2012 laptop:
- 4 USB ports or more.
- Full-sized SD card slot with write-protection ability.
- User-replaceable battery.
- Modular upgradeable memory.
- Modular upgradeable data storage.
- eSATA port.
- LAN port.
- Keyboard with NUM pad.
- Full-sized SD card slot.
- Full-sized HDMI port.
- Power, I/O, charging, network indicator lamps.
- Modular bay (for example Lenovo UltraBay)
- 1080p webcam (Samsung 700G7A)
- No TPM trojan horse.

2024 laptop:
- 1 or 2 USB ports.
- Only MicroSD card slot. Requires fumbling around and has no write-protection switch.
- Non-replaceable battery.
- Soldered memory.
- Soldered data storage.
- No eSATA port.
- No LAN port.
- No NUM pad.
- Micro-HDMI port or uses USB-C port as HDMI.
- Only power lamp. No I/O lamp so user doesn't know if a frozen computer is crashed or working.
- No modular bay
- 720p webcam
- TPM trojan horse (Jody Bruchon video: https://youtube.com/watch/... )
- "Premium design" (who the hell cares?!)

I understand why they removed a lot of features, but the non-replaceable (or extremely difficult to replace) battery? Seriously? That is 100% the first thing that dies. Keep your welded on memory sticks and give me back Dell's external battery. I miss those.

That is why I went Sager. This new model has 4 usb ports (I guess one is thunderbolt) and 2 types of video (hdmi) on the back.

On my model I have a battery compartment on the bottom. It is replaceable from the outside. Also in my model there is room for a sata and 2 m.2 drives at the same time. I currently have 3 drives installed. Mine only has 3 usb ports. So it looks like they listened to the customers.

Looks like on this new one the battery is inside, lame. These are pretty easy to open and work on though.

I won't touch a Dell, Asus, HP, etc. Just garbage.

@PaperTrail "I understand why they removed a lot of features" - Why did they remove full-sized SD card readers even though there is more than enough room?

@exerceo why phones removing head phone jacks? What is funny is my current phone has headphone jack. I have been using bluetooth since I got it and never used the jack. Even though I wanted the jack.

@Demolishun A memory card protects against data loss if the laptop or smartphone breaks.

This is especially relevant for laptops with soldered memory which can not be accessed externally.

@exerceo > "Why did they remove full-sized SD card readers"

At my house and all my immediate family, I'm the only one who knows what that is. My guess is the big guys did some marketing and asked "You still want an SD card slot?", public responded "Huh? SD? I want to watch pron!!!"

Big guys cut some costs without lowering the price and folks still bought their computers.

@PaperTrail As often, the power user is thrown under the bus due to the unawareness of the masses.

Fifteen years ago laptops were mostly for college kids and weirdoes, most people had stationary desktop computers with big ass screens and looots of peripherals.
Then when smartphones became capable of doing most of what 75% of users were ever gonna use a computer for (digital photos, social media, email, videos, light gaming), desktops became "that spreadsheet and old-timey docs machine".
See: "The Office", the series.
At the same time, the corporate world moved from cubicles and other assigned seat configurations to large open floors where people are often not expected to sit at the same place, and also to take their equipment with them when moving.
By the time series like "Sucession" or "Billions" hit, desktop computers are for back-office nerds, the rich AH are always on the move, move, move!
And if you are using a laptop on a coffee table while plotting to overthrow someone, you want it to be very light, compact, and you might ask "what are peripherals? some streaming series?"

@exerceo so SD cards are like GitHub but available offline? But when they steal my stuff and I have to get a new laptop, I hope that I can still access GitHub eventually.

@JsonBoa "the rich AH are always on the move, move, move!"

What "AH"? "Alpha humans"?

@usr--2ndry

>"so SD cards are like GitHub but available offline?"

Well, both can store information, but GitHub is for text and code, not for your photos and videos.

> "But when they steal my stuff and I have to get a new laptop, I hope that I can still access GitHub eventually."

Eventually? Why should you not be able to log in immediately?

@exerceo AH might mean "assholes", but in this case it is "aspiring-Hs", H being a famous austrian-german name.

@Demolishun Is there a Sager with 6 USB ports like some MSi gaming laptops from the early 2010s?

@exerceo I don't know.