Do you still use a desktop computer much?

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#947574 8-Dec-2013 17:59

As noted in the signature I have an iMac and MacBook Pro - I still spend most of my time on the iMac but I have a feeling in my next refresh I'll probably replace my MacBook Pro with a MacBook Air and then purchase a maxed out iMac for all the grunty heavy lifting (unless I win the lotto then I'll get a Mac Pro with a 4K monitor).

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#947599 8-Dec-2013 18:57

I have an iPhone, iPad and Macbook Pro. The mobile devices get more daily use than the Mac, but the Mac is still very important to me for a number of things:

- Managing a large library of photos.
- Syncing and backing up data from all of my devices.
- Working from home occasionally.
- Topping up my Snapper card.
- Budgeting and personal finance activities.

I usually replace my Mac every three years and when I bought this one in 2012 I did very briefly entertain the possibility that it may be my last. However I've come to the conclusion that I'm still a long way off being able to live without it so I will definitely replace this machine in 2015, although this one probably will be the last computer I ever own with a spinning hard drive.

lucky015

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#947614 8-Dec-2013 19:42

Desktop for 90% of usage, Fill in the gaps with my Note 2 LTE, Don't like small screens and Ive used my laptop maybe once in the last 6 months, Don't own a tablet and much prefer to plant myself down in front of my 3 screens.

profrink

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#947641 8-Dec-2013 20:31

I have a hackintosh setup with dual 24" displays, work issued Macbook Air & iPad mini plus a Nexus 4.

At home my desktop use has dropped drastically in the past 12 months. So I have been pondering how I will adjust my setup in the near future.

I will always keep a desktop setup (desk, chair & external display) at home, as I do believe it's still the most productive setup when I need to get stuff done. Thought will more be directed towards whether I switch from a dedicated box to just docking a laptop. It's difficult to say and probably depends on what hardware my employer has issued at the time. I'd feel weirdly wasteful having two Macbooks for example.

I barely touch my iPad mini. It pretty much only gets used to watch TV/Movies in bed and as a calendar on my desk.

freitasm

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#947646 8-Dec-2013 20:36

I use my laptop as my "desktop" as it has a place in my home office - also great if I have to travel I can ust take it with me. The last desktop I had was a Lenovo ThinkCentre.

I use my smartphone a lot mainly for email and short communications. I do not watch movies or listen to music on those devices. We do have two tablets at home (one Android and one Windows 8.1 Pro). The Android one is mainly for Bella's use, the Windows tablet is my personal use. Since it's new it may well replace my laptop when away, but haven't tried that yet.

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#947655 8-Dec-2013 20:57

I use my PC constantly. I like that's it on a nice big desk, with a keyboard, mouse, and a nice monitor. Even with the 3 year old i7 2700K processor it's very very fast, partly because of the two SSDs in it. I have maybe 4TB of storage in it too. It's our media server, email machine, it's connected to our little 40" LCD office TV. I use it for development occasionally, surfing the web, just everything really. I'm a professional photographer, so I use it extensively for that as well. I can see myself having a full sized computer for many many years.

I hate entering data on phones, tablets, and laptops. Awful.

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technicaljoe

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#948345 9-Dec-2013 22:16

Work:
desktop (primary), clients often think they are saving money by giving me a PC that no perms want...
laptop/surface-pro (secondary), notes taking mainly plus some reading

Home:
laptop (primary), this one is a workhorse laptop, but not a gaming laptop.
desktop (secondary), this is probably going to be my last desktop, I used to play games, but got no time these days.

Ragnor

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#948773 10-Dec-2013 15:40

All day for work (programming/development) and all night for gaming (PC master race)....

DravidDavid

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#948786 10-Dec-2013 15:52

Ragnor: (PC master race)....

Couldn't agree more.

I use my desktop for everything. No laptop or tablet comes close to delivering the amount of power required for 3D animation/rendering.

nzkiwiman

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#948811 10-Dec-2013 16:19

Desktop most of the time
Smartphone when I want want to do something on my desktop but don't want to sit

muzzIT

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#961090 4-Jan-2014 14:18

I use my desktop daily (duel monitors), Smart phone when out and about and laptop when im in the lounge / watching movies in bed etc.

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LazyDr

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#961340 5-Jan-2014 00:36

I have a tablet and grunty laptop. Only reason I have a laptop rather than a desktop is because there literally was no room in a flat we lived in a couple of years ago to set one up! Hence I bought a laptop that was as close to being a desktop as I could find at the time (17", essentially neesd to be plugged in constantly or battery will go flat in no time, i7 processor etc).

Personally, still dislike using the tablet for anything more than light web-surfing, much prefer using a "proper" computer for most tasks. So much easier to move or edit files, type anything more than a paragraph, or even read web pages.

If I could justify it, I'd sell the laptop and get another desktop. A lot cheaper, and not as big a difference as using a computer vs a tablet, but find a desktop is the easiest and most comfortable way to do most day to day tasks.

macuser

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#961395 5-Jan-2014 10:04

Over the years I've had an HP Touchpad, an iPad 3, a HP envy X2 convertable tablet/keyboard and a Surface Pro 2.

None were good enough to do the job of my workstation class laptop and none were that useful, the envy x2 was by far my favourite form factor but in the end none helped me get serious work done. The Surface had too many pitfalls to make it a winner, it was fast but the form factor and accessories was limiting.

A proper computer will be around in my work flow for a long time.

As a secondary device though I'm either looking at a MBAir or another convertible style Windows 8 machine that wasn't ram and CPU limited as much as the X2 was.

NZtechfreak

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#961450 5-Jan-2014 12:04

Use my desktop plenty, video editing/Lightroom etc, it's also set up with my desktop audio rig, so I can't see it going away any time soon.

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TwoSeven

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#961510 5-Jan-2014 14:11

My current feeling is that the definition of a desktop these days is anything plugged into mains power - whether that be most of the time, some of the time I am not sure. But I am thinking that a desktop is really something that works best whilst plugged in. I am being quite liberal with this definition as well - I used to think that a desktop was a certain style of chassis but I think with modern form-factors this is not really the case.

The reason I say this, is because many people buy a laptop on the principle that it is technically mobile, but really end up plugging it in to use it - in which case, what is the difference between that and an all-in-one desktop.

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