Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Topher15

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 22, 2007
579
1
London
I'm interested to hear peoples experiences with their desktops and laptops...

What's your use ratio between the two?

What sort of things do you tend to use each for?

Do you prefer certain tasks on a certain machine?

Etc.
 
2 desktop

HP, Vista, 3G Memory, NVidia 7900 256MB VRAM, 320G HDD. 3.2G AMD 64x2
Mac Mini Core Solo 1.6GHz, 1.25G Memory


3 laptops

Base Rev A MB with 2G Memory
Compaq Evo610C
ASUS EEE PC

My usage, 40% MB(work)+35% EEE/compaq (home web)+20%HP(Game-HoMM, uTorrent)+5%mini(Music)

Im thinking of selling Mini and Compaq, I have too many computers.
 
I'm not so sure the difference is that great these days. For personal use I have a MacBook Pro 17", which I use both as a portable and as a desktop replacement (with external keyboard/mouse & display). I run Adobe CS3, Aperture and several other high-end apps on this machine without problems.

At work, because mobility isn't required, we stick to desktop machines - they're cheaper, have greater hard disk capacity and larger displays.

For many folks, though (including several professional designers I know) a MBP + external display is a good compromise between portability and power.
 
Kind of embarassing...

Desktops
Mac Mini - to tv, use to surf and rip dvds, play itunes through surround sound
Windows machine - gaming and when doing alot of web surfing, as it has 2 monitors attached
Powermac G4 - for those times I want a mac

Laptops
Macbook - general use, surfing,
HP laptop - older laptop, gave to GF so she would not use my macbook


Basically it comes down to how long I am working and what I am doing. For extended sitting and gaming the desktops are used, due to the screen advantage (22 + 19").

For general surfing and because the desktops are upstairs in my loft, I have the laptop downstairs.

I would say 70% laptop, just because of downstairs where everything else is and is portable. 30% desktop, times when I can disappear upstairs and get things done.
 
Two main desktops at home;

20" iMac Alum 2.0 Ghz - Use it for iTunes, email, browsing and serving up content to my Xbox 360, maintaining my web sites and editing home HD video.

Sony Vaio P4 2.4 Ghz, running Windows XP media center, use it to serve up recorded TV for the Xbox 360 and for some windows programs like Quicken

------
Two main laptops (and a tablet);

MacBook Pro 2.2 Ghz purchased in January, use it for personal travel, email etc. blogging, and accessing work email through my browser.

Dell Latitude D830 Duo Core 2.0 Ghz - Used for the majority of work tasks and the majority of work travel, accessing the business VPN etc. (it runs Vista and even though it is new, it crashes and generally frustrates me, although I do like Office 2007)

Samsung Q1 UMPC - Use it only for note taking when i am in a business situation where using a keyboard would feel intrusive. Once in a while I put a movie on it and take it camping or something.



------------

We have other computers but those are the main ones used.
 
PowerMac G5 as my home unit.

Just added a Macbook because I wanted a portable unit with intel so I could run Quicken and the like.

G5 will prob be about 40% of the time with the new addition of the Macbook.
 
2.66 MP with 2 x 24" displays, 5GB of RAM, 3.82TB hard drive. I use this machine for daily work.

12" 1.5Ghz G4 powerbook. Mobile machine. Typing on this now.

Looking into a new 17" MBP with the high-res screen so I can get some work done out on the road. Tired of being cooped up in the office, but the 12" is too small to get anything done.

Still think the 12" > Air...
 
Mac Pro + MacBook Air. The Air is replacing a 15" MacBook Pro. The Air + Mac Pro combo is literally the best combination of computers ever. If you disagree with me you're wrong. No sense in arguing... you're just wrong.

I spend my day on the Air and my evenings on the Mac Pro. The Air has the obvious limitations that it does, and there's no sense in hashing them out here. But I've been using it for 2 days and it's a totally usable computer for basic tasks. I use it like I used my MacBook Pro for the most part – to take notes in class, surf the web, etc.

My Mac Pro is one of my favorite computers ever. It's so outrageously fast that it makes doing even the simplest tasks pleasurable. I spend my evenings on it.
 
i think i have a pretty even split going right now for both.
my laptop is my machine whenever i'm out of the house, or in bed or on the couch. but i tend to stick to the desktop whenever i need to focus or am otherwise at home so they're split rather evenly
 
When I got my new 24" iMac C2D, I figured I'd never use my ancient iBook again. Wrong! I'm still about 50/50, mostly because I love to check my daily websites before I get out of bed.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.