Computing: desktops vs portables

[Etna]

Desktop computing will never perish as long as enthusiasts and component manufacturers continue to feed the market. And anybody who uses a portable computing device such as a notebook for home computing has got to be nuts; you can walk into any hardware shop, purchase a set of components, assemble them all back at home into a working desktop PC that is twice is powerful as a notebook but costs less than half the latter.

And the beauty of desktop PCs stem from the fact that ALL its internal hardware are built off a set of standard form factors, so it is so easy to waltz into a shop and purchase any off-the-shelf component like a motherboard or PSU and replace it on the very same day if the one in your desktop decides to go boom when it feels like it. No way you can do THAT on a notebook; dead motherboard or power regulator card built to proprietary form factors = a trip to service centre where it will stay for the next 5 days, at least.

Notebooks are only good for facilitating computing while on the move, period. And even then, the days where users enjoyed easy access to a notebook's hardware such as the hard disk, memory and WLAN cards are gone with more OEMs purposely churning out designs that are meant to prevent such access. And the new age of 'post-PC devices' as touted by that asscrap Steve Jobs are precisely that; asscrap which cannot get any damn thing done on them.

Last but not least, any computer user who does not know how to build his/her own desktop PC, or upgrade his/her own notebook is a loser in my eyes.

[MASONTX]

Too bad there aren't standards for laptop hardware like there is for desktops. I have a dream. I dream of being able to open any laptop and replace hard drive, ram, motherboard, screen, keyboard, graphics card, cooling fan, psu, battery, cpu, etc. with standard off the shelf laptop parts. Unfortunately, it is just a dream at this point.

[Etna]

Too bad there aren't standards for laptop hardware like there is for desktops. I have a dream. I dream of being able to open any laptop and replace hard drive, ram, motherboard, screen, keyboard, graphics card, cooling fan, psu, battery, cpu, etc. with standard off the shelf laptop parts. Unfortunately, it is just a dream at this point.

Hard disk, RAM and the CPU are standard parts which can be changed easily. The problems with the CPU are that Intel and AMD are not keen on selling their mobile processors in retail stores for some reason, and that some OEMs prefer to solder the processor directly into the mainboard to achieve a thinner design.

The same thing also applies to the graphics card; it is possible to obtain MXM graphics cards (at very high prices), but once again, the GPUs on most notebooks are soldered into the motherboard, thus making replacement impossible.

I wouldn't concern myself with the power brick and battery though; there are tons of compatible third-party options available for those two components out there.

[rokytnji]

Younger generation perception of portables. Borrowed from EEEPC forum where I mod.

Spoiler Warned

Different strokes for different folks.

I'm still in a loop.

[oz]

Younger generation perception of portables.

True, but that's also a good example of what makes me think of most portable devices as mere toys to be used for fun and entertainment rather than productive work tools. However, I do still feel that advances in technology will eventually change all that.

[MDexter]

I'm hoping that if anymore new desktop environment designs for linux would be designed for a desktop, or at least start building separate desktop and tablet versions. And, should not neglect the flexibility that panels had.

Gnome 3, so it seems, made it hide desktop Icons by default, as well as many other essential features. And you no longer have a pre-installed taskbar or iconbox that is always available when you want to drag one file to another application. I would use XFCE but, so I've heard and feels the same way, it is a step back from Gnome 2.

It's okay for future desktops to be unique as long as it doesn't take out many of the useful features of previous versions.

Also, I think it would be a good idea to build an interface that compliments Adobe and Autodesk applications. Not that they are working on linux versions of their products, but it may be a step towards getting their attention. Windows, Android, and Apple are already spending lots of money for simple interfaces.