Your Next Computer Should Be a Desktop

I'm a software engineer, and I'm sure there are many other professions which, like my own, require powerful machines and lots of screen space. I run two 24" monitors and would love to have a third. I could see myself with a powerful laptop if I was able to come home and dock it to my monitors, keyboard, and mouse.

I'm sure that's possible for most systems now if you jump through the hoops, but I haven't had a strong motivation since it has gotten cheaper and cheaper to keep stuffing upgraded components into my ten year-old Coolermaster case.

For most people, I think it will continue to move in the direction of laptops + possibly external monitor for work, phones/tablets for play.

I prefer desktops. It seems to me that laptops are the digital equivalent of the old three-in-ones consisting of turntable, radio and cassette. If you wanted, say, a good turntable, you ended up paying more for the other components too as upgrading only one component was almost impossible. When one broke down, the whole thing had to be sent in for repair.

This article sort of assumes that if you're working on a laptop, you're working on nothing but the laptop. At home, I plug it into a huge monitor on top of a standing desk, with a keyboard and mouse. At home, I plug it into a large monitor, again with a keyboard and mouse. I'm not hunched over the damned thing at the coffee table.

A desktop does get you more bang for your buck, but it also doesn't travel with you, and it takes more effort to synchronize your environment across two machines. I use one laptop for work and hobbies; I'd be annoyed if I had to set up a sync mechanism for both machines.

I prefer desktops. When I leave the office I don't want to take my work with me. When I've had them (desktops) I've always felt a better/healthier segmentation in my life.