Career Path: Lappy or Desktop

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Cottonwood00

Weaksauce
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Feb 19, 2008
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Hey everybody i had a question figured i would get some of your opinions on the matter.As of winter this year ill be graduating and I plan on going into the IT field, hopefully finding my way into a Network Engineering or System Administrations position. So right now i'm planning on buying a new computer and turning my current computer into a file server. I guess my question is, if i'm in the IT business would i frequently use the portability of a laptop or would i need the power of a desktop(I'd be spending like ~$800.00)? I don't really play many games although i might try out that new Mortal Online. Anyways thanks for any advice
 
Sounds like you're wanting to work for some big company.
1. Most corporations will want to provide the equipment you use, maintain control, security and uniformity within the corporation
2. It's not in your best interest to set a precedent that you will provide the tools of your trade.

I can't imagine anything in IT needing the "power" of a desktop. IMO, buy whatever YOU want. It's likely to be strictly a personal system.
 
Are you going to buy this computer under the assumption that you'll be using it for work? Oftentimes, if that is the case, the job will "loan" you a computer.

As for whether or not you should pursue a laptop over a desktop, ask yourself these questions:

- Do you plan on traveling a lot? If so, would you like a computer on hand while you travel?
- Do you plan on some serious gaming (like FPS, RTS, racing/flight simulation)?
- Are you going to perform a lot of resource-intensive tasks (like heavy/constant photo/graphics/video editing, or the use of multiple virtual machines)?

While many of today's laptops can serve as a decent desktop replacement, the biggest strengths of the desktop are its comparatively more powerful components and its greater ease in upgrading.
 
Thanks for the responses guys, If its going to end up more personal I'll probably go with a desktop and a netbook.

Anybody have a good idea of how much computing power you need to run a 20 virtual machines?
 
Like everyone has stated, your company will typically provide you with whatever you need for the job. The only time I imagine a personally owned PC being used for work is if conneting through the VPN when you are on-call.

Also, regarding the 20 VM's, it depends on what they are used for. If they are running something like Windows XP, I can't see how even a high end system would deal with the hard drive, RAM, and CPU requirements. If all VM's were sitting there idle that would be one thing, but who needs idle VM's?

If I were running 20 Windows XP VM's using desktop components, I would run quad-core with 8GB of RAM. I would then run about 4-6 PC's with the VM's divided evenly.
 
i am a college student(majoring in CS, probably economics too) with a Dell XPS M1330 laptop(bought exactly a year ago), and i think my following info is good for anyone who wants a combo of power and portability... i just wished that netbooks were cheap/more available a year ago, so that i would have followed my own advice... looking to build a powerful enough desktop to compliment my portable laptop

Portability + cheap
Netbook $300 - small screen is a bummer, but it'll be light, powerful enough to SSH to VNC into any system, or surf the net... dock into a dual screen on your desk(or rely on your desktop when at home/office)

Powerful (enough) desktop - build your own, add in AT LEAST 2 monitors to dual screen... dual screens really increase productivity... really....(NYT article says 44% more efficient at text editing using dual vs single)...
(below in my 'target' build for my desktop... slowly gathering parts)
mATX Build for compactness

mATX
mATX case with handle + cheap
MSI 785GM-E65 - mATX mobo, 4 DDR3 DIMM slots for 4x2GB(8GB ram), enough for VMing... 785G, decent enough IGP for anything+light gaming... $90
AMD Phenom II X2 550 BE... could unlock the cores, if can't then overclock... $100
4x2GB DDR3 Ram... price around $20-$30 per 2GB, so $100?
PSU - 500W PSU for <$50?
price - $400... add in HDD/DVD drives, $500 for a workable build

dual monitors... 2x $130 22" 16:10 monitor

total
netbook - $300
desktop - $500
dual monitors - $260

total = $1060

better than an overpriced powerful that you can't upgrade(well, for desktops, you could probably recycle the DDR3 RAM, PSU and case on your next build in 6 years :)... not so for laptops), but still with some portability...


this setup is probably future proof for at least 3 years?....
 
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Speaking from experience, i've been a programmer for a transcription company so we had a LOT of PCs. The company will usually provide you with a decent PC. Usually tho, it's no different from the one in the production line. The only ones that will be upgraded are the server units.

The guys in the IT have their own PC's at home that are pretty powerful usually for their own research needs (Maintaining a linux based PC takes a lot of recompiling/research/time it seems), but overall, it doesn't affect the normal workload.

One thing i'd liked to have had back then is a netbook. Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep running back and forth between production and the server room when you're troubleshooting? We've had to resort to walkie talkies! If we had a netbook back then, we can just put all our remote/settings/tools on it and walk around the building with it!
 
Out of curiosity, why would you want to power 20 VM's?


Are you planning on hosting? Consulting independetly? Running VM's for your own home lab to test with?


To echo what everyone else has said: if you are working for a company, they will provide you with the hardware you need to do your job.
 
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