Desktop Replacement

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Suppose you had to replace your desktop with a laptop. Which one -
ignore cost - would you choose?
 
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"Chuck Pinnegar" <cpinnegar@cogeco.ca> wrote in message
news:eek:hlvb1dbs455u4jjtojva065pah411r5m5@4ax.com...
> Suppose you had to replace your desktop with a laptop. Which one -
> ignore cost - would you choose?

HP ZD8000
 
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Chuck Pinnegar <cpinnegar@cogeco.ca> wrote:
>Suppose you had to replace your desktop with a laptop. Which one -
>ignore cost - would you choose?

Why can you only have one computer? I've got a moderately-powerful
laptop with decent battery life and lots of swappable peripherals,
plus a high-end (well, it was _last_ year 8*) desktop with giant
disks, lotsa memory, a gaming video card, and all the peripherals I
need all the time.

I wouldn't replace either of them with another one of the other.
 

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Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

William P. N. Smith wrote in comp.sys.laptops:

> plus a high-end (well, it was _last_ year 8*) desktop with giant
> disks, lotsa memory, a gaming video card, and all the
> peripherals I need all the time.


And probably a lot of heat and noise which irritates me more than
anything. By now there are only a few peripherals not available in
a high-end laptop.

My guess is that those current desktop rhinos will disappear all
but for server applications. My second look in the crystal ball:
hail to the lap- palmtop PDA and tablet PC's in less than ten
years.

JM2c, of course.


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CeeBee <ceebeechester@start.com.au> wrote:
>William P. N. Smith wrote in comp.sys.laptops:
>> plus a high-end (well, it was _last_ year 8*) desktop with giant
>> disks, lotsa memory, a gaming video card, and all the
>> peripherals I need all the time.

>And probably a lot of heat and noise which irritates me more than
>anything. By now there are only a few peripherals not available in
>a high-end laptop.

Show me the laptop with equivalent performance, price, and (lessee)
600G hard drive volume set, Raid-0 10K RPM disks, a Radeon 9800 Pro
256M video card, 800MHz FSB, dual-channel memory, 52X CD-Rom reader,
removable hard drive tray, and 21" CRT (no LCD, thanks).

Apples and oranges.
 

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Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

>I wouldn't replace either of them with another one of the other.

so in your opinion a person needs BOTH of them?
 

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William P. N. Smith wrote in comp.sys.laptops:


> Show me the laptop with equivalent performance, price, and
> (lessee) 600G hard drive volume set, Raid-0 10K RPM disks, a
> Radeon 9800 Pro 256M video card, 800MHz FSB, dual-channel
> memory, 52X CD-Rom reader, removable hard drive tray, and 21"
> CRT (no LCD, thanks).
>
> Apples and oranges.


Why would people now buying a desktop PC need 600G hard drive volume
set, Raid-0 10K RPM disks, a Radeon 9800 Pro 256M video card, 800MHz
FSB, dual-channel memory, 52X CD-Rom reader, removable hard drive
tray, and a refrigerator size 21" CRT? Just because _you_ have the
need for it?

Apples and oranges.




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CeeBee wrote:

> William P. N. Smith wrote in comp.sys.laptops:
>
>
>> Show me the laptop with equivalent performance, price, and
>> (lessee) 600G hard drive volume set, Raid-0 10K RPM disks, a
>> Radeon 9800 Pro 256M video card, 800MHz FSB, dual-channel
>> memory, 52X CD-Rom reader, removable hard drive tray, and 21"
>> CRT (no LCD, thanks).
>>
>> Apples and oranges.
>
>
> Why would people now buying a desktop PC need 600G hard drive volume
> set, Raid-0 10K RPM disks, a Radeon 9800 Pro 256M video card, 800MHz
> FSB, dual-channel memory, 52X CD-Rom reader, removable hard drive
> tray, and a refrigerator size 21" CRT? Just because _you_ have the
> need for it?

If your refrigerator is the size of a 21" CRT you need a bigger place.

Beyond that, one word. HDTV.

> Apples and oranges.
--
--John
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(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)
 

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Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

"J. Clarke" <jclarke.usenet@snet.net.invalid> wrote in
comp.sys.laptops:


> If your refrigerator is the size of a 21" CRT you need a bigger
> place.

No, it was your 21" CRT. My 22" CRT fills a good deal of my computer
desk. True. :)


> Beyond that, one word. HDTV.


So you wouldn't change your desktop for a laptop. Or give up one of
them. It's no indication that desktops aren't irreplacable with
desktops for about 90% of all PC users. On the contrary: the
majority of desktops currently in use by people around the world can
be replaced by a laptop that outperforms their current system
without being high-end at all. Around me I've only seen a growth in
the use of laptops, hardly any growth in desktops.



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CeeBee wrote:

> "J. Clarke" <jclarke.usenet@snet.net.invalid> wrote in
> comp.sys.laptops:
>
>
>> If your refrigerator is the size of a 21" CRT you need a bigger
>> place.
>
> No, it was your 21" CRT. My 22" CRT fills a good deal of my computer
> desk. True. :)

If your refrigerator is the size of _any_ CRT then you need a bigger place.
>
>
>> Beyond that, one word. HDTV.
>
>
> So you wouldn't change your desktop for a laptop. Or give up one of
> them.

No, neither serves the purposes of the other.

> It's no indication that desktops aren't irreplacable with
> desktops for about 90% of all PC users.

Do those 90% agree with you? And if you are going to assert that they do I
want to see your statistics.

> On the contrary: the
> majority of desktops currently in use by people around the world can
> be replaced by a laptop that outperforms their current system
> without being high-end at all.

IF it is used with the same keyboard, mouse, and monitor as their current
desktop maybe. Personally I find typing on a laptop keyboard, _any_ laptop
keyboard, to be agony, and there is a special place in Hell for whoever
came up with touchpads.

> Around me I've only seen a growth in
> the use of laptops, hardly any growth in desktops.

So? How do you know that "around you" is representative? If you were
working at Pixar you would probably see a somewhat different trend.

--
--John
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(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)
 

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Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

>IF it is used with the same keyboard, mouse, and monitor as their current
>desktop maybe. Personally I find typing on a laptop keyboard, _any_ laptop
>keyboard, to be agony, and there is a special place in Hell for whoever
>came up with touchpads.

I agree with this

But one thing I thought abt doing was to use a wireless
keyboard in conjunction with a laptop used as a
"desktop" most of time.

your thoughts on that?
 
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In article <nuc1c15fk6jcph6d29au4lr7pmrcd518q1@4ax.com>,
<me@privacy.net> wrote:
>>IF it is used with the same keyboard, mouse, and monitor as their current
>>desktop maybe. Personally I find typing on a laptop keyboard, _any_ laptop
>>keyboard, to be agony, and there is a special place in Hell for whoever
>>came up with touchpads.

Personally, I like touchpads better than mice, and like both better than
trackpoints (for which I'd assign the designer a special place in hell).

Different strokes, I suppose.

-Mike
--
http://www.mschaef.com
 

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Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

"J. Clarke" <jclarke.usenet@snet.net.invalid> wrote in
comp.sys.laptops:


> What, 21" display? Pretty good right now, getting better as the
> prices come down. Terabyte array? A couple of episodes of CSI
> Miami fill up my laptop.

Prices coming down is no indication of growing sales; neither is
your ability to put a couple of episodes of CSI on your laptop. ..


> How many _need_ a spec higher than that of a Palm Pilot?

My thoughts exactly.

> If it's got a big enough screen for everyday use then it's not
> very portable.

I have a 17" laptop screen and it's very portable. A truckload of
people is still sitting behind their 15" CRT _desktop_ screen.


> What trend? On what information are you basing your contention
> that that is the trend?


Simply look at developments. Mac Mini, PC Mac Mini clones, smaller
media systems for TV, PDA's, mobile phones, iPODs, laptops, just a
selection.
Main development for consumer PC's -except for the small group of
heavy users - is fitting into the living room, silence,
portability, energy consumption. The application of 'mobile'
processors in desktops to keep them more silent and more energy
friendly is another example of the demand for compact, energy
friendly and more silent.

It doesn't mean you don't have the right to own a great bulky top-
end system. All I indicated that for 90% of the consumers a decent
laptop is a perfect replacement for their current desktop PC. For
them, it has everything. Not for you.


--
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CeeBee wrote:

> "J. Clarke" <jclarke.usenet@snet.net.invalid> wrote in
> comp.sys.laptops:
>
>
>> What, 21" display? Pretty good right now, getting better as the
>> prices come down. Terabyte array? A couple of episodes of CSI
>> Miami fill up my laptop.
>
> Prices coming down is no indication of growing sales;

Actually it is--it reflects economies of scale that come from increased
sales volume.

> neither is
> your ability to put a couple of episodes of CSI on your laptop. ..

That's the point. I can put a _couple_ and it's _full_.

>> How many _need_ a spec higher than that of a Palm Pilot?
>
> My thoughts exactly.
>
>> If it's got a big enough screen for everyday use then it's not
>> very portable.
>
> I have a 17" laptop screen and it's very portable.

But for me 17" is not big enough for everyday use.

> A truckload of
> people is still sitting behind their 15" CRT _desktop_ screen.

So?
>> What trend? On what information are you basing your contention
>> that that is the trend?
>
>
> Simply look at developments. Mac Mini, PC Mac Mini clones, smaller
> media systems for TV, PDA's, mobile phones, iPODs, laptops, just a
> selection.

Sorry, but you are confusing products with markets. Every major vendor has
one or more reduced form factor machines and has for years. They sell to a
few niches, but they aren't hte mainstream.

> Main development for consumer PC's -except for the small group of
> heavy users - is fitting into the living room,

How many consumers put the PC in the living room? I do, but I'm a nerd.

> silence,

There are completely silent desktop cases. The manufacturers don't sell
enough of them to get the prices down. And laptops with performance
equivalent to a desktop are not silent.

> portability,

So you assert. Personally I don't think that a portable machine "fits into
the living room" very well.

> energy consumption.

And that of course is why Intel has recently introduced their most
power-hungry processors to date. Energy consumption from computers is
minuscule compared to that of other common energy users in residences.

> The application of 'mobile'
> processors in desktops to keep them more silent and more energy
> friendly is another example of the demand for compact, energy
> friendly and more silent.

No, it's an example of some manufacturers _hoping_ that there is such a
demand. Do most desktop machines use mobile processors? If not, why not
if there is such a huge demand for them.

> It doesn't mean you don't have the right to own a great bulky top-
> end system. All I indicated that for 90% of the consumers a decent
> laptop is a perfect replacement for their current desktop PC. For
> them, it has everything. Not for you.

I think you have some fundamental misconceptions about the relationship
between products and markets. If you want to know where the market is, you
need to find out what consumers are buying, not what manufacturers are
_hoping_ that they will buy. So far all you have said is that "a few
manufacturers are introducing machines with thus and so features therefore
they are what the market is demanding".

By your reasoning there was a huge market for the Edsel.

--
--John
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(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)
 
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me@privacy.net wrote:

>>But for me 17" is not big enough for everyday use.
>
> what size do you like?

19-21"

> what would;d your biggest size be?

8 feet.

--
--John
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me@privacy.net wrote:

>>IF it is used with the same keyboard, mouse, and monitor as their current
>>desktop maybe. Personally I find typing on a laptop keyboard, _any_
>>laptop keyboard, to be agony, and there is a special place in Hell for
>>whoever came up with touchpads.
>
> I agree with this
>
> But one thing I thought abt doing was to use a wireless
> keyboard in conjunction with a laptop used as a
> "desktop" most of time.
>
> your thoughts on that?

Start accessorizing and after a while it's taking up more space than a
conventional desktop would.

--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)
 
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Laptops seem to be a fashion at the moment. I've heard comments like "a
laptop is better" (than a desktop) without a single justification.

Let's make it simple: if portability is an issue, then a laptop is WAY,
WAY better than a desktop. However, using any other criteria, there is
no way a laptop can touch a desktop: performance, cost, available
options, upgrade flexibility.

Having said that, it does not mean that a laptop's performance would
not meet many people's actual requirements from a practical
perspective. But what's that got do do with anything?
 
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me@privacy.net wrote:
[I wrote]
>>I wouldn't replace either of them with another one of the other.
>
>so in your opinion a person needs BOTH of them?

Absolutely! If "CeeBee" gets to #define everyone's computer "needs"
then I get to #define everyone's computer count. 8*) I have both
(plus a couple of "Sybil" multi-boot machines, plus administration of
our file/print server) my wife has both, in a recent client's
household almost everyone has both, so therefore everyone needs both.

Actually, now that I think on it, most of the kids I know only have a
(usually hand-me-down) desktop, so there's probably a point (age 12?)
below which you only need a desktop, and above which you MUST have
both a desktop and a laptop. I'll call that "Willie's Rule Of
Computer Ownership" and you all most conform. 8*) Oh, durn, I just
remembered my 7YO son has the PeeCee and the iMac. Maybe Willie's
Rule is a minimum. 8*)

I'll let you know my pronouncement on PDAs, iPods, cellphones, and
other personal electronics at a later date. It'll take some thought,
as replacement frequency is an important part of owning one of these
devices, but varies widely based on device type.

{Flashlights,watches,knives,guns,tools,test equipment} are easy, (more
is always better) but that's a guy thing. Thank you for your
attention. 8*)
 
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CeeBee <ceebeechester@start.com.au> wrote:
>William P. N. Smith wrote in comp.sys.laptops:
>Why would people now buying a desktop PC need [a powerful machine]

Gamers are a significant part of the PeeCee market, and there are no
gaming laptops (IMNSHO an oxymoron) that can come anywere close to the
performance of a high-end gaming desktop.