Desktops vs Laptops

[D365]

My laptop is connected to dual 24" monitors and a decent keyboard and mouse. No different to when I was in the office.

Exactly this. For at least the last eight years, laptops have been powerful enough that they can simply be issued one-per-user.

The benefit of USB-C being that I can plug my personal laptop into my work desk once the working day is over.

 

[S&CLER]

I've never used a laptop, having 2 desktops, one of which still has its ancient monitor (1992 vintage white print on blue screen!) but I wonder if any glasses-wearing laptop user can tell me if they present the same minor problem as I find with my computers, namely that my latest prescription reading glasses are perfect for books and newspapers when I sit in an armchair to read, but no longer quite right for the desktop. Obviously the focal length is slightly different. Fortunately, I find that my old prescription reading glasses are just right to see the desktop screens clearly, so I keep a pair of the old reading glasses by each computer. The result is that if I get up from the desk I sometimes find I've got the wrong pair on, or else I have 2 pairs on cords round my neck. With a laptop, do you hold it at the same distance as you would to read a book?

 

[43096]

Having been based on a client site for much of the 18 months before the pandemic (and normally perched on whatever desk space we could find), I was used to working off a laptop. 3 months into the pandemic and having changed roles, the company agreed to get me a proper keyboard and monitor. Definitely worth doing as I can now run dual screen off the monitor and laptop screen. As far as I know, my company only buy laptops now, including for those permanently "fixed" in company offices and have done for some time.

 

[najaB]

With a laptop, do you hold it at the same distance as you would to read a book?

For most people, while closer than a desktop monitor it's nowhere as close as you would a book.

 

[apk55]

An advantage with a desktop is easy flexibility to change, upgrade or repair he system. I have a couple of home desktops that have been rebuilt or upgraded several times over the years by changing just some parts. With a laptop it is often very difficult to open up to for example change the hard drive or SSD, but on a desktop it is an easy job.

 

[birchesgreen]

An advantage with a desktop is easy flexibility to change, upgrade or repair he system. I have a couple of home desktops that have been rebuilt or upgraded several times over the years by changing just some parts. With a laptop it is often very difficult to open up to for example change the hard drive or SSD, but on a desktop it is an easy job.

Yes few people ever do this though so for many its not an issue.

 

[nlogax]

An advantage with a desktop is easy flexibility to change, upgrade or repair he system. I have a couple of home desktops that have been rebuilt or upgraded several times over the years by changing just some parts. With a laptop it is often very difficult to open up to for example change the hard drive or SSD, but on a desktop it is an easy job.

Right to repair is a movement that's finally getting the attention it deserves. Having the ability to repair and replace components ourselves is definitely a benefit to desktop PCs. It's also driving new business in the direction of tech companies who understand the issue. I look forward to the likes of Framework coming to the UK to sell their easily upgradeable and repairable laptops for instance.

Our Mission​

The time has come for consumer electronics products that are designed to last: products that give you back the power to upgrade, customize, and repair them. We’re excited for the opportunity to fix the consumer electronics industry together.

 

[najaB]

Yes few people ever do this though so for many its not an issue.

I agree that few people tinker, but the fact that desktops are typically cheaper to repair is a factor in some people's purchase decision.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

My laptop is connected to dual 24" monitors and a decent keyboard and mouse. No different to when I was in the office.

I guess this is the thing that puzzles me on why companies choose laptops. If you're going to buy the monitors, keyboard and mouse anyway, then wouldn't it be a lot cheaper to just buy a desktop-box to plug them into, compared to buying a laptop of the same power to plug them into - which means you're then paying for the unwanted laptop screen+touchpad+keyboard, as well as having the issues of the laptop being harder-to-upgrade and potentially noisier? Obviously, buying a laptop makes sense if you want people to be able to carry it around and work anywhere in the house, or while travelling. But that doesn't apply if the laptop is basically going to sit in the home-office, permanently connected to the 'proper' monitors etc.

 

[nlogax]

I guess this is the thing that puzzles me on why companies choose laptops.

It can be easier organisations to manage one or two subtypes of the same hardware. If you're giving some people laptops for mobility purposes you may as well give everyone laptops to everyone and reduce your overall IT opex.

 

[gg1]

It can be easier organisations to manage one or two subtypes of the same hardware. If you're giving some people laptops for mobility purposes you may as well give everyone laptops to everyone and reduce your overall IT opex.

That's definitely a large part of it, in the case of my employer another factor was for presentations in meeting rooms.

If all PCs were desktops, each room would have to have it's own dedicated desktop which meeting organisers would have to log in to (after logging out of their main PC at their desk), if everyone has laptops they just unplug it from their docking station and plug in the projector in the meeting room.

USB memory sticks are an option but have their limits and add in a data security risk.

 

[najaB]

It can be easier organisations to manage one or two subtypes of the same hardware. If you're giving some people laptops for mobility purposes you may as well give everyone laptops to everyone and reduce your overall IT opex.

This, precisely. Plus, it means that you don't have the scenario where the occasional traveller feels that they need to have both a laptop and a desktop.

 

[edwin_m]

I guess this is the thing that puzzles me on why companies choose laptops. If you're going to buy the monitors, keyboard and mouse anyway, then wouldn't it be a lot cheaper to just buy a desktop-box to plug them into, compared to buying a laptop of the same power to plug them into - which means you're then paying for the unwanted laptop screen+touchpad+keyboard, as well as having the issues of the laptop being harder-to-upgrade and potentially noisier? Obviously, buying a laptop makes sense if you want people to be able to carry it around and work anywhere in the house, or while travelling. But that doesn't apply if the laptop is basically going to sit in the home-office, permanently connected to the 'proper' monitors etc.

You used to see exactly this in both my employer's and client offices I've visited - serried ranks of desktops each with its own monitor, mouse and keyboard. Often coupled with a set of unusually tidy-minded IT people who made sure you had to spend ten minutes grubbing under desks to find a power socket for a visitor's laptop. But I think after Covid that will be a thing of the past - still monitors mice and keyboards but now just attached to Thunderbolt or similar. Even when people go into the office, many will only be doing so part of the time, often working on the train there and back, and hot-desking when they are there.