On 9/16/2020 7:43 PM, Char Jackson wrote:
On Wed, 16 Sep 2020 08:06:13 -0700, Ken Blake wrote:

On 9/15/2020 3:34 PM, Char Jackson wrote:
On Tue, 15 Sep 2020 14:43:26 -0700, Ken Blake wrote:

On 9/15/2020 12:38 PM, Frank Slootweg wrote:
Ken Blake wrote:
[...]

I'm different in this respect from almost all the rest of you. If my
keyboard gets old and and dirty, I just toss it out and buy a new one.
They're inexpensive, unless you want a very fancy expensive one; I don't.

I would like to do that too. The problem is that the rest of the
laptop is attached to it! :-)


One of the many disadvantages of using a laptop instead of a desktop.

Why not both? The machine in front of me is primarily a laptop. When I need
to use a desktop, I RDP to it.


Having both is fine if you want to use a desktop at home and a laptop
for traveling. I see no advantage to using a laptop by itself at home,
or using both at home. In fact, to me there's no advantage to having
more than one computer of any kind for use at home.

I travel for work, or at least I did before the current situation arrived,
so I use my laptop for work. It makes sense to me to use it when I'm
working from home, as well, to maintain a sense of continuity. So my laptop
is my work machine, and when I want to do something not related to work,
I'd like to simultaneously use a desktop, so I RDP to it. I view the
desktop full screen on a second monitor.

In addition to a laptop and a remote desktop, I also have dozens of virtual
PCs on the desktop, (not all running simultaneously), so I frequently have
multiple virtual Windows PCs running, each doing its own thing. Partly,
this personal use of multiple VMs is a 'because I can' thing, but it's also
extremely handy. It's nice to be able to group tasks together on different
VMs rather than having everything trying to run on a single desktop.

My wife only uses a laptop at home. She likes to be able to move from the
bedroom to the living room to the breakfast nook to her sewing room, etc.

Laptops are more expensive than desktops, harder and more expensive to
repair or upgrade, prone to being dropped and broken, and prone to being
stolen.

If the two most common upgrades are memory and drives, then laptops are
probably easier to upgrade. Usually there's a single screw or other
fastener that allows a door to swing open, allowing direct access to memory
or drives. For other things, like video cards and other expansion cards,
desktops are easier. Also, within the house I don't think there's an
appreciable risk of theft. In the event of a house fire, in theory we could
grab the laptops on the way out. I hope not to test that theory.


In theory, yes. In practice, I'm not so sure. You might need to get out
of the house as quickly as possible.

I also have several fairly valuable instruments. I'm not sure what I
would grab first if I had the choice.

And of course, a house fire could occur when nobody's home.



They are also more prone to being damaged by overheating (at
least they used to be; I'm not sure about current laptops). I also don't
like their smaller screens (not even the 17" laptops; I use two 24"
screens on my desktop). And I hate touchpads and on-screen keyboards. I
don't even like the regular keyboards on most laptops.

I never use RDP. If I want to access another computer I use TeamViewer.

Within a LAN, I like RDP much better than Teamviewer because of how it
works in a local client/server model, with no Internet-based broker server.
When I'm away from home, Teamviewer tends to work better, mostly because I
don't need to open the firewall. As a result, I use both, depending on
where I am.

I used to use a laptop when traveling, and still have one around here
somewhere. These days, I prefer to use my smart phone when traveling.
It's lighter, smaller, and much easier to carry. I primarily it for
Google maps, e-mail, an occasional web search (usually just for weather
forecasts and making restaurant reservations), and Kindle.

When I travel for pleasure rather than work, I do as you do. A smart phone
is good enough for me. We also pack a tablet or Chromebook in case we need
a bigger screen.


I also used to pack a tablet, but now I don't. It's just another bigger,
heavier thing to pack. I've never needed a bigger screen.


--
Ken