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- Location
- Helsinki, Finland
There is no one right answer for that, David - because it all depends both on your present needs (and desires) and your future ones as well. In my case, being a writer - and obliged to travel often - my desktop has a pleasantly enormous (Mac) screen, but a tiny (though very powerful) footprint (it's a Mac Mini). But when I am obliged to travel, I want a laptop which is both powerful and lightweight - so, some years ago, I traded in my larger (and more powerful) Macbook Pro - for a much smaller and lighter Macbook Air. For me, the compromise has worked truly well.
However I have friends who have gone the route you are contemplating - with a powerful laptop, a docking station, and the capacity to 'run' both a much larger external monitor - and a keyboard. Being a writer, I am obsessed with keyboards - how they feel and function - and, honestly, no laptop keyboard I've ever used (and I have used some great ones) has ever come close to some of the keyboards I've used (and am currently using) with my desktop.
So, in my case, if I only had a laptop - I would still need connecting hardware or a dock or cables - to run my larger monitor and my oh-so-cool keyboard - and it would wind up occupying a MUCH larger footprint than my present Mac-Mini-System.
Moral of the story: different strokes for different folks.
Good luck with your explorations....I'd like to know what you come up with
I followed Miguel's visioned path, kind of, when my old iMac started to take his last breaths. I didn't wait until the steam that seams to run electronic gadgets ran away from it, but bought a Mac Mini with new Silicon processor. Supported by a display which has all the ports like docking stations, I can now connect my own MacBook, my substitute for Miguel's MacBook Air and the laptop from dark-side, an employer's PC laptop and of course the Mac Mini to share the same display on my desk. I also have nowadays Bluetooth keyboard and mouse which work both on Mac's and PC, so little less stuff on my desk. And I am now reasonably happy with the performance of the Mini / display combo and mobility of MacBook. And work when obligated with the PC
- Location
- Boston Burbs
- Name
- David
A docking station would be part of the setup. A laptop when I'm sitting on the couch in the evenings or watching a game (like I'm doing right nowThere is no one right answer for that, David - because it all depends both on your present needs (and desires) and your future ones as well. In my case, being a writer - and obliged to travel often - my desktop has a pleasantly enormous (Mac) screen, but a tiny (though very powerful) footprint (it's a Mac Mini). But when I am obliged to travel, I want a laptop which is both powerful and lightweight - so, some years ago, I traded in my larger (and more powerful) Macbook Pro - for a much smaller and lighter Macbook Air. For me, the compromise has worked truly well.
However I have friends who have gone the route you are contemplating - with a powerful laptop, a docking station, and the capacity to 'run' both a much larger external monitor - and a keyboard. Being a writer, I am obsessed with keyboards - how they feel and function - and, honestly, no laptop keyboard I've ever used (and I have used some great ones) has ever come close to some of the keyboards I've used (and am currently using) with my desktop.
So, in my case, if I only had a laptop - I would still need connecting hardware or a dock or cables - to run my larger monitor and my oh-so-cool keyboard - and it would wind up occupying a MUCH larger footprint than my present Mac-Mini-System.
Moral of the story: different strokes for different folks.
Good luck with your explorations....I'd like to know what you come up with
}. And attched to my dual monitors when I need them.With the new thunderbolt docks things are much better. I've had Dell, Lenovo, and generic docks. The Dell and Lenovo docks were the the drop in with the special port on the bottom. The generic one had too many plugs and didn't work as smoothly at times.
But my wife has a newer Dell with a thunderbolt dock that seems to work really well.
- Location
- Boston Burbs
- Name
- David
Well it's been ordered:
Dell XPS 15
Dell XPS 15
- 11th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-11800H (24MB Cache, up to 4.6 GHz, 8 cores)
- NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3050 4GB GDDR6
- 15.6" FHD+ (1920 x 1200) InfinityEdge Non-Touch Anti-Glare 500-Nit Display
- 16GB DDR4 3200MHz
- 512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe Solid State Drive with one slot waiting for a 2tb NVMe
- Location
- Jersey Shore
- Name
- Steve
Not a bad solution. And you'll get the functionality of an M1 iMac for a lot less money. What size iPad do you plan to pick up?
I have a 27-inch iMac (2019) and a 12.9-inch iPad Pro (2020) with Magic Keyboard. I work from home and do my photo editing on the iMac. Pretty much everything else I do on the iPad Pro.
But the iPad with keyboard attached is a bit heavier than an M1 MacBook Air. On the other hand, the iPad has a touch screen and the MacBook does not. And I can remove the keyboard anytime I want.
If you don't think you need a 12.9-inch screen and you'll use the iPad primarily for internet browsing, email, texting and general media consumption, an iPad Air might be the way to go. Its screen is only a tenth of an inch smaller than the 11-inch iPad Pro. And if you don't need an M1 chip in your tablet, you can save a lot of money with the iPad Air.
I just traded my 11“ iPad Pro in for the M1 12.9“with keyboard/trackpad. Photos are fun to edit on it and it is super fast!
- Location
- Melbourne, Australia
I haven't had a desktop for the past 20+ years. And in the past year, I've found that I've very, very seldom opened my laptop and just worked off my Galaxy S9+ mobile. I bought a bluetooth keyboard that I can connect directly to my mobile and use that to type emails and whatever else that requires a proper keyboard to make my life easier.
With photography, I connect my camera directly to my mobile via wifi (my camera becomes the wifi spot and my mobile connects to it). I upload my raw files into my mobile and then post-process them via Lightroom mobile.
If I was to pick up a paid gig, I'd definitely have to do the post-processing via my laptop. But other than that, it seems to be all mobile now.
With photography, I connect my camera directly to my mobile via wifi (my camera becomes the wifi spot and my mobile connects to it). I upload my raw files into my mobile and then post-process them via Lightroom mobile.
If I was to pick up a paid gig, I'd definitely have to do the post-processing via my laptop. But other than that, it seems to be all mobile now.
- Location
- Boston Burbs
- Name
- David
Well the system showed up ahead of schedule. So far so good. The CPU is a nice little step up. The GPU seems to be a little behind on some bench marks, but I doubt I will really notice. The drive speeds are a another nice upgrade. Memory seems like an upgrade, but I did go from 32gb to 16gb. But with this system I can upgrade if I want.
But it's really nice to have all the power and all "my stuff" with me where ever I happen to be working or playing.
Still getting everything setup (I'm a bit OCD in setup and have already started over twice).
But it's really nice to have all the power and all "my stuff" with me where ever I happen to be working or playing.
Still getting everything setup (I'm a bit OCD in setup and have already started over twice
).
I have to ask (since I'm now casually looking to upgrade my XPS), does the keyboard have the dedicated page up/down keys?
- Location
- Boston Burbs
- Name
- David
No, but I tend to use the 2 finger mouse pad gesture when I don't have an external keyboard attached .
Drat, I could've used the keyboard as part of my justification for getting a new machine.
My 2016 XPS 15 9550 has an i7-6700HQ which is not supported by Win11. The battery is dying and needs replacing and the power cord has a bad habit of falling out of the connector. I can replace the battery easily enough and maybe attempt a DYI replacement of the power cord connector (a bit more complicated than the battery replacement) but window-shopping new machines is hard to resist.
- Location
- Boston Burbs
- Name
- David
I had the Precision 5520 with an i5-7440HQ and HD graphics. I can definitely tell the difference between that and this one (i-11800H and RTX 3050). The old one had more ports which I liked, but this one has the 16 x 10 screen which I REALLY like. I would have been fine if this one had the one NVMe and one 2.5" bay (and the 2tb drive would have been cheaper), but dual NVMe drives aren't a bad thing.
I'm in the end stages of making a switch from a 4Ghz 27 inch Imac to one of the 14 inch M1 MBP systems. I still have the IMac, it's a nice test platform things I want to try, both it and the MBP run the same OS. Hardest thing for me was finding a monitor, I found monitor shopping to a nightmare. Finally found one (32 inches) and set it next to my IMAC and using a detailed macro photo at 200% I - and others - cannot see any difference in the image when displayed on both monitors. MBP is a LOT faster than my IMac, it's orders of magnitude faster. I had a 15 inch I7 MBP I traded in to Apple, I found that one a little too big for a laptop, the 14 inch fits my lap nicely.
Fast forward a few a months and the battery was replaced with no issues but now a new started last night... won't power on to POST. It's getting power and a quick power on video test (hold D while powering on) shows video is going to the screen and the keyboard lights up but never going to the POST startup. Reading online it looks like the thermal management on the motherboard may have gone necessitating a board swap. Using only my phone for online is not ideal.Drat, I could've used the keyboard as part of my justification for getting a new machine.
I now looking to either replace it with an XPS spec'ed out similar to what davidvzi picked up or trying a local PC repair shop to see what they say. Shiny new laptop is beckoning to me though.
- Location
- Boston Burbs
- Name
- David
I'm pretty happy with it. As I mentioned, my main requirement was upgrade ability. Second was screen, both a nice screen and the 16:10 ratio; a little better for Lightroom and made for a slightly smaller form factor. After that the Thunder / C-Type and SD instead of microSD were all pluses.
I looked at the Razer Blade 15 as well since it also had upgradeable RAM and two NVMe slots available.
I looked at the Razer Blade 15 as well since it also had upgradeable RAM and two NVMe slots available.
ReneBee
Top Veteran
- Location
- Nieuwegein, The Netherlands
- Name
- René
Any beeps during power up?Fast forward a few a months and the battery was replaced with no issues but now a new started last night... won't power on to POST. It's getting power and a quick power on video test (hold D while powering on) shows video is going to the screen and the keyboard lights up but never going to the POST startup. Reading online it looks like the thermal management on the motherboard may have gone necessitating a board swap. Using only my phone for online is not ideal.
I now looking to either replace it with an XPS spec'ed out similar to what davidvzi picked up or trying a local PC repair shop to see what they say. Shiny new laptop is beckoning to me though.
Nothing. Hitting the power button gets that button light to come on and then hitting a key gets the keyboard backlit as normal but nothing after. No video output of any kind and then after a minute or so it powers itself off. For Dell, at least, holding D while powering on does a video test and doing that does show the screen cycling colors but I can't get into anything else like the BIOS or anything.
