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I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

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Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#311

Post by nikau »

Sharlin wrote: post #215
WalterBright wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What they need to add is a physical electric switch to turn off the cam/mike. In any case, because of all my remote collaboration these days, I bought a decent mike on a boom to use, and my colleagues say it is much better. Still have to find a decent camera.

Many "real" camera manufacturers (at least Canon, Nikon, Sony, I think Fuji as well) have released software during the past six months that allow many of their existing system cameras (DSLR or mirrorless) to be used as very high quality webcams. Likely overkill if all you need is a webcam, but might be worth considering if you also need a camera and/or happen to already own a compatible one.

You can also buy a hdmi to usb capture dongle for around $15 US which will let you use any camera with HDMI out as a webcam.

Ideally you want a camera that does clean HDMI out (no ISO indicators etc), but even that can be worked around if you run OBS studio and crop it out.

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#312

Post by Havoc »

The threat on cloud / data side seems a lot more real than on the hardware side.

I personally don’t care what boot stuff is under the hood if it can boot Linux.

Cloud eating everything on the other hand does worry me. Busy building a home server to get away from that a little

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#313

Post by derision »

jacobsenscott wrote: post #93
avalys wrote: post #21

I have been reading this same article for the past thirty years. Yet, I can still install and run whatever operating system and software I want on my laptop _and_ desktop, and I don't see any sign that that freedom will go away anytime soon. It is true that the billion-dollar media companies have decided a subscription model is more lucrative than a one-time-purchase model for the mass-market content they produce (mo…

You cannot install whatever operating system you want on your tablet, phone, or, soon, any mac desktop/laptop at all. The enthusiast/gamer market isn't enough to keep the intel/adm desktop market going. Soon the only place you'll be able to run a free operating system is on a rented vm in the cloud.

Sounds like apple is the problem here

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#314

Post by jay_kyburz »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #184
jay_kyburz wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

>This, to me, is a clear example of the market underserving a customer segment.

Sure, there are some spercific form factors that I would love to have that are not available or very rare. I really want to replace my iPad with something that runs linux, for example.

All I'm arguing is that, I don't believe that in my lifetime, or the foreseeable future, will there ever be a time where I can't reasonably easily get some kind of desktop computer and run whatever code I want on it. (Unless those computers literately become illegal - like some code already is)

I might not be able to carry it in my pocket, or wear it on my face, and it might not have some holographic interface that has not yet been invented yet.

I'm also not saying we should ignore the the fight for general purpose machines, and I will continue to vote with my wallet, as well as lobby to have laws that opening our machines.

I think its a disgrace that Apple no longer supports my iPad witch functions perfectly well, but I can't install anything on anymore.

Society would be much better if all our phones were open, I just don't think we need to freak out about desktop computers disappearing.

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#315

Post by Symbiote »

LMYahooTFY wrote: post #27
WalterBright wrote: post #16

I 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've seen the remains of a computer in a school, after the building was struck by lightning overnight. Only that one computer was affected, and inside it was mostly black dust.

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#316

Post by bromonkey »

RasmusLarsen wrote: post #177
nvarsj wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

What example configuration machine from a decade ago can match (or beat) a current-gen maxed-out Thinkpad or Macbook Pro in raw performance? Those laptops are quite speedy compared to something from 2010

I mean it mostly depends on what you do no? But all I need is for my job is a terminal session open. A macbook from 2010 can (and does) do that fine for me. I don't need the 85% of the specs I never use and I suspect the same applies to the author.

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#317

Post by magicalhippo »

WalterBright wrote: post #16

I 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…

I prefer to have my cake and eat it, so I have a nice beefy desktop, and a cheaper but nice laptop from which I RDP to my desktop.

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#318

Post by galkk »

At best I'd agree on something like VSCode remote: performant _local_ client and remote server. All the things like RDP access to powerful machine or even something in-browser (yes, I know that VSCode is also having electron underneath) are just too slow and too inconvenient.

I had desktops for a while. Then I decided to switch to laptop and bought latest Thinkpad X1 Extreme (at a time). It throttles, it struggles to play even relatively easy games. Occasionally it loses connection to the lenovo dock and I need to restart it. It can't have more than 3 monitors.

When the time of next upgrade will come I'm certainly going to desktop + some light laptop like my wife's X1 Carbon. I don't like macs and I strongly believe that Win + WSL / dual boot to linux are much better for development.

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#319

Post by temporallobe »

I produce music with hardware from Universal Audio, which, if you want true zero-latency monitoring (and yes you do), this is your only valid choice, thus you are stuck with the Apple ecosystem. That means either one of their extremely overpriced and underpowered laptops (like my MacBook Pro), a Mac Mini, an iMac/iMac Pro, or a Mac tower, all with high cost of entry and completely non-upgradable and non-user-servicable. Sure you can try to build a Hackintosh, but I want to spend my time making music, not f-int around with incompatible hardware. So unless I want to shell out $6,000+ for a bare-bones Mac Pro which cannot even be upgraded nor can I repair it myself, desktop is not an option for me.

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#320

Post by WalterBright »

balfirevic wrote: post #278
klyrs wrote: post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've gotten used to the convenience of a laptop, but I'm never happy with them. Now that I'm working remotely, the lappy just doesn't cut it. But I want to veg on the couch with my laptop once and a while. My solution is to use my older laptop as a thin client for my desktop.

I tried that (using Windows Remote Desktop) but the latency was just high enough to be annoying. What do you use?

I tried WRD too, with the same result.
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