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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

#482
I've owned laptops for the past 16 years, and not once have I ever considered leaving my desktop computers. Sure, laptops are portable, but that's all that can be said for them.

When you've set up your laptop to be ergonomic to use, it's as portable as a desktop, so that one thing it did well, it turns out, it couldn't even do that.

Laptops are portable, when you REALLY need to be able to compute at some different place than usual.

They're expensive and even then, still underspecced compared to desktops..

My desktop has 20 tib of storage and 64 gib ram, has a 5 ghz cpu and it runs silently most of the time, I can't even buy a laptop with those specs, if I could it'd be super expensive and noisy or frequency throttling.

This is unfortunately going away a bit, but I still have many more upgrade options for a desktop. Now everything is USB but with the right adapters, I can still use those weird ISA cards I've got hanging around, I can still read 5.25" and 3.5" floppies, and CDs and ZIP. (and yes, the "easy" way to read those disks is using a isa floppy controller on a USB to ISA adapter).

Also, I guess I just don't need to move around that much, but when I do, I have a second-hand I7 machine with 16 gib memory that runs linux off of an SSD reasonably well, if I need "performance".. If I only need connectivity, I'm using a this small blue HP StreamBook 11 that I bought for around $200 years ago, it also runs Linux well enough, but it's pretty much limited to running a terminal and ssh.

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#483
I have never liked using laptops for software development for all the reasons (and more) listed in the comments. Also consider using Raspberry Pi for portable apps and development, I am also into open hardware, great projects like the Arduino and pure electronics on bread boards and designing your own pcb. Linux, once the bellwether of of tech freedom is slowly being diluted by corporate interests and bad decisions. There are still places to explore, the amazing world of materials like graphene which is fairly simple to synthesize. To quote from Breaking Bad, "It's Saul Goodman!"

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#484
post #439

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, that's wrong. A heatsink on an NVMe helps to let it run its top speed longer, or forever. Has nothing to do with issues in your case, those things just get warm, and before it gets too hot the heat has to be transported away or they will throttle.

No. NVME's are rated to run at 0-70 degrees. If your case makes your NVME run at > 80+ degrees you should prob fix the airflow in your case as your prob running your CPU/GPU rather hot.

I would run some tests though.

There are all kinds of vendors / models, who knows what kind of throttling they use?

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#485
post #398

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see it. I recently bought a System76 laptop, in honest competition with a comparable (and comparably priced) machine from a huge corporation. I ended up going for S76 based on better battery life and better design, plus the benefits of open firmware and excellent hardware integration with Linux. No regrets. I also got my employer to buy me a S76 desktop at work. At home, though, I do run a slightly modified o…

> I don't see it. I recently bought a System76 laptop, in honest competition with a comparable (and comparably priced) machine from a huge corporation. I ended up going for S76 based on better battery life and better design, plus the benefits of open firmware and excellent hardware integration with Linux. No regrets. I also got my employer to buy me a S76 desktop at work. I really want to want a System76 laptop, but…

Curious, what's the difference between the aspect ratios, in your experience? I've been using 16:9s for a long time now. Off the top of my head, I'd say that 16:9 favours entertainment uses, while a "taller" aspect ratio would favour text-heavy tasks. I use a one-window-at-a-time approach when programming, so screen specifics have relatively little effect on me.

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#486

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Doesn't rdp feel super laggy/artifacty? Or are you just doing ssh work?

People stream 4k60 with no problem from the internet but you think rdp is laggy/artifacty on a LAN? Pretty sure rdp works lossless with no problem whatsoever.

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#487
The whole time you have been apart from desktops I have been using one.

I recently stepped up the game a bit and built a homelab.

I don't care if most people move on to using dumb devices that limit what they can do: they are probably not the people who were really using computers anyway.

Everyone who wants a good PC will have one, nothing is threatening the existence of PCs and the esports industry will keep them alive.

As for a brick and mortar computer store? If you're lucky you live near a microcenter or something.

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#488
post #439

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, that's wrong. A heatsink on an NVMe helps to let it run its top speed longer, or forever. Has nothing to do with issues in your case, those things just get warm, and before it gets too hot the heat has to be transported away or they will throttle.

No. NVME's are rated to run at 0-70 degrees. If your case makes your NVME run at > 80+ degrees you should prob fix the airflow in your case as your prob running your CPU/GPU rather hot.

How is the lifetime of a SSD run around 70° vs the same SSD with a slightly bigger heatsink that runs at 60°?

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#489
Surprised to not see more love for USB-C docks in this thread?

Have set up three USB-C "workstations" with montior, keyboard and mouse (USB via Logitech Unify) in the house: One cable dock for any of the household laptops. There has been some toothing pain, but with USB-C reaching corporate machines, these are quickly becoming a non-issue.

Have been moving the SO and kids to USB-C laptops over the last couple of years (used Thinkpad X's are great value -- and tend to get full teen approval).

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#490

Instead of blasting UEFI, take a minute to learn about tools like `efibootmgr`, and how to install your own keys, so that you control your own machine. UEFI is a bit overengineered, but it's OK. - Most computers' UEFI firmware, desktop or laptop, allows you to install your own keys. - And every computer I've ever heard of with UEFI will allow you to disable secure boot. - Linux runs just fine on UEFI. I'm worried abo…

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.

I don't think it is hard to read past it and I don't think there are only positive sides. If it stays an optional component it might be true, but it would be naive to just let this be the only perspective in hindsight of development of closed systems like smartphones.
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