Desktop, laptop, phone.

Desktop for heavy workloads and work when at home

Laptop for work when at work

Phone is useless for any sort of meaningful work and is used for Slack and/or browsing memes.

It’s not necessarily even that phones are too weak for work, it’s that it’s god-awful to try to get any work done on a phone when the only input method you have is touchscreen.

Shit, I have all of the above, in multiples.

I have kind of abandoned keeping a gaming PC up to date because I get sick of the bullshit. But the one I have currently isn’t too far behind, hardware wise.

But I use it for piracy, image management (including editing), video editing, etc. The stuff that punks out other devices.

I have a dedicated media PC that is hooked up to the TV and stereo, but is isolated from anything else. That’s what I still run Windows 7 on because musicbee on Linux isn’t ready for prime time.

Then there’s my wife’s old computer that’s hooked up to my kid’s tvt, not that it ever gets used. But it’s functional, so until it dies, that’s what it does.

My laptop is exclusively for my writing. Dual boot with win 10/mint Linux. The win10 exists only for a specific piece of software that makes publishing to amazon easier. No games, but I do some media playback with it when I have to travel.

Phones suck at media management, word processing, and pretty much everything else tbh. Too many lobbyists limitations, too much crap for proper multitasking, no good apps for long form writing. But I do use them as music players at home via headphones.

Tablets are for portable video consumption, crappy mobile games, and reading. Some short form writing is possible on a decent tablet.

I don’t see phones taking over much of what I use a laptop for, ever. And the screen size of even the biggest phones would suck for media management, even if it was realistic to store large amounts on one.

I have a personal gaming desktop and, at last count, three four laptops. I’m part of an IT department and I have a bad habit. I take junked laptops from the scrap bin home and repair them, then lose interest once they’re working again.

I’ve been a laptop-only guy for over 10 years, here’s my take:

At first, I wanted a powerful and colorful desktop computer, so I could play all the games I wanted, maybe touch on some 3D software, and overall have a cool setup. However, I couldn’t afford it at all (though times during and after the 2009 crisis, in Portugal), so I ended up just sticking with the handful of years old, 17 inch and 4Kg laptop my older brother had given me.
The years passed and I never bought a desktop. The mobility and versatility of laptops was too good to give up, and having poured many hours into configuring my system (first years of laptop-only coincided with first years of Linux, pretty much) I didn’t want to have to manage and sync two different computers. I wasn’t aware of Nix and similar OSs, but even that doesn’t solve the sync issue. Now my work requires me to take a computer with me, so I must have a laptop. I also work from home quite a lot, but I like to work outside, in the porch/garden.

Nowadays you can get really good and mobile (gaming) laptops, like the ones from XMG (and their sister brands) or even the newer Frameworks (which are also great for other obvious reasons). Even XMG laptops are quite reparable, outside of CPU/GPU failures, and DIY is supported by the seller. I’m currently rocking their XMG Fusion 15 L19 (late 2019), and am incredibly happy with my purchase, it’s still in pristine shape!

Of course, this doesn’t apply to everyone, but I think a laptop is generally a safer bet, if you know where to buy.
Happy to discuss this further! :)

Edit: Just wanted to drop an very nice laptop-focused channel: Bob Of All Trades. It seems they haven’t been very active as of late, but they were very informative and had good guides some years ago, when I was looking for a new laptop.

I have both. I avoid using my phone for anything as much as possible. Even just general internet browsing is an absolutely chore on the phone, I’ve never understood the popularity.

Phone: great for mindlessly scrolling or the odd comment.

Laptop: for actually getting anything done.

I’d use a desktop but sometimes I have to work from cafes or something so I prefer just using a laptop all the time rather than two machines

Unless you really need some big GPU thingie… Laptops are too good nowadays.

No, laptop functions have not been offloaded to phones. Phones have simply taken time from real life interactions 😅

my laptop is my personal desktop ;)

I use my laptop for anything that requires a real keyboard or bigger screen. Then I have my server, and my phone. So I mostly just use the laptop and the phone. I do have a dual screen phone though so that helps a bunch for multitasking.

Just laptop. I don’t have a space for desktop, unfortunately.

I do have a backup laptop, which does come in handy for the rare case of, for example, making a new install.

But yeah, i feel like a laptop is an awkward middle ground between a phone and a desktop. It’s not as powerful and has a small screen, but it’s also not as portable as my phone.

Granted if i travelled more i would need a laptop, and then i would have a dock of some kind at home to extend its capabilities (USB hub, second monitor, etc)

That seems excessive and a waste of resources

Gaming PC is in the living room for gaming and media center.

Laptop in my office up stairs for programming and I use Steam Remote Play for games that require keybmouse. Its nice because I can just unplug it from my dock and head downstairs with it if I want to browse on the couch.

I have a tablet too, but that’s used solely for movies, YouTube, or when I’m DMing because the footprint is smaller.

I have the following at home:

• My work laptop (2021 MacBook Pro)

• My personal laptop (2018 MacBook Pro)

• An old iPad Air

• My phone

• Living room PC (Linux, shared)

• Bedroom PC (Linux, shared)

My laptops live on my desk and I mostly have whichever one I’m using plugged into my external monitor and peripherals (mouse and mechanical keyboard). The portability of my personal and work machines is nice if I want to sit on the couch or travel.

The living room PC is hooked up to the TV. My partner and I mostly use it for gaming and YouTube. It’s a few years old but it can handle most of what we throw at it.

We only use the bedroom PC to watch TV in bed.

The iPad is for knitting patterns. Previously, it spent several years sitting unused in a drawer.

My phone is for doomscrolling and spam calls.

I have a desktop for gaming and office work. My Laptop for watching stuff while laying in bed and for school work. My phone primarily is for chatting with friends, browsing Lemmy, calling and playing some games.