Ask HN: Desktop + Laptop, or just Laptop? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Desktop + Laptop, or just Laptop?

3 pointsasnyder4 comments

For the past few months I've been using an interim laptop as my primary computer while I waited for the new ThinkPad lines. Last week the new lines were released. Now, I've been debating whether it's a better choice to build my own desktop, which would run around $500 and get a Dell Vostro V13 (http://bit.ly/7njiU4) which ranges from $450 - $650 for when I'm on the road.

Alternatively, I could just get one of the new ThinkPad w510 (http://bit.ly/90CrsS) which would serve both purposes. The ThinkPad option would likely run around $1000 more than the Desktop + Vostro option.

Although much of the work I do is remote, or in a VM, I still have to have a fair amount of desktop apps installed. Which would you choose? Is using a remote drive via DropBox or ExpanDrive good enough? Have you had successes or troubles keeping your machines in synch? Thank You.

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I've been working with three different laptops for the last few months, and my conclusion is that it really depends on what you're doing. If you have a lot of license keys to juggle or finicky software that wants a very specific install environment, it's just plain easier to use one computer. And if you have tons of media sitting on Dropbox, it can take ages to do the initial sync after a reinstall, even if you're only using the 2GB free account. And my EEE 900's flash drive doesn't play well with Dropbox and turns the whole desktop into a nightmarish stop-start experience...so it's been relegated to being almost purely a web machine.

But apart from those things, my cross-computer experience has been pretty good.

I have a desktop and a notebook. I put my personal projects on Dropbox, plus some other things, use imap with Mail, rss with NetNewswire, so everything syncs and it works really well - I get the mobility when I need but use the desktop at home (I don't think I could stand using a notebook at home). I think you could have problems if you use applications you can't sync between the too, or projects with really large files that are hard to sync. My only gripe with my setup is browsing; I'm working (well, sort of, when I have time) at some utility to save snapshots of my tabs and send them between the computers, so I can close the notebook with tabs open and get the same tabs on the desktop.

As has been pointed out, a single machine works best. You'll have trouble synchronizing software and data between the machines at times, and you'll occasionally forget that crucial file for a presentation or meeting on your desktop. If you really need a desktop, get a second monitor, a nice mouse/keyboard combination, and a docking station if you think that is appropriate.

PS. Stop messing around and get a Macbook. Unless you need the enterprise warranty provided by Lenovo, you really have no reason other than "it's what I am familiar with" to stick with a Windows machine.

if you work for long hours on a laptop without an external monitor and keyboard, you are asking for ergonomic trouble.

But buying an external keyboard and monitor, and making sure both are an appropriate height solves that problem.

To answer your question, I personally prefer a separate desktop system. It's marginally faster to set up, and more importantly, it means that I've got a backup when my laptop is out of commission.

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