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Nicolas Bousquet

Laptops cost twice as much for the same hardware and have half the life expectency.

For ergonomics and your health, you shouldn't use a laptop trackpad/keyboard for extended period or time. My syster has her hand/arm damaged from not using properly the mouse for years at work... Now she can't lift anything heavy and need special device to replace the mouse... And so laptop are not longer an option at all.

Laptop are nice, but if you have only that, having a place with nice keyboard/mouse, nice chair too and big screen add tremendous value... On top of that, you get the work done faster/better. At work we all have laptop but with docking stations, dual screens so we get best of both worlds.

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Adrian B.G. • Edited

No they do not cost twice as much, maybe you forget to add the display and keyboard and track and the battery (which is like having an UPS).

I can see from a far away distance (unfortunately) people that are using (in a bad way) laptops for a long period, because they are young ppl but they have a hump.

bad laptop

Using a laptop with no periphericals for a long period of time is very bad for your health.

There are only a few situations when I recommend buying a stationary PC, but even for laptop you need at least 1 display, mouse and keyboard (preferably ergonomically / more expensive ones).

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Nicolas Bousquet • Edited

A desktop box with an i5 (still more powerfull actuall than the best laptop i7), 16GB memory, a mobo, a case and power suply and an SSD is 600-700โ‚ฌ. Only branded, quality components.

A screen comparable in size to the one of a laptop is 100โ‚ฌ. The most basic mouse/keyboard with still better ergonomics than a laptop is 30โ‚ฌ for both. But as you explained yourself, you'll want dedicated screen/keyboard/mouse and likely better than the most basic one in both cases. 2X 22" + nice mouse/keyboard is 500โ‚ฌ, but these are perificals, not the main unit. I exclude them from the cost as they are needed both case anyway. And if really you want to get just a screen to replace the one of the latop, count โ‚ฌ100. The laptop would need a docking station too for conveniance but I don't count it.

A desktop doesn't need an UPS. At least where I live it can stay up for months without a power shortage. And a laptop battery need to be replaced from time to time. Doesn't live more than 3-5 years.

Equivalent macbookpro to the 600-700โ‚ฌ desktop ? 3300โ‚ฌ. Equivalent dell ? 1100-1300โ‚ฌ.

Your desktop life expectency is much better and if one component fail, you may need to change only that. The worst is the mobo/cpu/ram combo but that's โ‚ฌ400 for being up to date. My curent desktop main drive is a 6-7 year old 128SSD from a previous laptop. I just added a 1TB for 70โ‚ฌ a few year back. The screen/case/power suply/mouse/keyboard don't have to be replaced each time you change and be used for their full life.

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bgadrian profile image
Adrian B.G.

You are comparing apples with orange juice. They serve different purposes and achieve different things and have different manufacturing costs.

If you want to compare only the price you have to include an UPS and an operating system, from similar manufacturers (apple vs apple), and to find small parts in a micro ATX so you can carry around, to be the same as a laptop portability.

If you are using your laptop as a desktop PC then you need a desktop PC, if you are a mobile, agile developer that goes to coding meetups, conferences, clients and can code to different desks depending on the project or problem he is facing in that day you do not have a choice (PC vs Laptop).

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Nicolas Bousquet

The key feature of a computer is to run software and to do that efficiantly.

This is the #1 feature. If that feature isn't achieved the rest is irrelevant.

Then there tradeof to be made if you prefer to lower cost, to have better mobility or better performance. Desktop goes toward perf and lower cost and higher durability and efficiancy. Laptop goes toward better mobility.

The OS is part of the software. Quite often doing the wrong choice is extremely prejudicable if the key software you need doesn't work as intended.... Like MS office suite without macro on mac. Windows without a nice console support or Linux without nice office suite and other common apps.

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Adrian B.G.

You are correct but with each reply you are deviating from the original question, there's no use to continue. Let's disagree to agree.

I said about OS and software as an example that you are comparing different things (you compare an APPLE mac book pro vs a home made PC without adding the value of what the APPLE brings, software, battery, OS, mobility etc), even if you do not use it, you are paying for it.

PS: I'm not an Apple fan, I think 40% of the price is just for marketing costs, but if the company buys it I would sure pick one for me. There are some perks and features that you couldn't get from a PC with Windows or Linux, it's just the perfect mix for a developer (better ergonomy with a bash shell), but for 10% more productivity and performance you are paying 40% more (random numbers).