Dear bozo. Why are you "considering" vs. solely using a desktop? You obviously do not care about performance or privacy. So what are you complaining about?
I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers
181–190 of 693 posts
Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers
#182Earlier quoted context omitted.
It was hard to read past the attitude that Secure Boot is the enemy. That’s just not the case, and if the author believes it is, it kind of undermines their expertise/the rest of the writing.
Yeah, hemming and hawing over whether or not an x86/64 PC can disable Secure Boot in 2020 is a bit silly when it's been a certification requirement by Microsoft for ages
As someone who knows little to nothing about UEFI except what I read on these types of blogs and comments, what do you mean that secure boot is no longer an issue? and that it's been a certificate requirement by microsoft?
Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers
#183Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's hard to find a full size bluetooth keyboard. I think I went through every keyboard on Amazon and found only one. If you use a USB wireless keyboard, well, there goes one of the two USB slots on the laptop. It's not just the monitor being big, I want lots and lots of pixels. I'm currently running 3840*2160, and have a second monitor attached set up in portrait mode (so I can display a manual page while I work on…
I plug my full sized USB keyboard into my monitor, along with my yubikey and wireless mouse dongle -- one USB C cord connects it all to my laptop. edit: two monitors is still a pain, though.
2 monitors are easy if your laptop has Display Port and you use daisy chaining, you can have 4 full HD monitors from a single DP 1.2 port. I did that with the previous laptop, the new one has HDMI and USB-C with extended mode supporting DP, so I can link probably 5 FHD monitors in total.
Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers
#184Earlier quoted context omitted.
No self-respecting author would write "We'll always have access to typewriters without built-in censorship. Sure, we might not be able to pay consumer prices for them, but they are not going anywhere." What makes you so sure the restrictions will stop somewhere you're comfortable with? What happens when unlocked machines are only available to "enterprise" (not unlike a certain Windows version), and you have to agree…
I guess I'm confident that an open market will always provide for us. I don't know why you think it would not. Right now, today, it has never been easier to just go down to the local mall and buy a general purpose computer, and sure, there are lots of phones, tablets, and consoles on display as well, but there is no less computers as a result.
> I don't know why you think it would not.
I don't know why do you think it would? Both software and hardware-side, there's no end of complaints that power users are being left behind. All the money is in making Fisher-Price software for the masses. Ain't nobody have time to cater for ergonomics or efficiency in computing, it's only a distraction from milking the general population.
This, to me, is a clear example of the market underserving a customer segment.
Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers
#185Earlier quoted context omitted.
No self-respecting author would write "We'll always have access to typewriters without built-in censorship. Sure, we might not be able to pay consumer prices for them, but they are not going anywhere." What makes you so sure the restrictions will stop somewhere you're comfortable with? What happens when unlocked machines are only available to "enterprise" (not unlike a certain Windows version), and you have to agree…
I guess I'm confident that an open market will always provide for us. I don't know why you think it would not. Right now, today, it has never been easier to just go down to the local mall and buy a general purpose computer, and sure, there are lots of phones, tablets, and consoles on display as well, but there is no less computers as a result.
> I don't know why you think it would not.
The percentage of unlocked computers for consumers has been falling. Consoles, tablets, smartphones (all iPhones and many Androids don't allow rooting), smart TVs... even some laptops. Surface RT laptops had locked secure boot, and Chromebooks made it very difficult to install alternative OSes, as far as I know.
As for the incentives of the "open market", there's profit in locking down devices, and selling you back fragments of that locked functionality. For example, nvidia pushed an EULA that forbade using their consumer GPUs in datacenters, making them buy the far more expensive enterprise versions.
With how markets tend towards oligopolies and monopolies, there's no guarantee the handful of manufacturers left won't conspire to put restrictions on all computers. Especially if 95% of consumers don't care about being able to run gcc.
Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers
#186I get what the author is saying, on several levels. There is freedom (in the Richard Stallman sense) of having a better chance to control your hardware and software. There is something good about having one specific place to work; it is too easy to turn a laptop on in the living room at night when you should be paying attention to your family, friends, or roommates. Desktops are cheaper .
All that said, I have moved 100% away from desktops. I really do like to be able to work outside (two areas to choose from), kitchen table next to our parrot’s cage, living room, or bedroom. Sometimes I need to work while traveling.
Finally, iPad Pros (or similar products) are simply better devices for reading, doing research, and watching entertainment.
Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers
#187I 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…
Where I am, each developer gets a laptop and a desktop. Though, it is expected that anything needed to work is on the laptop. Meaning email and any software (whatsoever) needed to checkout the latest code. This works out quite well for us.
Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers
#188Just buy an Intel Nuc i7 or an AMD Ryzen mini-pc. A 1TB m2 slot SSD and 32GB ram. Perfect for programming. You can fit it in your pocket if you need to move it around. Big screens, keyboards and mice should stay at the desks where you work.
Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers
#189Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is that actually true anymore? I mean, hardware wise they are not much faster, but cooling is a different story.
The trend in laptops has been for longer battery life and less heat. Since there haven't been any major breakthroughs in battery technology or mobile processor power (at least from Intel), this means lower power for processors and generally lower performance in general. Almost all laptops are using ultra low voltage Intel chips. And even the ones that don't, except for high end gaming laptops, thermally throttle ALL…
Eventually laptops will be so optimized for battery life, and display ads will be so aggressive, that you'll have to run chromium in the cloud and your thin client will be shut down the moment anyone accuses you of being a fascist. https://blog.cloudflare.com/browser-beta/
Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers
#190Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are obviously many ways to do this comparison, but going off Wikipedia's pricing for most recent Intel processors. Their highest end mobile processor is currently the i7-1185G7 which apparently retails for $426. Let's compare it with the closest desktop processor to that price, the i9-10900 ($438). Cores (Threads): 4(8) vs. 10(20). Base Freq: 3.0ghz (At 28w TDP) vs. 2.8ghz. Max All Core Turbo: 4.3ghz vs. 4.8ghz…
A MacBook Pro can have an i9 and 8 cores, isn't that better than the i7-1185G7?
MacBooks have terrible thermals. They will thermal throttle before most laptops, much less even compared to a desktop.
Also, laptops generally have CPUs that pull 15 watts. Whereas desktops have CPUs that can pull 95 watts or higher (sometimes up to 150). The difference is astounding.