[mjevans]

Weight and power density are the biggest issues. Some of the lower end APUs (think tablet mode) might work out, but to literally be usable on top of a lap they aren't allowed to get that hot.

Tablets mostly spend their energy budget (under normal operation) on illuminating the screen and most of the action content they see would either classify as webpages or video encoded with codecs they have hardware support for decoding efficiently.

A generic PC meanwhile runs a heavy OS and is often asked to do large volumes of local processing tasks. E.G. that bloody 16GB Outlook mail database that has to be stored locally because your power user that demanded a laptop has to be able to read all of their past email while they're in the field with no reliable net connection.

Oh, they also demand that it has to be light. Fans are cheaper and lighter than putting enough metal inside to do something passively; and also run cooler since even a pathetic volume of airflow is many times better than waiting for convection alone to move the heat.

You can blame the noise of the fan on the push for crazy flat laptops though. There's no reason a still light but thicker laptop couldn't use a larger slower moving fan. Well, other than the perception of thick as heavy and thus bad.

[formerly_proven]

> You can blame the noise of the fan on the push for crazy flat laptops though. There's no reason a still light but thicker laptop couldn't use a larger slower moving fan. Well, other than the perception of thick as heavy and thus bad.

FWIW I've taken apart many laptops over many generations and the general trend seems to be that OEMs always use a cooling solution that's just-so good enough, regardless of available space and laptop cost. When you give an OEM a 40 % reduction in power through a new CPU generation, you're giving them a choice: a) spend the same amount of money on a cooling solution that's as capable as before, so now you'll get a quiet and cool laptop or b) make the cooling solution 40 % smaller, making it cheaper, and keeping noise and heat roughly similar.

[microtonal]

When you give an OEM a 40 % reduction in power through a new CPU generation

It's the same with workstations. Although they have plenty of room, but OEMs often install barely-capable CPU coolers that are noisy (rather than something like a large Noctua cooler that can keep most CPUs cool with barely any noise). Or another big annoyance: many OEMs (even reputable brands like Dell) install a PSU that is just enough for the load. If you want to replace the GPU by something that requires a bit more power, you'll end up replacing the PSU as well (assuming that you can get one that is compatible with their custom mainboards).

[Beltalowda]

> many OEMs (even reputable brands like Dell) install a PSU that is just enough for the load.

I'm not sure what the current technology is like as I haven't built a PC in a long time, but it used to be the case that efficiency would drop off quite rapidly if you underpower it. e.g. your fancy 600W 95% efficiency PSU would only be 60% efficiency at 200W power draw.

> OEMs often install barely-capable CPU coolers that are noisy (rather than something like a large Noctua cooler that can keep most CPUs cool with barely any noise).

My old AMD Athlon mainboard came with a very rattly and noise cooler for the chipset; I ended up replacing it with an after-market heat-sink that I got for €10. Pretty bad design IMO, but it saved ~€3 on the mainboard price.

A lot of the old Atom CPUs (Atom 330 etc.) had fanless CPUs, but because they were almost always paired with an old inefficient chipset they all came with a little cooler on the chipset. Ended up replacing a few of those, too.

[vladvasiliu]

> (assuming that you can get one that is compatible with their custom mainboards).

This. I have got an old HP EliteDesk from work. It uses a standard SFF (not sure if it's the right term) PSU, but the motherboard connector is custom. Of course the fan makes a terrible noise. And even if I'm able to find a replacement PSU that would fit in the case (even fanless! - I'm happy with the integrated graphics), I also have to look for an MB connector adaptor.

[gushogg-blake]

Someone should make a laptop that's way heavier/thicker than current models but is also silent, cool, high-performing, and the battery lasts a week.

[NathanielK]

Just duct tape a USB-C power bank to any modern ultra low power laptop. Especially ones with optional GPUs that don't have one installed. There's even software to treat them like the secondary batteries laptops used to have as an option.[0]

[0] https://github.com/n4ru/FakeSlice

[kcartlidge]

> Someone should make a laptop that's way heavier/thicker than current models but is also silent, cool, high-performing, and the battery lasts a week.

With a deep-travel backlit keyboard, FreeDOS, WordPerfect 5.1, DataEase 4.53, SuperCalc 5, and JPI TopSpeed Modula-2. (Oh, and Elite+, Prince of Persia, and the Infocom back catalogue for down-time).

Seriously. My dream machine.

[wildrhythms]

Has Apple cracked the code with the M1 Air? It's light. It runs a 'heavy OS'. Three's no fans, and no noise.

[simne]

Apple have very special business model, more "all inhouse" than other major producers.

So we don't know, how much this costs for them, and even, is M1 project profitable.