Commodore 64
Remembering our very first computer, an old Commodore 64, and how proud I was to have “written” an interest calculating program for it, I must chuckle now, at how impressed I would have been had I glimpsed what was to come down the road technologically.
IBM DISPLAYWRITER
Honestly, offices where I worked back then, were still using IBM Selectric typewriters, I’m not even sure if correction tape had been invented yet, certainly not the genius of White Out! Yet, the Commodore 64 was scarcely on the heels of its predecessor, the word processor. Oh, gods of the written word, how I had coveted one!
Since then and passing through the MS-DOS based system through earlier versions of Windows up to my latest computer version, Windows 7 on my laptop, I wonder how many of my contemporaries still use a desktop computer rather than a laptop and for those who still use a desktop, would you replace it with another desktop if it were to die?
For me, I prefer the desktop, simply because I like the big screen 
which I need in order to S-E-E, (I still work quite a lot at retouching and manipulating photos in Photoshop CS3) yet, I love the portability of my laptop. This week, however my desktop started “coughing”, lagging, growing tired. And then, the dreaded blue-screen of by-gone days horrified my eyeballs as it possessed my screen.
“Egads!” I wondered, “do I still have time to backup important files to my flash drive?”
My heart and mind racing madly, I was able to recover from the blue screen of death and backup every important folder onto an external drive. Whew! Luck was on my side, especially if this was a warning that I need to start thinking of what I will do if this is the beginning of the end for my desktop.
Thus come my questions to you, do you still work with a desktop? If your desktop died, would you replace it with another desktop or go the laptop route? Any other thoughts or ideas?
I am putting up a poll here, hoping to see what you have to say, and thanks for taking the time to answer, this is really important to me.
Cancer Isn't Pink 
Did EVERYONE have a Commodore 64? I think maybe yes 🙂
I have a desktop with a big high def monitor in my office, but I have two laptops and a couple of Kindles too. Okay, yes, I know I’m a geek. I’m also unable to haul stuff around and I don’t always want to be stuck in my office.
I do most of photoediting on my desktop. Big monitor helps. But I do a lot of writing on my laptop which is in the living room. I get a bright idea and I write. I don’t have to go back into another room … and I don’t have to haul it from room to room. The second laptop is in the bedroom. I have been sick enough to want access where I need it without schleppng. The BR machine is light, not as powerful as the other two. I have external drives for each machine. I back up critical files from machine to machine. I’ve had hard drive failures and don’t feel like losing all my stuff.
I run CS5 in the BR, CS6 on the other two (I got CS5 as part of a severance package from my last — final — job). I use the Kindles for reading audiobooks and regular books. One of them is technically my husband’s but he likes paper, so I adopt it when he’s not using it, which is most of the time.
I run Win7 on all the machines except Kindles.
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Oh my goodness! You are so organized! I only have the one desktop, one laptop and one Kindle, which suits my current needs, but I so much admire your setup!
How do you like CS5 & 6?
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I don’t think it’s organization, though that’s a nice spin to put on it. More like being physically disabled and LOVING gadgets. I really AM a geek. I’m not sure it’s something to brag about, but it can be useful.
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I immensely enjoy geeky people and geeky stuff too!
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I like CS6 — but CS 5 is not much different. I think you can get 5 pretty cheap now and if you’re on 3, you’d like it. Some things that were hard are much easier in the newer versions.
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I’ll have to take a look at it!
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I definitely prefer the mobility of a laptop. I kept my monitor when I retired my desktop, so now I connect it to my laptop and use extended display, primarily for photo editing.
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That’s what I was thinking, when my desktop dies, just connect my large monitor and do away with the tower. Oops, I just realized, my tower is technically ‘not’ a desktop. 😉
Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving a comment!
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Back in the day I could not afford (college years) those old timey desktops. When I made the choice to get my very first PC around 10 years ago, laptop was my choice. As a pet & house sitter, portability is my only concern, my whole life. So I have a big laptop, a little notebook, smart phone, and flash drives and cloud updated at all times for immediate access to client info, (guarded with a a series of codes & passwords not recorded anywhere but my head) which I need at my fingertips, always!
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I’m finding that everyone is so organized and has put a lot of thought into their way of being connected – I.T.
I most of all commend you on keeping all of your passwords and codes in your head!! That definitely is the safest place!
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I kind of wanted to put an aside to my ‘vote’ – I use a laptop mostly because my desktop is upstairs in my art room which is always a mess. If my desk top were more available, I’d use it- especially since I use double monitors. And if my Desktop were to die, despite me using my laptop for just about everything in the world, I would still buy a *new* desktop. Nothing can replace sitting in a nice chair at desk with two monitors.
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I actually ‘feel’ the same way. I thought maybe it was because of how OLD I am and that I just feel more organized working in my home office, at an old, oak desk. Even if I hooked my big monitor up to my laptop, somehow, I think that I would feel like I was “cheating.”
OH, and I wouldn’t buy another desktop, my husband and I have built out own since back in the mid 90’s, I much prefer doing it that way.
Thanks for your comments, they really helped!
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Desktops are hardy. I have still preserved my old desktop in working condition even though I have a laptop. Desktop computers are old faithfuls, they never give up. 😀
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I wholeheartedly agree, I like my laptop to rush into the safe room when tornado sirens are screaming and I know that all of my files are safe, but, if my desktop were to no longer exist, I would have to have another one. 🙂
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