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Desktop, laptop, tablet, phone - Pick three!

Tablet, phone, desktop. Laptops are so overrated. You can use your tablet for almost all daily routine functions.
 
Desktop, Tablet and Phone.
That's basically what I did. I have an iMac, Sp3 and iPhone. When I got my SP3, I found the MBP fell into disuse.
 
I'm going to be a bit different as I've migrated my desktop machine to a NAS.

Desktop - TVS-871-i5-8G
Laptop - rMB
Phone - 6 plus or 6s plus
 
Gav2k said:
I'm going to be a bit different as I've migrated my desktop machine to a NAS.

Desktop - TVS-871-i5-8G
Laptop - rMB
Phone - 6 plus or 6s plus
Click to expand...
You basically really have only two machines, then. A laptop that uses a NAS (which used to be your desktop) and a phone.
 
maflynn said:
You basically really have only two machines, then. A laptop that uses a NAS (which used to be your desktop) and a phone.
Click to expand...
The NAS runs vm's so the heavier lifting my desktop was doing has been passed to the NAS.

Side note, I do have a lot of devices I use but these are my main three go to's at the moment
 
maflynn said:
Oh that makes sense. Do you find any performance issue, since the NAS is being accessed (presumably) via Ethernet?
Click to expand...
Honestly I don't. A friend recommended it as I had the NAS anyway and I was shocked how well it worked so I upped the ram to 16gb and away I went. I've now got access to multiple o/s's which is great. The NAS is hidden away so no clutter and being able to flick to my iPad and still access a full OS takes those 'iPad needs a full os' gripes and throws them out the window
 
I've been Desktop, iPad (with external keyboard), iPhone since iPad debuted - I retired my laptop about three months after getting the iPad. Professionally, I need the iPad mostly for writing and web browsing (occasional camera import/upload). The size and portability mean I'll have that tool with me far more frequently than if I was dependent on a laptop.
 
Thanks for all the replies!

I actually ended up selling my rMBP today. I'm going iMac 27", iPad Air 2 and iPhone 6 for now. Giving it a try!

After my studies, my needs have changed. I started my career and received a company issued laptop. Also, sitting in front of the computer all day in the office, I much prefer picking up my tablet to check the web and a bit of social media in the evenings. My iMac handles all the serious work and is great for doing so.

I still think this is an interesting conversation, as everyone has different needs and use-cases. Feel free to continue sharing your examples below if you wish!
 
Mac mini + iPads. Currently Air 2 and iPod touch. Mini 4/5 to come.
No longer use a phone or laptop.
 
I have a 13 inch rMBP an iPhone 6 and an iPad mini, they are all I need in conjunction with an Apple TV to make using them for media easier and wireless.
 
MacBook pro
iPhone 6s

iPad mini 1st Gen (replaced by iPhone but gets a lot of use within the confines of house and garden: spotify, newspapers, mail. Unlikely to ever be replaced with a new purchase.)
 
I haven't owned a desktop in years. My preference:

  • MacBook (12" Retina) - perfect blend of power and portability
  • iPad Pro 9.7" (currently have the 12.9" and an Air 2 - I find the 12.9" more cumbersome than the MacBook)
  • iPhone 7 Plus
I don't do anything that requires a huge screen. The MacBook is plenty for me. Supplement that with a 9.7" iPad Pro for reading and light-duty work, and the 7 Plus for an on-the-go "do everything" type of device.
 
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Galas said:
How do you communicate in real time? iMessages? Skype?
Just curious
Click to expand...
Being retired I have no need or desire to communicate in real time. Email is perfect for me. I use skype infrequently, usually to rage at my credit card company's call centre. I do have a few 10 year old dumbphones. No idea if they still work. I am aware my usage profile is unusual, but I'm not as antisocial as it sounds.
 
If I could only have three devices, I'd go with what gives me the most utility and power. My choices are basically what will limit me the absolute least and provide the most additional options for anything that may come my way. Seems like a pretty easy decision -

1. Mac Pro 5,1 - 12 core (can literally expand to anything I need, tons of storage, more PCI options, tons of ram, etc.) for basically anything I can throw at it.
2. Macbook Pro - probably a late 2011 model - (discrete graphics a big plus, optical drive, sd card, usb, thunderbolt, ethernet, and firewire, along with the quad i7 and also tons of ram for cheap) - has the most utility in a portable format, for traveling or mobile location jobs.
3. LG V10, or really any decent Android phone - (Great camera, much better experience syncing with OSX than the iPhone, way more friendly with transfers and bluetooth syncs with other phones than the iPhone, runs any app I need it too, can swap batteries on the go, expandable storage via microSD, can use my micro USB flash drive as an emergency dump of storage, and after having a phone with an IR blaster, I don't think I could ever go back.)
 
Right now for personal use I've got:

Ibuypower Revolt (original) SFF Desktop case using my own hardware
Mac Mini
Surface Pro 3
Ipad Mini
IPhone 6+

I don't think I could live on just 3, but if I had a gun to my head and I was forced to only use 3 devices I don't think I could make due on a Mac Desktop. It would look something like this:

PC Workstation
Macbook Pro
IPhone 7+

In a perfect world I would have:

iMac
Razer Blade, Dell XPS, or MSI GT73VR. Likely not the MSI but I would consider it.
MacBook Air
Ipad mini
IPhone 7+
 
I have an 11-inch Macbook Air with a 4K, 27-inch external monitor at home. I also have an iPhone 6s. At work, I have a powerful windows desktop with dual 24-inch monitors. All my needs are met. At work, I typically connect both the monitors to my Macbook Air and use remote desktop to access the desktop PC. I have used an iPad before, but really have no need for one.
 
I have all four, though my phone is the 5s and I will be switching to a 7 Plus later this year. That may cut the iPad out of the picture for a lot of use, but I just don't see abandoning it totally as an eReader. We'll see how it goes using the 5.5" for books. For those who use a laptop as their only computer, I get it - but it's not for me. The 12" Retina MacBook is perfect for portability. I would not want to lug around a MacBook Pro.
 
MacRazySwe said:
As the title suggests, if you could only have three types of personal devices, which products would you choose? I'm interested in your personal use case and reasoning.

Personally contemplating going iMac, iPad and iPhone, although I'm not sure the iPad can really replace a laptop for me. Whenever I'm doing extensive typing I find myself reaching for the rMBP.

Thanks! 🙂
Click to expand...

I have an iMac 2011, a MBA 2013, a Nexus 7 2013, & a Moto G 2013.
I will at the next MBP becoming available, get a MBP, a Nexus tablet & a HTC 10.
I will keep the iMac as a server, and give my fiancee the MBA.

Only thing that I may do when Sierra is released is backup to an external drive and then delete the Windows 7 partition from my iMac, then give Sierra that 400GB breathing space, as I am down to the last 26GB free from a 1TB SSD.
 
Depending on one's needs, one could probably get by with "only" a laptop and a phone.
Kaby Lake GPUs should be sufficient to do 4k and even 5k resolutions via external display - even with Core-M class CPUs.
Of course, if you do heavy-duty stuff like video-transcoding, you'd need a much more powerful laptop (or a desktop).
But most users would probably be OK with a high-end rMB. I've yet to try to run a VM on ours at work - but from what I've heard, it's possible and this would make it even a fit for developing in some scripting-language and testing in a Linux-VM.
Personally, I don't really need a laptop. I'm either at work or at home and if I'm somewhere else, I don't usually need to sit in front of a computer.
 
Well I hate to say it because I have been a huge fan of laptops since I was a kid on my old Compaq Presario w/Windows 95 but the truth is I don't need a laptop anymore. There is very little my iPad cannot do on its own and it is even rarer that I cannot just dock my iPad to my desktop Mac and deal with it.

iPad Pro has only made the experience better with some very nice first-party accessories for getting work done on the go. It is rare that I open my Macbook anymore.

So if I could only have three of the listed it would be Desktop, tablet, phone

Though with Apple moving to sealed case designs and not being able to do upgrades on your own, I'd probably be smarter to just buy a Macbook and dock it to my big displays and speakers at home.
 
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Phone, desktop, laptop! My ipad gets very little use. Phone is obvious. Laptop is my primary machine. Desktop is hooked up to 50" TV for KODI, and 13TB of HDD space for time machine, movie storage, etc. Desktop also is for the occasional gaming, and works great for Handbrake encodes!
 
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