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[citation][nom]doomsdaydave11[/nom]Games, customization, video apps, 3D apps... all only run on a fast dual or quad core processor. Desktops also have much better price performance.If I get another portable, it will be a netbook. All I use it for is notes and pinball.[/citation]
The reason I got my netbook too. I only use mine for word processing, watching movies, and very rarely surfing the net.
The reason I got my netbook too. I only use mine for word processing, watching movies, and very rarely surfing the net.
Gazz
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- Oct 22, 2006
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Well I have three desktops and one in pieces one is a gameing computer one is a server and my computer sits in Lian Li 1210 extra long aluminium case that has all the room for all my modifications which is my gameing,desktop,hobby.I have two graghics cards already with room for two more so I need the space and the coolness to do my mods
I don't go to net parties or nights any more so there is no reason to make or have a small factor computer or laptop for easer carrying. So I sit in my four gamer computer room and enjoy 🙂
P.S. I thinking of giveing birth to another computer next year my guests gameing computer is getting a little long in the tooth so I am retireing it to server status and mothballing my server
Gazz
I don't go to net parties or nights any more so there is no reason to make or have a small factor computer or laptop for easer carrying. So I sit in my four gamer computer room and enjoy 🙂
P.S. I thinking of giveing birth to another computer next year my guests gameing computer is getting a little long in the tooth so I am retireing it to server status and mothballing my server
Gazz
flavussnow
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- Apr 26, 2009
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Caffeinecarl
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I just caved a week ago and picked up a Dell Studio XPS 13 laptop with a GeForce 9500M and one of my requirements when I was looking for a mobile machines was that it would at least run all my programs.
Not being picky about how well it would actually run them, I chose the XPS.
Everything at least runs, but nothing runs as well as it would on the desktop except maybe word processing and internet applications, and even then, I definitely prefer my super high screen resolution that I'm able to hit with the desktop.
At the same time, There's no way this thing stays tied down in one place long enough to record my favorite TV programs. When I'm editing photos for anything other than just a quick edit to post on myspace or facebook, I like to have more faithful color representation that my large-ish CRT offers. Oh, and laptop gaming generally bites.
Not being picky about how well it would actually run them, I chose the XPS.
Everything at least runs, but nothing runs as well as it would on the desktop except maybe word processing and internet applications, and even then, I definitely prefer my super high screen resolution that I'm able to hit with the desktop.
At the same time, There's no way this thing stays tied down in one place long enough to record my favorite TV programs. When I'm editing photos for anything other than just a quick edit to post on myspace or facebook, I like to have more faithful color representation that my large-ish CRT offers. Oh, and laptop gaming generally bites.
radnor
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- Apr 9, 2008
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Before all, gaming. Bring me the Laptop that can beat my 4850 CF.
And i multi-task a lot. Some ripping and decoding.
Upgrading is a big factor aswell. Just bought a brand new 640GB WD Black edition for 70€ or so, and no lappy hdd can touch that. An SSD would probably do it, but a 640GB SSD would probably be too expensive.
And, well, Excel !!! Yeah !! But not me, my Ms. She works with quite complex tables and her lappy sometimes can be quit sluggish sometimes.
Last but not least, Price. I bought last year (sept) a 4850 512 for 150€. Now i bought the second for 80€. That's 230€ worth of GPU power.
There is no sub 3000€ lappy with that kind of gpu power. Not to mention the speed and size of the disks. And the diference between a laptop CPU and a desktop CPU.
All accounted for, the price/performance ratio is just too big.
And i multi-task a lot. Some ripping and decoding.
Upgrading is a big factor aswell. Just bought a brand new 640GB WD Black edition for 70€ or so, and no lappy hdd can touch that. An SSD would probably do it, but a 640GB SSD would probably be too expensive.
And, well, Excel !!! Yeah !! But not me, my Ms. She works with quite complex tables and her lappy sometimes can be quit sluggish sometimes.
Last but not least, Price. I bought last year (sept) a 4850 512 for 150€. Now i bought the second for 80€. That's 230€ worth of GPU power.
There is no sub 3000€ lappy with that kind of gpu power. Not to mention the speed and size of the disks. And the diference between a laptop CPU and a desktop CPU.
All accounted for, the price/performance ratio is just too big.
Building my own desktop; just holding the new parts in my hands feels good... I'm mainly using it for gaming and video editing/encoding from my HD camcorder. But I recently got MSI EX625 laptop pretty cheap from Newegg ~$1100 CAD shipping/tax inc. It got HD 4670 and plays all my games at full settings on it's 1366 res, runs pretty quiet and just warm. It's also pretty small and light. I can feel that in few more generations of CPU/chipset/GPU, laptops will be as powerful and cheap as desktops, and with something like wireless docking station to have the notebook connected when at home, who needs a huge desktop.
dotaloc
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- Jul 30, 2008
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For me it's (honestly) more about comfort and familiarity than anything else. I've been computing at a desk for so long that my mind isn't even in the right place when I'm sitting on my couch with a laptop or anything. To get any coding done at all, I need to be at my desk with my larger screen and full keyboard and mouse. I guess I could hook up to a docking station...hmm.
This does make me want to do a couple of benchmarks. I game occasionally but my laptop could probably handle the casual gaming I do at its resolution. And I do some video encoding...which I'd be interested to see if my laptop (HP EliteBook 8530p) outpaces my custom built, older AMD X2 6400 BE standard clock, both 2GB DDR2 (laptop speed may be lower, but processor is a C2D). Maybe I can start outsourcing my heavy lifting to my laptop...that'd be funny.
This does make me want to do a couple of benchmarks. I game occasionally but my laptop could probably handle the casual gaming I do at its resolution. And I do some video encoding...which I'd be interested to see if my laptop (HP EliteBook 8530p) outpaces my custom built, older AMD X2 6400 BE standard clock, both 2GB DDR2 (laptop speed may be lower, but processor is a C2D). Maybe I can start outsourcing my heavy lifting to my laptop...that'd be funny.
dotaloc
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- Jul 30, 2008
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For me it's (honestly) more about comfort and familiarity than anything else. I've been computing at a desk for so long that my mind isn't even in the right place when I'm sitting on my couch with a laptop or anything. To get any coding done at all, I need to be at my desk with my larger screen and full keyboard and mouse. I guess I could hook up to a docking station...hmm.
This does make me want to do a couple of benchmarks. I game occasionally but my laptop could probably handle the casual gaming I do at its resolution. And I do some video encoding...which I'd be interested to see if my laptop (HP EliteBook 8530p) outpaces my custom built, older AMD X2 6400 BE standard clock, both 2GB DDR2 (laptop speed may be lower, but processor is a C2D). Maybe I can start outsourcing my heavy lifting to my laptop...that'd be funny.
This does make me want to do a couple of benchmarks. I game occasionally but my laptop could probably handle the casual gaming I do at its resolution. And I do some video encoding...which I'd be interested to see if my laptop (HP EliteBook 8530p) outpaces my custom built, older AMD X2 6400 BE standard clock, both 2GB DDR2 (laptop speed may be lower, but processor is a C2D). Maybe I can start outsourcing my heavy lifting to my laptop...that'd be funny.
dotaloc
Distinguished
- Jul 30, 2008
- 319
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- 18,810
For me it's (honestly) more about comfort and familiarity than anything else. I've been computing at a desk for so long that my mind isn't even in the right place when I'm sitting on my couch with a laptop or anything. To get any coding done at all, I need to be at my desk with my larger screen and full keyboard and mouse. I guess I could hook up to a docking station...hmm.
This does make me want to do a couple of benchmarks. I game occasionally but my laptop could probably handle the casual gaming I do at its resolution. And I do some video encoding...which I'd be interested to see if my laptop (HP EliteBook 8530p) outpaces my custom built, older AMD X2 6400 BE standard clock, both 2GB DDR2 (laptop speed may be lower, but processor is a C2D). Maybe I can start outsourcing my heavy lifting to my laptop...that'd be funny.
This does make me want to do a couple of benchmarks. I game occasionally but my laptop could probably handle the casual gaming I do at its resolution. And I do some video encoding...which I'd be interested to see if my laptop (HP EliteBook 8530p) outpaces my custom built, older AMD X2 6400 BE standard clock, both 2GB DDR2 (laptop speed may be lower, but processor is a C2D). Maybe I can start outsourcing my heavy lifting to my laptop...that'd be funny.
nonxcarbonx
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- Jun 6, 2009
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Belardo
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- Nov 23, 2008
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A notebook is a portable computer. Those with 17" screens are very heavy and still make for lousy desktop replacements. But for many non-tech people, a notebook is easier since its portable and they don't play games.
For myself: To get the power from my desktop into a notebook would cost $1500~2500, rather than $500~900.
-Notebook HDs are still SLOWER than 3.5 desktop drives.
-Notebook keyboards get hot.
-While my Thinkpad keyboard is excellent, I prefer a desktop keyboard that doesn't generate any heat.
-Desktops are easily serviceable and upgradeable... even from Dell. Unless the user bought a slim-line... which is kind of pointless. If the video chip dies on the notebook, its dead. $600~1200 replacement if out of warranty plus 1~60 days of down time. Vs going to a store and replacing the video card for $25~250.
- A $25 PCIe video card is more powerful than most notebook onboard video.
- Easier to have your notebook stolen.
I have a 15" ThinkPad, its rarely used. It doesn't compare to my 24" LCD monitor. If the selection of Netbooks were out back then, I'd have more use of a 2-3lb netbook than my Thinkpad.
A friend of mine has retired his old HP 17" P4 notebook for a AMD X2 desktop I built for him in a near silent case (still quieter than his HP) with wireless keyboard and mouse. As well as a 26" LCD monitor in 1920x1200. Not many notebooks have 26" screens. Why? He rarely takes his notebook out of his home and its slow. Next week, he'll have a $300~400 netbook for his traveling needs as its 1/6 the size of his HP.
For myself: To get the power from my desktop into a notebook would cost $1500~2500, rather than $500~900.
-Notebook HDs are still SLOWER than 3.5 desktop drives.
-Notebook keyboards get hot.
-While my Thinkpad keyboard is excellent, I prefer a desktop keyboard that doesn't generate any heat.
-Desktops are easily serviceable and upgradeable... even from Dell. Unless the user bought a slim-line... which is kind of pointless. If the video chip dies on the notebook, its dead. $600~1200 replacement if out of warranty plus 1~60 days of down time. Vs going to a store and replacing the video card for $25~250.
- A $25 PCIe video card is more powerful than most notebook onboard video.
- Easier to have your notebook stolen.
I have a 15" ThinkPad, its rarely used. It doesn't compare to my 24" LCD monitor. If the selection of Netbooks were out back then, I'd have more use of a 2-3lb netbook than my Thinkpad.
A friend of mine has retired his old HP 17" P4 notebook for a AMD X2 desktop I built for him in a near silent case (still quieter than his HP) with wireless keyboard and mouse. As well as a 26" LCD monitor in 1920x1200. Not many notebooks have 26" screens. Why? He rarely takes his notebook out of his home and its slow. Next week, he'll have a $300~400 netbook for his traveling needs as its 1/6 the size of his HP.
Here is the reason I will not get a laptop over a desktop even when it comes to portability convenience:
-Laptops get really hot.
-the figure pad to move the mouse around is nothing more then slow and annoying.
-The keyboard keys are flat and hard to feel (Personal reason) always hitting the wrong keys.
-The screen size is small.
-Of course no big name games Crysis and all the games coming out in the next year.
-The fans are loud.
-Can not personalize them aesthetically.
-Can not personalize them internally (hardware wise)
Remember this is all compared to Desktops Because I can already feel all the laptop fans replying to this, As well this is all my opinion.
-The battery only last minutes in hardcore apps and games.
-The speakers are not what you would call first choise.
-Can not have enough space on them(My desktop has 8 TBs and still room for more). Why you need that much you ask? Because someone people just feel like it) I collect music and movies and anime and tv shows(Buy them all of course)
-They, if used in a place Desktops can not be are not as comfortable.
All these reasons are just personal reasons why a laptop is not for me.
I understand that many people live on them will not agree with all of these reasons but, In each laptop owners mind they truly feel the same way about alot of these reasons and agree that in all of these areas laptops could use alot of improvement.
Last thing, I am writing this little blog or answer from a hotel. I work away from home 6 months of the year moving around from hotel to hotel. I share this time with a friend that uses a laptop and I use my decktop of course and here are just some things I see from day to day life with us two. Remember he does not have the worlds best laptop either nor is my computer
I always have a desk in (EVERY hotel so far) to set up my desktop. He always sits and lays in bed with his laptop and after about an hour of gaming he stops because he can not stay in that position anymore.
Everytime I let him he sets up his laptop on the desk he takes it before any portable location and at that point he might as well have a desktop.
He often can not get connected when I get connected everytime.
Sometimes he forgets to plug in his power cables and his computer dies in the middle of a game... He says things that I could not write in this blog.
If the air conditioner is not on many times even just watching movies he has to pause and let the laptop cool off.
... and lastly because I could go on for days, he now after seeing that a desktop is roughly around the same time to set up when you know how to roll said to me about two weeks ago... I hate laptops. I am getting a Desktop PC.
So Remember that there are truly not all that many places that you could have a laptop that a Desktop could not be and for about 90% of the few places you could have a laptop you really don't need it and are just doing it just to say you could.
Thats all from me
Keith Widdop.
-Laptops get really hot.
-the figure pad to move the mouse around is nothing more then slow and annoying.
-The keyboard keys are flat and hard to feel (Personal reason) always hitting the wrong keys.
-The screen size is small.
-Of course no big name games Crysis and all the games coming out in the next year.
-The fans are loud.
-Can not personalize them aesthetically.
-Can not personalize them internally (hardware wise)
Remember this is all compared to Desktops Because I can already feel all the laptop fans replying to this, As well this is all my opinion.
-The battery only last minutes in hardcore apps and games.
-The speakers are not what you would call first choise.
-Can not have enough space on them(My desktop has 8 TBs and still room for more). Why you need that much you ask? Because someone people just feel like it) I collect music and movies and anime and tv shows(Buy them all of course)
-They, if used in a place Desktops can not be are not as comfortable.
All these reasons are just personal reasons why a laptop is not for me.
I understand that many people live on them will not agree with all of these reasons but, In each laptop owners mind they truly feel the same way about alot of these reasons and agree that in all of these areas laptops could use alot of improvement.
Last thing, I am writing this little blog or answer from a hotel. I work away from home 6 months of the year moving around from hotel to hotel. I share this time with a friend that uses a laptop and I use my decktop of course and here are just some things I see from day to day life with us two. Remember he does not have the worlds best laptop either nor is my computer
I always have a desk in (EVERY hotel so far) to set up my desktop. He always sits and lays in bed with his laptop and after about an hour of gaming he stops because he can not stay in that position anymore.
Everytime I let him he sets up his laptop on the desk he takes it before any portable location and at that point he might as well have a desktop.
He often can not get connected when I get connected everytime.
Sometimes he forgets to plug in his power cables and his computer dies in the middle of a game... He says things that I could not write in this blog.
If the air conditioner is not on many times even just watching movies he has to pause and let the laptop cool off.
... and lastly because I could go on for days, he now after seeing that a desktop is roughly around the same time to set up when you know how to roll said to me about two weeks ago... I hate laptops. I am getting a Desktop PC.
So Remember that there are truly not all that many places that you could have a laptop that a Desktop could not be and for about 90% of the few places you could have a laptop you really don't need it and are just doing it just to say you could.
Thats all from me
Keith Widdop.
I stick with a desktop because of games and some software such as 3ds max. I can build a desktop myself for much cheaper than I'll ever be able to purchase a laptop of comparable performance, than on top of that I can also overclock my desktop. There are also the added perks of a much larger monitor, good keyboard, nice speakers, etc. Although the mobility of a laptop is nice, I do 95% of my computing at a desk so why shouldn't I have the more cost effective option.
To me the main reason for desktops is money.
Not the price of buying one in the first place but, as other people mentioned, the upgradeability.
You I look at the rig I am on right now, you'll see why:
The mainboard is now at the end of it's life span, it's one of the first AM2 boards by MSI, aged more than 3 years. It has seen 2 processors, 2 GPUs, 2 ram upgrades. Each of these upgrades significantly boosted the performance, none of them where priced in the region of even the cheapest computers.
But that's just the beginning. My Samsung monitors (one TN, one PVA) are 4 years old, and seriously, I don't see a difference to the ones you can buy today.
I've had the same case for 5 years, though it has been bothering me a bit lately, and I'll get a better-built one.
My speakers, Logitech, are so old, I don't remember, and finally my keyboard...
... is two years older than I am.
1985 IBM Model M. In perfect condition, hardly a scratch on it.
Not the price of buying one in the first place but, as other people mentioned, the upgradeability.
You I look at the rig I am on right now, you'll see why:
The mainboard is now at the end of it's life span, it's one of the first AM2 boards by MSI, aged more than 3 years. It has seen 2 processors, 2 GPUs, 2 ram upgrades. Each of these upgrades significantly boosted the performance, none of them where priced in the region of even the cheapest computers.
But that's just the beginning. My Samsung monitors (one TN, one PVA) are 4 years old, and seriously, I don't see a difference to the ones you can buy today.
I've had the same case for 5 years, though it has been bothering me a bit lately, and I'll get a better-built one.
My speakers, Logitech, are so old, I don't remember, and finally my keyboard...
... is two years older than I am.
1985 IBM Model M. In perfect condition, hardly a scratch on it.
nickcardwell
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- Apr 11, 2009
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Something like an Nvidia Tesla setup for research comes to mind. But for myself, I can get by with just my notebook.
Non of my apps *requires* a desktop.
Some apps are more convenient to run on a desktop:
-Traktor Pro (due to the lots of equipment such as speakers, MIDI controller, audio interface that are not really too portable anyway)
- Debugging code that you have explicitly parallelized via OpenMP or MPI (yeah my laptop is dual core so I use it too but running/debugging/compiling is faster on my Core i7 rig)
- playing poker online (can play on laptop, too, but without some digital video out on your laptop I wouldn't get a decent picture on my 24", and the small screen is no good for multitabling).
Some apps are more convenient to run on a desktop:
-Traktor Pro (due to the lots of equipment such as speakers, MIDI controller, audio interface that are not really too portable anyway)
- Debugging code that you have explicitly parallelized via OpenMP or MPI (yeah my laptop is dual core so I use it too but running/debugging/compiling is faster on my Core i7 rig)
- playing poker online (can play on laptop, too, but without some digital video out on your laptop I wouldn't get a decent picture on my 24", and the small screen is no good for multitabling).
alaskan_handyman
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- May 13, 2009
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I personally moved away from desktop machines about two years ago. My MacBook Pro runs OS X and Windows 7 RC in dual boot configuration and it runs both extremely well. I do graphic/web design and I need the portability when I have to go meet clients at their location. In my usage I have found only high end PC games require high end hardware, and this machine works extremely well for the games that I play.
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