Being able to work wherever and whenever you want, untethered by cables is a great idea for most people on the go. However, in the ever evolving technical world, laptops are becoming a thing of the past. Laptops are being replaced with phones, tablets and the newest wearable, the smartwatch. As a result, some people just don’t need to take their primary computing device with them. Re-enter that old standby, the Desktop Computer.
Laptop computers are rapidly becoming obsolete. For quick and easy searches, most people rely on their smart phones. Others prefer the convenience of a tablet to quickly share information on a larger screen. Smaller devices also are less expensive to use than laptops. Laptops not only cost more than smaller devices, but also more than desktops. Some people just can’t justify the need for a laptop because they won’t be taking it anywhere.
Laptop users may argue they now are equal in performance to desktops when it comes to speed and graphics, while taking up less space. However, this may not be the case any longer. Desktops have always been cheaper for the same hardware compared to laptops, and tend to be easier to upgrade. Blu-ray drives are still a rarity on portables. High-end laptop sound cards exist, but they’re expensive and uncommon. Laptop graphics cards are inevitably slower than those available for desktops, and even the cheapest desktop cards fully accelerate HD video. You can easily add an extra terabyte or four in a single hard drive into a desktop. The same goes for RAM or something like TV tuner cards. Desktops make it easier not only to keep up to date with modern add-on hardware, but offer the best possible experience.
There are new “tiny” desktops that can mount to the back of a monitor, and hence take up very little space beyond the monitor, mouse and keyboard. These tend to be cheaper than laptops and let you choose your monitor size and keyboard. However, they don’t have the many of the advantages provided by the traditional “tower” form factor desktop computers.
An example of these “tiny” desktops is Lenovo’s popular ThinkCentre series. It begins with the M79 model at $419.99, which features 15-month platform stability with no planned hardware changes that affect the preloaded software image. Image stability for long-term deployments helps to reduce transition, qualification, and testing. It has an AMD A8 7600B processor and Windows 8.1 Pro 64 operating system. For graphics, it offers an AMD Radeon HD 7459 1GB and up to 32 GB of DDR3 RAM. Although HD 7000-series graphics isn’t the best for gaming, performance is still good. For a full service desktop, Lenovo’sP500 series Thinkstation is a good choice. At ~ $1100 for a base model, the price is higher than some competitors, but offers a Xeon processor (faster than an Intel i7 or AMD processors), 8GB of RAM, upgradable to an astonishing 128GB, and plenty of graphics card options for business, CAD or gaming use. You can easily configure it for different types of usage, and upgrade down the road, although some upgrades are very expensive. These models also come with a 3 year warranty. With the rising trend of home based businesses and freelance employees, such as graphic artists and blogging, these systems can be ideal. They can also be a good fit for a gamer who wants to do one refresh of the video card every 3 years (or more often) but keep using the same base PC for 5+ years.
Another option for a desktop is the Mac Mini from Apple. It has a flash storage option that’s up to 50 percent faster, and wireless performance up to three times quicker than its predecessor. And with great connectivity features like Thunderbolt 2 and support for HDTV, Mac mini makes an excellent centerpiece for any computing setup. You can also edit photos and video, compose music, create presentations, and more, right out of the box. Built-in apps also let you do everyday things like check your email, make FaceTime video calls and browse the web. Prices range from $499.00 for the 1.4GHz dual core Intel Core i5 model with 4GB memory, 500GB hard drive and Intel HD graphics 5000 to the 2.8GHz dual core Intel Core i5 with 8GB memory with 1TB fusion drive at $999.00.
For graphics, the Mac Mini offers an Intel Iris graphics and Intel HD graphics 5000 delivering up to 90 percent more pixel-pushing performance than the previous generation of integrated graphics. This will enable videos and games to display a smoother picture and be more responsive. With recent updates now the system now has new icons, light and dark color schemes, and the replacement of Lucida Grande with Helvetica Neue as the default system typeface. An important factor to note is the Mac Mini does not come with a monitor, keyboard or mouse. However, it comes with two thunderbolt 2 ports, four USB and HDMI ports, SDXC card slot, gigabit Ethernet port and headphone ports.
All Apple systems run off the OS X Yosemite and iOS 8 which is the eleventh major release of OS X, Apple Inc.‘s desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers.
With so many great systems available, the key result is the world of technology has provided a system for anyone in any situation. Desktops are evolving and becoming ever more powerful. Laptops are offering fully capable mobile workstations, while tablets are taking mobile computing by storm. With upgrades and new models, desktops are now offering a cheaper local computing platform compared to desktops, with access from ever lighter and more powerful tablets while on the go through remote access tools.
Stay tuned for some reviews of remote access tools for just this workflow here at CLASSE and some available for use at home!