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How many of you no longer own laptops?

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pianowizard
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How many of you no longer own laptops?

#1 Post by pianowizard » Sun Jul 09, 2017 7:47 am

After getting my first laptop in Aug 2002 (a Dell Inspiron 8200) I was obsessed with laptops for almost a decade, but then I discovered the advantages of desktops which caused me to use laptops less and less often in recent years. A few days ago I sold my last remaining laptop, a Sony Vaio Pro 13. My desktops, Microsoft Surface 3 and smartphones suit my computational needs better than any laptop.

I wonder, who else on this forum also no longer have laptops? Considering that virtually all forum members own Thinkpads, it's possible that I am the only person not to own a laptop. But I could be wrong!
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Re: How many of you no longer own laptops?

#2 Post by Puppy » Sun Jul 09, 2017 9:59 am

I am close to it if the Retro project fails to deliver what is expected (no 16:9). Currently I use X220, most of the time in dock and 4:3 NEC 2090UXi monitor. So if the Retro fails, my next machine will be a small self built PC, very likely AMD Ryzen based. The R51 is used as VLC "Jukebox" and X31 is retired.

I still use 8" ThinkPad 8 tablet with LTE mobile connection daily or Lumia 950 phone when travel (because the GPS in ThinkPad 8 tablet almost does not work). I don't use phone calls or SMS at all, I'd prefer full featured OS in phone, if possible. Still hope for the Microsoft Surface Phone that it will be different than any crippled phone OS :-)
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Re: How many of you no longer own laptops?

#3 Post by pianowizard » Sun Jul 09, 2017 10:57 am

Puppy wrote:
Sun Jul 09, 2017 9:59 am
I'd prefer full featured OS in phone, if possible. Still hope for the Microsoft Surface Phone that it will be different than any crippled phone OS :-)
I have been dreaming of such a phone ever since Sony's pocket-sized P Series Windows laptops came out in early 2009. Microsoft could have developed a phone running full-blown desktop Windows long ago, and hence prevented Apple and Google from dominating the smartphone market. But Microsoft never did it, probably partly because such phones could have cut into PC sales, and partly because battery life would have been terrible (or huge batteries would have been required). Now that Windows-compatible CPUs are so power-efficient, battery life shouldn't be a concern any more. I wish that someday I can go on business trips carrying just an 8" phone on which I can use all of my Windows programs. Make it 8" 2560x1440, keep the bezel size to a minimum, and offer a detachable keyboard similar to the Surface keyboards except that it uses a trackpoint due to limited space -- the Sony P Series used a trackpoint for this reason.
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Re: How many of you no longer own laptops?

#4 Post by Puppy » Sun Jul 09, 2017 11:18 am

pianowizard wrote:
Sun Jul 09, 2017 10:57 am
I wish that someday I can go on business trips carrying just an 8" phone on which I can use all of my Windows programs. Make it 8" 2560x1440, keep the bezel size to a minimum, and offer a detachable keyboard similar to the Surface keyboards except that it uses a trackpoint due to limited space -- the Sony P Series used a trackpoint for this reason.
This one http://www.khironsigma.com/ ?
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Re: How many of you no longer own laptops?

#5 Post by QWERTY Andreas » Sun Jul 09, 2017 11:22 am

I will not say im laptopless

But i don't use a laptop very often, and when i do the trusty W500 is mostly sufficient.

Otherwise im using a Lumia 950XL, a custom build dekstop and a GPD win UMPC.

If i need to do compute heavy tasks, i can send a WOL signal to my desktop, and connect a bluetooth keyboard to my 950XL. It works rather well, even thou there is some input lag.
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Re: How many of you no longer own laptops?

#6 Post by pianowizard » Sun Jul 09, 2017 11:49 am

Puppy wrote:
Sun Jul 09, 2017 11:18 am
This one http://www.khironsigma.com/ ?
Wow, this is the most appealing UMPC design I have seen. My Sony P Series served me reasonably well on several big trips, except that it was painfully slow, the battery lasted no more than 2 hours on a single charge, its charger was kind of bulky, the 8" screen was too short (3.46") and low res (1600x768), and it lacked cellular connectivity. This KSPRO UMPC would be a major upgrade over the Sony P in all these areas: faster, up to 12 hours on one charge, a small USB-C charger that can be shared with a phone, 8.2" 2560x1440 screen (7.15" x 4.02"), and LTE. But, it still lacks phone functionality and the keyboard isn't detachable.

Asus, HP and Lenovo are planning to release Windows devices containing the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 later this year, the same CPU used in this KSPRO UMPC. Hopefully these devices will include phablets.
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Re: How many of you no longer own laptops?

#7 Post by unix_joe » Sun Jul 09, 2017 12:28 pm

Four months ago, sure, I did not have a laptop for the first time in over a decade. Desktop + iPad Pro w/Keyboard + iPhone. Three Dell Monitors, the middle of which is the U3014.

I bought an X250 to try that with the monitors but it didn't work out.

Then I went on a business trip, bought a W530 i7 Quad with 32GB of RAM. Only intended to use for the trip; I plan on selling both laptops when I get home. And I will temporarily be back to zero.

But then! -- I plan on doing a R61 Boe Hydis build in the early Autumn, for future business trips. No trackpad of course.

I like big screen laptops, but I think the fatal flaw in modern machines is that number pad. I would love to see a modern 17" Laptop without a number pad, preferably with Intel Graphics and 1440p resolution. If anybody had the guts to make that machine, it would probably be Dell.
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Re: How many of you no longer own laptops?

#8 Post by RealBlackStuff » Sun Jul 09, 2017 12:38 pm

I still have about 40 Thinkpads and 1 NEC laptop, it'll take me a looooooooooong while to flog those...
And I use my home-built desktop about 98% of the time.

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Re: How many of you no longer own laptops?

#9 Post by kfzhu1229 » Sun Jul 09, 2017 4:51 pm

I have about 12 ThinkPad laptops, a Dell Inspiron laptop and a crap Lenovo laptop for parts.
Similar to how others may start to ditch laptops, i never feel a need of a tablet. I either use my phone with mouse and keyboard (my thrift store find IBM USB keyboard has 2 usb ports on itself so that I can connect another mouse and usb drive) or one of those ThinkPads.
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Re: How many of you no longer own laptops?

#10 Post by Thinkpad4by3 » Sun Jul 09, 2017 4:52 pm

RealBlackStuff wrote:I still have about 40 Thinkpads and 1 NEC laptop, it'll take me a looooooooooong while to flog those...
And I use my home-built desktop about 98% of the time.
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Re: How many of you no longer own laptops?

#11 Post by ZaZ » Sun Jul 09, 2017 11:16 pm

I'm pretty much down to using my notebook when I'm watching TV or a movie. That's probably why I don't haven't went back to a ThinkPad yet cause it's just not worth spending the money when I use it so little and despite my misgivings about my Dell, it's still more than adequate.

If I were to take a trip where I wasn't sure if there was a PC available, I'd probably take it, but that's about it.
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Re: How many of you no longer own laptops?

#12 Post by AlphaKilo470 » Tue Jul 11, 2017 9:11 pm

The first laptop I ever owned was a ThinkPad 350C that was given to me while I was in 6th grade in 1998. Since then, I've always had to have a notebook handy. I have a pretty nice cell phone but I like having a keyboard and large screen. I don't think I could get along without a decent notebook. The Latitude E7250 which I built outta spare parts late last year is rarely seen away from me.
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Re: How many of you no longer own laptops?

#13 Post by MisterB » Thu Jul 13, 2017 9:10 pm

The only desktops I own are relics from the 80s and 90s made by Amiga and Atari. For anything practical, I've used laptops since around the year 2000. There is no way I would put up with a bulky desktop these days but I have been playing around with minis lately. I've got a Raspberry Pi and an android box called a Remix Mini that isn't much bigger. They are nice toys to play around with but I don't see them replacing my Thinkpads for any practical work anytime soon. The same for any tablets I've tried. A mini PC that ran Linux like the Compulab Mintbox Mini might. I was looking at one a few months ago and it was kind of nice with a quad core processor, dual HDMI ports, USB 3.0, upgradeable ram and 64gb SSD, ethernet port, wifi and bluetooth in a real small form factor with an equally small power draw. A bit bigger than a Raspberry Pi but still smaller than any of my laptops.
Last edited by MisterB on Thu Jul 13, 2017 10:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: How many of you no longer own laptops?

#14 Post by Thinkpad4by3 » Thu Jul 13, 2017 9:21 pm

MisterB wrote:The only desktops I own are relics from the 80s and 90s made by Amiga and Atari. For anything practical, I've used laptops since around the year 2000. There is no way I would put up with a bulky desktop these days but I have been playing around with minis lately. I've got a Raspberry Pi and an android box called a Remix Mini that isn't much bigger. They are nice toys to play around with but I don't see them replacing my Thinkpads for any practical work anytime soon. The same for any tablets I've tried. A mini PC that ran Linux like the Mint minis might. I was looking at one a few months ago and it was kind of nice with dual a quad core processor, dual HDMI ports, USB 3.0, upgradeable ram and 64gb SSD, ethernet port, wifi and bluetooth in a real small form factor with an equally small power draw. A bit bigger than a Raspberry Pi but still smaller than any of my laptops.
Atari STacy?? :D

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The efficiency of two screens equally sized with equal numbers if pixels are equal. The time spent by a 4:3 user complaining about 16:9 is proportional to the inefficiency working with a 16:9 display, therefore the amount of useful work extracted is equal.

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Re: How many of you no longer own laptops?

#15 Post by Unknown_K » Thu Jul 13, 2017 9:53 pm

I have had laptops for many years but they were never my main machines (always a desktop). Laptops might go outside when I am lounging around under the trees on a nice sunny day for some light browsing. I use my smartphone for looking things up or email when away from the house.

I just like using a 24" screen when browsing and need TB's of space for video etc.
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Re: How many of you no longer own laptops?

#16 Post by Thinkpad4by3 » Thu Jul 13, 2017 10:02 pm

Unknown_K wrote:I have had laptops for many years but they were never my main machines (always a desktop). Laptops might go outside when I am lounging around under the trees on a nice sunny day for some light browsing. I use my smartphone for looking things up or email when away from the house.

I just like using a 24" screen when browsing and need TB's of space for video etc.
Me too. My 24" Monitors help my productivity tenfold. 5TB is for all my video editing. If your an LTT fan, why not build a PetaByte Project? Thats for when you do Livestreams with 4 Dell 8k monitors :) . Only my X220 and X230 are for little things like youtube.
Thinkpad4by3's Law of the Universe.

The efficiency of two screens equally sized with equal numbers if pixels are equal. The time spent by a 4:3 user complaining about 16:9 is proportional to the inefficiency working with a 16:9 display, therefore the amount of useful work extracted is equal.

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Re: How many of you no longer own laptops?

#17 Post by MisterB » Thu Jul 13, 2017 10:37 pm

Thinkpad4by3 wrote:
Thu Jul 13, 2017 9:21 pm

Atari STacy?? :D

(Insert Doge with "Such Battery Life")
The Stacy was big and bulky, had display issues and used almost as much power as a desktop Atari ST. The ST desktop monochrome display is VGA compatible with a special cable and can look pretty good on an LCD monitor.

Atari made a much better laptop called the ST Book but they made very few and they are extremely rare these days.

The Amiga, which is by far the more interesting of the two platforms, never existed in a laptop, in a native one anyway. Morph OS can be installed in a G4 Powerbook which is one way of having an Amiga laptop.

True that you can get more computer power for less money in a desktop but I prefer having multiple laptops with each one dedicated to a specific purpose than having one powerful desktop. I like the mobility even though it usually just means moving it from one room to another for me. Bottom line is that I don't like the desktop form factor and I'd much rather have devices that don't take up a lot of space whether laptop or mini box.
I've got a T580, 2 W500s, a W520, an X201T, an X220T, an 3 X61Ts, a 15" T60, a 14" T60P, a 15" UXGA T60P, a 15" T42p a W701, and my first Thinkpad, a 770X.

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Re: How many of you no longer own laptops?

#18 Post by pianowizard » Fri Jul 14, 2017 6:50 am

Based on all the responses so far and the fact that not many people have contributed to this thread, I am the only laptop-less forum member? jdk was laptop-less for a short while, and several others rarely use laptops, but no one is laptop-less.
MisterB wrote:
Thu Jul 13, 2017 10:37 pm
Bottom line is that I don't like the desktop form factor and I'd much rather have devices that don't take up a lot of space whether laptop or mini box.
You can put the desktop under the table, so it's not the desktop per se that's taking up desk space, but the monitor and keyboard. In fact, the monitor can be pushed back all the way against the wall and it's still easy to view since it's so large, thereby freeing up the most valuable area of the desk for other purposes, whereas a laptop needs to be at the center or near the front of the desk because the screen is so small. In my experience, a laptop occupies more usable space on a desk than a desktop monitor plus keyboard, especially if the keyboard is placed on a tray under the desk. To me that's the second biggest advantage of desktops. The biggest advantage is productivity, as others have pointed out.
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Re: How many of you no longer own laptops?

#19 Post by unix_joe » Fri Jul 14, 2017 7:14 am

MisterB wrote:
Thu Jul 13, 2017 9:10 pm
A mini PC that ran Linux like the Compulab Mintbox Mini might. I was looking at one a few months ago and it was kind of nice with a quad core processor, dual HDMI ports, USB 3.0, upgradeable ram and 64gb SSD, ethernet port, wifi and bluetooth in a real small form factor with an equally small power draw.
The Mintbox Mini is a re-branded fitlet pc from the same Compulab manufacturer. It came in two versions: an A4-6400T and an A10-6700T. The original Mintbox Mini has been out of stock for a while and I believe there was only ever one batch of the Mini Pro. Sometimes you can still find them on eBay. But if you buy the fitlet versions of either one, you can put your own RAM (up to 1x16GB) and mSATA SSD. They are also sold as a LAN appliance with four gigabit ethernet ports, which is where I use it.

They are fanless, but run very very HOT! Burning to the touch. Get the external heatsink if you can find it anywhere. These machines come with a 5 year warranty, which I would not put much stock in as there have been rumors of Compulab folding or being bought out for the past year and a half. That may also explain the shortage of inventory.

Also, they officially only support 1920x1200 through HDMI, but I have driven my 2560x1440@60Hz display from the A4 Fitlet.
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Re: How many of you no longer own laptops?

#20 Post by Thinkpad4by3 » Fri Jul 14, 2017 7:33 am

pianowizard wrote:Based on all the responses so far and the fact that not many people have contributed to this thread, I am the only laptop-less forum member? jdk was laptop-less for a short while, and several others rarely use laptops, but no one is laptop-less.
MisterB wrote:
Thu Jul 13, 2017 10:37 pm
Bottom line is that I don't like the desktop form factor and I'd much rather have devices that don't take up a lot of space whether laptop or mini box.
You can put the desktop under the table, so it's not the desktop per se that's taking up desk space, but the monitor and keyboard. In fact, the monitor can be pushed back all the way against the wall and it's still easy to view since it's so large, thereby freeing up the most valuable area of the desk for other purposes, whereas a laptop needs to be at the center or near the front of the desk because the screen is so small. In my experience, a laptop occupies more usable space on a desk than a desktop monitor plus keyboard, especially if the keyboard is placed on a tray under the desk. To me that's the second biggest advantage of desktops. The biggest advantage is productivity, as others have pointed out.
I would think many would be LaptopLess because afterall this is the Thinkpad Fourms and 99.9% of us own Thinkpads so your looking for the 0.1%. There isn't probably more than a few dozen of us that fit that category, and thats of theyre still active.
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The efficiency of two screens equally sized with equal numbers if pixels are equal. The time spent by a 4:3 user complaining about 16:9 is proportional to the inefficiency working with a 16:9 display, therefore the amount of useful work extracted is equal.

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Re: How many of you no longer own laptops?

#21 Post by TankPad » Fri Jul 14, 2017 8:02 am

I couldn't imagine being without a laptop really.
I have a few to play with, and a good custom built desktop that does any heavy tasks, but the laptop always scratches an itch that no phone or tablet has ever been able to.

I read somewhere recently that laptop sales have actually seen a jump in recent times, as tablets fall out of favor and laptop specs get better and better.
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Re: How many of you no longer own laptops?

#22 Post by Thinkpad4by3 » Fri Jul 14, 2017 8:09 am

TankPad wrote:I couldn't imagine being without a laptop really.
I have a few to play with, and a good custom built desktop that does any heavy tasks, but the laptop always scratches an itch that no phone or tablet has ever been able to.

I read somewhere recently that laptop sales have actually seen a jump in recent times, as tablets fall out of favor and laptop specs get better and better.
Well, 3 hour battery life isnt the standard anymore. :)
Thinkpad4by3's Law of the Universe.

The efficiency of two screens equally sized with equal numbers if pixels are equal. The time spent by a 4:3 user complaining about 16:9 is proportional to the inefficiency working with a 16:9 display, therefore the amount of useful work extracted is equal.

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Re: How many of you no longer own laptops?

#23 Post by MisterB » Fri Jul 14, 2017 9:16 am

pianowizard wrote:
Fri Jul 14, 2017 6:50 am
You can put the desktop under the table, so it's not the desktop per se that's taking up desk space, but the monitor and keyboard. In fact, the monitor can be pushed back all the way against the wall and it's still easy to view since it's so large, thereby freeing up the most valuable area of the desk for other purposes, whereas a laptop needs to be at the center or near the front of the desk because the screen is so small. In my experience, a laptop occupies more usable space on a desk than a desktop monitor plus keyboard, especially if the keyboard is placed on a tray under the desk. To me that's the second biggest advantage of desktops. The biggest advantage is productivity, as others have pointed out.
Any under the table space I have is occupied by my dinosaur desktops and some other non PC equipment. Laptops that aren't being used are put on a bookshelf next to dictionaries and other weighty tomes. I've set up my work space so I can have up to 4 laptops active at once. It actually works out quite well for productivity because I'm not pushing one computer to its limits to do a lot of things. I was doing that a few years ago and then discovered that having multiple computers doing separate tasks was not only more productive but more secure as well. 4 desktops with 4 monitors and keyboards would be a nightmare space wise but 4 Thinkpads is really not much that table space.
I've got a T580, 2 W500s, a W520, an X201T, an X220T, an 3 X61Ts, a 15" T60, a 14" T60P, a 15" UXGA T60P, a 15" T42p a W701, and my first Thinkpad, a 770X.

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Re: How many of you no longer own laptops?

#24 Post by unix_joe » Fri Jul 14, 2017 9:14 pm

jdk wrote:
Sun Jul 09, 2017 12:28 pm
I like big screen laptops, but I think the fatal flaw in modern machines is that number pad. I would love to see a modern 17" Laptop without a number pad, preferably with Intel Graphics and 1440p resolution. If anybody had the guts to make that machine, it would probably be Dell.
Just a follow-up on this comment I made: there is a 17.3" 1440p screen on the market now, but it is TN@120Hz. Swapping into a laptop with HD630 Intel graphics -- for OpenBSD use -- might be a fun project down the road, but I have only found the Dell Latitude 7720 and a Clevo laptop that are suitable candidates (17.3" with Intel only graphics). And it still doesn't solve the number pad problem. Now I'm completely off-topic.

There just isn't anything interesting in the laptop world in my view. If it weren't for having to travel every so often, I would be desktop only. Tablets aren't there yet -- and yes, I've tried the iPad Pro / Razer mechanical keyboard case combination. It's just not for me.
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Adiie
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Re: How many of you no longer own laptops?

#25 Post by Adiie » Sat Jul 15, 2017 9:58 am

I only have smartphone and tablet. That is all

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Re: How many of you no longer own laptops?

#26 Post by pianowizard » Sat Jul 15, 2017 11:26 am

TankPad wrote:
Fri Jul 14, 2017 8:02 am
I read somewhere recently that laptop sales have actually seen a jump in recent times, as tablets fall out of favor and laptop specs get better and better.
I have to agree that there are more interesting laptops than ever. I welcome the overall improvement in screen quality, bump in screen resolution (formerly capped at 1600x1200, 1920x1200 and 1920x1080), weight reduction, ever-increasing battery life, widespread touchscreen availability, and most importantly, back-flipping convertibles. HP's first-gen Spectre X360 convertible with 15.6" UHD IPS touchscreen, >10hr battery and 4.0 lb weight combines all these virtues. A huge inconvenience of traditional laptops is that their keyboards cannot be detached. Convertible laptops overcome this problem by rotating the keyboard onto the back of the screen, so one can view the screen in portrait orientation and get a super tall screen. With a traditional laptop, you are stuck with its short screen.

Despite the above advances, I prefer my Surface 3 over all laptops as it suits me better. I do still think that a very large (17.3" or 18.4") desktop-replacement laptop can be useful, and may get one at some point. However, I doubt it would actually replace any of my desktops. I would still use desktops most of the time, and use the "desktop replacement" only when I want to work in a different room or at a cafe.
MisterB wrote:
Fri Jul 14, 2017 9:16 am
I've set up my work space so I can have up to 4 laptops active at once. It actually works out quite well for productivity because I'm not pushing one computer to its limits to do a lot of things. I was doing that a few years ago and then discovered that having multiple computers doing separate tasks was not only more productive but more secure as well. 4 desktops with 4 monitors and keyboards would be a nightmare space wise but 4 Thinkpads is really not much that table space.
I went through that phase as well. Like everyone else I started out (in the 1990s) using one computer at a time. About 15 years ago I began to use multiple laptops at once, not 4 laptops but only 2 or 3. Productivity did improve because back then I didn't have a single machine that was powerful enough to simultaneously handle dozens of tasks, and also I only had small desktop monitors. But about 8 years ago I decided to get much more powerful desktop computers driving multiple large monitors, which I found to be more efficient than operating multiple laptops. At work, my HP 8300 Elite minitower (third gen Core i7 and 24GB of RAM) has two 40" 3840x2160 monitors and a 27" 2560x1440 touchscreen monitor. At home, my Dell OptiPlex 5040 SFF (sixth gen Core i5 and 16GB RAM) has two 24" 2560x1440 monitors, one of them in portrait mode so I can view many lines of text.
jdk wrote:
Fri Jul 14, 2017 9:14 pm
Just a follow-up on this comment I made: there is a 17.3" 1440p screen on the market now, but it is TN@120Hz.
Most interesting! It has a pixel density of 169.8 DPI, which is optimal for laptops IMO. The best TN panels I've seen are actually quite decent. Hopefully this one is decent.
jdk wrote:
Fri Jul 14, 2017 9:14 pm
There just isn't anything interesting in the laptop world in my view. If it weren't for having to travel every so often, I would be desktop only. Tablets aren't there yet -- and yes, I've tried the iPad Pro / Razer mechanical keyboard case combination. It's just not for me.
I too wouldn't be able to survive on a tablet running a crippled OS, i.e. iOS, Android, Windows RT. Have you tried any of the Windows detachables? The Microsoft Surface 3 changed my life. HP's Spectre X2 and Elite X2 detachables with 12" 1920x1280 are also worth looking into. Some of them even have 4G LTE, like my Surface 3.
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Re: How many of you no longer own laptops?

#27 Post by Hans Gruber » Sat Jul 15, 2017 1:45 pm

I am typing on a surface 3. Hunting and pecking for the keys. Top of the line and gutless atom processor and ssd that reads 100mbps. It works but not a laptop replacement. For power, always a desktop. For speed on the go a laptop. Surface is in between a smartphone and a laptop for usability.
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Re: How many of you no longer own laptops?

#28 Post by Dekks » Sun Jul 16, 2017 4:33 am

tablets are just toys, you can't do serious work on them, poorly constructed due to sacrificing robustness for lightness and IMO have only one role that of iffy quality media delivery when your slouched on the couch beer in hand.
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Re: How many of you no longer own laptops?

#29 Post by shawross » Sun Jul 16, 2017 5:54 am

Laptops will always be my choice of internet connection as their flexibility makes them superior IMO. in my house there are 2 desktops which never get used lately and I don't seem to need the extra grunt. I am not into laptops with touch screens but this may change somewhere in the future.

I have a Nexus 7 and a 5.5 inch phone but for me Tablets and Phablets aren't for getting serious work done. High resolution laptops don't suit my eyes either and I wouldn't want a laptop with greater resolution than 1440 x 900.

A larger 15.5 inch laptop which can sit on a coffee table at maybe a metre distance and an ultraportable for travelling suits my lifestyle.
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Re: How many of you no longer own laptops?

#30 Post by pianowizard » Sun Jul 16, 2017 11:00 am

It's no surprise that many if not most forum members don't see detachable PCs as a viable replacement for laptops; this is a Thinkpad forum after all. Ever since I bought my Surface 3 almost 2 months ago, it has completely eliminated my need for a laptop. But I totally understand why many folks don't find detachables appealing, and am by no means trying to convince people to like them. Similar to many other threads started by me, this one is merely an outlet for my random musings.
Hans Gruber wrote:
Sat Jul 15, 2017 1:45 pm
I am typing on a surface 3. Hunting and pecking for the keys.
For me the Surface 3 keyboard is easy enough to touch-type on. Some of the non-letter keys aren't conventionally located and so I need to find them visually, but the same can be said about any keyboard layout I'm not familiar with. By the same token, a person who uses the Surface 3 keyboard a lot might need to take a while to hunt for certain keys on a Thinkpad keyboard.

Incidentally, the Surface 3 keyboard is much more comfortable to type on if it's laid flat on the desk surface, so it feels more solid. Just detach the magnet that attaches to the screen bezel. By default, that bezel magnet elevates the keyboard to give a tilted angle, but the downside is that the keyboard lacks underlying support and flexes terribly.
Hans Gruber wrote:
Sat Jul 15, 2017 1:45 pm
Top of the line and gutless atom processor and ssd that reads 100mbps. It works but not a laptop replacement.
The Surface 3 doesn't have an SSD, but an eMMC (embedded MultiMediaCard) which really is the performance bottleneck. Not a huge issue for me, because for years I have done serious work only on desktops anyway. Even when I was a laptop user, I rarely shopped for speed, but instead focused mainly on weight, size and screen resolution. The Surface 3 excels on all three counts. Its weight advantage is compounded by the fact that it can be charged through the same micro USB charger that my phone uses, so I don't need to carry a dedicated charger. The typical laptop charger including the power cord weighs 0.5 - 1 lb. A tech writer even wrote a whole article called The secret weapon of the Surface 3: Micro USB. An increasing number of laptops now use USB-C chargers that can be shared with certain smartphones, which is a good trend, but micro USB chargers are smaller and lighter, and at present I don't own USB-C phones.
Hans Gruber wrote:
Sat Jul 15, 2017 1:45 pm
For power, always a desktop. For speed on the go a laptop. Surface is in between a smartphone and a laptop for usability.
Dekks wrote:
Sun Jul 16, 2017 4:33 am
tablets are just toys, you can't do serious work on them, poorly constructed due to sacrificing robustness for lightness and IMO have only one role that of iffy quality media delivery when your slouched on the couch beer in hand.
Even the Surface Book? It has a very solid detachable keyboard, and can be configured with Core i7 processors. If I were forced to own just one computer, it would most certainly be the Surface Book as it has the power of a desktop, the mobility and usability of a laptop, and becomes a slate tablet once the keyboard is removed.
shawross wrote:
Sun Jul 16, 2017 5:54 am
I am not into laptops with touch screens but this may change somewhere in the future.
I like touchscreen for two reasons: 1) sometimes I can touch something (e.g. an icon, a scroll bar, a window) faster than I can move the pointer to it, and 2) by periodically alternating among several input interfaces (touchpad, trackpoint, touchscreen, keyboard shortcuts), I avoid repetitive strain injury.
shawross wrote:
Sun Jul 16, 2017 5:54 am
I have a Nexus 7 and a 5.5 inch phone but for me Tablets and Phablets aren't for getting serious work done.
These days the term "tablet" includes powerful Windows tablets with detachable keyboards. Again, the Surface Book runs circles around most laptops.
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