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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

#531

Post by anfilt »

ibotty wrote: post #444
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…

> Edit: 12. My desktop doesn't have a microphone or camera, so they cannot be surreptitiously turned on remotely. I am pretty sure your computer has a microphone, because it most likely has a speaker.

The speaker is generally hooked up to a pre-amp and that pre-amp to the DAC. The hardware would need to also have an ADC attached to the speaker for that work. So such an attack could only happen if sound-chipset/card integrated into the motherboard also has an ADC sitting on the same analog line as the speaker output.

I have only ever seen the hybrid mic/headphone ports on laptops and not desktop motherboards. They may exist, but I have yet to see one. Although I guess what matter is how the ports are actually wired.

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#532

Post by bartread »

zaptheimpaler wrote: post #438
bartread wrote: post #117

I've been thinking along similar lines, especially now that - with WFH likely to be the norm for the foreseeable future - my need for a portable computer is much diminished. I could get a lot more bang for my buck and build a system that was specced exactly the way I want. The rub for me is that I really dislike Windows. I use it for work - I have to - but it's not an OS I'd choose for myself[0]. I like OSX but the p…

I had a very similar experience - dual-boot is nice but not ideal because restarting takes time and you lose all your context. Now im running a (headless) ubuntu server on the host with a windows VM with GPU passthrough on top. With a modern 6-8 core CPU + extra RAM (+ a cheap 2nd GPU for linux if you want a desktop environment on both linux and windows active at the same time) you can have both windows & linux runni…

That's an interesting idea: certainly worth experimenting with. As you say, with GPU passthrough it ought to be possible to get a near-native experience on the virtual desktop.

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#533

Post by NiloCK »

kzrdude wrote: post #522
reader_mode wrote: post #514

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've worked on a laptop for the past decade but I use a dedicated keyboard, mouse almost exclusively and a large 34'' monitor (2x24 previously). Advantages of using a laptop : - portability - I work as a consultant and I need to work on premises occasionally - if I had to switch between desktop/laptop it would be too cumbersome - standalone when you need it - when I travel or am on vacation I usually need to do a few…

- When you're out of steam you can sit on the sofa and write emails.

There was a time when people out of steam would take a break!

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#534

Post by bartread »

sudosysgen wrote: post #236
bartread wrote: post #117

I've been thinking along similar lines, especially now that - with WFH likely to be the norm for the foreseeable future - my need for a portable computer is much diminished. I could get a lot more bang for my buck and build a system that was specced exactly the way I want. The rub for me is that I really dislike Windows. I use it for work - I have to - but it's not an OS I'd choose for myself[0]. I like OSX but the p…

Dual booting is a good solution, but you actually could also buy a bit more RAM and run Ableton in a mixed VM Windows-on-Linux.

Definitely worth investigating. There's some sense in which throwing hardware at the problem will solve it and, with a desktop computer, it's actually relatively affordable to do that.

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#535

Post by Spearchucker »

ibotty wrote: post #444
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…

> Edit: 12. My desktop doesn't have a microphone or camera, so they cannot be surreptitiously turned on remotely. I am pretty sure your computer has a microphone, because it most likely has a speaker.

Can't speak for OP, but mine certianly doesn't. I know because I assembled it.

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#536

Post by HeadsUpHigh »

nine_k wrote: post #347
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.

Good luck getting LSD or uranium-235 on the open market. You can still buy these, but only illegally. The market is slightly less open due to laws and regulations. These regulations can easily outlaw general-purpose computing on the same grounds of being too dangerous for the society. I can remind you how encryption algorithms were considered "munitions" back in 1990s, less than 30 years ago. At that time one would p…

They are still considered munitions. That law passed just fine. So now there's someone re-implementing the algorithms in Europe because they can't be exported.

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#537

Post by hobby-coder-guy »

reader_mode wrote: post #514
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've worked on a laptop for the past decade but I use a dedicated keyboard, mouse almost exclusively and a large 34'' monitor (2x24 previously). Advantages of using a laptop : - portability - I work as a consultant and I need to work on premises occasionally - if I had to switch between desktop/laptop it would be too cumbersome - standalone when you need it - when I travel or am on vacation I usually need to do a few…

> can develop for OSX/iOS with MBP

How is this an advantage of using a laptop?

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#538

Post by toyg »

drdeadringer wrote: post #237
013a wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I have a friend who's a millenial who barely knows how to use his desktop PC (It's a Mac) but is fluent on his iPad/iPhone. This worries me not because of any open computing concerns, but because of how FUNDAMENTAL general purpose computers are to nearly every decent paying professional job out there. All of them. No one daily drives Excel or Salesforce One or edits video or codes websites or balances accounts in Q…

> Companies like Apple endlessly mouth their desire to get more kids to code, then their arms release devices so closed off that even trying to take a quick peek at how they work triggers eighteen system integrity protection alarms. You can't have it both ways, Apple. Apple C-Suites: "We want kids to code." Apple Ads: "What's a computer?" Whilst it might be me, somebody somewhere doesn't understand something.

It's not an all-or-nothing. One side perpetuates ignorance to keep consumer prices high; the other balances out to produce just enough technicians to keep wages low. They don't need everyone to be a technician, but they do need everyone to be a consumer.

If you think of it as a firewall around knowledge, it's basically like this set of rules:

  Deny: all

  Allow:

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#539

Post by WalterBright »

dlkf wrote: post #528
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…

> 1. I like big, big monitors. You can connect an external display to your laptop. That's what I'm doing right now. Similarly for 2 through 6. > 7. The desktop has lots of USB ports and they're all in use. The external monitor will give you more. I think reasons 8, 9, and 10 are all legit. I don't think there are any intrinsic benefits to going one way or the other. It all boils down whether you feel the time you spe…

> the time you spend building your rig is worth the money you save.

It takes less than an hour. I enjoy it, and it keeps me familiar with the guts.

Most of the hour is just being careful I'm hooking up the wires correctly. In college I worked as an electronics technician, and one job was putting together a stack of Heathkit serial interface cards. I don't recall the exact times, but the first one took me an hour and the 5th one maybe 10 minutes.

It's also like taking the cylinder heads off my old Mustang V8. The first time took me 2 hours. The third time - 20 minutes. It's all in being familiar with just what to do, and having all the right tools ready.

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#540

Post by KaiserPro »

For previous work I had a big workstation (HPz620, 32 cores, 64 gigs of ram, large GPU)

Whilst it wasn't portable, it was _fast_. Granted not in single threaded performance (they are all old hat nowadays)

But I could run a bunch of containers, VMs if I wanted and run slack and chrome (although I use firefox mostly)

New work has given me a fancy macbook. Which is fine, but I miss the extra resolution of the 4k screen (which I suspect is perceived rather than actual. I have very small fonts)

I also miss linux as a local dev environment.

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