Laptops... In 3 to 3.5 years...

[Psumi]

With the release of Lucid coming in about 2 or so months, it will be the first LTS that I will be sticking with for the entire desktop support (maybe even a little longer.)

So, what do people think Laptops will be in 3 to 4 years? I currently have a T41 IBM laptop for those in the dark, and am looking to upgrade after Lucid is done with in terms of support. After all, I'm sure that the next LTS (not 10.04, one after) will require more resources than my computer can handle (even on XFCE.)

Oh yes, during an LTS, do I continue to get updates for it? Or, when something like 10.04.1 comes out, do I have to invoke the dist upgrade?

[SumTingWong]

I think your head is trying to live in a time it does not belong.

[ve4cib]

during an LTS, do I continue to get updates for it? Or, when something like 10.04.1 comes out, do I have to invoke the dist upgrade?

You continue to get updates for it. 10.04.1 is essentially just 10.04 after the first full year's worth of updates have been applied. The Live CD gets updated with the newer packages (so people installing later have fewer horribly-out-of-date packages out of the box), but there is nothing special you need to do to upgrade from 10.04 to 10.04.1. This is of course assuming that 10.04 will work the same way as... 8.04? Was that the previous LTS? I don't even remember anymore.

But anyway, assuming they don't do anything weird you'll be seamlessly upgraded to 10.04.1 (and 10.04.2, etc...) with a normal upgrade. No dist-upgrading required.

[RabbitWho]

There will be loads of cores. Loads. And roughly (x(2))(2) transistors. And they'll be available in more colours and with easily removable keyboards.

[Psumi]

I think your head is trying to live in a time it does not belong.

Especially when I have a PS3 and wii. ;)

[LowSky]

That T41 should be showing its age right now. My work laptop is a T60 (a newer model) is 3 years old and while it runs fine, it has no support for it's ATI graphics card on current releases and is kinda stuck with 8.04 because of it. I can imagine your much older T41 is in the same boat. Its great if you want te thing to last, but Laptops have many issues that occur with age, like batteries, charging cables, and LCD screens. Hopefully the ribbon cable to the screen doesn't go bad, I bet by this point the battery holds less than a 1-2 hour charge, and hopefully the screen has no pixels out. I also hope the eraser head pointer mouse is still working fine and not pulling the cursor on its own (my 8 year old Dell has that problem).

Its linux so it rns on older hardware, but the next 2-5 years hold many changes, so who knows....

[Psumi]

That T41 should be showing its age right now. My work laptop is a T60 (a newer model) is 3 years old and while it runs fine, it has no support for it's ATI graphics card on current releases and is kinda stck with 8.04 because of it. I can imagine your much older T41 is in the same boat. Its great if you want te thing to last, but Laptops have many issues that occur with age, like batteries, charging cables, and LCD screens. Hopefully the ribbon cable to the screen doesn't go bad, I bet by this point the battery holds less than a 1-2 hour charge, and that the screen has no pixels out. I also hope the ereaser head mouse is still working fine and not pulling the cursor on its own (my 8 year old Dell has that problem)

The only issue that it has with its video card is that it's a ATI FireGL 7500, and I've tested compiz (which is auto-enabled on a default ubuntu install) and just by opening a large window (like terminal) it slows to a stop. I have to be careful what I install because of this, and GNOME Shell won't be on my list of installed programs. I will be going to xfce in 10.04 (or lubuntu.)

The mouse doesn't pull on its own at all, the LCD has issues with the backing only (there are no dead pixels that I can see (Lucid plymouth as it stands now will not run my T41, a grunge screen is displayed.)) The battery lasts about 2 hours, yes. I'm not sure what it used to last though.

Also note that I can't use my USB Drive and an external DVD Writer, I have to use one or the other, because my T41 doesn't have enough power.

[teet]

So, what do people think Laptops will be in 3 to 4 years?

Unfortunately they may not be a whole heck of a lot different. My friend bought her laptop ~3.5 years ago. It is a core duo ~1.8 ghz, 1 gb ram, ATI graphics and I believe cost in the 800-900 dollar range (with tax and shipping). Not too bad really and still runs well today. What do you get today for $800-900? A core 2 duo 2.0 ghz, 3-4 gb of ram (because windows vista/7 require a lot), and MAYBE ATI or NVIDIA graphics although the intel x4500 series is still really popular. Kind of depressing really. Plus with all the netbook/mid-range under-powered notebooks we seem to be taking a step backwards power and speed wise.

-teet

[Psumi]

Unfortunately they may not be a whole heck of a lot different. My friend bought her laptop ~3.5 years ago. It is a core duo ~1.8 ghz, 1 gb ram, ATI graphics and I believe cost in the 800-900 dollar range (with tax and shipping). Not too bad really and still runs well today. What do you get today for $800-900? A core 2 duo 2.0 ghz, 3-4 gb of ram (because windows vista/7 require a lot), and MAYBE ATI or NVIDIA graphics although the intel x4500 series is still really popular. Kind of depressing really. Plus with all the netbook/mid-range under-powered notebooks we seem to be taking a step backwards power and speed wise.

-teet

I agree, netbooks should never have come about.

[qchapter]

I love my netbook. Runs Xubuntu like a champ, and can do just about anything I need it to: multitrack audio, edit photos, etc. I don't think netbooks are a threat to the laptop market at all. If anything they are pushing the envelope with battery life and efficiency, something that full sized laptops can and will exploit in the next 3 years.

-qchapter

[Berk]

I agree, netbooks should never have come about.

I disagree, netbooks have their niche and are perfect for some tasks.
I do agree that the line should have never been blurred though, mainly caused by people not realising the difference between a laptop and a netbook and expecting the best of both worlds.

[NCLI]

I disagree, netbooks have their niche and are perfect for some tasks.
I do agree that the line should have never been blurred though, mainly caused by people not realising the difference between a laptop and a netbook and expecting the best of both worlds.

Definitely. Netbooks are(should be) cheap, fast-booting machines with long battery life, and lot of connectivity options(WiFi, 3G, Bluetooth, etc). They should never replace your main laptop or Desktop, at least not in their current incarnation.