QOTD: For Which Apps Do You Need a Desktop?

[baracubra]

Yeah, Mostly gaming, plus theres no way u can use a 28" monitor and still get decent fps rates. Also, I do a lot of multimedia stuff for school where I use 3Ds Max, photoshop and other apps like those...and rendering even on my C2Duo laptop is js a pain in the arse

 

[nukemaster]

Games. I mean who wants to play quake 1 on a laptop 😛

 

[masterofm]

Besides running a few games every now and then, a lot of applications. Specially if you are working in anything IT related, or that requires raw speed.

I did three years as a graphics designer in university before changing to computer engineer(2nd year now). I still use a lot of programs for freelance jobs every now and then.

Since two years ago I started working for an international corporation and there's a whole lot of other tools that makes it necessary for me to have a desktop.

Applications:
- Adobe Photoshop
- Adobe Illustrator
- Adobe InDesign(rarely)
- VMware Workstation (2-3 machines for environment testing with Windows Server2003/2008)
- Microsoft Visual Studio 2008.
- Microsoft SQL Server.
Those are just the ones I use most frequently, but I'm sure there's a lot more someone can come up with.

More than any one application, it's the massive amount of multitasking I do that makes it unbearable to work in a laptop(more than 10 apps open at any time, without counting the ones inside the VMs). It's slow, specially the harddrive. On the other hand, in the desktop computer, I have a quad core, 8gigs of ram, and two monitors. It's day and night working in one and the other. The laptop is always there to save the day when something happens to the desktop(since there's a server with everything), and when I need to take my computer somewhere. But for serious work, there's nothing that can beat a desktop(for the money).

 

[rigaudio]

Music production, really. The power just isn't there with laptops. Besides, I can't lug around my two 24" monitors now, can I?

 

[vabeachboy0]

what we do every night pinky, try to take over the world 😀

 

[LordConrad]

Adobe Photoshop, RipBot264, and games.

----------
Real gamers don't Wii

 

[zhelkus]

I have a Qosmio X305-Q706 and although it isn't the best of gaming laptops, it's certainly powerful enough to run Fallout 3 on 1680x1050 without slowing down. If it does that it can certainly play Oblivion. I even played Crisis a few months ago and although it was running smoothly at ~20fps (60 is for a dream machine) it was definitely playable.

The only game that presented problems was Prototype. It would seem that the mobile graphics cards are slow at rendering and since the game had a quick pace to it, whenever the screen starting zooming fast and new meshes and figures starting popping out the computer would slow down for a bit. I still beat the game because I got used to it.

So to finish it off, I wouldn't say that games are an exclusive reason to get a desktop. Maybe the price of the equivalent hardware found on a desktop is a good reason but games by themselves sure aren't.

 

[zhelkus]

Aw... LordConrad, your sig is so immature...

 

[ben850]

with today's phones, most people no longer need laptops for simple things such as a quick google search, weather reports, driving directions, email, instant messaging, the list goes on.

 

[Luscious]

Some might say luxury, but supplying a $50K QFHD display with four 1080p video feeds is one application-of-use where desktops are required. Those 6-8 multi-monitor setups are another example.

 

[naidnerb]

I am very pleased to say that Avivo Video converter 9.6 work like a charm in transcoding. Despite Tom's reviews I say that GPU is involved in transcoding ANY format as is fast like hell. But for TOM to be fair is to drag nVidia to even AMD when it's no way for that in real world. I owned nvidia GPU and couldn't use CUDA in transcoding for free. Avivo is free and uses STREAM a lot and Badaboom isn't free so I didn't manage to use CUDA in transcoding. There's such a big difference here that Badaboom performance doesn't even matter...You came up with that Cyberlink Media Esspresso story like being the best in transcoding to make Avivo look useless. Esspresso is useless comparing to Avivo, recheck on that honestly...
Other than transcoding is Grid and Rainbow Six Vegas 2.

 

[danhitchcock]

ucsf dock, accelrys discovery studio...... and crysis

 

[flinxsl]

once you go dual screen, you don't go back. you just can't replicate 2x 24" monitors on a laptop

 

[firemage]

Desktop: Ruriruri 2
Phenom II 940, Nvidia GTX 260, 4gig 1066

Laptop: Shana 2
Turion Ultra 2.2ghz, ATI Radeon HD3850, 4gig 800

Both with 1680x1050 monitors the desktop a 23" ACER and the laptop a 17"

When at home i use the desktop for games and long typing, but the laptop goes with me and can handle any game i own as respectable settings.

I use the laptop at home to do aim, vent, email, all while gaming on the other system

-Gabe

 

[matchboxmatt]

Videogames and Adobe CS4.

Everything else could probably be done on a simple laptop, but a large amount of my time is invested into gaming. I also prefer desktops because the better price to performance.

 

[pocketdrummer]

Desktops > Laptops
... in anything that requires performance.

Professional Video
Audio Engineering
Gaming
Etc

The problem is space. Fast components are HOT. Hot components need powerful cooling components, which unfortunately are very large. On top of that, if you need multiple drives (audio engineering) or multiple graphics cards (3D rendering, gaming), you'll be hard pressed to fit it inside anything you could "reasonably call a laptop" (in fact, the alternative naming for those things is a "Desktop Replacement").

Desktops will ALWAYS be here as long as the laws of physics stand.

 

[pocketdrummer]

[citation][nom]naidnerb[/nom]I am very pleased to say that Avivo Video converter 9.6 work like a charm in transcoding. Despite Tom's reviews I say that GPU is involved in transcoding ANY format as is fast like hell. But for TOM to be fair is to drag nVidia to even AMD when it's no way for that in real world. I owned nvidia GPU and couldn't use CUDA in transcoding for free. Avivo is free and uses STREAM a lot and Badaboom isn't free so I didn't manage to use CUDA in transcoding. There's such a big difference here that Badaboom performance doesn't even matter...You came up with that Cyberlink Media Esspresso story like being the best in transcoding to make Avivo look useless. Esspresso is useless comparing to Avivo, recheck on that honestly... Other than transcoding is Grid and Rainbow Six Vegas 2.[/citation]

But, what does that have to do with the price of tea in china?

:-|

 

[ravenware]

anything that leads to more annoying flash adds.

 

[tomtom_32]

i mix and render my own personal and family films my self and then decode them into dvds using adobe premiere pro. dvd quality rendering definitely requires quad core. and in near future i'm switching to HD and i'm planing to get 2 six core opterons and raid 0 for the performance i need.

 

[sylvez]

for using my 24 inch monitor with

 

[Gin Fushicho]

I use my Desktop for Photoshop , and HEAVY multi-tasking. Having 20+ tabs open in firefox is mean on a lappy. ;p Especially with Messanger open and a video or game.

 

[naidnerb]

For pocketdummer it has to do cuz' "In China tea is free" and so is Avivo Video Converter. I'm not an amd guy , I have Intel proc and mobo but an article on tom kept me away from using the Avivo free converter for months. Only to discover later on that is far better than Cyberlink Media Show Esspresso if one uses an Radeon card.

I wanted to state that I do a lot of transcoding for my own purposes and some games.

I think you're now one satisfied Pocketdummer.

 

[Guest]

Games, dual monitors, faster apps and browsing, 1080p video, better keyboard and mouse, 3TB of storage... All that, for less money.

 

[thenetavenger]

Reasons for a desktop:

RAW Power... As the article explains the best performance is going to be a desktop but often this is at a time when the price doesn't even justify the move for most users. Intel i7s are nice but 'necessary'. There are also the 8 Socket Mainboards that hold 128GB of RAM that just isn't in the laptop world. If you are needing this much power, you probably can afford it and aren't going to want to take it on they Airplane with you are be siting in the park or on a beach while using this level of computing power.

Gaming(Not so much)... Laptops have effectively caught up for several years, but do cost more. And they have caught up for a long time, from 2002 when you could get a Geforce 440, and in 2005 you could buy a Laptop with a Geforce 7950 that would outperform all but one NVidia card at the time. The same is true today, with SLI laptops running the latest GPU configurations. Even for $800 bucks you can buy a laptop that will run any DX10 title at maximum quality at native resolution. That is a heads up to people that might want a laptop but are gamers. (Go look at MSI or Acer or ASUS with ATI or NVidia Mobile GPUs)

Media Center... Sure you can do a laptop to sit next to or under your TV, but you are wasting money as you don't need the screen, keyboard, etc. Desktops here make sense, and the Mini and applicance-like desktops as more of us move to 'Theater' like environments.

Upgradeable or Build your Own... This is another areas where Desktop configurations shine, although there are few OEM Notebook designs that aren't bad, and with MXM and other technologies that offer a modest level of upgradeability, laptops are no longer just a disposable appliance once its performance generation is left behind.

Servers... Even in non-rack environments like your home, a nice Desktop or Mini even if headless is a pretty good option. However, a laptop could be shoved into a server role, as many laptops offer 2-3 drive RAID options and with exteral SATA and good speed even on USB 2.0 you have a lot of storage options.

 

[haze4peace]

I enjoy building my own computer and saving a few dollars doing it. I don't really feel a need for portable computing 99% of the time, but if I do need to, it will just be web browsing so a netbook will do.
Of course games as well.