It's sad to see that in this thread most people jump in conclusions because they only assume there is only one reason why people put stickers on laptops.
Without giving it much thought you place people in a 'category' that only exists in your mind.
There are a million reasons why people put stickers on laptops. And also a million why people don't.
I guess it's best to keep an open mind and don't think you know why people sticker.
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.
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.
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. :/
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.
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.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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)
Without giving it much thought you place people in a 'category' that only exists in your mind.
There are a million reasons why people put stickers on laptops. And also a million why people don't.
I guess it's best to keep an open mind and don't think you know why people sticker.