel mostly does it for them. They also need to be able to connect to a variety of I/O for presentations at different sites.
This may not be a coder laptop, but it makes a ton of sense for sales.
> Have people grown so weak they can no longer carry one in their bags?
On this point, the answer is also yes. I got that weak after an bad accident. My wife got that weak after falling 25 feet and shattering herself. Don't assume that all users of laptops are young and strong.
> The best developers I've known wrote code with tiny laptops with poor 1366x768 displays. They didn't think it was an impediment.
Everytime I read something like this I cringe. Ergonomics is terrible with laptops. There are no osha approved laptops.
Those developers should sit in a good chair, with a properly positioned keyboard monitor and body, and head off the problems their body will encounter. (or is encountered but ignored)
> Third problem: non-mouse hand. It needs a controller for movement. It can't be a keyboard, nobody is going to want a keyboard on their couch.
I use a lapdesk + laptop + mouse on my couch all the time (yeah, I could ditch the lapdesk and mouse, but a mouse is so much better than a trackpad, etc., that its worth it), so I don't see the problem with a small (e.g., netbook sized) keyboard + mouse as a couch controller combo, with a lapdesk -- for a dedicated gaming controller, design the a dedicated surface with the bluetooth connection and directly attach the mini keyboard and mouse to it and you're done.
Real computers are not made for that. I don't think there's a comfortable way to use a keyboard and mouse while lying down.
I had better luck trying to find a bed for use with computers instead of the other way around. Even that was extremely difficult. I'd need an over bed or zero gravity workstation that's more expensive than the computer itself. I can't justify this cost for my recreational programming.
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