KDE Slimbook V Announced: The First KDE Plasma 6 Laptop With AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS CPU

[castlefox]

Really disappointed that is does not support USB4/Thunderbolt. The AMD 7840HS supports 2 USB4/Thunderbolt 4 ports so this is entirely the limitation of either the firmware or of the motherboard. Or the spec-sheet is wrong.

Just curious, Why are in need of USB4/Thunderbolt?? What specific uses do you have for USB4/TB ??

AFAIK, USB4 devices have a minimum of 20Gbps link speeds. & The Thunderbolt name is owned by intel, certification and approval to use the name has to go through them. Full feature USB 4 provides the same capabilities, just without Intel’s stamp. USB4 devices can have a minimum of 20Gbps link speed, USB3-1 can do 5 Gbit/s, USB 3.1 Gen 2 can do 10 Gbit/s signaling rate over 1 lane using 128b/132b encoding (nominal data rate: 1212 MB/s).

I am more annoyed with this company that is just labeling the ports as 2 x "USB 3.1". I have no idea of that kind of transfer speeds to be expecting with this hardware.
OEMs should have to specify if those USB-C will work as a 5,10,20,40, or 120 GBit speed port. There is a huge difference between 5Gbits/s and 120Gbit/s ports.

[castlefox]

720p on a €1,000 laptop.

I dont understand your comment. This laptop is listed as 2560x1600px & a 16x10 aspect ratio screen.

[ehansin]

Before I "go there", let me be very clear that there is a lot about Apple the company that I do not like. But, I am typing this on a 2017 MacBook Air with a 5th gen i7 and 8 GB of RAM (does has plenty of storage for my needs at ~500 GB.) At my work, I have access to "hand me downs" and I take some pride in being able to maximize utility out of "previously loved" hardware that others are not so capable in doing so with. This has been a solid laptop and has fit its use-case in a pretty stellar fashion. The build quality is solid, good "ergonomics", etc.

Without getting my hands on one of these myself, cannot comment on build quality and ergonomics. I do know that lot of Windows (and by extension, usually Linux) laptops seem to come up short in this area. But I absolutely want to see more laptops out there that meet these standards.

Regarding the 720p camera, I too feel good enough for what it is intended for. Pretty sure Zoom only supports up to 720p (not that Zoom is the end-all, be-all here!) and higher resolutions mean more network bandwidth. As mentioned, if someone has a need for higher resolution, go external, at least I agree with that.

As far as ECC memory, have not used myself on consumer-level stuff, and don't know enough, but could see the value in it. Not sure between SSD and memory, what is replaceable on this, but do dislike the soldering onto the main board trend these days.

One more thought. The new Apple Silicon Air laptops are passively cooled. For those that do not need maximum performance, I'd love to see some top-notch quality ARM-based laptops available that can run at a TDP that would allow the same. Just like the idea where is possible.

[schmidtbag]

That too, and even then: does anyone need more than 720p in a laptop?

For a webcam, I'd say no. If you need any more than that, you're better off with an external camera.

[Zupi]

Just a 68Wh battery for a 16-inch model and a battery life of 6 hours in battery saver mode/youtube? They could have at least included an 80Wh battery. I think I will definitely switch to a MacBook, as it seems that the competition is falling behind in this regard.

[avis]

I dont understand your comment. This laptop is listed as 2560x1600px & a 16x10 aspect ratio screen.

The person you replied to was talking about the webcam, not the display.

I have a very similar laptop, this one is probably based off it, and I have a terrific 5MP snapper. A 720p webcam was OK in 2004, not in 2024.

[castlefox]

The person you replied to was talking about the webcam, not the display.

I have a very similar laptop, this one is probably based off it, and I have a terrific 5MP snapper. A 720p webcam was OK in 2004, not in 2024.

Maybe for your needs. Do you have a lot of video meetings for work?? IMHO, Most people do not use their laptop webcam on a regular basis & would rather have more RAM or other hardware improvements before a better webcam.

[SSJBurger]

More or less ok, for those who need 16", except the 720p cam in this age and w/o USB4! In the meantime my HP EliteBook 7840U/32GB/5G with 2TB Samsung 990 Pro SSD, which costed me ~USD1,650 only, is waiting for it to try Plasma 6!

Asus has a vivobook 16 7940HS, 16gb ram, 1tb nvme, and 1200p for llike $700 at bestbuy. So yeah I think the price is a little steep

[castlefox]

This laptop looks interesting to me. I would very interested to see how it compares between the Framework 13 & 16 laptops. (With the various Intel & AMD chips being tested).
I hope the battery life on this slimbook is better than what has been reported with Framework laptops.

[avis]

Maybe for your needs. Do you have a lot of video meetings for work?? IMHO, Most people do not use their laptop webcam on a regular basis & would rather have more RAM or other hardware improvements before a better webcam.

This is not a $500 laptop, that's what people are talking about. And its has the absolute minimum amount of RAM and storage.

A 5mp webcam costs maybe $30 vs $5 for a 720p snapper. That's not too much of a difference.