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> Laptops have always been substantially more efficient than desktops. Yes but a decade+ ago, they weren't a replacement for a desktop, so you ended up having

> Laptops have always been substantially more efficient than desktops. Yes but a decade+ ago, they weren't a replacement for a desktop, so you ended up having both. Now even mid end laptops (or "low end" Macs) are totally feasible as replacements. I bought my last desktop in 2010 and I can't imagine buying another one.

posguy 10y ago
The power states and performance per watt have gone way up too, in 2007 power gating CPUs was not commonplace, and Intel was just starting to optimize for performance per watt (especially in the low power laptop/tablet market). What vendors have done is provide computers with the same power envelope, but much more performance so they may do your calculations @ 35 watts, and then immediately cut all power to large swaths of the CPU so as to curtail power use by at least a few watts, if not 10 watts (depends on your CPU).
icantdrive55 10y ago
Panasonic S25-S607 did the job for me. It was big, but a great, well built computer. It lasted more than ten years too. It had screws. It was repairable. Plus, I did more with that computer than my constantly changing upgrading Macs. I am so tired of devices/programs not working; I am tempted to wipe my MacBook Pro clean, and only installing Linux.
noir_lord 10y ago
> I bought my last desktop in 2010 and I can't imagine buying another one. I still do 95% of my development on a desktop, I just can't see ever not doing that, I'm older now and a good desk, good chair, 3 big screens takes up enough space that a tower isn't taking up much more space. That and I can put hardware into a PC for half the price of a Macbook Pro that will absolute annihilate the laptop on performance. Portability and power efficiency does impose a constraint. For me the trade off of having two machines is worth it rather than having one machine that is permanently hobbled by been designed for a use case I rarely use makes no sense.
- NoGravitas 10y ago
  Fair enough, but... my 2010 desktop was a lot more energy efficient than my 2005 desktop. And my 2017 desktop is probably going to be made from what are effectively laptop parts in a brick the size of a large hardback, with the power supply external like a laptop. So while most people are moving to laptop-only, even us hold-outs are seeing more energy efficiency in desktops.
- ProblemFactory 10y ago
  > I'm older now and a good desk, good chair, 3 big screens takes up enough space that a tower isn't taking up much more space. I do the same, 95% of my development with a Macbook Pro with 2 big screens, keyboard and mouse attached. Don't even touch or move it on most days. A desktop would be much cheaper - but I would still need a decent laptop for the 5% time when I'm not at my desk, so the savings aren't that much any more. And keeping development environments, VMs, config files, keyboard layouts, etc syncronized on two separate computers is too much extra work.
  - noir_lord 10y ago
    I have an oldish but fairly beefy Vostro that does in a pinch, keeping things synchronised isn't that hard in practice since the vagrant files and project files all live in git but yeah there is some overhead but I have that anyway since I have a desktop at the office and at home.
    - tempay 10y ago
      > keeping things synchronised isn't that hard in practice I disagree, I think how difficult it is to keep things synced varies significantly between users. Sure, its easy if your work is consistent and you're disciplined but if you find yourself switching between very different projects frequently the overhead of syncing machines and setting up software repeatedly can become significant.
      - noir_lord 10y ago
Kenji 10y ago
>Yes but a decade+ ago, they weren't a replacement for a desktop, so you ended up having both. Now even mid end laptops (or "low end" Macs) are totally feasible as replacements. You obviously don't play video games, do CAD or video stuff or develop and compile large software. My desktop is never replaced by my laptop.
- vertex-four 10y ago
  Video games run perfectly reasonably for a casual player, and even some low-level competitive players, on a mid-spec laptop. Not everybody demands that the latest Crytek game run at 60fps on extra-high settings 100% of the time. Aside from that - most people don't do those things either. A laptop is totally feasible as a replacement for the 99.99% of people who could also get away with a 5 year old desktop.
  - kbart 10y ago
    I'm not much of a gamer, but still find tiny screen and keyboard limiting gaming experience more than graphic settings.
    - NoGravitas 10y ago
      Right, but most of the laptop-only people will dock their laptop at a desk with a big screen and keyboard.
      - caseysoftware 10y ago
        Yes, when I plug in at home, I plug my laptop into a pair of 22" screens, a simple sound system, and a keyboard.
  - Kenji 10y ago
    Have fun putting a 180W, 30cm long graphics card into your Laptop to play a new game on low-medium settings at a stable framerate.

posguy 10y ago

The power states and performance per watt have gone way up too, in 2007 power gating CPUs was not commonplace, and Intel was just starting to optimize for performance per watt (especially in the low power laptop/tablet market). What vendors have done is provide computers with the same power envelope, but much more performance so they may do your calculations @ 35 watts, and then immediately cut all power to large swaths of the CPU so as to curtail power use by at least a few watts, if not 10 watts (depends on your CPU).

icantdrive55 10y ago

Panasonic S25-S607 did the job for me. It was big, but a great, well built computer. It lasted more than ten years too. It had screws. It was repairable. Plus, I did more with that computer than my constantly changing upgrading Macs. I am so tired of devices/programs not working; I am tempted to wipe my MacBook Pro clean, and only installing Linux.

noir_lord 10y ago

> I bought my last desktop in 2010 and I can't imagine buying another one. I still do 95% of my development on a desktop, I just can't see ever not doing that, I'm older now and a good desk, good chair, 3 big screens takes up enough space that a tower isn't taking up much more space. That and I can put hardware into a PC for half the price of a Macbook Pro that will absolute annihilate the laptop on performance. Portability and power efficiency does impose a constraint. For me the trade off of having two machines is worth it rather than having one machine that is permanently hobbled by been designed for a use case I rarely use makes no sense.

NoGravitas 10y ago
Fair enough, but... my 2010 desktop was a lot more energy efficient than my 2005 desktop. And my 2017 desktop is probably going to be made from what are effectively laptop parts in a brick the size of a large hardback, with the power supply external like a laptop. So while most people are moving to laptop-only, even us hold-outs are seeing more energy efficiency in desktops.
ProblemFactory 10y ago
> I'm older now and a good desk, good chair, 3 big screens takes up enough space that a tower isn't taking up much more space. I do the same, 95% of my development with a Macbook Pro with 2 big screens, keyboard and mouse attached. Don't even touch or move it on most days. A desktop would be much cheaper - but I would still need a decent laptop for the 5% time when I'm not at my desk, so the savings aren't that much any more. And keeping development environments, VMs, config files, keyboard layouts, etc syncronized on two separate computers is too much extra work.
- noir_lord 10y ago
  I have an oldish but fairly beefy Vostro that does in a pinch, keeping things synchronised isn't that hard in practice since the vagrant files and project files all live in git but yeah there is some overhead but I have that anyway since I have a desktop at the office and at home.
  - tempay 10y ago
    > keeping things synchronised isn't that hard in practice I disagree, I think how difficult it is to keep things synced varies significantly between users. Sure, its easy if your work is consistent and you're disciplined but if you find yourself switching between very different projects frequently the overhead of syncing machines and setting up software repeatedly can become significant.
    - noir_lord 10y ago

Kenji 10y ago

>Yes but a decade+ ago, they weren't a replacement for a desktop, so you ended up having both. Now even mid end laptops (or "low end" Macs) are totally feasible as replacements. You obviously don't play video games, do CAD or video stuff or develop and compile large software. My desktop is never replaced by my laptop.

vertex-four 10y ago
Video games run perfectly reasonably for a casual player, and even some low-level competitive players, on a mid-spec laptop. Not everybody demands that the latest Crytek game run at 60fps on extra-high settings 100% of the time. Aside from that - most people don't do those things either. A laptop is totally feasible as a replacement for the 99.99% of people who could also get away with a 5 year old desktop.
- kbart 10y ago
  I'm not much of a gamer, but still find tiny screen and keyboard limiting gaming experience more than graphic settings.
  - NoGravitas 10y ago
    Right, but most of the laptop-only people will dock their laptop at a desk with a big screen and keyboard.
    - caseysoftware 10y ago
      Yes, when I plug in at home, I plug my laptop into a pair of 22" screens, a simple sound system, and a keyboard.
- Kenji 10y ago
  Have fun putting a 180W, 30cm long graphics card into your Laptop to play a new game on low-medium settings at a stable framerate.