For years I have been using laptops as “second” computers. I am a big fan of desktops: column style or all-in-one. I like the upgradability, that you can fiddle with the inside and the PSU fan sound has a bit of a calming effect… not.
My most recent main machines where a 27 inch i-Mac, which I dearly loved. Then I had a Toshiba all-in-one PC with fairly decent specs. Eventually I went back to my true passion and got a tower assembled back in 2016 with really awesome specs. I have kept upgrading it over the years: SSD hard drive, doubling of the RAM, fancy NVIDIA video card, various new keyboards and mice and so on.
Unfortunately I found out a few weeks ago, that the fancy i7 CPU powering my tower was not in the approved list of CPU to run Windows 11, it’s too old. Figure this: my HP Spectre Laptop that runs a more recent version of the i7, but that is significantly slower than the other one according to most CPU benchmark tests, was upgraded to Windows 11 over a month ago (end Nov 2021). Fortuitously, it also happens that I started noticing some issues with the computer itself. The motherboard would not accept to upgrade to the latest firmware. The computer would sometimes refuse to switch on. And many other little annoyances. Time for a new machine!!!!
After many hours of online search, black Friday and cyber Monday bargain hunting, pre end of year sales, boxing day sales and so on, I just could not find the right set-up for a reasonable budget. The chip shortage is seriously impacting computer supply and availability. I had to consider an alternative, and these COVID / disrupted supply chain / chip shortage / Cold War with China times, the only viable option was to go for a laptop as the main computer.
What’s wrong with my HP you would ask? That’s my personal laptop, not for work. So I got, for a very good price, an awesome Dell 15 inch laptop. It comes with the latest i7, 16gb RAM, 1TB SSD. It runs all my apps better than the tower, including the CRM system I developed in Visual Studio, that runs on IIS and SQL Server (full fledged, not express) that utilises a huge amount of computer resources.
I acquired a metal stand to lift and tilt the laptop (and keep it cool) and a docking station (comes with ethernet and UBS hub) on eBay, plugged in my 27inch BenQ monitor, my mechanical keyboard and connected my wireless Logitech MX Mouse. Honestly, I could not be happier. The fan noise is gone, the computer is super fast, the laptop screen acts as a very good second screen and my desk floor is unclogged.
I would strongly recommend to anyone looking to replace their tower to consider the laptop option.