Nothing beats 32 cores with a 32 inch 4K IPS monitor, and a proper mechanical keyboard. Also, wired internet, not subject to radio interference. The very pinnacle of computing experience.
128 gigs of RAM. This is nerd porn.
I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers
31–40 of 693 posts
Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers
#32I don't understand the conflation of uefi with secure boot. Uefi can be independent of secure boot—I use uefi and have never enabled secure boot—the purpose of uefi was to consolidate definition and discovery of various bios-level APIs. Probing memory, setting video modes, and more; these things were poorly specified, and implementations frequently differed. Uefi is huge and overengineered, but it's still a definite…
You can of course leave secure boot disabled in UEFI, but you can’t run secure boot with BIO, to my knowledge. That’s why the association - if you want SB, use UEFI.
Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers
#33> I understand that firmware malware is a legitimate cause for concern, UEFI seems to me to have been more about locking Linux out of the laptop market to insure that Microsoft Windows remained dominant.
Ignorant nonsense.
UEFI, while overengineered, allows for a computer-OS to tell the firmware how to cleanly boot it, so you can have several OSes installed in parallel without anyone stepping on anyone else’s toes.
Basically it simply and cleanly solves the dreaded and always unreliable dual/multi-boot situation which almost exclusively Linux users have had to endure, with Windows update accidentally overwriting their bootloader every now and then.
But who complains about UEFI and the solutions it brings and clings to legacy BIOS boot with all its warts and complications? Yup. Linux-users who are so politically opposed to UEFI that they cannot bother looking into the actual technology to see if their political opposition is warranted at all. Talk about FUD, eh.
It’s a sad sight. And I say that as a happy (UEFI booting) 100% Linux desktop-user.
Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers
#34If your place of work is static, like an office desk at your company or at your home, why would you not want to use a desktop for work?
Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
12. High end desktop CPUs are noticeably faster than mobile counterparts (higher freq, more cache)
Is that actually true anymore? I mean, hardware wise they are not much faster, but cooling is a different story.
You answered your own question: CPUs are throttled down when there is too much heat. That happens all the time in a laptop. A desktop with enough air flow never has that problem (unless overclocked).
Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers
#36I prefer a desktop because: 1. I like big, big monitors. 2. I prefer a full size keyboard. 3. I prefer a separate mouse. 4. I prefer big freaking disk drives installed. 5. I put the desktop under my desk, and with a wireless keyboard and wireless mouse, there is much less of a snarl on my desk. 6. The desktop has an optical drive I still use. 7. The desktop has lots of USB ports and they're all in use. 8. I can repla…
>11. I want an all-metal case because a machine caught fire once. I would love elaboration on what happened.
I would guess something shorted in the power supply or power bus.
Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers
#37I prefer a desktop because: 1. I like big, big monitors. 2. I prefer a full size keyboard. 3. I prefer a separate mouse. 4. I prefer big freaking disk drives installed. 5. I put the desktop under my desk, and with a wireless keyboard and wireless mouse, there is much less of a snarl on my desk. 6. The desktop has an optical drive I still use. 7. The desktop has lots of USB ports and they're all in use. 8. I can repla…
There's no shortage of reasons that make desktops better. But the few advantages of more mobile devices outweigh the benefits of desktops for most users.
Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers
#38Just the other day I reluctantly put in an order for a laptop with Dell. I hated using laptops for software work. Nothing was powerful enough and specs were limited. My last laptop had a max screen resolution of 1366x768; I was disgusted when I booted it. I don't like Macs.
Due to Covid I moved away from our central office, but next year I'll have to commute there every month or two for meetings. Obviously I can't lug a massive desktop around on a train.
So I bought a customised Dell Precision Mobile workstation. It cost a small fortune, but I reckon I'll have this for years. The CPU will probably outperform my current 4790K and it allows more RAM (128GB) than my current motherboard (32GB). I can also stick a 4G SIM card into it so I'll have broadband pretty much anywhere I am. Ideal for these days of remote working.
I'll get work to buy a M.2 drive and I'll stick a VM on it and restrict work activities to that. If I leave I can just send that back.
I'm not sure I'd buy another desktop if my current one goes kaput. Potentially for gaming, but I don't do that quite so much these days. (Ryzen would be a temptation though.)
Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers
#39I prefer a desktop because: 1. I like big, big monitors. 2. I prefer a full size keyboard. 3. I prefer a separate mouse. 4. I prefer big freaking disk drives installed. 5. I put the desktop under my desk, and with a wireless keyboard and wireless mouse, there is much less of a snarl on my desk. 6. The desktop has an optical drive I still use. 7. The desktop has lots of USB ports and they're all in use. 8. I can repla…
> 1. I like big, big monitors. 2. I prefer a full size keyboard. 3. I prefer a separate mouse.
You can have these with a laptop too. At home I use my laptop with an external screen, keyboard, mouse (the latter two are wireless), because it's much more comfortable.
Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers
#40I don't understand the conflation of uefi with secure boot. Uefi can be independent of secure boot—I use uefi and have never enabled secure boot—the purpose of uefi was to consolidate definition and discovery of various bios-level APIs. Probing memory, setting video modes, and more; these things were poorly specified, and implementations frequently differed. Uefi is huge and overengineered, but it's still a definite…
Yeah I’m not sure either - I’ve used UEFI only on my last few laptops (mostly Dell XPS) and it’s been great. Sure, the process is a hair more confusing, but there’s massive benefits and it’s FAST. In particular, I’ve been impressed with systemd-boot and how you can use systemd-analyze and logging to really understand _everything_ that’s going on in your boot chain.
I also really like the capsule firmware update mechanism, I’ve been able to use fwupdmgr to keep all of my devices firmware up to date, from Linux, without freeDOS or windows foolery. Additionally, the Dell UEFI BIOS supports booting right to the firmware update cab or exe, further strengthening the utility of a Linux-only install.