who has ditched a desktop permanently?

[CurlyDave]

I use an Apple MacBook Pro, about 3 years old now. When at home, I use both the main screen and an external monitor (all the Apple laptops can do this right out of the box). The beauty of this is that the computer is usable as a stand alone, but the extra screen is great.

For the last 10 years I have used laptops as my main computer.

 

[Soundguy]

Ditto that.. the 1.6ghz atom porc in my netbook is as fast as a desktop I bought 5ys ago.. go figure..

I also have a couple optiplex systems floating around.. my wife's school sold them for 25$ each a couple years ago.. I bought 2.. and I used them if I need to swap in a hdd and copy files or if a pc won't boot..e tc.

have one plugged in to the router at home now that you mention it.. i had forgot about it.. it's an emergency internet browseing machine..

soundguy

We have the Dell inspiron mini 10. It probably has more power and features than the desktop I bought ten years ago. I have no clue if you can run it in a performance mode or not.

I noticed a product at Newegg the other day that allows you to plug in SATA drives almost like usb flash drives. It and a 1T drive was on combo sale for $99. I didn't buy it because I was concerned about bending the connectors on the drive with repeated swaps.

In concept, however, I think we're going to see smaller, portable processors with enough drive space to operate on a portable basis and separate, larger external storage drives that are plugged in only when needed for backup.

We're getting to the point where there are so many older desktops that they can be had pretty cheaply and will still work for typing, internet access, and some media applications. I bought a working, complete Dell 170L optiplex system a week or so ago with the original software for $60. I intended to use it in an application where it wouldn't matter much if it were stolen or broken, but it would still be adequate for its intended use until that happens. It's not like a netbook that is going to walk off if I leave it laying around. Plus, I can mess around with different types of Linux and if I totally mess it up, it was only $60.

 

[2manyrocks]

I understand the benefits of having two screens for things like video editing and some word processing, but what do you use 6 screens at once for? I didn't even know you could connect that many to a computer at once.

 

[dmccarty]

I have been using laptops for years. Now days with remote desktops, XWindows and virtual images you can just use the laptop as a terminal. A powerful terminal. Working at home today since I and the kids are sick. The laptop is connected to a system at work. I very seldom actually touch a keyboard on the system I am working on but instead use some sort of remote access software. Heck, quite a few of the systems I use do not have keyboards connected to them. :confused2:

For most users a laptop is all they need today.

However at home I still have a tower system. And I would not mind getting another one or improving the one I have. It has 3+ TBs and I am about to add more. It has four cores but I wish it was faster. I think it really needs a faster HD and I am watching SSD prices. I am doing quite a bit of photo editing and which consumes disk space, disk speed, memory and CPU. Memory is fine but disk space is a constant problem. Disk speed would improve my processing and backups. I think CPU is ok but can't be sure if the bottle neck is the CPU or disk speed.

A laptop simply could not do the work my tower is doing.

Later,
Dan

 

[eepete]

2manyrocks: When do circuit board layout, I use the big landscape monitor for the board. The other monitors have circuit schematics and datasheets for parts. Back when I used to use a light table, I'd have tables on each side with various books open to the pages with the data sheets for the part numbers in the design.
So I can have a high resolution PCB, schematic, and 8 data sheets up at once when doing a PCB. The video adaptor on a MAC is only about $175, the 23" HDTV resolution monitors are under $200 on a good day at Best Buy. So while the big high resolution monitors are high $$s, adding a bunch of little ones is in the noise. The MAC can have up to 4 display adaptors for a total of 8 monitors.

When not doing circuit boards, the other monitors sit there with my calandar, contacts, iTunesk, skype, a few other windows on them.

An even simpler reason: No such thing as too much horsepower or too many monitors .

Pete

 

[Abe460]

you can get a laptop with a dual head video card.

I have a gateway with one and my friend has an alienware laptop with one..

soundguy

My work laptop has two outputs, but I don't have reason anymore to have two screens, let alone three. I've got a lot more to do outside than inside now that I live six miles on the other side of nowhere.

I'm not building any more desktops for a while. I'm thinking when we build our house, I'll go a little crazy with home automation and I'm sure a media server.

 

[2manyrocks]

If you had 9 monitors, I guess you could play a home version of Hollywood squares if you remember that show.

 

[texasjohn]

Yep, not everybody needs a lot of screen real estate. Depends on what you do, and how good your eyes are. Old eyes like large screens

Me, I discovered that when doing a lot of work I was flipping between screens a lot... wastes time. So, went to 4 displays. They can be used as follows

book layout..one page on each screen...so, you can see how a change on one page propagates forward to other pages

Email, calendar, internet, email reply

photoshop image, photoshop tools, explorer with thumbnails, utilities/ftp/etc.

file explorer screen, file explorer screen (for comparison of files/drives), IE, FIREFOX.

MS WORD FILE (source), MS WORD FILE (source), MS WORD FILE (target for copy/paste),

file/drive maintenance or backup copies: different drive shown on each screen, drag/drop between screens.

mix/match above screens or use as different desktops.... insert your favorite applications

 

[MossRoad]

I have two laptops and two external monitors on my desk at work, for a total of 4 monitors. I monitor a lot of processes remotely on many machines. It is really handy to not have to tab between windows so often. :thumbsup:

 

[MossRoad]

The tried to get me to use a laptop at work for plc stuff I still prefer a desk top I don't have too far to go so I built a crash cart with all my stuff on it and use it to do the programing.
IT keeps pushing us to go the laptop route wont do it for now.They are resistant to let us network the plc's on "their" network, I pull the wire and program so we (other techs and I) got our own pirate network they do give us the IP addresses so no real hassle if it gets cross connected.

tom

I cannot see pushing a cart around with a PC and monitor on it if you have access to a laptop. That's a good way to bring the attention of the "efficiency experts".

 

[tommu56]

I cannot see pushing a cart around with a PC and monitor on it if you have access to a laptop. That's a good way to bring the attention of the "efficiency experts".

They are the guys that rise to their of incompetence and wouldn't be able to figure out were the short is in a machine with 10 miles of wire in it.

With not much stuff networked no place at the the panels to hold a lap top its the best choice for me.
Like today working on a press with TI505 plc with my machine and the factory serice tech's lap top sitting on the other end of my cart on the S7-300 that was suppose to be sending me 100 words of data and it wasn't getting through profibuss maze we finally found an bad profibuss repeater causing the problem its being couriered in tonight so we can install it tomorrow and make sure its working properly.

tom

 

[DavidVT]

The laptops rule now. I echo the blackberry being my new 'laptop'. I don't bring the laptop home from work much any more due to the blackberry. Work has a simple docking station with a large flatscreen. I enjoy using both screens when working.

At home my wife and I often sit at each end of the couch watching TV, each on their own home laptop. (Lately I learned about Hulu and started watching another show when she insisted on some chick flick... good stuff, check it out) We both have fairly cheap home laptops bought in 06 for maybe 500 each. Good enough for the web and watching Hulu!!!

Hint to buyers, do your homework on the accident damage insurance the dealers want to sell you. It sucks to see what happens when you dump a drink on a 2 day old laptop keyboard, especially if you decided you did not need the extra coverage because you have carried laptops around the world since the late 80s with no damage.... fateful words those were.... argggggg

My favorite old laptop was the one that had the built in inkjet printer. Canon maybe? It was real handy. Especially with the extra acoustic couplers in a Japanese payphone trying to send messages before the internet really got going.. Great stuff back then.

More if you have the patience to read:

I've been a heavy duty overseas traveler for the last few years. This has forced me to put my life in a corner of my company laptop as I travel. My computer hobbies used to be spread around my home office across at least 10 running computers over the years.
Now that I was forced to pack it with me (vmware worked well for me), I realized that the laptop is plenty for most everything.

The old computer 'lab' upstairs is still there but only one new Dell quad core desktop ($700) chugs away running free VMware ESXi4 with most of the other boxes virtualized inside it. Router, fileserver,numerous webservers in linux, webcam, some Win7, VPNs, etc.

The old $3500 PIII Dell bought new many moons ago and running win2Kpro is turned on from time to time just to prove to myself that it still works. I finally tossed the 486box that weathered the early win versions after using it as a floppy based router for years.. I saw a C64 in a packing box but never found the power supply..

Wow this stuff got cheap over the years....... Interesting how many geeks have tractors.... Hmmmm

 

[2manyrocks]

I don't think the local farmers have heard of TBN, and I don't think I will bring it up at the local Farmers Coop, either.

C64--right next to the Osborne or whatever it was called.

So we all think the young generation is techno hip, right? I met with the director of a community theater a year or so ago, and he was telling me about his sound system. He particularly proud of having wired up an old dial telephone to ring from center stage, but then he said one of the youg actors was supposed to dial it during one of their shows, but didn't understand how to use it.:laughing:

 

[dmccarty]

I like to watch old movies from the 30's. Maybe the 40s and 50's at the latest. Not so much for the plot of the movie but to see how people lived back then. Lucky to have ONE phone. Rotary of course and likely a party line. HAVING to talk to an operator to place a call. And instead of numbers speaking in code.

Or seeing how little space people lived with. How few possessions they actually owned.

One of my favorite movies for this is Hitchcock's Rear Window with Jimmy Stewert whose character is a photographer. I love it when he picks up a 35mm camera and plays with the lenses. But he is living in a very small apartment in NYC. No AC of course. No TV. Maybe a radio or a phonograph. VERY few possessions. The neighbors don't have much either. And a rotary phone of course.

I have pointed out to my kids records and phonographs so they would at least now about the technology.

I have most of the Hardy Boy mysteries. I need to go back and reread them. :laughing: They are going to be so outdated because of the technology. The books USED technology as part of the plot but that technology is just not interesting anymore. Instead of HAM radios today the plot would have to use texting, cell phones, and cameras in the cell phones.

I am sure my next cell phone will be Android based. The spec on the Nexus looks like it has the CPU and memory of my tower PC from 10-15 years ago.

Later,
Dan

 

[Soundguy]

I used to have an old ibm laptop that had an attached thermal printer. heavy.. had a slide out solid metal handle.. and the thing was like 2' long with printer, 1' wide, and about 3" thick..

soundguy

The laptops rule now. I echo the blackberry being my new 'laptop'. I don't bring the laptop home from work much any more due to the blackberry. Work has a simple docking station with a large flatscreen. I enjoy using both screens when working.

At home my wife and I often sit at each end of the couch watching TV, each on their own home laptop. (Lately I learned about Hulu and started watching another show when she insisted on some chick flick... good stuff, check it out) We both have fairly cheap home laptops bought in 06 for maybe 500 each. Good enough for the web and watching Hulu!!!

Hint to buyers, do your homework on the accident damage insurance the dealers want to sell you. It sucks to see what happens when you dump a drink on a 2 day old laptop keyboard, especially if you decided you did not need the extra coverage because you have carried laptops around the world since the late 80s with no damage.... fateful words those were.... argggggg

My favorite old laptop was the one that had the built in inkjet printer. Canon maybe? It was real handy. Especially with the extra acoustic couplers in a Japanese payphone trying to send messages before the internet really got going.. Great stuff back then.

More if you have the patience to read:

I've been a heavy duty overseas traveler for the last few years. This has forced me to put my life in a corner of my company laptop as I travel. My computer hobbies used to be spread around my home office across at least 10 running computers over the years.
Now that I was forced to pack it with me (vmware worked well for me), I realized that the laptop is plenty for most everything.

The old computer 'lab' upstairs is still there but only one new Dell quad core desktop ($700) chugs away running free VMware ESXi4 with most of the other boxes virtualized inside it. Router, fileserver,numerous webservers in linux, webcam, some Win7, VPNs, etc.

The old $3500 PIII Dell bought new many moons ago and running win2Kpro is turned on from time to time just to prove to myself that it still works. I finally tossed the 486box that weathered the early win versions after using it as a floppy based router for years.. I saw a C64 in a packing box but never found the power supply..

Wow this stuff got cheap over the years....... Interesting how many geeks have tractors.... Hmmmm

 

[aczlan]

With not much stuff networked no place at the the panels to hold a lap top its the best choice for me.
Like today working on a press with TI505 plc with my machine and the factory serice tech's lap top sitting on the other end of my cart on the S7-300 that was suppose to be sending me 100 words of data and it wasn't getting through profibuss maze we finally found an bad profibuss repeater causing the problem its being couriered in tonight so we can install it tomorrow and make sure its working properly.

Why not put a laptop on the cart and push that around? Then you don't have to plug in before powering up.

Aaron Z

 

[Soundguy]

how about one of them flat panel touch pads with a lanyard and body strap

soundguy

 

[MossRoad]

how about one of them flat panel touch pads with a lanyard and body strap

soundguy

Substitute the I-Pad for a baby? :laughing:

 

[Soundguy]

yikes! not me!

soundguy

 

[dmccarty]

I used to have an old ibm laptop that had an attached thermal printer. heavy.. had a slide out solid metal handle.. and the thing was like 2' long with printer, 1' wide, and about 3" thick..

soundguy

I think that is the PC Convertible. I have one. Heavy as heck but tough. TWO 3.5 floppy drives with a built in 80 column LCD B&W display! Battery life was pretty good.

I think the printer attached to the pack of the PC.

I still have the Convertible and the P70 luggable. The P70 was a 386 either a 16 or 20mghz CPU. I think it has 1 or 2MB or RAM. It has OS/2 installed on I think a 60MB hard drive. I should go power that thing up and see what happens......

I know the convertible would work. Just don't know if my floppy diskettes would still work... They are a bit old....

Later,
Dan