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Laptops are overrated. I had MBPs for 15+ years. But I no longer got to conferences or take my laptop with me, my phone works for most things. Then I recognized

Laptops are overrated. I had MBPs for 15+ years. But I no longer got to conferences or take my laptop with me, my phone works for most things. Then I recognized that 99% of time I use my laptop on a table with an external monitor. Switched to an iMacPro which already was a much better experience. Now have a powerful desktop which is cheaper than an MBP but more powerful (main reason was ML training though, otherwise I would have stayed with the iMacPro).

pulse7 6y ago
They are not overrated. They allow you to move your office any time you want: you can work from office, work from home, work from a hotel, etc. Laptops are mobile workstations and with 2-in-1 they are also big tablets.
- KingOfCoders 6y ago
  I no longer go to hotels. I do no longer work on holidays. I no longer work at home if I have an office, and I no longer work in an office if I do remote work.
  - pulse7 6y ago
    But I can take my laptop from my living room to another room if I need more peace and then bring it back to show something to my child and I can bring it anywhere I want without much hurdle... laptop is my mobile computer...
KozmoNau7 6y ago
I absolutely have to disagree with you on this. Laptops are certainly not overrated, and from my experience laptops have been the standard form factor for office work for over a decade, and longer in some sectors. People constantly on the go have been using them for even longer than that, and unless you have very specific workloads that have to run locally and cannot be pushed to a powerful server (CAD/CAM, 3D modeling, video editing), there are absolutely no drawbacks to using a laptop with a docking station, which lets you take your work with you meetings, presentations, conferences, anywhere a white collar worker needs to go. (Blue collar workers and others with a need to use a computer out in the "real world" have obviously always used portable machines, since the very earliest ones. Toughbooks exist for a reason.) It's just a lot more flexible and makes it easier to collaborate with others. Modern docks can run multiple 4K displays, so the need for dedicated desktop PCs has become smaller and smaller.
- KingOfCoders 6y ago
  "Laptops are certainly not overrated, and from my experience laptops have been the standard form factor for office work for over a decade, and longer in some sectors." Yes they have. a.) Because of a status symbol ("why does only the tech department get Apple laptops?") and b.) because people want to have more options, the more the better. So if you have the option to move the Laptop, you get one no matter if you really move the laptop. Yes I understand this, I have had 10+ Apple Laptops.
  - KozmoNau7 6y ago
    Usually there isn't even been a choice to make. Everyone just gets a laptop with a docking station, standard configuration Lenovo/Dell/HP. If you want a desktop PC, you need dispensation based on tasks or specific needs. It's been over a decade since a laptop was a "status symbol". A laptop lets you take your work with you, instead of having to futz around with USB sticks and conference/meeting room PCs that never work quite right. Laptops also simplify WFH enormously, something that has only become even more relevant over the last year. When I started at my current workplace ~14 years ago some of my colleagues had a desktop PC at work and one at home. At my workplace before that, desktop PCs were still the default, which was a whole mess of RDP-ing to your main office PC when you were at the remote server room office, and you'd better hope that nobody had accidentally switched it off while you were away. Luckily for them, they were finally switching everyone to laptops shortly before I left. With processing power leveling out as it has over the last couple of years, there really isn't much reason to choose a desktop over a laptop, unless you have some specific very power-hungry needs. A decent laptop does 95% of what a desktop does, and the few people who do need that 5% aren't in any doubt of what they need. (And even then, a lot of those needs could be served by an eGPU)

pulse7 6y ago

They are not overrated. They allow you to move your office any time you want: you can work from office, work from home, work from a hotel, etc. Laptops are mobile workstations and with 2-in-1 they are also big tablets.

KingOfCoders 6y ago
I no longer go to hotels. I do no longer work on holidays. I no longer work at home if I have an office, and I no longer work in an office if I do remote work.
- pulse7 6y ago
  But I can take my laptop from my living room to another room if I need more peace and then bring it back to show something to my child and I can bring it anywhere I want without much hurdle... laptop is my mobile computer...

KozmoNau7 6y ago

I absolutely have to disagree with you on this. Laptops are certainly not overrated, and from my experience laptops have been the standard form factor for office work for over a decade, and longer in some sectors. People constantly on the go have been using them for even longer than that, and unless you have very specific workloads that have to run locally and cannot be pushed to a powerful server (CAD/CAM, 3D modeling, video editing), there are absolutely no drawbacks to using a laptop with a docking station, which lets you take your work with you meetings, presentations, conferences, anywhere a white collar worker needs to go. (Blue collar workers and others with a need to use a computer out in the "real world" have obviously always used portable machines, since the very earliest ones. Toughbooks exist for a reason.) It's just a lot more flexible and makes it easier to collaborate with others. Modern docks can run multiple 4K displays, so the need for dedicated desktop PCs has become smaller and smaller.

KingOfCoders 6y ago
"Laptops are certainly not overrated, and from my experience laptops have been the standard form factor for office work for over a decade, and longer in some sectors." Yes they have. a.) Because of a status symbol ("why does only the tech department get Apple laptops?") and b.) because people want to have more options, the more the better. So if you have the option to move the Laptop, you get one no matter if you really move the laptop. Yes I understand this, I have had 10+ Apple Laptops.
- KozmoNau7 6y ago
  Usually there isn't even been a choice to make. Everyone just gets a laptop with a docking station, standard configuration Lenovo/Dell/HP. If you want a desktop PC, you need dispensation based on tasks or specific needs. It's been over a decade since a laptop was a "status symbol". A laptop lets you take your work with you, instead of having to futz around with USB sticks and conference/meeting room PCs that never work quite right. Laptops also simplify WFH enormously, something that has only become even more relevant over the last year. When I started at my current workplace ~14 years ago some of my colleagues had a desktop PC at work and one at home. At my workplace before that, desktop PCs were still the default, which was a whole mess of RDP-ing to your main office PC when you were at the remote server room office, and you'd better hope that nobody had accidentally switched it off while you were away. Luckily for them, they were finally switching everyone to laptops shortly before I left. With processing power leveling out as it has over the last couple of years, there really isn't much reason to choose a desktop over a laptop, unless you have some specific very power-hungry needs. A decent laptop does 95% of what a desktop does, and the few people who do need that 5% aren't in any doubt of what they need. (And even then, a lot of those needs could be served by an eGPU)