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Comment by mike463 | Hacker News Reader

Who develops on a laptop? Do you ignore ergonomics? This stuff will catch up with you (at the end of the day, and over your lifetime).

I'm healthier and lots more productive on a desktop with a keyboard, mouse and large screen (all at the correct heights and distances).

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The key is to have a good sling-back chair and to keep both feet squarely buried in the sand. I find having a low table on your left-hand side helps keep the sand from sticking to the base of your beer bottle, but you can always use a paperback for that too.

In the end, I find it's more about shade than ergonomics, especially in tropical climates where you're dealing primarily with palm trees and their small cross-section. I guess your mileage may vary.

Just because it's a laptop doesn't mean you have to use it in an non-ergonomic configuration. My current setup is a 15"MBP mounted on a sit/stand desk at home. An external keyboard and monitor keeps both hands and eyes in the right position. I have a similar docking setup at the office. That covers 80% of my time on the machine. The other 20% (mostly at coffee shops) doesn't bother me, and I still get the benefits of mobility and freedom.

You'd be surprised at how ergonomic laptops are. I find my macbook touch-pad to be much easier on the wrists than a mouse, and the display angle adjusts to a perfect viewing position.

The real benefit is that I get to sit in the most comfortable seat in my home, be it a chair, sofa or bed.

I have to disagree with you on the ergos of a laptop. I personally find a touchpad (or any touch interface) terrible on my wrists. And a laptop monitor is far to slow to be comfortable (you have to bend your neck to look down or have your hands positioned too high).

I developed RSI shortly after I started using a laptop extensively.

Even if you use a laptop as your machine, it is best to dock the thing to a large screen, mouse, and keyboard.

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