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Practical Electronics Editorial offices Electron Publishing Tel +61 2 9939 3295 (Australia) Email pe<at>pemag.au Web www.electronpublishing.com Address mail to: Electron Publishing (Australia) PO Box 194, Matraville NSW 2036 Australia Advertising enquiries +61 2 9939 3295 pe<at>pemag.au Editor Nicholas Vinen Publisher Nicholas Vinen Digital subscriptions Stewart Kearn Tel 07918 614662 Online Editor Alan Winstanley Web Systems Kris Thain Production Bao Smith Technical staff Tim Blythman, John Clarke Print subscriptions Practical Electronics Subscriptions PO Box 6337 Bournemouth BH1 9EH Tel 01202 087631 United Kingdom Email pesubs<at>selectps.com Technical enquiries We regret that technical enquiries cannot be answered over the telephone. We are unable to offer any advice on the use, purchase, repair or modification of commercial equipment or the incorporation or modification of designs published in the magazine. 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The laws vary from country to country; readers should check local laws. 2 Volume 55. No. 04 April 2026 ISSN 2632 573X Editorial The benefits of desktop computers These days, when someone says they use a “PC” (which I would say includes Macs and Linux machines), they usually mean a portable computer – what we once called a laptop, and now more often a notebook. Portability obviously has its advantages. Still, whenever I work on a notebook computer, I feel as though I’m operating with one hand tied behind my back compared to a proper desktop system. The most obvious limitation is screen space. My eyesight is still serviceable, but not what it once was, and trying to work efficiently on a 43cm diagonal (17-inch) display inevitably involves squinting at small text and constantly rearranging windows. By contrast, large 4K desktop monitors (eg, 110cm/43-inch) are now inexpensive and transform productivity; even more so if you have space for two screens. Yes, you can connect a notebook to an external monitor – possibly via a dock – but once you do that, it’s no longer particularly portable. And the display is only part of the problem. Keyboards are another major compromise. A full-size keyboard with decent key travel is far more comfortable for extended typing than even the best notebook keyboards. Personally, I rely on a split ergonomic keyboard, which lets me work all day without sore hands or wrists; something no notebook keyboard has ever managed. Pointing devices are similar. Modern trackpads may be adequate for casual use, but they’re no substitute for a proper mouse. Again, you can plug one in, but that adds clutter and requires desk space, further eroding the supposed advantages of portability. I do miss the TrackPoint used on Lenovo (and earlier IBM) notebooks. It remains the best non-mouse pointing device I’ve ever used, and took up virtually no space. Finally, there’s thermal performance. Notebook computers are inherently thermally limited. Even when fitted with powerful CPUs, they tend to throttle quickly under sustained workloads; the sort of workloads involved in software development, simulation, PCB layout, CAD, desktop publishing, graphic design or data processing. For my own work, including editing, PCB layout and coding, I simply get more done in the same amount of time on a desktop computer. I often wonder whether people who rely exclusively on notebooks have found ways around these productivity limitations, or whether they just don’t realise what they’re missing. Nicholas Vinen, Electron Publishing (Australia)* * a division of Silicon Chip Publications Pty Ltd. Practical Electronics | April | 2026