Working outside can be fun. At least AS long AS you dont need that good of an internet connection, have a comfy place to sit in and are at a somewhat dark spot, so you can still see on your screen.
If and only if these three things are all given, than it can be quite nice to work outside.
Couldn’t agree more. Some of my best work and learning recently has been me on my back porch under shade with a box fan. While I have solid WiFi and power there, I also pack a portable monitor and can work without internet on much of what I do.
WiFi mesh networks can have impressive range outdoors, without walls and reflections blocking the wifis. And they can be powered by PoE (Power over Ethernet) so you only need to run 1 cable to hook it up.
But for most of my work, a cellphone hotspot is suitable, so long as it's not so remote that I don't get at least a strong 4G signal. Video conferencing isn't very data intensive with compression and, if I'm not running the meeting, slight spottiness is fine.
A coworker of mine specifically built a little gazebo on their deck to be a summer-office. They wired a little wifi repeater in the roof, retractable shades and curtains, a ceiling fan, and got a desk that specifically fits a comfy deck chair. Obviously all of this can be moved out of the way for normal back yard stuff, but it’s become the absolute envy of all my remote colleagues.
I get what you're saying and acknowledge that that's the best environment for some people, but for me there's a different feel in being in your office and being on the back porch or out in the garage with the door open.
The fresh air, mild distractions on an easy day, and more natural light make me feel good. I think the beach would be a fucking nightmare for me. Same for things like a coffee shop. But if I'm in at least a semi private space and it's not a balls to the wall day, I'll take not being chained to the desk every time it's practical.
The dark spot is only an issue if you're using a laptop or something. Pen and a pad of paper is fine outside. Loose stacks of paper is obviously not ideal.
Unfortunately, most of us need to work using screens these days. I have hope for the future with these smart AR glasses. With the screen on the glasses, it shouldn't be a problem to use them in bright light. And, feeling the sun on your skin is one of the best parts about being outside when the weather is good.
My mobile tethering is so good that I’ll usually do it even if I have access to WiFi. It’s just faster and more reliable. I could probably get insane speeds on the beach too.
No, because then I want to do stuff that is not sitting with my laptop outside. If the weather is nice, I'd much rather play with my dog, climb a tree, or roll around in mud. Why'd I want to sit and do PR reviews?
Laptops and screens can be pretty efficient. I got a pretty cheap run of the mill one (Arch btw) that easily does >8 hours at full blast HDR and no power saving.
I gotta add to this the app Brightintosh. It kicks up the screen brightness to the actual max brightness of the screen so a good 2x brighter. Major dif using in bright environments, less screen life and color accuracy theoretically
What does an eink screen have to do with anything? I work outside in a hammock during the summer on my mac and never have to bring it in to charge once, unless I forgot to the day before. That’s with running heavy applications like Jetbrains IDEs or Lightroom.
As someone who builds a ton of dashboards for executives they absolutely do! It's also very obvious when an executive finally gets replaced who hasn't been pulling their weight because I'll suddenly learn that 3 of the dashboards we made for them have been broken for multiple years without anyone noticing
I think it's an excellent compromise for being a portable PC. If I'm going to university, to a study space or a lecture, a laptop is freaking fantastic.
Also all laptops universally have one killer feature that nearly no desktop PC has: a built-in UPS. If power goes out, the laptop just keeps chugging along on battery power, giving you an extra few hours of work.
It's not my workstation of choice by any means, but I wouldn't call it miserable. It's fine.
Yeah, i mean she uses a tablet when doing the actual creating part, but mostly the job these days is moving assets around to fit the necessary sizes for different social media. I still don't understand how someone can stand to do that using a trackpad, but she's good at what she does so 🤷♂️
I was thinking that too, just looking at the image is giving me a headache imagining squinting at your screen notched up to full blast and still dim, through your sunglasses.
Genuinely, Mac's track pads are amazing. Which is hilarious because their mouses are so bad. I don't know how they messed up a mouse so much while mastering the track pad so well.
I prefer a trackpad while I work, and the reason is simple: Much less movement to switch from trackpad to keyboard than from mouse to keyboard. And much easier to land on the key you want without looking.
And I very much doubt you'd be faster than me with a mouse!
A gamer does not need to switch from the mouse to the keyboard repeatedly. Plus, a gamer cares about precision, which obviously a trackpad lacks.
"Faster" standalone means nothing. Can you move the pointer faster with a mouse? Of course. But I don't see most people flicking on their workstation.
In the context of this thread, "faster" refers to completing your tasks faster. And for that a trackpad beats a mouse if your job requires you to type a lot.
The point of trackpads (and even more so of trackpoints) is that they're faster to get to from typing position - you move your hand back a bit (or even just the index finger) instead of moving across the whole keyboard. That's not something that would go high on the checklist when gaming - it's usually one hand planted on WASD, the other on the mouse and hardly any going back and forth.
You're assuming these people are doing something useful, they could be dealing with Microslop licensing as their full time job. Which is definitely a full time job, its just not useful work in the broader sense.
I don't own a mouse. I like the trackpad because I'm left handed and a mouse always felt weird to me left handed because schools in the 90s forced me to use it right handed.
So, uhh, are you good and comfortable at using the mouse with your right hand? If so you have no reason to use your left. I have a left-handed friend who has always exclusivity used his right for the mouse. Ain't no law saying your mouse hand must be your writing hand. Not to mention the benefits: it's the default setting on any system, and there are lots of great quality asymmetric mouses that only fit the right hand.
I'm not trying to change you, by all means if you like the trackpad more power to you. Just curious why you'd try to mouse with your left if you've already learned to use it with your right.
I am comfortable with it in my right hand but I have a tendency to click the buttons backwards. Trackpad is easier one finger left click 2 finger right click just seems more intuitive.
I use a tiling window manager and copious number of workspaces. It helps with the feeling of claustrophobia if anything can be easily full-screened and swapped around easily.
A 64" monitor with floating windows now feels clunky to me compared to a 15" screen with tiling set up like I like it
Curved screens look appealing (I imagine also good for gaming), but I don't think I'd want to try them for work as a graphic designer. I need straight lines to look straight :)
Well, these guys aren't working, as far as I'm concerned, if they can do it without bringing out a mouse and real keyboard and probably a second monitor. (My laptop bag is pretty heavy.) They can at best be checking emails.
If you can do your work on a 13" laptop with no mouse or external monitor without your productivity dropping off a cliff, you were never productive to begin with.
I have a monstrous satellite l300 i use for light spec work and arduino programming. 17" screen. It does not feel claustrophobic in the slightest, unlike my latest gen dell work machine with a screen smaller than my first fucking 486 i need glasses to even see. where did we go so wrong.
You must be someone who hates working from home, because home is the place where we should all feel relaxed, right? What about working in the garden? The garden is certainly a relaxation spot, but god forbid you get some rays of sunshine while you work.
I understand the desire to pity people who work at the beach. But then again, I pity anyone who ended up living near Silicon Valley. Think of all the money though!
That’s one extreme way to take the comment, I guess. I worked from home for a while and I think these return to office orders are stupid as hell, largely because going to the office needs unpaid commuting time, annoyances related to needing to bring a lunch, and it takes away your ability to do small chores and stuff during the work day that might be often impossible during the evening for one reason or another.
Look, if you want to work at the beach or whatever then go for it, but the idea that California is the “envy of nations” because people can do labour at a beach is insanity.
Toshiba used to sell a laptop (IIRC the model name was R500) back in like 2008 that had a mirror behind the screen, meaning that bright sunlight would be reflected back through the LCD and always respond to external lighting conditions no matter how bright. The image quality and color was shitty, but you could use it in the sun. Battery time was also extremely impressive.
interesting. most modern lcds have a shiny reflective layer behind the backlight for this reason, I wonder if they're all modeled after toshibas design
The same thing would work with e-ink. It works fine in super bright sunlight. Unfortunately since it physically spins little balls with electromagnets the refresh rate is very slow compared to conventional screens.
Even just being in public. I tried it for one day at Panera while I was writing a professional review. People kept coming up to talk to me, I couldn’t tune the noise out, and I was uncomfortable in their wood chairs.
I’m convinced those suits in Starbucks are just trawling for chicks.
This is just...unimaginable to me. Who goes up to strangers at a chain restaurant? Especially one who is clearly busy? Unless you mean employees, which would be a bit more understandable, though still weird.
It was a lot of old people just being social on a Tuesday. I didn’t mind that so much, reasonably sane old people should be cherished. My brain just isn’t wired for distractions.
I go traveling with the sales guys sometimes, and we had Starbucks in between meetings so that we can sit down and do email for an hour and then go to the next meeting. I wouldn't want to sit there all day.
I work from home and I never get to the point where I want to go out in public and do work. I do get to the point where I want to go on public, but I take a walk and get some sun and I don't bring my laptop.
I don't even like Hawaiian shirts. What's the point of that collar? Why is western wear so obsessed with putting that style of collar on absolutely everything.
I work outside all the time. It’s great. Use my laptop on the screened in porch. In the shade. Ceiling fan on. Maybe in the hammock. Doing whatever I want on the laptop while jiggler keeps my work laptop active in another room.
But isn't that expensive since each page is pay per? Pay per page! That's gonna rack up some dough. Although I did go to goodwill today and they had some really inexpensive Wikipedia/website-like things on their shelves. I picked one up from the cooking isle and it had lots of pictures and text on pay per. But it was cheap like 5 bucks.
If not for wasps, my family would eat outside most of the summer. As it is, it's either wasps writing 3 minutes of bringing food outside, or a wind strong enough to blow the wasps and our food away.
This is like the idea of having sex on the beach. Who really wants that. You didn't think it through if you want that. Do you really want to invite sand and salmonella to the mix?
I have a fucking awesome gaming laptop. It has like 2 hours of battery life tops. (the very highly operative word being "tops") Just today I was anxious about pulling it out of my backpack due to the fact it's being spingtime and literally all of the winter walkway gravel is in the wind. I'm a Nikon fangirl and I very much hesitated to uncap my lens.
You can also do this with Lunar, or with the paid version of BetterDisplay, and they also support controlling external monitors via DDC/CI.
I personally despise MacOS, but the MiniLED displays in MacBooks have fully changed what I prioritize when buying displays.
It's so much more pleasant to be in a bright room (or outside), but that's only feasible if your screen can output like 1000nits of brightness which few can outside of MiniLED displays.
Even if you have a high nits screen that laptop is gonna run hot in direct sunlight. Screens don’t exactly like that. Especially something like an OLED. It will degrade the screen faster.
Yeah they degrade. Tech has improved a lot and they don’t degrade as fast as screens from the 2000’s but they still degrade. OLED more so than LCD. But if they degrade gradually and evenly you won’t really notice.
Also doesn't really happen to LCDs. It depends on the liquid crystal alignment technology to a degree and the backlight, but realistically, an LCD will not fail without operator error.
I remember in ~2000 someone was in the parking lot of my office at a picnic table on their laptop and people commented how "cool" that was.
I've noticed since then that IT people qualify anything that drives work into personal spaces as "cool".
2012: Wow, you can hot spot to your blackberry and connect your laptop to the Internet from the ferry, when you used to just let the wind ruffle your hair during your commute? "Cool."
2026: Wow AI can write 78% of your code so you can produce twice as much shitty code while you spend even more time at your desk then you used to, for less money? "Cool."
Given that the only other option for most people is "make someone else rich in a less comfortable environment", I would say it's pretty nice. Bonus points, you're probably less productive there so you're making them slightly less money.
I spent all my childhood life growing up on a dairy farm. Worked from home, got to do various types of exciting manual labor and operate somewhat dangerous machinery, AND I got to work outside no matter the weather.
So suck on that California. You ain't that special.
It's because you're a mouseclicker. I code for a living, i do everything in the cli, all i need to do to work on a sunny beach is increase the text size and invert the colors
I'm with you, but in my case it's about comfort. Most places don't have ergonomic seating, and I have a hard time focusing when I'm not comfortably seated
I didn't fully understand the glory of working from home until I did it on a snow day.
Removing the commute was an obvious, expected benefit. But turning off the camera and doing laundry or cooking lunch while in one of my multiple daily conference calls was amazing. I just had the meeting in my headphones and chimed in when needed. And it annoys me that can't be my regular routine.
I drive 3-4 hours a day in traffic to sit in a (very nice) office where 95% of my work is remote work using cloud-based software and attending Teams meetings.
But because once a week or so someone may walk into city hall and ask for me instead of sending an email or making a phone call I'm expected to be in the office. Which is doubly annoying since most of the time they get turned away because I'm already in a separate online meeting when they show up.
I do legitimately have to attend public meetings a few evenings a month. I'd be so happy to compromise and go into the office on days with public hearings or when I need to visit a site, but work remote the remaining 80-90% of the time. Hell - I'd even trade working an extra hour a day while remote to do it. It'll still save me time versus driving.
I'm a strong believer in requiring all office/majority computer using roles to be at least hybrid if for no other reasons than to take cars off the road, but the societal benefits of mass remote work are immense.
I've worked remotely more than not since 2020 (and that's with 5 job changes since 2020 somehow) and if I got to pick, I'd work a hybrid role where I go to the nice office and bullshit with my coworkers about all the little things that weren't worth writing an email or Teams message about a few days a month, then go home and crank out the real work the rest of the time. And with kids, they clearly appreciate me being at home more than at the office even if I do have to shoe them away fairly frequently.
Not work from home, "work from home" (i.e. not in the office) somewhere fun.
I have no problem setting up at home and getting down to business. But sitting on a beach or in a park might not work out the same. Realistically, there are issues with lighting, ergonomics, having power, internet connectivity, etc.
It's the brightness and lack of cooling with my M2 MacBook Air. I have that, my iPhone, and my Galaxy S10. I'm on Lemmy on the S10. Even that isn't as bright as my iPhone, but the typing is ten billion percent better.
LPT - quit your office job and get a job in construction - you get to actually work when you're "working outside" and you can enjoy using your computer for entertainment only... inside where they belong.
True, but that's a problem hitting everyone regardless of job. I've been trying to focus on upgrading the parts of my 2020 rig that are still affordable, before those also get hit by the AI bubble. Buy HDDs now, as I think they're next!
I've only been doing it for twenty years, but I started in my thirties. I stretch in the morning and work smart not hard, so for me it's more like getting paid to exercise. YMMV.
Queeeestion- for those non-US folks, how is WFH in your areas? Is the rto push as big as it is here? Is wfh /flex culture established, or seen as a temp thing?
Pretty quickly after the lockdowns ended the 100% wfh became 60% in my company, and that’s where we still are. From what I hear, many other companies also have mixed policies. I have not seen a huge push for complete rto.
I work outside all spring, cool summer days, and a lot during the fall. 8 hours or more out there, hacking away, taking Zoom calls. I have a decent time with sunglasses and my MacBook Pro.
The image makes me so uncomfortable just by looking at it. The way they are hunged down get a closer look of the screen or the right guy is adjusting their screen to get a better angle... Also their brains inside their heads are in direct contact with the sun and is probably past well-done by now. If the chair in the back is the one they two are sitting on then "good night". Ill give them 2 hours tops until they call it a day.
I'm thinking seriously about using something like a Daylight tablet as a thin client for a more powerful machine at home. Obviously doing real coding by hand would still suck, but LLM-based coding might actually be viable.
I've been trying to think how I could have a good way to play games outside. Was thinking if I ever have the extra money for it, I could get AR glasses, and connect those and a solar charger to my Steam Deck. And a controller. Cyborg in the wild.
In case anyone reading this didn't know: direct sunlight can cause your VR headset lenses to act like a magnifying glass, burning your precious LCD in a moment, if the light hits it right.
Download Vivid for your MacBook Pro and it forces the 1600 nits of brightness usually reserved for HDR content to your display full time. Outdoor work is entirely possible in this scenario.
beach furniture looks out of place in general as if they just prompted for " create 2 guys in pink shirts on the beach working on their laptops in the sun."
I feel like the residential grade table with kitchen swivel counter stools is more out of place despite not looking entirely off. Do they really put stuff like that, which will instantly rust and fall apart on California beaches? The rest of the image has more understandable outdoor furniture.
Working outside can be fun. At least AS long AS you dont need that good of an internet connection, have a comfy place to sit in and are at a somewhat dark spot, so you can still see on your screen.
If and only if these three things are all given, than it can be quite nice to work outside.
Exactly, I used to hike to the top of a mountain find a shady spot and work till my battery died then hike back down.
Couldn’t agree more. Some of my best work and learning recently has been me on my back porch under shade with a box fan. While I have solid WiFi and power there, I also pack a portable monitor and can work without internet on much of what I do.
Also, if you take any meetings, it needs to be quiet enough to communicate but also not disruptive to others if you're taking loudly.
There are some very decent outside-internet solutions. I have one of those solutions at home and it's a joy to work outside.
WiFi mesh networks can have impressive range outdoors, without walls and reflections blocking the wifis. And they can be powered by PoE (Power over Ethernet) so you only need to run 1 cable to hook it up.
But for most of my work, a cellphone hotspot is suitable, so long as it's not so remote that I don't get at least a strong 4G signal. Video conferencing isn't very data intensive with compression and, if I'm not running the meeting, slight spottiness is fine.
Working outside your home is nice. But I think a lot of these comments are talking about working outside in public is a whole other problem.
A coworker of mine specifically built a little gazebo on their deck to be a summer-office. They wired a little wifi repeater in the roof, retractable shades and curtains, a ceiling fan, and got a desk that specifically fits a comfy deck chair. Obviously all of this can be moved out of the way for normal back yard stuff, but it’s become the absolute envy of all my remote colleagues.
So it's good if you are close to your router, have a comfortable chair, and have so much shade you're basically indoors.
So if I just open a window in my office...
I get what you're saying and acknowledge that that's the best environment for some people, but for me there's a different feel in being in your office and being on the back porch or out in the garage with the door open.
The fresh air, mild distractions on an easy day, and more natural light make me feel good. I think the beach would be a fucking nightmare for me. Same for things like a coffee shop. But if I'm in at least a semi private space and it's not a balls to the wall day, I'll take not being chained to the desk every time it's practical.
The dark spot also avoids overheating
The dark spot is only an issue if you're using a laptop or something. Pen and a pad of paper is fine outside. Loose stacks of paper is obviously not ideal.
Unfortunately, most of us need to work using screens these days. I have hope for the future with these smart AR glasses. With the screen on the glasses, it shouldn't be a problem to use them in bright light. And, feeling the sun on your skin is one of the best parts about being outside when the weather is good.
If the sun is not out and it's not too windy/cold it can be okay sometimes
My mobile tethering is so good that I’ll usually do it even if I have access to WiFi. It’s just faster and more reliable. I could probably get insane speeds on the beach too.
No, because then I want to do stuff that is not sitting with my laptop outside. If the weather is nice, I'd much rather play with my dog, climb a tree, or roll around in mud. Why'd I want to sit and do PR reviews?
Not if you’re using a macbook…
they got e-ink screens now?
Laptops and screens can be pretty efficient. I got a pretty cheap run of the mill one (Arch btw) that easily does >8 hours at full blast HDR and no power saving.
I gotta add to this the app Brightintosh. It kicks up the screen brightness to the actual max brightness of the screen so a good 2x brighter. Major dif using in bright environments, less screen life and color accuracy theoretically
What does an eink screen have to do with anything? I work outside in a hammock during the summer on my mac and never have to bring it in to charge once, unless I forgot to the day before. That’s with running heavy applications like Jetbrains IDEs or Lightroom.
What does that have to do with seeing the screen outdoors, and tension headaches?
Oh, whoops, I didn't look at names. Nevermind.
lol macs have the glossiest screens out there, almost like they make it a mirror on purpose
2022 brought one of the best screens for outdoor work… for a price, but of course
...why?
Cause mac laptops last like two days on a charge? If they lasted an hour people would return them. They’re not fucking dells.
No work is getting done there. They’re pretending it does.
As opposed to the office where I’m definitely not doing just enough to not get fired
Turns out as long as you have your browser and inbox open and frown at your screen when your boss walks by, most people won’t question it any further
Sometimes, I'll lean back, look at the ceiling and let out a loud "hmmmm" so it's clear I'm thinking and doing a difficult task.
Bonus points if the browser has loaded a webpage, preferably one showing graphs that automagically update?
Executives fuckin love a dashboard
As someone who builds a ton of dashboards for executives they absolutely do! It's also very obvious when an executive finally gets replaced who hasn't been pulling their weight because I'll suddenly learn that 3 of the dashboards we made for them have been broken for multiple years without anyone noticing
Accurate haha. It's funny but also sad to open a website you've built and realize a feature has been broken for years and nobody noticed.
I think it makes them feel important, like they are somehow contributing something (which justifies their salary)?😁
I have literally used that nonsense fake hacker/coding site before, where you just hit random keys and it spits out fake code.
Sounds like California
wat
Sounds like my job description
The
code is compilingLLM is training. ok?ftfy
As a lifelong desktop PC user, laptops just feel claustrophobic 😅 Especially sucks without a mouse, fuck the trackpad.
I think it's an excellent compromise for being a portable PC. If I'm going to university, to a study space or a lecture, a laptop is freaking fantastic.
Also all laptops universally have one killer feature that nearly no desktop PC has: a built-in UPS. If power goes out, the laptop just keeps chugging along on battery power, giving you an extra few hours of work.
It's not my workstation of choice by any means, but I wouldn't call it miserable. It's fine.
Yeah, i have no idea how all those people are doing their work. I need a big monitor or two, a good keyboard and a nice mouse!
My partner is a psycho who does like 90% of her graphic design work on a 13" macbook air using only trackpad
As a graphic designer I need to ask what the fuck.
I never use drawing tablets, honestly, but I do need a real mouse.
Yeah, i mean she uses a tablet when doing the actual creating part, but mostly the job these days is moving assets around to fit the necessary sizes for different social media. I still don't understand how someone can stand to do that using a trackpad, but she's good at what she does so 🤷♂️
Don't fall asleep.
i use the keyboard nipple myself
Hell yeah another clit stick user, there are dozens of us!
haha I always heard of that being referred to as the "clit" :D But haven't used one in 20 years or so, I don't see them on modern laptops.
the think pads still have an
Did you just mix up Michael Myers, Candyman, and the Blair Witch?
As a graphic designer, I'd quit being a graphic designer if laptop+trackpad was my only option D:
My partner used to do design on her laptop on the sofa with a graphic tablet. Inconceivable for me .
Dude I know these people. My brain explodes at how inefficient they must be.
Sometimes I forget not everyone is computer literate and so fast that their work laptop can't keep up with them
like people in cafes "working".
and what screen is visible on a sunny day outside.
I was thinking that too, just looking at the image is giving me a headache imagining squinting at your screen notched up to full blast and still dim, through your sunglasses.
What in the stock image hell is this. Lmao
Plug in mouse. If you need to, pllug laptop into external monitor(s)/TV
Bro, people today prefer trackpad. Its fucking mindblowing. Ive met several IRL people that love trackpads and don't own a mouse.
I almost guarantee I'm 10x faster at anything on a PC than them
I have fond memories of my Macbook Pro's touchpad. That was over a decade ago, I still haven't found a comparable experience.
Genuinely, Mac's track pads are amazing. Which is hilarious because their mouses are so bad. I don't know how they messed up a mouse so much while mastering the track pad so well.
Framework laptop 13 feels pretty close
Nope, I've got one
I prefer a trackpad while I work, and the reason is simple: Much less movement to switch from trackpad to keyboard than from mouse to keyboard. And much easier to land on the key you want without looking.
And I very much doubt you'd be faster than me with a mouse!
Trackpads give me handcramps very fast. Also if Trackpads were faster, gamers would use them.
A gamer does not need to switch from the mouse to the keyboard repeatedly. Plus, a gamer cares about precision, which obviously a trackpad lacks.
"Faster" standalone means nothing. Can you move the pointer faster with a mouse? Of course. But I don't see most people flicking on their workstation.
In the context of this thread, "faster" refers to completing your tasks faster. And for that a trackpad beats a mouse if your job requires you to type a lot.
Makes sense!
The point of trackpads (and even more so of trackpoints) is that they're faster to get to from typing position - you move your hand back a bit (or even just the index finger) instead of moving across the whole keyboard. That's not something that would go high on the checklist when gaming - it's usually one hand planted on WASD, the other on the mouse and hardly any going back and forth.
You're assuming these people are doing something useful, they could be dealing with Microslop licensing as their full time job. Which is definitely a full time job, its just not useful work in the broader sense.
Ha, true
I've stopped caring about being fast. In fact I'm certain my current setup is slower, more comfortable, and funner than any I've enjoyed before.
If you feel good and you're enjoying your setup then that's what matters.
Yes totally . i can see trackpad bring good if you have some wrist issues. I do have wrist issues but a trackpad makes it worse for me
Same. I go between keyboard, trackball, trackpad, touch screen, and mouse. Whichever is lowest resistance.
I don't own a mouse. I like the trackpad because I'm left handed and a mouse always felt weird to me left handed because schools in the 90s forced me to use it right handed.
So, uhh, are you good and comfortable at using the mouse with your right hand? If so you have no reason to use your left. I have a left-handed friend who has always exclusivity used his right for the mouse. Ain't no law saying your mouse hand must be your writing hand. Not to mention the benefits: it's the default setting on any system, and there are lots of great quality asymmetric mouses that only fit the right hand.
I'm not trying to change you, by all means if you like the trackpad more power to you. Just curious why you'd try to mouse with your left if you've already learned to use it with your right.
I am comfortable with it in my right hand but I have a tendency to click the buttons backwards. Trackpad is easier one finger left click 2 finger right click just seems more intuitive.
I work on industrial production lines. I've gotten used enough to laptops that I don't mind too much.
Work from home on my 34" curved screen + 27" flat is amazing tho.
I use a tiling window manager and copious number of workspaces. It helps with the feeling of claustrophobia if anything can be easily full-screened and swapped around easily.
A 64" monitor with floating windows now feels clunky to me compared to a 15" screen with tiling set up like I like it
Unfortunately I like Plasma very much
I love the customization, but would find it difficult to really dig into work with it
But I'm happy if it works for you
Curved screens look appealing (I imagine also good for gaming), but I don't think I'd want to try them for work as a graphic designer. I need straight lines to look straight :)
It's not like it's curved upwards
But my laptop doesn't have a PS/2 port :(
It's kind of clunky, but Radio Shack has a Serial to PS/2 adaptor.
The Radio Shack by me has been closed for remodeling for a few years, though. Maybe you'd have better luck at Circuit City?
Yes, I meant that it's even worse when there's no mouse plugged in, but I guess my phrasing wasn't clear :)
Well, these guys aren't working, as far as I'm concerned, if they can do it without bringing out a mouse and real keyboard and probably a second monitor. (My laptop bag is pretty heavy.) They can at best be checking emails.
Agreed.
If you can do your work on a 13" laptop with no mouse or external monitor without your productivity dropping off a cliff, you were never productive to begin with.
I disagree on the external monitor, not everyone need one or they are just used to using it, also how the OS is scaled matter too
Yeah, tbh I'm fine working as a graphic designer on my single 24-inch screen, not sure what I'd put on another one.
Though I imagine it might be useful when gaming to put a guide or spreadsheet on a smaller, vertical screen.
For real, not having the mouse slows you down big time, even though I'm more or less skilled at keyboard shortcuts
I can't work on a big screen. I'm thriving on my laptop with my 3x3 virtual desktop grid, though.
I do most things on my laptop mouseless, or that is, trackpadless. It's the best feeling ever. I seriously recommend it to anyone.
wait how does that work, keyboard-only?
Yeah. I use vifm, neovim and vimium c for firefox. It covers many areas. Just my settings aren't vimified yet.
I have a monstrous satellite l300 i use for light spec work and arduino programming. 17" screen. It does not feel claustrophobic in the slightest, unlike my latest gen dell work machine with a screen smaller than my first fucking 486 i need glasses to even see. where did we go so wrong.
If I’m ever envious of someone doing work in places where they should be relaxing, please kill me.
You must be someone who hates working from home, because home is the place where we should all feel relaxed, right? What about working in the garden? The garden is certainly a relaxation spot, but god forbid you get some rays of sunshine while you work.
I understand the desire to pity people who work at the beach. But then again, I pity anyone who ended up living near Silicon Valley. Think of all the money though!
That’s one extreme way to take the comment, I guess. I worked from home for a while and I think these return to office orders are stupid as hell, largely because going to the office needs unpaid commuting time, annoyances related to needing to bring a lunch, and it takes away your ability to do small chores and stuff during the work day that might be often impossible during the evening for one reason or another.
Look, if you want to work at the beach or whatever then go for it, but the idea that California is the “envy of nations” because people can do labour at a beach is insanity.
Sun glare, sand, bad WiFi… yeah, it looks better than it feels 😭
Toshiba used to sell a laptop (IIRC the model name was R500) back in like 2008 that had a mirror behind the screen, meaning that bright sunlight would be reflected back through the LCD and always respond to external lighting conditions no matter how bright. The image quality and color was shitty, but you could use it in the sun. Battery time was also extremely impressive.
interesting. most modern lcds have a shiny reflective layer behind the backlight for this reason, I wonder if they're all modeled after toshibas design
The same thing would work with e-ink. It works fine in super bright sunlight. Unfortunately since it physically spins little balls with electromagnets the refresh rate is very slow compared to conventional screens.
Even just being in public. I tried it for one day at Panera while I was writing a professional review. People kept coming up to talk to me, I couldn’t tune the noise out, and I was uncomfortable in their wood chairs.
I’m convinced those suits in Starbucks are just trawling for chicks.
This is just...unimaginable to me. Who goes up to strangers at a chain restaurant? Especially one who is clearly busy? Unless you mean employees, which would be a bit more understandable, though still weird.
It was a lot of old people just being social on a Tuesday. I didn’t mind that so much, reasonably sane old people should be cherished. My brain just isn’t wired for distractions.
One time an old lady kept talking to me at the gardening section of the supermarket. I didn't have the heart to cut her off, bless her heart.
She did know her shit about flowers though.
...lots of people.
Over-ear headphones help with this. Then you can just ignore them and pretend you can't hear.
(My neurospicy is showing...)
I go traveling with the sales guys sometimes, and we had Starbucks in between meetings so that we can sit down and do email for an hour and then go to the next meeting. I wouldn't want to sit there all day.
I work from home and I never get to the point where I want to go out in public and do work. I do get to the point where I want to go on public, but I take a walk and get some sun and I don't bring my laptop.
Imagine having the freedom to work from the beach and still putting on a button down shirt.
A light well made button down isn't all that uncomfortable. I'd call it nice on a breezy day. It's not a tie.
Depends on the print.
Solid color or conservative pattern? Hard pass.
Pineapples or flamingos? Fuck yeah.
A nice linen shirt is great in hot weather.
Fuck anything with a collar. It's an absolutely idiotic bit of "fashion" which needs to die
👌
I don't even like Hawaiian shirts. What's the point of that collar? Why is western wear so obsessed with putting that style of collar on absolutely everything.
How do you even read the screen in broad daylight?
One guy even has sunglasses, like there's no way he can see anything
Maybe it's polarized glass, so it takes more away of the sunlight than the display light. He can't tilt his head too much though.
Polarized glasses and a low refresh rate is a recipe for a good beach vomiting
Why? Does polarization affect motion sickness?
I've had polarized lenses reveal multi colored scan lines between black spaces that can be a tad disorienting
Color splitting effects (i.e. like a prism) can be caused by unpolarized lenses as well.
Not exactly sure what you mean by multi colored scan lines or black spaces here, tbh.
some people get sick looking at screens?
Uh, polarized glasses cancel out a lot of displays. It's why pilot glasses aren't.
Depending on the display xor glasses polarization orientation you need to tilt your head by up to 90° of course.
I work outside all the time. It’s great. Use my laptop on the screened in porch. In the shade. Ceiling fan on. Maybe in the hammock. Doing whatever I want on the laptop while jiggler keeps my work laptop active in another room.
For those who can't install much on their work laptop: just open notepad and put a weight on the space bar
Bonus point: you can see how long you've been away by looking at the character count, and try to beat high scores on slow days
I love sitting in my hammock or on a zero-gravity chair with my laptop on work days I don't need 2 monitors.
Behold! E-paper laptops! You can read them outside!
I recently discovered this thing called books that also works great outside. And it’s a lot more fun than laptop work!
But isn't that expensive since each page is pay per? Pay per page! That's gonna rack up some dough. Although I did go to goodwill today and they had some really inexpensive Wikipedia/website-like things on their shelves. I picked one up from the cooking isle and it had lots of pictures and text on pay per. But it was cheap like 5 bucks.
Location, weather and time is key when eating outside. Have eaten many a meal outside without issue and I prefer it to inside when the three align.
Wasps. Fuck wasps.
If not for wasps, my family would eat outside most of the summer. As it is, it's either wasps writing 3 minutes of bringing food outside, or a wind strong enough to blow the wasps and our food away.
On second thought, let's not go outside. 'Tis a silly place.
This is like the idea of having sex on the beach. Who really wants that. You didn't think it through if you want that. Do you really want to invite sand and salmonella to the mix?
and fall asleep afterwards and get a nasty sunburn?
The bit about people bringing their laptops to the beach smells like RTO propaganda
I have a fucking awesome gaming laptop. It has like 2 hours of battery life tops. (the very highly operative word being "tops") Just today I was anxious about pulling it out of my backpack due to the fact it's being spingtime and literally all of the winter walkway gravel is in the wind. I'm a Nikon fangirl and I very much hesitated to uncap my lens.
Nah mate screen is awesome outside except most people are stuck on macbooks that are simply unusable due to extreme screen glare.
Can't tell if you are describing a screen type or are Aussie
Nah everything is fine except there are people I don’t like doing things I don’t like…
Not sure why you're getting downvoted, yeah trying to work in a park is refreshing until some dumbass drives up with his music shaking the very earth
This only works, if your job is sitting and waiting for other people to do the work.
Or making PowerPoint slides full of LinkedIn lunatic lingo.
I feel like we could double click on that statement and go granular!
Let me just do a quick recap here so we're all on the same page.
I feel fully aligned.
Great! Now let's leverage the key learnings into a win win scenario.
Full sun and sunglasses? There's no way the guy on the left can see shit on his screen.
They'll be blind inside a month trying to work like that.
They're polarized so you can see fine
laptop outside is fine but on the beach? why don't you pour the sand in manually at home?
That glare makes it impossible to see too
For those with modern MacBooks capable of HDR, check out an app called “Vivid” for working outdoors. I use it. Life changer.
You can also do this with Lunar, or with the paid version of BetterDisplay, and they also support controlling external monitors via DDC/CI.
I personally despise MacOS, but the MiniLED displays in MacBooks have fully changed what I prioritize when buying displays.
It's so much more pleasant to be in a bright room (or outside), but that's only feasible if your screen can output like 1000nits of brightness which few can outside of MiniLED displays.
Starting w/ M4 MacBook Pros, the anti reflective screen option is shockingly good.
Am I the only one that sees Brendon Frazier and David Duchovney?
Now that you say it... it's kinda uncanny! Obviously, we're looking at a picture taken twenty years ago.
Absolutely does look like young them
I'm more concerned about the bagels served in bowls rather than the beach side work tbh
The sneaky traffic cone is cracking me up.
Looks like there are several. Probably marking a property line on the beach
Even if you have a high nits screen that laptop is gonna run hot in direct sunlight. Screens don’t exactly like that. Especially something like an OLED. It will degrade the screen faster.
Screens degrade? I’ve been using the same one for 10+ years and I bought it used for $20.
Yeah they degrade. Tech has improved a lot and they don’t degrade as fast as screens from the 2000’s but they still degrade. OLED more so than LCD. But if they degrade gradually and evenly you won’t really notice.
Note this doesn't really happen to CRTs. Look I just want a modern CRT monitor.
Also doesn't really happen to LCDs. It depends on the liquid crystal alignment technology to a degree and the backlight, but realistically, an LCD will not fail without operator error.
I remember in ~2000 someone was in the parking lot of my office at a picnic table on their laptop and people commented how "cool" that was.
I've noticed since then that IT people qualify anything that drives work into personal spaces as "cool".
2012: Wow, you can hot spot to your blackberry and connect your laptop to the Internet from the ferry, when you used to just let the wind ruffle your hair during your commute? "Cool."
2026: Wow AI can write 78% of your code so you can produce twice as much shitty code while you spend even more time at your desk then you used to, for less money? "Cool."
Especially anywhere near a beach! Aside from the sunlight, all the sand in the air getting everywhere. ¡No bueno!
Nothin like the crunch of salt under your keys to really boost that productivity.
I love that crunchy feeling! You just don’t get that with new keyboards!
You're still working to make someone else rich. I'm not sure being in full sunlight at the beach is much of a consolation.
Given that the only other option for most people is "make someone else rich in a less comfortable environment", I would say it's pretty nice. Bonus points, you're probably less productive there so you're making them slightly less money.
Not all rebellion involves molotov cocktails.
Cocktail hour with your coworkers would be so much better if it involved molotovs though... A girl can dream.
How is this programmer humor? This is just programmer truth.
I spent all my childhood life growing up on a dairy farm. Worked from home, got to do various types of exciting manual labor and operate somewhat dangerous machinery, AND I got to work outside no matter the weather.
So suck on that California. You ain't that special.
My boss gave me a RTO, so I retired. Union Yes, Baby!
I miss the IBM mouse clitoris of the 90s
still there on Thinkpads
You can even get Bluetooth keyboards with them
It's because you're a mouseclicker. I code for a living, i do everything in the cli, all i need to do to work on a sunny beach is increase the text size and invert the colors
I like it. My patio table has an umbrella though.
Maybe it's the oled but I have had summer hacking feels without the pain
If I’m in the zone I want to sit in a medium dark room with fucking no one talking to me or “having a great time”.
Any time I've gone to "work" from home somewhere fun, no actual work is getting done, no matter how genuinely I try
Isn't that more of a personal issue?
I work from home everyday. I get my shit done and then I do whatever I want.
I would do exactly the same thing at the office except whatever I want is bullshit with people I don't want to be around (coworkers).
Oh no, don't get me wrong, I work from home just fine.
If I'm working from a cafe, restaurant or bar, I'm spending the whole time there distracted
Which I guess is indeed a personal issue, so far play
I'm with you, but in my case it's about comfort. Most places don't have ergonomic seating, and I have a hard time focusing when I'm not comfortably seated
I didn't fully understand the glory of working from home until I did it on a snow day.
Removing the commute was an obvious, expected benefit. But turning off the camera and doing laundry or cooking lunch while in one of my multiple daily conference calls was amazing. I just had the meeting in my headphones and chimed in when needed. And it annoys me that can't be my regular routine.
I drive 3-4 hours a day in traffic to sit in a (very nice) office where 95% of my work is remote work using cloud-based software and attending Teams meetings.
But because once a week or so someone may walk into city hall and ask for me instead of sending an email or making a phone call I'm expected to be in the office. Which is doubly annoying since most of the time they get turned away because I'm already in a separate online meeting when they show up.
I do legitimately have to attend public meetings a few evenings a month. I'd be so happy to compromise and go into the office on days with public hearings or when I need to visit a site, but work remote the remaining 80-90% of the time. Hell - I'd even trade working an extra hour a day while remote to do it. It'll still save me time versus driving.
I'm a strong believer in requiring all office/majority computer using roles to be at least hybrid if for no other reasons than to take cars off the road, but the societal benefits of mass remote work are immense.
I've worked remotely more than not since 2020 (and that's with 5 job changes since 2020 somehow) and if I got to pick, I'd work a hybrid role where I go to the nice office and bullshit with my coworkers about all the little things that weren't worth writing an email or Teams message about a few days a month, then go home and crank out the real work the rest of the time. And with kids, they clearly appreciate me being at home more than at the office even if I do have to shoe them away fairly frequently.
Not work from home, "work from home" (i.e. not in the office) somewhere fun.
I have no problem setting up at home and getting down to business. But sitting on a beach or in a park might not work out the same. Realistically, there are issues with lighting, ergonomics, having power, internet connectivity, etc.
Sitting next to a laptop doesn't mean I'm working. It's the same at the beach and in the office.
We need rLCD laptops
or e-ink
It's the brightness and lack of cooling with my M2 MacBook Air. I have that, my iPhone, and my Galaxy S10. I'm on Lemmy on the S10. Even that isn't as bright as my iPhone, but the typing is ten billion percent better.
I'm dark mode all the way... except in direct sunlight.
I literally live in the SF bay area, there's like 2 good beaches, and none of them are worth the headache it would take to get there
You can double the brightness of an LCD relative to its surroundings by wearing polarised sunglasses
Unless the screen is horizontally polarized, in which case you won't see a thing unless you tilt your head 90°
Just wear two pairs of polarised sunglasses each rotated 90°
Start a new fashion trend
But that will just make it bla... Oh...
How do people see the screen
Definitely finding a cafe with a plug. I don't want to be outside.
LPT - quit your office job and get a job in construction - you get to actually work when you're "working outside" and you can enjoy using your computer for entertainment only... inside where they belong.
Did this but now I can no longer afford a computer in 2026. Thanks Sam Altman.
True, but that's a problem hitting everyone regardless of job. I've been trying to focus on upgrading the parts of my 2020 rig that are still affordable, before those also get hit by the AI bubble. Buy HDDs now, as I think they're next!
Construction can pay well, but it can be brutal on your body if you do it for long
I've only been doing it for twenty years, but I started in my thirties. I stretch in the morning and work smart not hard, so for me it's more like getting paid to exercise. YMMV.
Bees
Queeeestion- for those non-US folks, how is WFH in your areas? Is the rto push as big as it is here? Is wfh /flex culture established, or seen as a temp thing?
In my country WFH is being enshrined as a legal right. And people say the party of trade unions is center-right.
Pretty quickly after the lockdowns ended the 100% wfh became 60% in my company, and that’s where we still are. From what I hear, many other companies also have mixed policies. I have not seen a huge push for complete rto.
I work outside all spring, cool summer days, and a lot during the fall. 8 hours or more out there, hacking away, taking Zoom calls. I have a decent time with sunglasses and my MacBook Pro.
The image makes me so uncomfortable just by looking at it. The way they are hunged down get a closer look of the screen or the right guy is adjusting their screen to get a better angle... Also their brains inside their heads are in direct contact with the sun and is probably past well-done by now. If the chair in the back is the one they two are sitting on then "good night". Ill give them 2 hours tops until they call it a day.
And in the basking sun with a lot of sand all around? No thank you.
Ah, dang it! I didn't know that lady was the arbiter of universal human experience!
Pack it up everyone. We're having fun the wrong way! Someone make her CEO of Blizzard, stat!
I'm thinking seriously about using something like a Daylight tablet as a thin client for a more powerful machine at home. Obviously doing real coding by hand would still suck, but LLM-based coding might actually be viable.
Love to be in full Sun while doing work 🙄
At least have an umbrella or something?
Being in sunlight is tiring. It's better to work in a hatchback or camper van at the beach. Then it can be moved to a wooded park in the hills.
I've been trying to think how I could have a good way to play games outside. Was thinking if I ever have the extra money for it, I could get AR glasses, and connect those and a solar charger to my Steam Deck. And a controller. Cyborg in the wild.
In case anyone reading this didn't know: direct sunlight can cause your VR headset lenses to act like a magnifying glass, burning your precious LCD in a moment, if the light hits it right.
@_@
I live close to the beach. I work from home. Screens and sunny days just don’t match
Had bad experiences with all except Macbooks.
https://vger.to/feddit.nl/comment/23503466
What does she mean by outside? Like being in second room ?
If we had invented the laptop first, the very next invention would be a place to go inside of to use it.
Download Vivid for your MacBook Pro and it forces the 1600 nits of brightness usually reserved for HDR content to your display full time. Outdoor work is entirely possible in this scenario.
For 35 minutes
It goes for hours at this brightness.
Needs a blanket fort from head to screen.
the two dudes aren't real. this is just someone complaining using Ai slop as background. which, ok, but still.
It doesn't look AI at first glance, the dudes are too out of focus. What makes you say it's AI?
their pinkies, especially guy in right.
wearing same color shirt.
the focus seems...off.
beach furniture looks out of place in general as if they just prompted for " create 2 guys in pink shirts on the beach working on their laptops in the sun."
I feel like the residential grade table with kitchen swivel counter stools is more out of place despite not looking entirely off. Do they really put stuff like that, which will instantly rust and fall apart on California beaches? The rest of the image has more understandable outdoor furniture.
I don't see any clear giveaways but the bagel cups' shadows look very much not parallel. It could be a wide-angle lens doing its thing though.