QOTD: For Which Apps Do You Need a Desktop?

[marokero]

Lightroom, Photo Mechanic, a heavy dose of Photoshop, and a little gaming. No laptop I know has room for a GTX 295, dual Triebwerk TK-122 + quad Noiseblocker fans, dual Velociraptors for a cache/library drive, plus a Raptor for the OS, and another large drive for local storage. But one day I will need a laptop for travel, so hopefully a GTX 295M becomes available :^)

 

[Guest]

I still keep a desktop because it definitely is more bang for your buck in gaming performance, For mobile thats why I have an Ipod touch.

 

[Guest]

My main desktop serves as the household archive for one thing. Can't really pull off RAID and swappable backup drives in a laptop. Someday the masses will discover this after their laptop gets dropped and they lose 3000+ pictures (as I did years back in college).

Laptops don't offer the braun to transcode HD video to burn onto DVD, a big reason for my recent purchase of a Core i7.

Finally, the comfort of use with a desktop for people who are at their computer a lot can't be beat. Full size keyboard, 19+ inch monitor. Real speakers. Come on...can't be beat.

I do have a laptop to use in bed, or to look for stuff on Netflix on the couch, but I will always have a nice desktop that is the hub of our entire household.

 

[chaohsiangchen]

At home: game, watch movie on BIG screen, BIG screen web surf while watching TV on the other BIG screen and calculating my tax on BIG screen.

At work: well, when most of your time is to deal with high speed ADC/DAC devices that comes as PCI add-in cards, you have no alternatives but go desktop.

 

[Cache]

My laptop is about 3-31/2 years old. It's fine for traveling when I want to websurf, check email, and so on, but if (when) I need to replace it, I have to pony up the money all at once. My PC, on the other hand, offers substantially faster speeds, exponentially large storage (figure the laptop is 80-gigs, the desktop has 3-1TB drives). For storage alone the desktop is preferred.

But when I want to update things, I can DO it in the desktop. The laptop is trapped forever in time, it is what it is and will remain that way until it dies or is obsolete. I get much better sound also out of the desktop, the speaker system I combined with a decent sound card allows for a tremendous audio experience. The laptop on the other hand is... well, just sad. Granted, I realize what I've commented on concerns hardware more than apps, but come on--how many people can overclock a laptop anywhere near the range of a desktop? Most average apps are compatible between the two, but the desktop does it better, faster, (stronger?) and with much less local heat than the laptop could even hope to achieve.

 

[calmstateofmind]

I use mine for games obviously. Games such as COD WaW, Dead Space, Crysis, Fall Out 3, Oblivion and others. I also do video production and use Adobe PS cs4, Premiere, After Effects, Encore, Soundbooth a few others (I bought the Master Collection Suite).

I also like do to a bit of graphics animation and use Maya 2009. All of those programs/games can't be run on a laptop to the standards that I would like for it to. I built my computer for roughly $1500, and if I were to get a laptop that was equal in power it would be somewhere around $10k most likely.

 

[LordConrad]

[citation][nom]zhelkus[/nom]Aw... LordConrad, your sig is so immature...[/citation]
And here I thought I was being creative, my bad.

 

[IzzyCraft]

Trans-coding/encoding projects although i prefer to use servers for it.

 

[Shadow703793]

[citation][nom]ph3412b07[/nom]No apps I use strictly require a desktop. Rather, I use a desktop for the massive speed gains running macro's, computing finite element methods (ANSYS and NX Nastran), using parametric solid modelers (CATIA, Solidworks, UGS NX). Running any of these on a desktop is faster (given the same price level), and much quieter. Also very easy to hook up dual monitors to a desktop.[/citation]
+1. Add to the list CS4 (try editing a few RAW images at the same time on a laptop ), Inventor (45+ complex parts assembly any one? ) , Vegas Studio (3+hrs of vids encoding to MPEG2/DivX on a laptop?).

 

[visionjd]

I use three 28" monitors on my desktop. Show me a laptop that can handle three large high resolution external displays with good quality 3D acceleration for each, and I might think about giving up my desktop. Until then, I don't think so. I do use a laptop with two additional displays at work with the help of a USB display adapter. The quality is OK, but no video playback or 3D on the USB connected display. It works, but it is nowhere near the experience of my home desktop setup.

 

[redgarl]

Games, HTPC, storage and heavily demanding programs like MATLAB, Photoshop and Cadence.

 

[badaxe2]

Because the only advantage a laptop has is portability, it will always by and large be the inferior platform. I don't know why anyone would prefer one unless they were never home.

 

[Zetto]

Hmm, just a few serious brands as a reality check for all this netbook,iwhatever, Chrome, cloud computing, gaming hype:
( yes some of them are notebookable (A good one) but still, desktops and Windows are going nowhere soon )
Autocad
Peoplesoft
Mincom
Ellipse
ELO
Hummingbird
SAP
Emmerson DCS
Allen Bradley DCS
Metrohm
ICP-MS
Visco
Malvern
Ciros
Dionex
Minipal
Cary
Varian
Vista Pro (not windows)
Bing some of those if you need to(yes I said it) to regain some focus.

 

[redgarl]

[citation][nom]badaxe2[/nom]Because the only advantage a laptop has is portability, it will always by and large be the inferior platform. I don't know why anyone would prefer one unless they were never home.[/citation]

You forget to mention power friendly... if I got to choose between the monstrous crossfire idle system using more than 350W and a laptop using maybe less than 100W, the choice will be easy.

I am beginning to think to get a cheap laptop for my P2P use linked to my caviar green 1TB in an external enclosure. I would save more than half the power I use right now for idling a system getting at 460W at load charges.

 

[redgarl]

[citation][nom]marokero[/nom]Lightroom, Photo Mechanic, a heavy dose of Photoshop, and a little gaming. No laptop I know has room for a GTX 295, dual Triebwerk TK-122 + quad Noiseblocker fans, dual Velociraptors for a cache/library drive, plus a Raptor for the OS, and another large drive for local storage. But one day I will need a laptop for travel, so hopefully a GTX 295M becomes available :^)[/citation]

LOL, in your dream... 2 of those in SLI use a ridiculous amount of power that no single power supply configuration can achieve under loads. If I remember well, it was around 1200W... that's just insane!

 

[alentor]

[citation][nom]Asinger93[/nom]Well, in my experience, GTA 4, Dead Space, Fallout 3 and Oblivion don't run well on anything but a desktop[/citation]
you forgot, CRYSIS

 

[Honis]

I can't upgrade a laptop for $200. Huge turn off! I keep a notebook for when I need to travel of LAN at a friends house.

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

My own research software really. 2 cores just isn't enough and 4 is getting very limiting. I'm sure I'll upgrade to an 8 core machine in the near future though. I also far prefer having my data drives built in rather than scattered around my desk.
I wouldn't be without my laptop either though - its still plenty powerful enough for the likes of Matlab, basic coding or browsing the net while watching tv.

 

[liquidcool72]

A laptop wont last nearly as long as a desktop for the cooling aspect alone. You can't overclock a laptop like you can a desktop for the same reason... cooling. Unless you could somehow put a backpack liquid cooling system together I cant ever see even a close comparison between the two. Even the air cooling in a desktop is obviously better then a laptop. If you want to have a real man's computer, its gotta be a custom build-it-yourself, overclocked and cool as ice machine...

 

[buzznut]

It is prohibitively expensive to build my own laptop. Having said that, I did buy a laptop for school last year. I got it for $500, and since then I have upgraded the ram and hard drive. But since I build most of my machines, they will more than likely be desktops.

I would really like to build a laptop. But I'm not sure what would be the point if you can't upgrade the graphics. Something I'd like to see in the DIY sector.
Also any kind of modding is difficult...

 

[doomsdaydave11]

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.

 

[gosefroba]

games and final cut studio

 

[ahslan]

I use my tablet notebook for class and whenever Im on the go, but whenever Im home, Im always using my desktop...I got much more screen real estate, I can game on it, and its just overall faster than my laptop...simple as that...

 

[Guest]

dont forget about gaming apps as well as regular apps,

Fruity Loops XL, Sony Vegas, CEVO client, ESEA Client, Steam, Game apps, winamp, aim, corel x4, Sony Acid, uTorrent, new firefox updates, miro streamer, thunderbird, garena client, winrar, and all the games!

counter-strike 1.6, counter-strike source, crysis, crysis warhead, unreal tournament 2k4 and 3, world of warcraft, fallout 3, call of duty 4, company of heroes, warcraft 3, left 4 dead, street fighter 4

 

[Twoboxer]

I have no desire to hold, carry, or move a 27" screen nor the gear required to drive it when gaimng, or using any app for that matter.

I view laptops and their screens, keyboards, and pointing devices as a compromise you make only when portability is a necessity or you value it above comfort and ease of use.