I put this thread up on a frequent traveler site and thought I would put it up here. Sorry pseudoswede for having to see this twice. :D

I know there are some very tech savvy members here on GolfWRX so out of curiosity, what computer platform do you use and why?

I work in the Industrial Robotics industry as a technical field service engineer that requires me to travel to the customer locations. Most of my need for computers is connectivity via Ethernet to communicate with robot control cabinets, documentation/circuit diagram review or data entry. There are times when my needs require running a graphics based software package to program the robots in a virtual station and downloading the programmed modules into the robot controller. The graphics software is called RobotStudio and is much like Solid Works but much more intensive. So my needs are a powerful and lightweight laptop. Ultra portable laptops work great in that I can get a small laptop and be able to work on a plane and be light weight enough not to be a burden to carry. My previous laptop is a Dell XPS 13 inch laptop. The only issue I have with the ultra portable laptops is the limited graphics capability when programming large and complex virtual robot cells that has extensive cad geometries incorporated. A mobile work station offers the graphics solution I am looking for but the shear weight of these isn't worth the graphics benefit.

The solution I found was a light weight gaming system. My primary computer is I upgraded to is a 2018 Razer Blade bade model. This laptop has an i7 processor, 6Gb dedicated graphics NVidia card, originally installed with a 128Gb m.2 primary drive, secondary 1Tb 5,400 rpm HDD, 16Gb of ram and dedicated Ethernet port. This laptop also has a Thunderbolt 3.1 port which I love for the shear speed of data transfer. I have upgraded the m.2 primary drive to a 2Tb NVMe m.2 drive, secondary drive to a 4Tb SATA SDD and 32Gb ram. The NVMe compared to the original m.2 SATA is faster so boot up takes about 8-9 seconds. I have ample graphics power that even the most complex RobotStudio station takes seconds to load and open as compared to a minute or so prior on my XPS. Simulations of robot programmed paths are fast and smooth instead of being slow and choppy. Of course when I am simply reviewing a pdf file or data entry or internet browsing then my laptop is overkill. One of the biggest issues I have is when I have to upgrade a computer and securing licenses for all the software I need to run and creating and setting up the VM (running Windows XP) for older legacy software that cannot run on 64 it machines or Win7 or later OS. With 6 TB of total storage I believe I am set for quite some time. Of course if storage on my secondary drive becomes an issue I am sure that a larger drive ]than the 4Tb drive I am using will become available.

My secondary drive contains close to 242Gb of customer files, technical document and procedures, robot system software versions, training documents, just over 305Gb of music saved (38,000 songs) plus my iTunes library of over 12,000 songs and close to 78Gb of pictures. All this data is backed up on a regular basis on multiple external hard drives so in event of a hard drive crash I am never out for than a week of updated data.

Don’t have a desktop, but there is an obsolete Dell laptop shoved in a drawer somewhere.

iPad Mini and iPhone 7 Plus are all the computing power I need these days. ?‍♂️

iPhone almost exclusively for personal use. Work is a dell laptop of some sort that is mostly docked on my desk. I used it remotely maybe 5 hours per month.

I own 50% of the world's chromebooks. And a Samsung phone

Pretty much all I need , work in tech but dont need more than this

2012 MacBook Pro. Pixel 3 XL. I know, a little schizophrenic.

Microsoft Surfacebook 2 with 16gb ram, 512GB drive and i7. It replaced a big selfbuilt desktop for motion graphics, photo & video editing and design (Lightwave 3D/Hitfilm Express/AfterEffects/Unity/Photoshop/Lightroom). Love how the pen works. The fact this thing can do most of the work that desktop did... is simply stunning. And, no Mac tax. ;)

--kC

Home machine is a 27" iMac. Work machine is a Macbook Pro. I've been an Apple user ... pretty much my whole life.

I dont like using Notebooks since the Graphics card has a low VRAM and low memory. For serious works, I always use my Desktop computer with 8 GB of VGA card RAM. You can also build one for about $700 and for the same power, you have to pay about $1500 for a gaming notebook.

Work computer - I7 - 6500U laptap 2.5GHz, 16GB memory (I need more) integrated graphics card... so not great

You're right! Problem with desktops is they are not mobile. Since I travel for business and need a powerful laptop a gaming platform works well for me.

Samsung Galaxy Note 9 (512gb internal, 256gb SD card) for me. Might pick up a Nexdock2 Dex laptop dock for my phone to get a better environment for doing work without having another system.

Wife has iPhone 6S and a sub-$500 windows laptop (i5/4gb RAM/256gbSSD) for her office, primarily for videoconferencing, office apps, and web-based electronic health records.

Kids have a chromebook and mid-range Android phones.

I'm a reformed tech junkie who used to try to future-proof by spending more money and limping along with old tech for too long. Now we keep the laptops in the "throwaway" price range and buy a new budget friendly machine every few years.

4 people in the house

3 Mac Pro’s

1 Mac Air

all iPhones etc

changed over a few years ago, not a gamer in anyway shape or form. Would never go back to windows based operating systems.

kids have xbox and PS4 so they are covered for gaming

I mostly use my iphone. I had an 8+ until my daughter got her 11 pro a few days ago and I inherited her X. It does more than I need to do. I mostly browse the internet and facebook with it.

When I'm at work, I use my cheap ASUS laptop. I honestly have no idea what it has for processor other than it is a pentium. I buy a new laptop every few years, so I just get whatever ASUS or Acer is on sale that has decent specs. I typically try to keep it under $400. I splurged one time for an HP and it took a dump on me in the same amount of time my cheap one's do, and it cost me triple what I usually pay. I use a web based software for reporting or excel, so I just have no need for anything fancy. I hate the tiny laptops (had a company issued lenovo netbook and couldnt stand it). My current one is a 17ish inch monitor. I also much prefer to have a separate 10 key number pad on the keyboard, so that helps to keep me in a bigger size. I have never been into video games, even growing up in through the 90s when that's all everyone wanted to do. I much preferred to be outside. I have friends that still are far more into gaming than I think any grown man should be, and I just cant understand the draw.

Haha. I have a two Macbook Pro's. One for work and one personal; as well as a Pixel 4. Wife has the 4XL. I love the size except when I put it in my pocket.

We may be switching to windows at work. Will probably get the ThinkPad P53s. I work in Architectural/Product Design and Engineering. 3D modeling/rendering and CAD documentation. I can get by with 2GB dedicated graphics and 16gb ram.

I made the switch to Apple a few years back. I have an iMac 27” I think. I had just gotten tired of all the workarounds I had to do to keep my PC stable and performing well.

Well, unfortunately, my iMac is basically just as bad. Some of it is likely because I’ve had to learn how to fix a Mac, since PC was the main thing I really knew. My needs go beyond “basic” and thus I occasionally need some “insider” access to my files, operating system, components, motherboard, etc. But, that doesn’t explain all of it. The iMac has been almost as unreliable as any PC I owned over the years, and it also has less software to use with it vs a PC. At least it hasn’t outright crashed and somehow lost all of my files (which happened to one of my PCs). But otherwise, it doesn’t “just work” like is typically claimed.

I'm one of the IT guys at the federal agency i work for... that means a ton of older, under-powered laptops and servers. I used to really be into PC gaming and I have an imac and macbook pro to round out the PC's i have in the house for personal use. To be honest though, by the time i get home i just pick up my iPad or iPhone for internet use otherwise I'd rather just cook dinner, play with my kids, and or veg out in front of the TV. If i'm home early that usually means stopping by the golf course or grabbing my youngest daughter and THEN stopping by the golf course. I get enough computer time at work where I'd rather not use one during my free time.

Coincidentally we're in between laptop/workstation contracts at work so we'll hopefully get some new-to-us laptops to replace the aging ones we have. Most likely either dell, hp, or fujitsu, none of the models they're proposing would be my first, second, or third choices =P

Ipad. I have a windows laptop too, but the pad gets 80% of my offwork screen time. The android is rarely used.

iPhone 10 max mostly. And a HP laptop. If I must.

MacBook Air and iPhone here. Spend far more time on the iPhone.

home computer: iMac

road computer: Macbook Pro

work computer: Toughbook

phone: iPhone 8 plus

....if it were up to me, I'd have a Motorola StarTac and just the iMac. I like simple things that work properly.

have 2 i-pads but have desktop Lenova which i still is great brand

MacBook Pro and iPhone 7.

On 2/9/2020 at 6:15 PM, RobotDoctor said:

I know there are some very tech savvy members here on GolfWRX so out of curiosity, what computer platform do you use and why?

I've been using Macs for at least 25 years, with great success.

At the moment the main computer is a Macbook Pro 16 inch laptop, with a Macbook 12 as the travel laptop.

Now I know who has been calling me! 😉