Desktop Replacements and the 11 Pound Pencil

Marco Ramius writes "Tom's Hardware Guide has an article up entitled 'Unwieldy Laptops or Portable Desktops?' in which the author lugs an Alienware Area-51m desktop replacement to a 32 hour LAN to assess what advantages and disadvantages desktop replacements have over desktops themselves." They also have a related article entitled The Case of the 11 Pound Pencil where an office adopts a desktop replacement solution to unsatisfactory ends. Both interesting looks at appropriate uses for hefty hardware.

Shared devices

[dada21 (163177)]

When my old Sony VAIO died, I cried. It had no CD-rom, no floppy, and was so thin and tiny that it went everywhere. It barely had any ports. When I needed to burn a CD or connect a peripheral, the network or USB gave me the option, which I rarely used. Now that Sony is on my hit list, I couldn't find a decent replacement, so I bought a reasonbly tiny Compaq (yes, shudder, but it works great) until someone releases a real "on the go" laptop that works well.

I always get aggravated the the market for desktop replacements is to totally replace everything you'd do on a desktop. For me, I prefer a memory stick over a CD-R. I don't need video outputs, and the need to shove every port into a portable machine doesn't seem cost or space or energy efficient.

How many of you with desktop replacements are really using all the options built into it? Hasn't the Internet mostly reduced the need for all these external connection points? For me, I set up a private WiFi AP at every location I visit, and I never have to worry about anything but battery life (I hate plugging my laptop in even to the AC outlet).

Re:Shared devices

[peragrin (659227)]

Hence why I bought a 12" powerbook. but now basically any 12" under 5 pound computer is great.

Try something like the Acer tablet. If tablet's would just drop in price a bit I might even switch to using windows once in a while.

Re:Shared devices

[JanneM (7445)]

I've used a Panasonic R3 for over a year, and it's womderful. Less than a kilo, good keyboard, 1Gb memory, and (in practice, with Ubuntu Linux,) 6-7 hours battery life.

Oh, and there's no fan. None at all. When I unplug it, the harddrive spins down and it's _totally_ quiet.

Re:Shared devices

[joekampf (715059)]

I am a consultant. I spend 8 - 10 hours at a client, then go home and work for another 3 or 4 hours. I have a HP Pavilion zd8000. It has enough horse power to run WebLogic, MQ, Apache, Oracle, Eclipse, and any other office productivity software I need to get my work done. It is heavy, yes. But to keep that much software in sync between home and work would be almost impossible. I never worry about performance, the screen is wide and gives me the ability to have lots of windows open. The only anoying thing is the power brick. Although I just might invest in a brick for home and at work.

Re:Shared devices

[Mark Hood (1630)]

I agree, there's a lot of people *cough*managers*cough* who get the top end, desktop replacement 'because their role demands it' and then lock it in the drawer at night when they go home. If that's how it's used, get a desktop.

I have a Thinkpad T42 - and I use the modem, built-in wireless, built-in network, PC-Card slots, both USB ports, headphone & mic sockets & CD/DVD drive almost daily.

The only things on this that I don't use are the PS/2 keyboard socket and parallel port. The CD-Writing is rarely used too, but has saved my bacon a couple of times on-site (if I had an external writer, Murphy tells me I'll leave it at home when I need it most).

So while a lot of people can work with a laptop with minimal features (or even a desktop) some of us really do use the 'desktop replacement' features to their utmost. Once I get back to the office, this laptop slips into the docking station and works seamlessly with a nice big external TFT, keyboard and mouse, USB hub, network connection, etc.

Not to say I wouldn't prefer it was lighter, but it's far from the one in the linked article!

Mark

Re:Shared devices

[NutscrapeSucks (446616)]

> Aye I'm not sure why the T42 has a parallel port.

Walk into the average office building and you'll see a bunch of HP departmental laser printers that all have parallel ports (and very few if any have USB). If you think of the on-site salesman or consultant, they want to be able to print without worrying about how to get on someone's network.

Re:Shared devices

[NutscrapeSucks (446616)]

Yes, if you're going to be onsite for any length of time. But if you're just visiting for a meeting, the chance of having network print access is just about zero in my experience. (I'm not saying it's an extremely common usecase .. I've maybe done it twice in 10 years. But IBM designed the T-series to be the ultimate roadwarrior laptop, and I presume they knew what they were doing.)

Re:Shared devices

[RESPAWN (153636)]

Bingo. That's the one downside to the T-Series. It is nice that it has parallel, but whether you choose to believe it or not, a serial port is still useful in this day and age. That's one area where the Dell D6xx series has an advantage over the T-Series.

Re:Shared devices

[C0vardeAn0nim0 (232451)]

how 'bout a USB adapter ?

Re:Shared devices

[networkBoy (774728)]

those tend to have way more issues, least of which is seemingly random assignment of COMx as well as some wierd incompatibilities (like with netstumbler and my GPS)
-nB

Re:Shared devices

[Anne Thwacks (531696)]

I'm not sure why the T42 has a parallel port.

Because, as those of us who have to work for a living know: a TON of important software uses it for the dongle!

Re:Shared devices

[myspys (204685)]

I have an MV Ixius (http://www.go-mv.com/ [go-mv.com])

17" widescreen, 3.4 ghz p4, dvd-burner, geforce 6800 go, 1 gb ram, 80 gb hd (7200 rpm) and a _REALLY REALLY_ crappy soundcard (my ooold 16-bit soundblaster sounded much better)

do i use all the features of this laptop? no

do i move it around? not really

is it good for applications that require a lot of cpu/io/mem and for games? yes, very much so

it's good to be able to move it around, although i almost never (when i go somewhere, i take my 15" powerbook)

and oh, btw, the

Re:Shared devices

[Rakishi (759894)]

There are a lot of small 12" notebooks, with no cd-rom drive and limited ports, google for subnotebooks. They're in the 2 to 3lb range. Smaller ones have a smaller screen.

Re:Shared devices

[DrXym (126579)]

When my old Sony VAIO died, I cried. It had no CD-rom, no floppy, and was so thin and tiny that it went everywhere.

Which is why that if ever these hand cranked $100 laptops appear in a commercial version, I will be first in line to get one. They're going to be insanely useful things - imagine not having to lug cables or anything else except a paperback sized box for browsing and word processing whenever and wherever you liked - on the beach, in a coffee shop, on a train. Sling it into a bag, crank it up

Re:Bean Counters and Laptop Specs

[billstewart (78916)]

You'd have job waiting for you in that IT department if they hadn't outsourced it...

Graphics cards have a finite amount of resources in them, such as memory, and they decided to spend the resources on more color depth per pixel instead of more pixels. 1024x768 is more resolution than 800x600. 800x600x24 is better than 800x600x8, but as a programmer, or writer, or diagram-drawer, or web-reader, I need more pixels a lot more than I need more colors. For looking at satellite imagery in the late 80s, it w

The 11lb. pencil is an example

[amcdiarmid (856796)]

of how NOT to do an IT project. (No talking to end users before implementation, questionable usage of laptop, wrong choice of laptop for use if OK, and no benefit to effencies or data retention.)

The Desktop Repleacement Laptop, is an interesting read: The machine held up in the LAN Party (E.G. Extremely heave use) for the first 2/3 of the party, then started giving some errors that they have seen in desktops as well. The Machine itself appears to be a desktop shoehorned into a LARGE laptop case.

While personally, transportable computers are anathama to me. (I don't want anything over six pounds (3Kg.) If you really want to run fraggers that most of my machines will choke on... more power to you. No, literally - remember to bring an extension cable.

my $.02

Come again?

[by Anonymous Coward]

"they have had something of a mixed reception among IT professionals."

Since when did any "IT Professional" ever consider purchasing a fucking AlienWare machine? A laptop that has "a little alien head on the back"? Or is someone trying to convince me that gamer kids should now be considered "IT Professionals"?

Re:Come again?

[vertinox (846076)]

Since when did any "IT Professional" ever consider purchasing a fucking AlienWare machine? A laptop that has "a little alien head on the back"?

Well... Maybe the guys who work at SETI ;)

Grow up.....

[Horus1664 (692411)]

My Alienware laptop has been doing stirling service for more than two years. They use high grade components with good build quality and the highest performance in a laptop at the time, just what I was looking for.

I've been an IT professional since well before it was 'trendy'.

My question is why would someone NOT buy a laptop because it had an alien head on it ?

Re:Come again?

[generic-man (33649)]

If you work at a company casual enough to permit employees to wear Thinkgeek apparel and have various tchotchkes/toys/etc at their desks, a little alien head on your laptop doesn't seem so bad. Most of their "business" offerings have pretty muted styles compared with their gamer machines.

If I were a sales guy, whipping out an OMGGAMEZ0RD00D laptop might look a bit professional, especially when the Quake "humiliation" sound plays instead of the usual "ding" beep. For IT folks in an office it's no worse than lugging around a Dell 8000/9000 laptop.

This reminds me of...

[Mark_Uplanguage (444809)]

...George Carlin's [wikipedia.org] theory of stuff. I have a desktop computer at home, and then I go on vacation with my laptop, which I leave in my hotel room. I leave my hotel room with my PDA, which I leave in my car. My PDA stays in the car, and I bring a pencil and notepad to the park where I scribble my deep thoughts [wikipedia.org].

Typical

[pheonix (14223)]

This happens all over. I've fought with more small businesses about spending a little bit of extra money to test a "solution" now rather than scrapping a "solution" later than I can count. It's absurd, and it's something I'd assume advanced business degree wielding managers would understand. As a result, many places I've worked have had their own versions of 11# pencils... like printing one copy of a several hundred page document for each region to be mailed to a print shop in that region so that photocopies can be made...

Frustrating.

Are Lan Parties still Revalant.

[jellomizer (103300)]

With almost everyone having having highspeed internet. Which seems to counter act the old problems of Lag. I mean it is not like the old days of 1995 where you needed to connect the computers up to a Hub or a Null Modem cable to play these game. Because the average rate of house to house comunication was 14.4k. If you are a gamer just get a mega system with more wires then there are bacteria on your keyboard. Save the laptop for "Professionals" who need to do less System intensive applications and whos poor computer perfomance will not bother other people.

Re:Are Lan Parties still Revalant.

[operagost (62405)]

Some geeks actually like to leave the house and meet other people once in a while.

Yes, they are

[repvik (96666)]

The high-speed connection at home can never replace the feeling of being in a hall with 150+ other nerds.
Also, a LAN tends toward rock-solid near-zero latency. I know that many FPS gamers appreciate this.

Re: Yes, they are

[johnthorensen (539527)]

Nor can it replace...the smell.

Lag...

[Ex-MislTech (557759)]

I know ppl on DSL and Cable, and lag is occuring spuriously and even disconnects
as the internet traffic is continuing to rise , but the backbone Infrastructure
is not receiving upgrades at critical points .

This is causing slow web browser loads, intermittent disconnects, and ping times
that spike from time to time at predictable points along a trace route .

The choke points are literally choking, and you can run network monitoring
tools to see where various ISPs and long haul providers are skimping
on spending and it is causing odd behaviour from our broadband .

It doesn't happen all the time, but at peak usage times it is more prevelant .

Ppl in online games like everquest often type in messages to ppl on different
ISP networks the question "lag???" and get a chorus of resounding echoes "yes" .

Some of this could be blamed on the game servers, and networks til you look at
a test that was done by myself .

Different game, Different provider, Different ISP, corresponding lag spikes .

Key points of DNS or routing is reaching critical mass .

It could be the massive increase of p2p apps, it could just be total traffic,
I do not know, but it does pose a important question.

How bad is this going to get ?

Ex-MislTech

Re:Are Lan Parties still Revalant.

[jellomizer (103300)]

Yes slashdot....a female

Hosts Mom?

Duplex Printers

[AnonymousPrick (956548)]

FTFA: Why, oh why didn't they spend a few thousand dollars to buy for enough duplex printers like HP's 1320 for each office?

He also mentioned showing them how to flip the page.

I have an old HP 682C. When I first got it for a Windows 95 system, HP's driver had a duplex feature built in. When you selected duplex printing, it would prompt you with a picture showing you exactly how to flip the pages around and insert back into the machine to print on the other side.

Now, on XP, I have to use the MS driver. It doesn't have a duplex feature so I have to do it manually, remembering that when printing even pages only that I have to set the "print in reverse order" check box. Sometimes I forget and waste a tree. And for some wacky reason, I just can't get MS Word to do this correctly. It's like it ignores the check boxes or something - Arrg!

My point is: doesn't HP's drivers come with this "manual" duplex feature anymore? That way, these folks on really tight budgets can get a much cheaper machine and still print "duplex" without having to remember or read notes on exactly how to position the paper. Yeah I know, it does seem like an incredibly stupid thing to deal with. But when you have a lot of shit going on, it's really easy to screw it up.

portable ENIAC

[ExE122 (954104)]

First of all, I'd like to say that I don't even own a laptop. I'm the last of a dying breed.

Having that said, I'd like to say that I agree with this article. I think a lot of laptop use does not offer any benefits. I also think a lot of laptops are overkills.

Examples:

• Back in college, I took a software engineering class where I was the only student without a laptop. I also go the highest grade in the class. The laptops were distractions. I saw people using instant messenger, playing video games, reading slashdot... (cricket, cricket). I thought it was a complete waste. They didn't offer any "educational benefit" whatsoever.
• My dad works as a plumbing and mechanics inspector in one of the richest counties in America. This is funded by the county government. They have provided him with a Sony 4 megapixel digital camera, a Samsung Blackberry PDA, and a Panasonic Toughbook laptop. Now his job is to make inspections to ensure there are no code violations (this is the complex part). He then takes pictures with the camera, puts them on the laptop, and emails them to the office. He then uses his PDA to update the status of the request. While I'm sure this is a very effective system, he doesn't need a $40,000 twelve pound laptop that can survive a two-story drop, works underwater, and can render 3D graphics in 2400x2000 resolution.

Now before anyone goes jumping down my throat, I'm only saying that most people don't seem to understand that buying the biggest, most expensive laptop isn't always the right choice. I don't expect a lot of those people to be reading this article right now, and I do think that laptops can be used effictively and efficiently by people who know what they are doing. I just think that 90% of the time, this is not the case.

Re:portable ENIAC

[MrFlibbs (945469)]

The main point of the article is not that laptops aren't useful, but rather that the type of device used is this case (a large laptop) was not well-suited for the job at hand. In fact, this is only one of multiple major shortcomings the article sites:

1) A large desktop replacement laptop was chosen when a thin and light laptop or PDA would have been a better choice.

2) The PDF files required duplex printing when the office had only single-sided printers.

3) Users weren't adequately trained on how to manage t

Re:portable ENIAC

[zenmojodaddy (754377)]

You're right, a Toughbook is way too much for your dad's job. In order to prevent this shocking misuse of equipment, I hereby volunteer to take it off his hands. I know, I know... it's a dirty job, but somebody has to do it.

Re:portable ENIAC

[Slack3r78 (596506)]

Actually, your father's situation is exactly what Toughbooks are designed for. From the city's perspective, it's less expensive to pay a 50% premium for a ruggidized notebook once than to pay to fix or replace it later if it gets damaged.

Given his job (from what you've described) requires being in active construction sites, it's not inconceivable that accidents happen. If you've never worked in government, IT managers have a tendency to overspec equipment anyway, so if they're going to pay a premium, from a

Re:portable ENIAC

[Knara (9377)]

Isn't this what CVS and it's relatives are _for_? Keeping the source code on your laptop without checking it in somewhere is a great way to lose your project the day before it is due, in my experience.

HP pavilion ZD8000

[quokkapox (847798)]

My desktop replacement notebook does just what I need it to do, it replaced my desktop. Plus it's mobile. I spend 90% of my time using it near an outlet anyway, so the brick just goes everywhere with me and the machine itself. Combined weight with brick and targus case is ~15 pounds. Battery lasts about an hour unless you try something ridiculous like transcoding and burning a dvd.

The nice thing is, the 2.8 GHz processor and constantly running fans literally warm up the entire room where I happen to be working and provide a pleasant, white-noise droning all the time. My hands stay nice and toasty because there are built-in handwarming areas. Plus I can keep my coffee reasonably warm by resting it on top of the power brick.

All in all, no complaints from me.

This is a product review?!

[rhesuspieces00 (804354)]

In the final third of the LAN, however, we began to notice increased instability that was not allayed by restarts. All the games we played would switch to the desktop, though strangely not crash entirely, at random intervals. This was an annoyance, needless to say, and damn well fatal during one or two of our more infamous matches.

We can only put the instability down to sheer wear and tear.

Wait a second. This machine got a positive review. I'm sorry, but I don't see how instability after 24 hours of usage on a brand new machine can in any way be considered tolerable unless usage involves throwing large blunt objects at the thing. What am I missing here? I can think of a lot of processor intensive tasks that take longer than 24 hours to complete, and I *really* do not want to see any instability while they are in the middle of running. Are my expectations out of line here?

Re:This is a product review?!

[Hektor_Troy (262592)]

Ever been to a lan-party? I don't know this one in particular, but the last one I attended took place in a gymnasium and had about 200 participants. After about 20 hours we had to have doors open and bigass fans running to circulate cool outside air inside for two reasons:

1) The stink
2) The gymnasium AC wasn't buit for 200 people each toting a 300 W rig. That's about 60 kW of heat being dumped into the air constantly.

We hit temperatures of abut 35 deg C (95 F) in the middle of the gymnasium before the doors were opened.

I wouldn't be surprised if this was part of the problem. Using a computer in a non ventilated hot area will make it difficult for it to be stable if it's only designed to be used in "normal" temperatures. Doesn't matter if it's a laptop or a desktop at that point.

Machine was in motion for 32 hours straight - how?

[digitaldc (879047)]

The gaming fun and festivities began with a round of Counter-Strike Source, went through various strategy games, and was interspaced with bouts of Unreal Tournament 2004 and various single-player games along the way. The machine was in motion for 32 hours straight.

Was this done by one person or a group? From the article you would think that the guy sat there playing games for 32 hours straight.
If it was just one person, this marathon gaming feat should be immediately entered into The Guinness Book of World Records. [guinnessworldrecords.com]
There are currently no entries for marathon LAN gaming.

Re:Machine was in motion for 32 hours straight - h

[moe.ron (953702)]

There are currently no entries for marathon LAN gaming.

If there was, it wouldn't go to someone playing 32 hours straight. It would go to that Korean man who died after playing for 50 hours. [BBC News [bbc.co.uk]]

firewire?

[iotaborg (167569)]

It's great to see that a laptop with 2 cd drives, 4 usb ports, etc etc still does not have a full-fledged 6-pin firewire port.

Less of a difference than there used to be.

[hal2814 (725639)]

With the large adoption rate of LCD monitors for desktops and the use of USB/Firewire on both laptops and desktops, the difference between the two is getting smaller and smaller from a usage and space standpoint (and even from a price standpoint). I've even seen some of the low end Compaq desktops using a keyboard that is basically an external laptop keyboard, shallow buttons and all. I haven't used a desktop for regular daily work in about two years. Even though I used to loathe laptops, I don't really miss using a desktop as much as I thought I would. In fact, last year I bought my first laptop for home use. I use it to play games and browse while my old desktop is connected to the TV as a media player and my older desktop sits in the basement largely unused (might make it a MAME/emu gaming machine or a file/print server). I don't think the desktop will ever die out but with laptops being about as cheap as desktops nowadays I can certainly see laptops becoming (if they're not already, I have no idea) the primary computer that families buy for their home, especially if they have a wireless Internet setup.

RAID array!

[syd2000 (318027)]

From TFA:

...there's even a RAID array!

Wow, how'd they pack all those drives in there?

One computer.

[LWATCDR (28044)]

I know that this is a shocker but many people only have one computer. For those a desktop replacement laptop can be a good option. I know that many of us have at least a whole room dedicated to their computers but we are the minority.
For some home users the fact that they can just put it into a desk drawer when they are "I know this part will shock you all" not using it is a big plus.
What is even more strange is some people don't think that computers are an attractive part of their home decor and want them out of site when not in use.
That ideal set up is a small light notebook for portable use and a desktop for heavy use but for many they have to find a one computer solution.

Two Words:

[C10H14N2 (640033)]

Link Whore.

Now, I now we all need to pay for our precious little websites somehow, but if the real estate is 90% advertising and 10% "original content" -- and a one-page article is spread across five, I stop reading...well, lately I don't even start. The advertisements wouldn't bother me as much if people would just keep the article all on one page. You know, we do have these things called "scroll bars," so we don't have to load the same 1MB of crap five times just to find out what happened to sister Debbie's "11lb pencil."

Honestly...

perfect for iMac

[foniksonik (573572)]

This is the scenario for an iMac.... replace a tower + screen with a small footprint all in one. Laptops don't make for great desktop replacements... they are too cramped, not ergonomic... display is too small, etc. etc. for day to day office use. They are even less expandable and upgradeable than an all in one type pc, the list goes on.

iMacs are wonderful for desktop use and relatively portable when it comes down to it... ie: you can move them around by yourself... all the connections are easy to get to, they have built in wireless so no need to rewire or extend the network to a new space.. if you have a wall port for ethernet no problem... built in speakers and headphone jacks for privacy... the new ones have the built in iSight for video conference and all have a built in mic for audio conference. New ones have bluetooth built in for use with wireless input and for synching up your pda with entourage or ical....

Bonjour is a god send for IT... just buy a printer that uses zeroconf and you'll never have label another ip address on it again just 'add printer' and pick bonjour , voila.. the printer shows up and will work without special drivers, though you may want to download them for extra features for special people...

So many nice things to say about the combo of OS X and iMac for office use.

Re:perfect for iMac

[BenjyD (316700)]

The majority of people I know who use laptops as desktop replacements have add on USB keyboards and mice they use at their desktop. With an iMac, you can't pick up your work machine, do a few hours work on the plane/train and get set up in a client's office in a minute: you have to have an extra laptop, which means duplicating files and setup.

Centrino laptops these days are powerful enough for most things (I can play BF2 on mine with decent graphics setttings) and have at least 3hr battery life in normal desktop usage

The review sucks

[danimrich (584138)]

I like the second article, but the first one really sucks. Sorry, but it does.

-No mention of the performance other than that it was okay for the LAN party.

-The reviewer says that the pictures don't really show the size of the machine. Well, why doesn't he take some pictures of the device instead of using photoshopped stuff that probably came from the manufacturer's press office??

-He talks about the weight and the battery life, but provides no information about it (apart from saying that it's heavier than a monitor).

Okay, maybe the reviewer was stll hung over from the LAN party. But then, why doesn't he wait until the next day to write a sensible review?
This review is nothing more than a feel-good piece of writing that does not provide much more info than what could be gleaned from the manufacturer's web site or a store. It's more like an ad-even though he mentions the problems that arose later on.

Re:Well...

[Agelmar (205181)]

Had you RTFA'd, you would know that the "11lb Pencil" is a name that the editor from THG gave a HP laptop (can't remember the part number) that was given to employees to replace forms which were previously filled in with pencil. The new laptops and the associated changes with "going digital" were of little practical use. In the end, the things were no more useful than a pencil for the application they were purchased for, but much bulkier, hence the term 11lb pencil.

I'm not sure if the parent post was just unfunny or ignorant, but it's definitely -1 overrated.

Re:Well...

[Savage-Rabbit (308260)]

"...pencil."

noun,
An archaic instrument for writing or drawing, consisting of a thin stick of graphite or a similar substance enclosed in a long thin piece of wood or fixed in a metal or plastic case.

Re:Well...

[VaticDart (889055)]

For those of you who think this is true, it's not.

Both the Americans and the Russians used pencils in orbital flights in the early days of the space race. However, they both realized that it was kind of a bad idea to be using something that shedded little bits of graphite or lead into a zero-G, high-oxygen, stuffed-with-electronics environment. So a company, Fischer maybe, not the US government, spent about a million US dollars developing the "space pen" which was then sold to both the Russians and NASA.