>There are a million reasons why people put stickers on laptops. And also a million why people don't.

Well, let's not get carried away. There are a handful of reasons at best:

1) they feel the laptop is drab/empty and want to decorate it

2) they are fans of an artist/band and want to promote it

3) they want to broadcast the world the company they work for and/or their choice of frameworks and tools

4) they want to cover some scratch

And that's pretty much it

There's at least two other options. Once, a friend of mine came from a conference, he was really excited about his stickers and gave me one. I thought it'd make him happy if I sticked it to my laptop, and so I did.

Some time ago a work colleague went on this rant about how stickers are dumb. Only to find a sticker on his laptop when he got back from lunch. He thought it was funny and it became a running joke for a while that everyone who went to a conference would add a sticker to his collection while he was not looking.

Those are great. One more boring one: you're tired of picking up the wrong laptop, when they all look the same!

That’s exactly why I started putting stickers on mine. I had a personal 2015 Macbook Pro, a 2013 MBP for work, and my wife has a Macbook Air. They all look exactly the same. So I put a sticker from my company on the company laptop and a sticker from a local brewery on my personal laptop and the confusion went away immediately.

My kid stuck a white Apple sticker dead center on my X220. Funny for a minute. When I peeled it off, it left a ghost apple in residue (or maybe a clean spot) that’s resisted further removal attempts.

My favorite hammer has a Windows (3.1x) sticker on one side and a 1st gen Intel Inside on the other.

Those "Designed for Microsoft Windows" stickers are best placed on trash cans.

Try anhydrous alcohol and if that doesn't work try d-limonene.

I think of them a lot like bumper stickers on cars. If someone stuck a bumper sticker on my car, I'd be pissed.

I use stickers to keep track of my laptop at airports. When you put your machine through the scanners you have to take it out of your bag which makes it look just like everyone else's Space Gray MBP. With some personal stickers on it, it's much easier to make sure I grab the right one when I rush to gather my things and get redressed. :/

Same! Identification. Except at work mostly, as there is an ocean of identical machines.

> which makes it look just like everyone else's Space Gray MBP

makes me think of the old "think different" ads.

Haha, this would be an ideal example of first world problems!!

Personally I wanted to cover the Apple logo when I had a Macbook air from work. I don't want to do unpaid advertising for them.

Just another reason, for my part I put a sticker because the translucent apple used to let the sun shine through to my screen while outside. It actually took me a while to understand that it wasn't a screen defect.

I put a layer of aluminium foil (held by double faced adhesive tape) because that's the thinnest completely opaque material I could come up with, and put a sticker on it because it was quite ugly otherwise.

Another, I want to be able to easily recognize my laptop on a table with other, similar, laptops.

Also surprised to not see this higher.

It's practically the main reason in companies with standardized equipment.

Or at programmer conferences, where today almost everyone is carrying one of a small handful of nearly identical MacBook models.

There are only 7 colors at best: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. That's pretty much it.

I use stickers to differentiate two laptops I have that are otherwise externally identical. I also like to cover the logos with other things instead.

At my previous company we all had stickers on the laptops that showed they were company property.

5) - 2)/3) while signalling that you've "earned it", and there's a story behind it.

You could easily order any kind of sticker printed and put them on your computer, but that would be cheating. Back in the days when I interacted with the tech community in my city more, there was this assumption that any sticker you have is a proof that you've been somewhere, or hanged with some crowd.

(I sometimes miss times when I had a laptop. I have a collection of stickers with stories with nowhere to put.)

n) I can easily recognise my MBP in a conference room full of computer scientists' laptops when we return from lunch.

It’s fun and makes it recognisable easily. Same reason I do it.

5) Everyone at the company has the same laptop and they want theirs to be distinguishable so they don't accidentally pick up someone else's. This has been my only reason for putting stickers on 2 work laptops.

21) They think the sticker is funny

43) They want to cover up the manufacturers logo on principle

43.5) They want to cover up the brand logo because people keep asking what "yoga" has to do with a laptop.

46) They figure it's a good idea to look "patriotic" about their company (but unlike 3 their work laptop is basically never seen in public)

I put stickers on my laptop from people or companies I care about, or from times that are special to me.

My girlfriend hates the glowing apple logo so she puts a sticker on it.

I just use it to mark my ownership and I like to see them as a visual marker of the times and places I had been to during the usage of that laptop.

There are many more reasons to put stickers on stuff.

Barcoded and company-branded stickers for internal inventory tracking.

Yet another reason I haven't seen listed in the dog pile of reasons on this comment: lo-jack stickers; I have one on every laptop I own and one I'm borrowing.

you'd be wrong on all points when it comes to my mac. A closer inspection would reveal that the stickers aren't really stickers, they are concert tickets, train tickets and basically memorabilia I collect as I go along and it has little to do with promoting any company.

Being a software dev has taken me around the world and given me many opportunities, those "stickers" are to remind me how lucky I am.

> And that's pretty much it

uh, honestly, i put a stick on my laptop just so i can tell it apart from the other macbooks in my office.

n) My company hands out stickers for certain accomplishments (being part of a launch, hitting a certain milestone, attending internal events etc.) and seeing the pastiche of stickers on someone's laptop gives you a rough sense of their history with the company and complex signals of social status.

I put stupid stickers on mine to mock people who put stickers on their laptops. And also i love recursion.

You pretty much forgot fatuity and territorial pissing.

That's as many reasons as you can come up with. That doesn't mean there aren't more. For example, my reason is to give my laptop more grip so it doesn't slip out of my hands. Nobody can imagine everyone's needs.

You don't need stickers for grip (and fact they're not ideal for that anyway). You can do it with a laptop cover (still a sticker, but not of the kind we're talking here), tape, and other things.

Still, sure you can come up with a few more reasons (hence my "pretty much it"). But I don't think you can came with 10 reasons, much less "thousands", never mind millions. And 95%+ would still fall in the categories mentioned.

> You don't need stickers for grip (and fact they're not ideal for that anyway)

You don't need to eat chocolate cake for sustenance (and in fact it's not ideal for that anyway).

It's a minor practical benefit to having a sticker collection on there, which is different to covers, or tape, or other things.

There probably aren't millions of discreet reasons, but there are millions of people with their own reasons, even if they largely overlap, the rationale will be slightly different.

Maybe this is a reaction towards the people who often do this?

After all, we have seen both kinds in our workplaces and they sometimes have certain attributes?

In all seriousness, what attributes are you talking about? Pushing hard for certain software/tech/orgs that they like?

Quite young, impressionable, early adopters/zealots, with the fashion sense to match the stickers?

People who want to give the perception of being different?

'Obnoxious zealots' is probably a more common perception of these people

At work a lot of people have stickers on their laptops (myself included, but I don't put them on my personal one).

I've never _ever_ had anybody preach to me about some tech/event/company that they put a sticker of. My laptop is mine and I don't give a damn about what others think about it. I assume that this is the case of the vast majority of people who put stickers there.

This whole conversation reminds me of people complaining about vegans preaching.

what a weird thing to get hung up about

At face value, yes, but the obnoxious zealotry often has further implications. I mean, how much of the technology baked into your average web project these days is chosen out of fashion rather than utility? Definitely too much.

Almost all of it.

pretty much the same issue exist for using stickers on automobiles. I am of the opinion, your property, your choice. plus sometimes it can be very creative or just get a chuckle out of you during the day and that is always a worthwhile endeavor

Good to see a fellow stoic in the thread.

Oh I've seen this plenty of times when it comes to the possible idea of one being influenced by a brand to the point of carrying their logo/promoting them for free.

Like those who do it are shills, easily influenced, sheeps, etc - and the ones who don't are completely immune to any branding/advertising/marketing, because of reasons (usually there's a sense of superiority bound to it).

Funny enough, this is just an illusion to them, because it doesn't matter what they think, they're still influenced by brands, by the simple fact that every single product/service is branded and signals something to someone, even if the signaling is "I don't buy into corporate brands". Because that's how humans work, with symbols and signals.

To make matters worst, it's when you think you're immune to such thing that you're most vulnerable. It's like you're a sitting duck.

The sooner you embrace we're influenced everyday, the sooner you'll be more aware of it and prepared for it.

I have a Totoro sticker on my notebook. Does that mean I'm a sitting Totoro?

To me it means you liked My Neighbor Totoro, you probably also like most of the Hayao Miyazaki work, and probably you like other anime movies.

Other people they might see you as a weeb.

When in reality maybe someone you like stickered it there, and you just know that the name of the thing is Totoro. Only you know, yet it's still a signal to people who interpret that symbol.

Now depending on your laptop brand you could be a major asshole or a normal human being! (This one is a joke, kind of)