Ask HN: Should I invest in a desktop PC in 2017?

Re:Ask HN: Should I invest in a desktop PC in 2017? by Scene_Cast2 on Monday January 16, 2017 @11:19AM (#13410813)

So here are the reasons why I personally like having a desktop.

  * Quiet under full load. Can actually run jobs overnight in my bedroom (e.g. rendering, machine learning).
  * Frees up space from the desk. Better for ergonomics if you set things up right.
  * Can have more memory for memory-intensive things (VMs, rendering, machine learning, etc).
  * Slightly cheaper for the performance.

In return, you sacrifice portability. If you try to solve that by having a desktop and a laptop simultaneously, it will probably be painful synchronization-wise. E.g. on your laptop, you're comparing some products - you have excel open as well as a few tabs in Chrome. How do you automatically shift everything over?

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Re:Ask HN: Should I invest in a desktop PC in 2017? by chestervonwinch on Monday January 16, 2017 @11:33AM (#13410929)

> How do you automatically shift everything over?

I'd like to know if there's an easy solution for this as well. I have a laptop and a desktop that I snagged at a university auction [1], both with Ubuntu. I keep a portion of my work in Dropbox, but I'd really like to build a "local network dropbox equivalent" for large directories. I don't have the knowledge to do so.

[1]: http://www.publicsurplus.com/

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Re:Ask HN: Should I invest in a desktop PC in 2017? by allannienhuis on Monday January 16, 2017 @11:58AM (#13411147)

This might be a useful tool for you to try: https://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/unison/

it's like rsync, but two-way.

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Re:Ask HN: Should I invest in a desktop PC in 2017? by yoo1I on Tuesday January 17, 2017 @03:53PM (#13421077)

A tool I've the found to be the closest local network dropbox equivalent: https://syncthing.net/

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Re:Ask HN: Should I invest in a desktop PC in 2017? by cr0sh on Monday January 16, 2017 @03:09PM (#13412594)

You might also find this useful:

https://owncloud.org/

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Re:Ask HN: Should I invest in a desktop PC in 2017? by snerbles on Monday January 16, 2017 @11:32AM (#13410925)

> How do you automatically shift everything over?

I use a combination of a home NAS and Syncthing, both of which play nicely with the Windows/macOS/Debian systems I have deployed.

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Re:Ask HN: Should I invest in a desktop PC in 2017? by madsprite on Monday January 16, 2017 @11:36AM (#13410956)

While not a full solution for everyone, I'm a student who has a laptop and desktop. I use Bittorrent Sync (Resilio) to sync my files. Chrome if forced a bit can sync your tabs. If you do work with laptop and desktop side by side, then use Synergy to use your keyboard and mouse across both computers. My workflow is seamless from when I close my laptop and go on my Desktop to work on the same project.

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