I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers • Hacker News Board

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#571

Post by mbeex » Mon, Oct 26, 2020, 11:31 AM UTC

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…

P51 owner here. I'm using Thinkpads/Lenovos for 15 years as my main development computers:

1. Not thaaat big, but I prefer sub-4k anyway: WQXGA support, with docking station more than one - check

2. External keyboard - check

3. Check

4. Two M2 1TB Samsung + one 500GB SATA + optional external drives of similar sizes. More than enough

5. Admitted, docking station for some cases and connections.

6. Not anymore, USB bootable devices for the rare occasion. Other former reasons are more or less obsolete for my causes.

7. Docking station again

8. Lenovos are not so bad in this respect too

9. This one was > 2000EU - but will last several years as its ancestors did too ...

12. A piece of duct tape solves all camera problems

I am a consultant, the necessity for traveling around was partly responsible for the original choice, but even today I'm not missing much. I have still NAS-es with even bigger drives and DIY desktops and rack-based servers for image processing (requiring multiple GPU's). But thats me and my area of work. For most things, the laptop ist quite sufficient.

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#572

Post by cehrlich » Mon, Oct 26, 2020, 11:33 AM UTC

SergeAx wrote: post #380

I can't grok why people fall for laptops in the first place. Laptops are a bunch of compromises in every detail: screen size, storage volume, keyboard, sound etc etc. I got my first PC 30 years ago and never bought a new one ever since. It was always upgrades, small or large. Even stepping up MB and CPU I've kept my drives, graphics card, most of the smaller peripherals, sometimes even RAM, so even the largest change…

I don't think people "fall" for laptops. They're well aware of the cons, but the single pro of not being strapped to a desk outweighs all of the disadvantages for many people.

I'm using a MacBook Pro from 2014, after putting in a new battery recently it still works great, and when I'm at my desk I plug it into a big monitor. Not as upgradeable as a desktop, but even assuming I can't sell the laptop when I upgrade it, it cost me less than $500 per year.

I've tried using multiple computers in the past (big desktop + MacBook Air, costs about the same in total as a 15" MacBook Pro that is much less powerful than the desktop) but I realized that the convenience of knowing that all of my files are on one computer is more important to me.

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#573

Post by miki123211 » Mon, Oct 26, 2020, 11:35 AM UTC

What I'm really concerned about is Secure Boot, Notarization (and Windows equivalents) and Mandatory SSL being pushed by browser vendors.

Those three things taken together, with a well-targeted government intervention, could turn the internet into a walled garden, in the name of stopping scams/terrorism/child porn/piracy for the first few years, obviously.

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#574

Post by kzrdude » Mon, Oct 26, 2020, 11:40 AM UTC

NiloCK wrote: post #533

kzrdude wrote: post #522

Earlier quoted context omitted.

- 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!

It was me on Friday. The emails were the mandatory stuff I couldn't escape, then I took time off.

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#575

Post by scns » Mon, Oct 26, 2020, 11:46 AM UTC

curiousllama wrote: post #53

> I know that new "open" laptops are still available, but most of them--the System76's, the Purisms, etc.--are overpriced in my opinion This quote suggest to me the author is an integral part of the problem. Companies are ALWAYS trying to increase their profitability. If they can lock down the computer, they can drop the price while _increasing_ CLTV. That’s why System76 is more expensive. They’re NOT overpriced. The…

At tuxedocomputers (equivalent to System76 but in EU) you can choose which components you want. Good RAM and SSD is costlier but worth it IMHO. I prefer a Samsung SSD and highest RAM clocks to whatever the OEM could get for cheap.

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#576

Post by chrisandchris » Mon, Oct 26, 2020, 11:48 AM UTC

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 desktops too, basically. But as I‘m working on multiple locations, I got annoyed by having to update multiple environments. If I install a piece of software on desktop A, I need to do the same thing on desktop B.

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#577

Post by avhception » Mon, Oct 26, 2020, 11:55 AM UTC

chrisandchris wrote: post #576

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 desktops too, basically. But as I‘m working on multiple locations, I got annoyed by having to update multiple environments. If I install a piece of software on desktop A, I need to do the same thing on desktop B.

I manage that through ansible

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#578

Post by nvarsj » Mon, Oct 26, 2020, 11:58 AM UTC

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

Slight exaggeration on my part. I was thinking of my old desktop which is about 6 years old - taking about half the time to compile a project compared to my brand new MBP.

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#579

Post by MagnumOpus » Mon, Oct 26, 2020, 12:07 PM UTC

dmos62 wrote: post #485

ardy42 wrote: 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. 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.

For 1080p screens, on the vertical you only have 1080 pixels which is pitiful once you subtract 300px worth of start menu, title bars, menu bars, ribbons, status bars, url bars. Even with higher resolution it looks like a letterbox.

Additionally, like you said, for text, you ideally want windows with portrait aspect ratios - but if you split a fullHD 16:9 screen in two, your portrait windows only have 960 pixels of horizontal resolution which is not enough for many IDEs (or e-mail clients or spreadsheets).

On a 28 inch 4K screen 16:9 is not a problem - you can have 3 long vertical text windows next to each other, or ultra-wide spreadsheets, or a combination thereof. On a 13 inch laptop screen it is a different story.

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#580

Post by scottlocklin » Mon, Oct 26, 2020, 12:07 PM UTC

I'm kind of flabbergasted anyone from the desktop era stopped using desktop computers. Trying to do serious work on a laptop is either not doing serious work or laughably insane. Big monitors, big IO (laptop motherboards mostly throttle IO), big memory chips, many hardware threads, actually fast and low latency internets; even the keyboard and mouse experience is vastly better than using the proverbial toilet paper tube of a laptop. I mean, maybe most people don't need this: I do. Pretty much every aspect of my desktop makes me more productive. The only downside is it's more difficult to transport my 60lb threadripper than my thinkpad, but even that can be done, and is totally worth the trouble when there is serious work to be done.

Laptops have mostly regressed into consumer appliances; my 2011 thinkpad is significantly faster and has more memory than a 2017 macbook pro. The monitor (and I guess speakers if I'm using it as a TV) is better in the macbook; that's it!