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Desktop Replacements and the 11 Pound Pencil
Marco Ramius writes "Tom's Hardware Guide has an article up entitled 'Unwieldy Laptops or Portable Desktops?' in which the author lugs an Alienware Area-51m desktop replacement to a 32 hour LAN to assess what advantages and disadvantages desktop replacements have over desktops themselves." They also have a related article entitled The Case of the 11 Pound Pencil where an office adopts a desktop replacement solution to unsatisfactory ends. Both interesting looks at appropriate uses for hefty hardware.
"they have had something of a mixed reception among IT professionals."
Since when did any "IT Professional" ever consider purchasing a fucking AlienWare machine? A laptop that has "a little alien head on the back"? Or is someone trying to convince me that gamer kids should now be considered "IT Professionals"?
...George Carlin's theory of stuff. I have a desktop computer at home, and then I go on vacation with my laptop, which I leave in my hotel room. I leave my hotel room with my PDA, which I leave in my car. My PDA stays in the car, and I bring a pencil and notepad to the park where I scribble my deep thoughts.
"The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits." -- Albert Einstein
With almost everyone having having highspeed internet. Which seems to counter act the old problems of Lag. I mean it is not like the old days of 1995 where you needed to connect the computers up to a Hub or a Null Modem cable to play these game. Because the average rate of house to house comunication was 14.4k. If you are a gamer just get a mega system with more wires then there are bacteria on your keyboard. Save the laptop for "Professionals" who need to do less System intensive applications and whos poor computer perfomance will not bother other people.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
The high-speed connection at home can never replace the feeling of being in a hall with 150+ other nerds.
Also, a LAN tends toward rock-solid near-zero latency. I know that many FPS gamers appreciate this.
With the large adoption rate of LCD monitors for desktops and the use of USB/Firewire on both laptops and desktops, the difference between the two is getting smaller and smaller from a usage and space standpoint (and even from a price standpoint). I've even seen some of the low end Compaq desktops using a keyboard that is basically an external laptop keyboard, shallow buttons and all. I haven't used a desktop for regular daily work in about two years. Even though I used to loathe laptops, I don't really miss using a desktop as much as I thought I would. In fact, last year I bought my first laptop for home use. I use it to play games and browse while my old desktop is connected to the TV as a media player and my older desktop sits in the basement largely unused (might make it a MAME/emu gaming machine or a file/print server). I don't think the desktop will ever die out but with laptops being about as cheap as desktops nowadays I can certainly see laptops becoming (if they're not already, I have no idea) the primary computer that families buy for their home, especially if they have a wireless Internet setup.
No, you are absolutely correct. And excusing it by saying that some crappy desktops do the same thing is also inexcusable.
> Aye I'm not sure why the T42 has a parallel port.
Walk into the average office building and you'll see a bunch of HP departmental laser printers that all have parallel ports (and very few if any have USB). If you think of the on-site salesman or consultant, they want to be able to print without worrying about how to get on someone's network.
Whenever I hear the word 'Innovation', I reach for my pistol.
I know that this is a shocker but many people only have one computer. For those a desktop replacement laptop can be a good option. I know that many of us have at least a whole room dedicated to their computers but we are the minority.
For some home users the fact that they can just put it into a desk drawer when they are "I know this part will shock you all" not using it is a big plus.
What is even more strange is some people don't think that computers are an attractive part of their home decor and want them out of site when not in use.
That ideal set up is a small light notebook for portable use and a desktop for heavy use but for many they have to find a one computer solution.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
My Alienware laptop has been doing stirling service for more than two years. They use high grade components with good build quality and the highest performance in a laptop at the time, just what I was looking for.
I've been an IT professional since well before it was 'trendy'.
My question is why would someone NOT buy a laptop because it had an alien head on it ?
The majority of people I know who use laptops as desktop replacements have add on USB keyboards and mice they use at their desktop. With an iMac, you can't pick up your work machine, do a few hours work on the plane/train and get set up in a client's office in a minute: you have to have an extra laptop, which means duplicating files and setup.
Centrino laptops these days are powerful enough for most things (I can play BF2 on mine with decent graphics setttings) and have at least 3hr battery life in normal desktop usage
Sadly, I doubt you ever will see a 6-pin Firewire connector on a notebook. Firewire is falling out of favor, becoming a "video professional only" connection. Not only that, six-pin means... powered. And we all know how power-hungry notebooks already are these days. Can't be powering devices off them as well.
-V
... "I read part of it all the way through." -- Movie Mogul Sam Goldwyn (and some slashdot readers)
Ever been to a lan-party? I don't know this one in particular, but the last one I attended took place in a gymnasium and had about 200 participants. After about 20 hours we had to have doors open and bigass fans running to circulate cool outside air inside for two reasons:
1) The stink
2) The gymnasium AC wasn't buit for 200 people each toting a 300 W rig. That's about 60 kW of heat being dumped into the air constantly.
We hit temperatures of abut 35 deg C (95 F) in the middle of the gymnasium before the doors were opened.
I wouldn't be surprised if this was part of the problem. Using a computer in a non ventilated hot area will make it difficult for it to be stable if it's only designed to be used in "normal" temperatures. Doesn't matter if it's a laptop or a desktop at that point.
We do not live in the 21st century. We live in the 20 second century.
Actually, your father's situation is exactly what Toughbooks are designed for. From the city's perspective, it's less expensive to pay a 50% premium for a ruggidized notebook once than to pay to fix or replace it later if it gets damaged.
Given his job (from what you've described) requires being in active construction sites, it's not inconceivable that accidents happen. If you've never worked in government, IT managers have a tendency to overspec equipment anyway, so if they're going to pay a premium, from a taxpayer perspective, I'd prefer they buy something that will hold up in the environment it's going to be used in.
I like the second article, but the first one really sucks. Sorry, but it does.
-No mention of the performance other than that it was okay for the LAN party.
-The reviewer says that the pictures don't really show the size of the machine. Well, why doesn't he take some pictures of the device instead of using photoshopped stuff that probably came from the manufacturer's press office??
-He talks about the weight and the battery life, but provides no information about it (apart from saying that it's heavier than a monitor).
Okay, maybe the reviewer was stll hung over from the LAN party. But then, why doesn't he wait until the next day to write a sensible review?
This review is nothing more than a feel-good piece of writing that does not provide much more info than what could be gleaned from the manufacturer's web site or a store. It's more like an ad-even though he mentions the problems that arose later on.
where's all that Karma?
how 'bout a USB adapter ?
What ? Me, worry ?
Isn't this what CVS and it's relatives are _for_? Keeping the source code on your laptop without checking it in somewhere is a great way to lose your project the day before it is due, in my experience.