I'm in this camp, if for no other reason than by the time you take a laptop and add a mechanical keyboard, a nice mouth, and an extra monitor, you would have been better off having just bought a desktop.
Unless you want to buy a dock and everything, use the laptop as a desktop 90% of the time and just have it portable for when you need to go to a client or something.
Even if you have to plug it in, a laptop is still far more portable than a desktop. If you're moving about and working in different areas, but still have access to power then a laptop could still be a better solution.
A laptop is a great substitute for a desktop if you have a dock. I just place my laptop on the dock, it clicks into place and I have a couple of big screens, a full size keyboard and a mouse on my desk. No different than a desktop.
my problem with laptops is that when i'm at home, i want to hook up external mouse and keyboard, and put it on some books on a desk to get the display at the right height (or plug it into an external display). if you're doing all that, a desktop makes some sense.
laptop using all the built in stuff is bad ergonomics.
So plug in a keyboard and monitor. One point of the article is that laptops are now good enough to be most people's primary "desktop" computer and they're also portable.
Why either/or.. with laptops you can have both the desktop experience and the portable experience. I have a laptop that I primarily use as a desktop. I like it that way best, but I like the option to take it with me. For when I travel or just times I want to sit out in the family room.
I historically much prefer a desktop computer as well. Despite this, I've exclusively used laptops now for nearly a decade. The reasoning is simple:
When combined with a docking station and external peripherals and input devices, a laptop is just a desktop with an integrated battery backup and screen that can become a mobile computing device on demand.
I've fully adjusted to this way of working, and the real crossover point for me was when laptops became available with enough RAM and graphics capabilities that I no longer felt I needed a desktop to do some of my work. I can run two external displays off my laptop with it as the center screen using ergo monitor stands, and run my external mechanical keyboard, ergo mouse, and my headphone stack, boom microphone, external camera, and wired networking all from a docking station with sufficient bandwidth to not be problematic in 2022. I no longer need or want a desktop.
Desktops are cheaper, more powerful, and more comfortable than anything portable. But you need a laptop for live meetings or running errands while on-call, so most companies just get you one big one to use for everything.
Rather than making a half-baked desktop by adding peripherals to a laptop, I wish I could get something like a Chromebook that just has LTE and an X server to remote into some Real Computers™.
As someone who shifts between 3 different desks (home, main office, project office) and sometimes as to go and see clients, having a laptop is pretty necessary. However once I plug my laptop into its docking station connected to my monitors, keyboard, mouse etc. I really don't notice much of a difference between a laptop and desktop.
But I agree that working all day on a laptop in laptop mode is right out.
For me it's quite situational: I am able to get a beefy laptop that has a higher spec than the standard issue desktop, so I just use the laptop with docking stations at home and in the office. If I have to travel, I fall back to just the laptop.
I went the desktop route. I feel that, for many people, laptops simply encourage bad work habits. It's like the idea that you shouldn't read in bed, because doing so habituates you to not sleeping there. Sure, some people genuinely need a portable. But... for many people desktops do some nice things:
- Great price / performance
- Great Linux/BSD compatibility
- Improved ergonomics
- A station at which one can habituate him/herself to working :-)
- Greatly improved attention at meetings if in-person meetings are a thing (modulo note-taking, which I prefer to do sparsely and on paper anyway).
I think there's on assumption being made here which ought to be challenged. Laptops are widely used, but they are not great coding environments. They were created to enable portability, but the way it mostly gets used promotes terrible habits, posture, handpositions, viewing angles, all of the above. If given a choice I would opt for a desktop and live with the portability restrictions it comes with. Of course it is an increasingly uncommon choice. The next best thing is to use the laptop docked but closed, and have separate peripherals: monitors, keyboard, mouse.
The way I use my laptop (plugged and always attached to a monitor, keyboard and external mouse), a desktop would be the most appropriate choice. And no, I don't want to work at coffee shop and a smaller, lighter, cheaper laptop could do if I wanted to be mobile around the house (WFH).
I view using the laptop as a laptop as a fallback.
When I'm at an office location, I'll setup my mouse and keyboard just like I had a desktop. The laptop just becomes a smaller second screen with a keyboard for some reason. I have the same interface I would if I were to use a desktop, with the added bonus that I can bring a fully functional unit with me wherever I go.
Because, unless I'm going to always be at home, or only leave when I'm on vacation: I will need a portable work station. I could duplicate a setup on a laptop and a desktop, but I much prefer being able to simply fold my work (or gaming!) computer up and take it with me.
A friend just broke his ankle and has had people coming by to hang out and help out. No problem for me - I just packed up my work and my gaming laptops and drove over. Productive during the day, hanging out after work. The next day I went back to my full office setup with no fuss.
Interesting that this article reflects my current views.
I'd rather have a desktop at work and a desktop at home than lug around my laptop with me.
It's also more cost effective: I just regrettably got a new laptop (dell m3800) which is far over $2000, when an equivalently powered desktop would be under $1000.
I'd agree with you if the argument was "full desktop setup" vs "just a laptop". I sometimes envy people who can spend all day using only their laptop. After a few hours bent to look at my 12 inch screen, my neck and back scream.
But when using a laptop with a dock, a big external monitor, external keyboard, mouse etc, I don't see the point in using a desktop machine anymore.
I was a desktop diehard until performance reached the point where laptops are good enough. Being able to take the same computer around with you and use it seamlessly in a different place is a big improvement.
I still have a proper desk-based working environment hooked up to a docking station though. I really wouldn't want to use a laptop that doesn't have a first-party dock as my primary machine.
Unless you want to buy a dock and everything, use the laptop as a desktop 90% of the time and just have it portable for when you need to go to a client or something.
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