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Laptop or Desktop — which are you?

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zridling:
I'm curious to find out what percentage of DC-ers are laptop users. I'm a desktop guy because that fits my fat, sedentary, hermetic, chocolate-addicted lifestyle. But since moving over to Linux, I've noticed that everyone — almost — has laptop hardware compatibility (in the form of drivers) and connectivity (usually wi-fi) at the top of their priority list. That's understandable, but if a distro doesn't have wi-fi, it really goes nowhere I've noticed.

 

So here's my follow-up question: If you answered 'Laptop user' above, please tell us why you prefer it over a desktop machine. Thanks!

Gothi[c]:
... I think desktops are just better for 'everyday' use since you can:

* Use bigger screens on them (a laptop becomes less 'portable' the bigger the display gets,...)
* It is way more comfortable to use a REAL mouse and a REAL keyboard! Than those tiny keys on laptops, and mini-trackballs and mini-touchpads they come with
* Desktops are more friendly to upgrade, easier to fix and mess around in hardware-wise.
* Desktops are cheaper! More performance bang for your buck.(granted, you can attach an external keyboard,mouse,screen to a laptop,... but is it still a LAPtop then?)

IMO laptops only make sense when you have the need to be mobile with your work.  Some people like the fact they can work(or watch movies) from the couch or even bed, I tried that with a laptop for a while, and even though it sounds comfortable, it gets waaay more uncomfortable than a real desk after a while.

I know you asked for comments of people who prefer laptops over desktops, so most of the stuff i pointed out is probably obvious, but I wanted to point it out anyway ;)

icekin:
Depends on the situation. I own both laptops and desktops and use them for various needs. When I'm away in another country, I prefer laptops since they are easy to carry around for presentations and meetings. But, I agree that nothing beats having a large 19" screen and 4GB RAM with a good graphics card for gaming. I never really understood the rationale for a gaming laptop, such as those made by alienware.

Armando:
Since i've bought my first laptop, I never looked back. I consider it to be one of my best “technological move”.
Okay, first, I admit, I don't need superpower : I don't play games, I don't need to crunch extremely complex data, I don't encode blue ray HD movies, etc.). Second : I don't mind the smaller screen, but I do have 2 extra screens for specific needs and work. Third : I actually like "small" keyboards and I love touchpads (yep : find touchpads more convenient than a mouse : never hooked a mouse to one of my laptop... but I wouldn't mind hooking Wacom tablet to it, once in a while!!!). Fourth : just love the freedom of not being attached to a desk (I like to work in cafes, and take my laptop to seminars, conferences, courses, whatever). Fifth : I don’t find that I’ve changed to many elements of my desktop computers in the past apart from the graphic card, the hard drive and the ram.  In a laptop. Replacing ram and hard drive is not a big thing. Sometimes you can even replace the graphic card (of course, I wouldn’t replace it since I don’t need it : even my 5 year old Pentium 4 with its horrible SIS 6326 does a goog enough job on anything I need). Sixth : keeping an extra desktop (or even an extra laptop) for mechanical background tasks is always handy...  ;)


PS : BTW zaine, nice laptop you have up there  :Thmbsup:

nontroppo:
I do a lot of analysis and statistical computation in the monolithc Matlab, at the same time as making up graphics in illustrator / Photoshop detailing said analyses, and running software to write about that (along with reference manager), and browsing for references etc. Until the last iteration of laptops, desktops were simply far more useable for such stuff. That has radically changed. All of that stuff happily runs on a laptop with ease. A 2Ghz core2 duo with 2GB runs that without breaking so much as a bead of sweat; indeed, bits of that now run in XP and bits in OS X seamlessly. My monster Xeon dual-processor 4GB desktop workstation is now almost entirely unused (it is still a glorified print server  :P), except I plug its main monitor into my laptop for dual-screen goodness. I much prefer my laptop keyboard too, and would buy a version of it for the desktop if I bothered to use it more ;-)

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