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If I’m ever envious of someone doing work in places where they should be relaxing, please kill me.
Being on your laptop
outsideis a miserable experienceftfy
As a lifelong desktop PC user, laptops just feel claustrophobic 😅 Especially sucks without a mouse, fuck the trackpad.
Amazingly, there is this nifty thing called a “port” that allows a mouse to be plugged into a laptop. It is pretty incredible technology. /s
I tend to vacillate myself depending on the noise of the environment vs the work at hand. If I need to spread out across a few monitors, dock it. If I just need to do some simple paperwork, portable. If I want to force no distractions, portable (as it is more difficult to see things when your screen real estate is reduced.)
Helps if you have good eyesight too, laptop UIs today are at clown magnification levels anymore.
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
Don’t fall asleep.
i have no idea how all those people are doing their work.
like people in cafes “working”.
and what screen is visible on a sunny day outside.
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 miss the IBM mouse clitoris of the 90s
still there on Thinkpads
You can even get Bluetooth keyboards with them
What does she mean by outside? Like being in second room ?
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?
Imagine having the freedom to work from the beach and still putting on a button down shirt.
A light wall 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.
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
Definitely finding a cafe with a plug. I don’t want to be outside.
We need rLCD laptops
or e-ink
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.
People kept coming up to talk to me [at Panera]
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.
Who goes up to strangers at a chain restaurant?
who sets up to work in a public place that serves shitty food?
…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.
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
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
So it’s good if you are close to your router, have a comfortable chair, and have so much share 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.
Same thing with eating outside. I could be indoors with air conditioning and not squinting my eyes while shooing away flies, but some normie in my party wanted to eat outside because “it’s nice out.” Meanwhile my napkins are blowing off the table that I need to dab away the sweat dripping down my face. What a great idea!
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.
