Latchless design opinions
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Thread: Latchless design opinions

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Location
    Portland, OR, USA
    Posts
    1,457

    Latchless design opinions

    I'm shopping around for a new laptop and am disappointed by the near universal move to latchless designs. I have that design on my current laptop, and what I dislike about it is that you need two hands to open it because one hand has to hold the lower part while the other hand opens the screen. Conversely, on my work laptop which has a conventional latch, I can open it one handed because once I release the latch there is little friction in the hinges that can pull up the lower part.

    I was searching around to see which models/brands still use a conventional latch. Surprisingly, I found a few reviews on latchless designs, and the comments from the reviewers praised this design because they claimed it can be opened one-handed!

    Am I missing something? How do you open a latchless design laptop with only one hand?? And does anyone else prefer laptops with latches?
    My equipment:

    Acer Aspire AX3300-U1322 Desktop (sorry didn't build this time!), 4Gb RAM, AMD Athlon II quad core CPU

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2000
    Location
    Sheboygan, WI
    Posts
    53,392
    Some where between the drawing board and the final manufactored product some of the hinges come up just to tight. Tried a couple the other day, one was nice and the other way like you have.

    Test before leaving store is my suggestion.

    I prefer the lock when traveling myself.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Location
    Portland, OR, USA
    Posts
    1,457
    Reading a little more, I think when they refer to "one hand" opening of the latchless design, they are comparing with some laptops that had two independent latches that required both hands to release.

    But I've been comparing with the laptops that have a single release catch. In that case, you can usually open the lid truly with one hand.

    And you're right that having latches does help while traveling. You don't want one half getting caught on something while removing it from the case.
    My equipment:

    Acer Aspire AX3300-U1322 Desktop (sorry didn't build this time!), 4Gb RAM, AMD Athlon II quad core CPU

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2000
    Location
    Sheboygan, WI
    Posts
    53,392
    The old 2 latch was a pain and probably what they were thinking of.
    Single latch is great in my book. No latch and forget to get the lock belt tight enough and it gets bounced, duh. Car hitting a pothole is what I am thinking of.

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