Are desktop PCs becoming a legacy, a history, just like floppy disks or CDs? Do you have one? Do you really need it?

I do have a decent tower pc in my balcony since last year. Haven't used it since early August and I honestly don't know what would I use it for once I bring it back in

I think they still definitely have a purpose, because I've learned to dislike heavier laptops with gpus.
Even my laptop with a gtx 950m (which is pretty light, even for laptop gpus) is still quite heavy on my back after a few hours of carrying it around. The large power brick doesn't help either.

Nowadays, I'd much rather have a beefy desktop/server at home, and a thin, light laptop with a decent cpu, good battery, and a small charger, to carry with me wherever I need. If I need the compute power, I'd rather leave my desktop/server powered on, and remotely connect to it from the comfort of my laptop wherever I am.

i guess for video production and machine learning tower pcs will be around for some time.

But it's true that, the average laptops have become powerful enough to handle nearly everything.

I bought my first desktop pc by myself this week just because I wanted decent gpu to test machine learning algorithms. I haven’t been using desktop computer at home since 15 years so from my point they’re back 😂

@heyheni well yeah, laptops are cool and powerful nowdays. But all the heavy computing is moving to cloud-based apps. And if there isn't an app there yet, anyone can get an affordable cloud instance to do the computing they need.

As for gpus, dell precision I recently got is a thin one and has a decent dual-gpu setup.

Not arguing or anything, just wondering

As long as the raw power of the a GTX 2080TI cannot fit in a small 17" laptop they will not be obsolete

I hate laptops. You can't easily upgrade hardware, and if you spill coffee over them, most will die. I got desktops both at home and at work.

Oh, and if you have actual computing power, the small laptop fans will howl once you use it. No issue with a big cooler and big fans in a desktop.

@Fast-Nop enterprise grade thinkpads have none of the drawbacks you've listed :)

dunno how about others, but many, many t-pads have tasted coffee in our company. None of them died so far. Maybe we're just lucky. Maybe they are really that good

@netikras they do have the thermal drawback because not even IBM was able to bypass basic physics laws, and Lenovo much less so. Also, how would you want to exchange CPU or GPU, does a Thinkpad really allow for that? And finally, you pay more for a machine of the same speed.

The only thing that I'm willing to believe you is that the better models have a spill resistant keyboard, something that Macs in the same range still don't have - heck, they don't even have a working keyboard.

I have one. I need it as a sturdy workhorse that just works every time instead of fucking with adapters, display layouts, docking stations and whatnot every time I DON'T want to spend the time crippled over a laptop keyboard

I will always use PCs because I can just swap out the hardware within a minute

@b3b3 and this ^

Not entirely sure in my case. I have an AIO from 2015 and a laptop from 2004 (from back when hardware was still replaceable and keyboards were decent). Neither of them are really doing any heavy lifting though (laptop is just for dev, desktop for browsing, monitoring my servers and light gaming), most of the heavy computing is done by my server. For standardized parts, I think I'd probably go for a desktop computer, but even then if I want to upgrade e.g. the CPU, I'd likely have to upgrade the motherboard and maybe even the RAM too. What's more, the phone that I'm typing this from (8/256GB OnePlus 6T) is more powerful than any of my desktop hardware. For most users that don't type too often, I think that phones and tablets have replaced desktops and laptops.

I just ditched out my imac so yup I guess

yup, have one and use it every day

though i think they've become less common among casual consumers, most just don't need the customizability or computing power

@Fast-Nop some models have replaceable gpus and I think I've seen one w/ replaceable cpu, but it was an old one.

What I've learnt [to my surprise] is when it comes to modularyty, thinkpads actualy did a pretty goid job. And as for thermals, they are pretty good as well. Home/pro class devices might have worse design or worse components making ventilation somewhat of a problem, but enterprise is surprisingly good: be it better airflow design or a more expensive thermal paste, idk, but they do not moan that much under pressure.

And this is coming from someone who is far from a thinkpads' fan.

@netikras what I should have mentioned is that my requirements for "silent" are very tough. I want a PC in idle mode not to be audible at 1.50 m distance. Under full load, it may be barely audible.

My CPU has 120 W maximum power draw, the GPU about the same. The CPU has a monster 800 g cooler on it with a 120 mm silent fan, and the GPU is passively cooled with a throttled fan underneath to address air heat jam. The midi tower housing has sound dampening material inside, and the PSU is a high efficiency one because less lost energy means less heat to cool away.

That's what I'm comparing laptops to, and you can't cool 120 W silently when using 40 mm fans.

I built up the machine myself because I didn't trust any shop to get the thermal paste just right at the minimum, amongst other things.

Now, if you argue that such a setup is in no way typical for the computer market, I'll agree. ;-)

Did a quick google search for upgradable GPUs and CPUs to base my previous comment:

GPU:
http://notebookreview.com/howto/...
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...
https://faceofit.com/laptops-with-m...

CPU:
https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/...

@Fast-Nop Got cha :) I guess thermal noise requirements are somewhat individual then.

I for one am not bothered by loud fan in my lappy as long as it cools the device decently and doesn't burn my lap on July noon. :)

@netikras thx... from one of the links: "Despite MXM’s introduction over a decade ago, it’s still a rarity in the notebook world to find a model that not only uses the technology but makes it easy to upgrade. MXM cards are generally only found in gaming notebooks, and even then, the priciest and most exclusive models at that."

So yeah, it's possible in principle, but you have to choose very carefully. However, if that refers to gaming notebooks, and Thinkpads are business ones, does this still work?

And the CPU upgrade link says it's possible, which surprises me, but the cooling system won't keep up, which doesn't surprise me. ^^

@Fast-Nop try the third link :)
1. Lenovo ThinkPad P50 Workstation laptop:
2. Lenovo ThinkPad P71 Mobile Workstation:

Anyway, I just wanted to base my words. Don't know whether you can _still_ get a fully upgradable Thinkpad these days (gpu + cpu + wtv else).

@Nanos you can have an RS232 via a PCI I/O expander, or via a USB-to-RS232 converter as virtual COM port.

One big gotcha with the latter is that most devices generate 5 V level and not 12 V as the RS232 actually specifies. 5 V happens to work with many devices, but usually falls flat with industrial stuff that has special EMI hardened ports.

@Nanos what you could actually do is using e.g. an FTDI chip and then putting a level shifter behind that to get to +/- 12 V. That should pretty much rock the boat. A level shifter is quite easy stuff.

@irene and ECC RAM. Yeah, on desktop, sure.

@irene I have 16 GB (that was a lot in 2010), and it wasn't easy to get a desktop mobo supporting that, and the trick is that desktop mobos require unbuffered ECC - unlike servers.

Actually, it would have been easier to source medical grade cocaine on the darknet I guess, but it worked out. :-)

What I enjoy having about a desktop is the customization. It allows me to have more options for hardware upgrade, have much better air flow and cooling, and get more value out of the parts I buy by putting it together myself. Laptops have small form processors and graphics cards that perform at a slightly lower level.

I play video games though, so these things matter more to me than someone strictly using it for development. I do just fine coding on a legacy T440 thinkpad when I’m on the move, but it’s nice coming home to a beast that can run anything and everything with plenty of performance to spare

Yes, yes, yes.

@irene sure, any ophthalmologist should have that. Useful as eye drops for diagnosing some eye diseases. Besides, it's also useful for local anaesthesia if it is necessary to have the local blood vessels contract in order to minimise blood loss. That can happen in certain, rare types of local surgery especially if the patient has blood coagulation problems.

Obviously, there's a lot of bureaucracy around that to prevent illegal proliferation, but the kicker is that 1 g of purest medical cocaine costs around 5 EUR. It's dirt cheap because you can't sell it.

On the street, you'd pay maybe a 100 EUR, and 95% of that is profit for various actors in the black market delivery chain taking risk of getting caught.

@irene sure, but coke isn't replaceable in every case.