I turned my company provided laptop into an almost full desktop with external monitor, keyboard and mouse, speakers, a USB microphone, USB camera. At this point I am wondering why do I even have a wimpy ULV processor to write code 8 hrs a day. The sheer amount of time I could save by switching to even a basic 4 core 45-65w Desktop class CPU.
Saving pennies on the dollar.
1. big monitor, even multiple monitors
2. full size keyboard
3. no trackpad always being accidentally touched
4. terabytes of disk space
5. wired connection for privacy, reliability, and speed
6. separate mike that costs more than 5 cents. Unplug it when not in use
7. ditto for camera
8. pipe the sound through your real stereo
9. lots and lots of memory
10. high performance, don't worry about heat cooking your junk
11. not likely to get stolen
12. no worries about dropping it
IMO, the allure of the desktop is mostly its power (4 and 10). Laptops can be used with all the same peripherals, including the large, high-res monitors, and can be portable when you want.
> repairs
I've replaced a couple screens on laptops. It's a fair amount of work, and in the meantime your laptop is dead while you await the arrival of the new screen. I keep a spare monitor around, and when a monitor dies, I just switch to the spare, and order a new spare. The same for many components, like keyboards, etc. I can't afford my machine to be out of action for days.
When I buy a new desktop, I really just buy a new mobo, CPU, and graphics card. The rest I re-use from the old desktop. It makes such upgrades pretty cheap.
I think that would be CPU, motherboard and RAM. Graphics cards can be upgraded independently thanks to PCIe, which I often choose to do as they are in a price league of their own.
I'm sad CPU sockets change that often, I would like to stretch expenses a bit more, like using DDR3 for a little while before switching to DDR4. Unfortunately, when upgrading to the next generation, you pretty much have to upgrade those three at once. And Intel is way, way worse with that.
I hear that motherboard manufacturers lobby for new sockets...
I often have to take the laptop with me to do work in other locations which completely rules out how cumbersome it would be to do this with a desktop. It takes me less than five minutes to pop it off the dock and throw it in my backpack.
Not to mention how much of a pain in the ass it would be if I had both a desktop and a laptop, constantly having to synchronize the data between the two, and having to have multiple installations of the same software which may be difficult depending on EULA/licensing.
Performance is in the eye of the beholder. The system I have performs more than adequately for all the tasks that I require, I rarely have to wait on compiles for any significant amount of time, video renderings can take a while but that just gives me an opportunity to stretch my legs and take a break from the computer.
Commuting to work with just a disk drive worked fine for me when I worked in an office.
I'm just not attracted to the idea of having everything on my laptop, because of the significant risk of having it lost or stolen. When I use a laptop, I just put on it what I'll need, never any personal things.
I can game on a laptop (with a decent laptop stand and flat surface for a mouse) but I certainly wouldn't want to do 8 hours of work on it. (Or a laptop on a table/desk, which isn't the right height or a good keyboard setup either...)
Long-winded way of saying I agree with you. But I did buy all of my desktop gear - nothing was work supplied.
I also have a nice external USB webcam that I normally use, but when you run that through Zoom or Google Meet the quality is degraded tremendously, to the point where I don't think it make sense to upgrade your camera, until you are able to use better video software.
As for audio, I tested both the microphone in my external webcam today and a Rode Lavier, and the webcam had a distinct room sound to it, that the Lavier didn't.
And 8ks are coming... 2000$ for a 65" 8k, but of course the HDMI port support is glacial and grossly overpriced. But a curved 8k 65" for high-dpi will be my next big desktop build.
So if you haven't tried it, beware. If you HAVE tried it, what model is working well for you?
Rtings does highlight how much difference there is, but even the TVS that are a couple steps up from the TCL are only a couple hundred more, so the cost per unit of screen real estate is still pretty good.
I think the 8ks will have such significantly better pixel density (because it's not like I'm going to use an 86" monitor for 8k, rather a 60" and have about 50% more pixel density). Maybe even a 50-55".
The ergonomics of a laptop will hurt you little by little.
The screen is low, so you look down, meaning your back and shoulder muscles are used to hold your head in position instead of balancing it on your neck
Generally, a laptop keyboard is positioned at the wrong height. It usually on a table (maybe for eating) which is higher so your arms do not hang down with your elbows at a right angle. You are probably holding your arms in position with muscles.
The keyboard generally has a hard plastic or metal wrist rest which is low and probably cold. It would be much better to have your hands supported by something soft and warm and which puts your wrists and hands in the right relationship with the keys.
Now this all changes (not necessarily for the better) if you say sit on the couch or in bed. I will not cover other rooms in the house. On the other hand, you can take your laptop outside and get some vitamin D.
So yeah, desktop.
But yeah, when I was working in an office, I would specifically request a desktop PC from IT for at-my-desk work. Laptop was just for taking notes in meetings.
I’ve been working remotely for many years now and I started using laptops initially (thinkpad T series ) so my house didn’t get cluttered with work things mostly and I could waltz into the office. Roll on time and I discovered that laptops are a complete nightmare and I am never using one again.
They are expensive, hot, slow, noisy, fragile, have poor connectivity options, needy, unreliable and terrible for your health.
Also there is no office now thanks to covid so I now work from one location always.
The expensive XPS I’ve just been shipped by my company is another one which persists these problems further. It will never be used as a laptop but as a desktop and a wart I can’t get rid of.
I would be happier with a recycled corp i5 desktop with 32gb of ram and 500gb SSD.
Edit to add that my personal computer is a M1 Mac mini. I include MacBooks in my list of criticism, including the M1 units. I have had numerous really bad experiences with Apple laptops.
Grab some paper and a pencil and use it as non-screen time. Else you can find yourself spending too long on a poor posture on furniture that's designed for lean-back, not lean-in.
Laptops on the couch are quite cozy and sustainable.
Everyone’s different. Stop bowing to the church of desks.
I like a work desk. Keeps work and other stuff separate. Got a height adjustable desk. keeps my back from going bad before I hit 40.
Sounds like someone who hasn't heard of the M1 Macs. They smoke all but the beefiest of desktops.
I already invested some money in a laptop last year. not gonna write off a big chunk of that and spend MORE on top of that.
Most of my work is on Linux based OSes. Theoretically I can use a Mac, but I hate Macs. I hate Apple's approach to software (all locked down, but beautiful).
Really like hacking stuff with my OS and I want to be able to replace, atleast basic parts of my computer.
With my current work and personal laptops, I can open the back, replace the RAM, SSDs and even the keyboards (at a stretch).