Alex King is considering the Tools of The Trade and debating about moving to a desktop or staying on a laptop for development. I'm shocked that this is even a debate. I have friends who like to develop on laptops and I had no problem with it until The Change. You see, there are two time-lines for me as far as development machines are concerned. Pre-(kick-ass, cpu-screaming, gigabytes-of-memory, dual-monitor, hot-hot-desktop-action), and post. The PA (pre action) period was a dark bleak time in my life. The HHA (hot, hot action) period is a time for joy, learning and productive hacking.
The desktop system is my own and while at the paying day job I was developing on a laptop. Going back and forth between the two for the last year I can say that there's no comparison. I work on the laptop when mobile but if I have the choice I'll work on the desktop any day of the week and twice on Sunday. The only thing that brings me down about the desktop is that at the moment I only have two monitors as opposed to three or four.
What does everyone else think? Desktop? Laptop? Mix both as appropriate?
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September 13, 2005
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I would like to do my development on a wristwatch with a satellite up-link and a brain wave transmit/receive input device. But since that might be a few weeks off I guess I will have to say desktop.
But when a snag is hit, I can't stand being trapped in this seat so I would prefer sitting on the couch with a laptop or outside if it is cool and dry enough.
Posted by: Collin | September 13, 2005 at 07:23 PM
I pretty much agree with you. I have a desktop and a laptop. However I rarely even refer to my desktop as my desktop anymore. I just call it my development machine. That's pretty much the only time I ever sit down to use it ... when I want to work on a web app or whatever the case may be.
Don't get me wrong, I have a nice little laptop, in fact, it's nearly as powerful feature wise as my desktop, but the whole reason to buy a laptop (and spend more money for the hardware) is for portability if you ask me. I got it so I could basically get on the internet and check my webmail, feeds, use SSH, whatever. I want it to boot fast, be a good place to store pictures from my digital camera when traveling, and not have a ton of clutter on it.
... besides, my desktop has 2 monitors (and like you it gave me a taste for what I'd been missing so I'm badly wanting a 3rd or 4th now) and well, developing on one screen ... just seems like a waste of time.
Posted by: matt | September 13, 2005 at 08:36 PM
Matt,
I agree about the laptop for portability. My old work laptop was quite powerful spec wise but was a little on the heavy side. That's why I'm waiting for an x41 tablet as my new one. Light, very portable and should handle my non-dev tasks quite nicely.
Posted by: Paul Dix | September 13, 2005 at 08:52 PM
I got a desktop in my office and a small notebook (Samsung X20) at home, and use both for developing stuff.
For working on my notebook I hooked up an external keyboard, mouse and 22" monitor (Dual Screen), and extended it's memory to 2Gig, just like on my desktop.
I don't think it matters if it is desktop or notebook, just as long as you add enough other stuff. :)
Posted by: Sam | September 14, 2005 at 03:56 AM