Watching movies on a laptop.

[El Unicornio, mang]

I know someone who watches films in the corner of their laptop screen and carries on browsing the net, doing work, other stuff.

I've lived with a couple of people who did similar. They'd stick a film or TV series on, then spend half the time browsing their phone, go off for 15 mins to make food without pausing it, go out to the shops and just leave it running, etc. What's even the point? I guess maybe to them it's like having background music on.

[touchingcloth]

I remember a Charlie Brooker interview where he talked about a depressive episode he went through as a young man, the nadir of which saw him lying in bed watching telly and crying for days, the nature of the nadir being the point where he had a brainwave and turned the telly on it's side.

I heard that and thought "having that", so I did that with my laptop in bed sometimes.

[Glebe]

My laptop is one of those screen-can-bend-back-flat, so I could maybe faceplant a few movies if I'm feeling (particularly) mental.

[Hand Solo]

I remember a Charlie Brooker interview where he talked about a depressive episode he went through as a young man, the nadir of which saw him lying in bed watching telly and crying for days, the nature of the nadir being the point where he had a brainwave and turned the telly on it%u2019s side.

I heard that and thought %u201Chaving that%u201D, so I did that with my laptop in bed sometimes.

Who *doesn't* do that with their laptop? It's the most obvious thing in the world. Doing it with the TV is mental though, especially back in those days with a heavy CRT one, but it would be hard to do now with a flatscreen unless it's against a wall.

My laptop is one of those screen-can-bend-back-flat, so I could maybe faceplant a few movies if I'm feeling (particularly) mental.

Yeah so does mine, the keyboard can flip backwards and be the stand and it can be used touchscreen so I can peck at it with my nose like a demented pigeon when I want to pause a fillum.

[touchingcloth]

Who *doesn't* do that with their laptop? It's the most obvious thing in the world. Doing it with the TV is mental though, especially back in those days with a heavy CRT one, but it would be hard to do now with a flatscreen unless it's against a wall.

Yeah so does mine, the keyboard can flip backwards and be the stand and it can be used touchscreen so I can peck at it with my nose like a demented pigeon when I want to pause a fillum.

It's obvious in hindsight, but I didn't carry on doing it because watching with the laptop in its usual orientation is somehow more comfortable. I think it's the fear of the thing collapsing as I sleep. 

[Hand Solo]

It's obvious in hindsight, but I didn't carry on doing it because watching with the laptop in its usual orientation is somehow more comfortable. I think it's the fear of the thing collapsing as I sleep.

I angle something against it to keep it from doing that, a pillow or something, though you need to be careful it doesn't cover the heat vents. You could use a book or something though, like a flying buttress:



When buying a laptop I even make sure the power cable plugs into the back or opposite my preferable sleeping side.. I sleep on my left mostly so the laptop needs to have the plug on the right side (if it's not on the back) so it doesn't rest on the power jack and bend it over time. It depends on the pin casing shape, some have a flat casing so you can rest it on the bed without putting tension on it, but a lot don't.

                              Bad X                                                        Good ✓



Christ I'm sad.

[Sebastian Cobb]

When I lived in shared housing so sometimes had to watch things on a laptop in bed etc I bought a second charger so I never had to frantically fetch one and plug it in, it was just there.

Now I live alone I try not to watch stuff in bed really. I doze off to podcasts, but keep watching stuff to the lounge, different functional uses of different rooms and all that.

Although even in shared housing, I didn't watch all that much in my bedroom, which meant I mostly sat in the lounge watching stuff we compromised on, which was shite, unless someone wanted to definitely watch something.

[Hand Solo]

I've even considered getting something like one of these:



But haven't taken the plunge so far, that's proper think-twice-before-inviting-someone-into-your-bedroom-mirror-over-the-bed-Stringfellow-type-weirdo-walk-around-everywhere-in-a-robe-grow-a-moustache-and-get-into-scented-oils hinterland you're not coming back from.

[Sebastian Cobb]

or 'the neighbours found his bloated corpse with a laptop and table pressed into its face'

[Hand Solo]

or 'the neighbours found his bloated corpse with a laptop and table pressed into its face'

Also next to collection of munition size dildos and sex-trapeze.

[idunnosomename]

Thread titles you can sing to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme

[Better Midlands]

I've even considered getting something like one of these:



But haven't taken the plunge so far, that's proper think-twice-before-inviting-someone-into-your-bedroom-mirror-over-the-bed-Stringfellow-type-weirdo-walk-around-everywhere-in-a-robe-grow-a-moustache-and-get-into-scented-oils hinterland you're not coming back from.

That looks ace.

I'm a watching everything on my phone in bed type of guy, so I'm tempted by the Lazy Neck Phone Holder.

[Hand Solo]

That looks ace.

I'm a watching everything on my phone in bed type of guy, so I'm tempted by the Lazy Neck Phone Holder.

You could knock together something lo-fi at home:

[Sebastian Cobb]

You could knock together something lo-fi at home:

[Hand Solo]

Ha. He is definitely watching Dave Made A Maze.

[Dr Syntax Head]

Depends on what you're watching really. Story based films are ok on a laptop but I watched Twin Peaks the return on a massive telly, in the dark and for something like that it's the only way. I binged a load of Ben Wheatley films on a laptop once and it was fine. But some things need a big screen, like yer Lynch films or the aforementioned above Tarkovski type affairs

[zomgmouse]

i think my qualms are with the word "need". surely they are enhanced by larger-screen viewing but i don't think they necessarily inherently need it.

[itsfredtitmus]

Depends on what you're watching really. Story based films are ok on a laptop but I watched Twin Peaks the return on a massive telly, in the dark and for something like that it's the only way. I binged a load of Ben Wheatley films on a laptop once and it was fine. But some things need a big screen, like yer Lynch films or the aforementioned above Tarkovski type affairs

I bought Slalker on blu-ray thinking it would be amazing on a big tele after exclusively using 20-30 inch screens for film watching but it was just really overwhelming and oppressive trying to figure out which square meter of the screen to best focus my attention on

[dissolute ocelot]

I spent my formative years watching the greats of world cinema on a 14" CRT: Solaris, Paris Texas, The Searchers, The Shining, Pierrot Le Fou. Eventually I graduated to a 20". You do miss a bit of detail at 14" but I had no trouble being immersed and involved in epic visual stories, and conversely lots of people can't fucking concentrate on a movie even in the biggest cinema. Are people unable to read a book unless it's the size of a wardrobe? The idea that you can only appreciate a movie in giant size is a lie pushed by tv-makers and cinema-owners.

Another consideration is that most movies whether on broadcast TV or streamed look totally shit blown up large (compared to a good-quality Blu-Ray or 35mm projector). I'm not sure why having a screen big enough to see ITV fuck up your action sequences into fuzzy blocks is an improvement over a laptop, or for that matter an iWatch.

The real problem with watching movies on laptops is with a lot of them the speakers are so quiet you might as well be listening to your neighbours' tv.

[notjosh]

I don't think it's that you can't appreciate a movie on a laptop or small telly; it's just about maximising your engagement with the film. I can think of a few films which I had seen on CRT TV which I either enjoyed moderately or was nonplussed by which subsequently wowed me on the big screen. Black Narcissus and 2001: A Space Odyssey are good examples where it felt like I was watching totally different films.

An American Werewolf in London was another, though that was less about screen size and more about the fun of being in a rowdy late-night horror audience.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Another consideration is that most movies whether on broadcast TV or streamed look totally shit blown up large (compared to a good-quality Blu-Ray or 35mm projector). I'm not sure why having a screen big enough to see ITV fuck up your action sequences into fuzzy blocks is an improvement over a laptop, or for that matter an iWatch.

This is kind of bollocks? Streaming isn't as good as bluray, it's miles ahead of broadcast HD (and sadly, iPlayer), but decent netflix/amazon streams can show film grain without macroblocking and less good (e.g. Mubi) smooth it over rather than macroblocking. Even still they're both adequate enough that you're probably better off using a bigger screen because that's what the director intended you to view it on.