XaiJu
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It's a video about how I work and stuff!

Greetings!

https://youtu.be/Pc31L3zJiaU

This video is... well I don't know exactly. It's equal parts "here's a neat thing," public service announcement, and opinion piece. Towards the end, I go into a thing I'm embarrassed to have bought but which fits nicely into this subject.

The video turned out way longer than I wanted it to, I think mostly because of the multiple things I wanted to accomplish here. But, I hope you find it enjoyable. I tried to be an equal opportunity annoyer by complaining about Linux, Windows, Apple, and Adobe in roughly equal amounts!

Captions will be appearing later this afternoon. I'm trying to rush this one to be ready for release tomorrow.

EDIT: I forgot to add here that the audio in this one is a little weird. I left something running upstairs that I didn't think would be audible but oh boy is it at times and I tried my best to filter it out. I think that the actual audio might have been improved by what I did, but if you hear a weird background rumbling from time to time - I know and am equally annoyed! But I know what it is so it won't happen again ;)

Toodles!

It's a video about how I work and stuff!

Comments

Sadly just got around to this video after clearing out an insanely ballooned Watch Later playlist on YT. Have to say, and agree, that this is very much a situational thing and depends on one's needs. Quite a while back I decided to splurge for a half decent gaming capable laptop with some reasonable portability for the specs. That ended up being a model from Dell not too dissimilar from yours in an Inspiron 7577 with an i7 7700HQ and GTX 1060. At the time it basically replaced my desktop completely which while was only a few generations in specs behind, was basically equal in performance for much of my needs. So the desktop got relegated to a gorified NAS/Home server and the laptop became my daily driver. Fast forward a year or two into my ownership I came across the same line of thinking of 'Oh hey, TB3/USB-C docks are a thing. I wonder what I can get away with?' One of the biggest cons that I saw and still do now is pricing. Most made it prohibitive to the point if they were my only option I'd have given up (spoiler alert: I eventually did for reasons laid out below). But I did come across what were reasonably priced lightly used docks offered by Dell in the TB16 line... For the most part the combination of the TB16 dock and my Inspiron 7577 worked fine but had some massive glaring issues. 1) As you've already covered in your video: Compatibility. Dell seems to have not only made very short lists of compatible laptop and dock models but also if you intend to keep them up to date and bug free, it seems like the same short list of compatible models are the only ones that they allow to do firmware upgrades from due to some funky need they implemented of needing the upgrade for the dock to be pushed from the laptop BIOS after a reboot. 1a) As a result of this, not all features were implemented and they even stated this for their supported list. Namely the power button on the dock is not compatible with everything and (again, as you pointed out) the power supply situation is murky. In my case it wouldn't even power the laptop from the dock at all even under idle/power saving modes (granted this particular laptop doesn't even take power over the USB-C/TB3 port) so needed to have a power brick for the laptop as well as the dock connected to use the entire setup. 2) The BIGGEST issue I had was as a gamer once I had quit out of any game (or any full screen app), all USB based devices in the dock went completely dead. This included ethernet, audio, and all USB ports. And it required a full power cycle of both the dock and laptop to restore. And remember how I mentioned above the firmware upgrade restrictions? The dock I had bought had a firmware version installed from the factory with no way for me to upgrade it in hopes of any potential bug fixes. Other than that, the setup would have been perfect for my needs even as a gamer. I had worried about display performance given old memories of some early USB display adapters but it seems like Dell went with straight up Thunderbolt display output which is fed natively off the Intel iGPU with no extra processing or extra devices (same as the built in display, even under games. Nvidia GPU does the rendering and sends the frames off to the iGPU to display on the built in panel) and was basically completely lag free and completely usable even with 3 external monitors attached. But alas, that particular dock model and Dell's design of it (mainly in software/firmware) completely soured me on it. And given the fact Dell had no first party docks for my particular laptop model and the cheapest third parties were still out of my budget and often just USB-C only, I quickly gave up on that despite the desire to want to make it work. So now current day the same desktop I started with is back in service merely with an upgraded GPU which keeps it largely in line with the laptop but a sizable upgrade in GPU performance and the laptop is now relegated to portable use which is still nice to be able to game on the go if I want even on a slightly outdated GPU. That said, I would not mind revisiting using docks again but would definitely need to wait til cost and reliability improve. And much like you, my current setup works for what I need so likely won't be seeing any major changes anytime soon.

Just dropped by to say congrats on the shoutout from LTT!

John Laur

posted on youtube https://youtu.be/WCM8FZlFTas?t=777 i was screaming :D I'm so happy, it make no sense but i feel proud event if i have nothing to do with the success of this lovely chanel

Vlycop

Dock (big, chonky types) have been around since the early 1990's, but the dream of a single cable port hook-up only recently happened. Good info here.

Joe Kudrna

LTT just pointed to this video, wonder what impact it will have (not posted to Youtube yet)

Kilrah

Alec has a cameo on Aging Wheels channel!

nobody

I fully agree! I use a tank computer currently as I need some grunt for what I'm doing but a Laptop is almost as good performance wise, bar the thermal throttling. I went down this path previously and it was a good experience. I paid $450 more by going the laptop route but never regretted it. That Sony core2 machine still gets used today with a 2TB drive upgrade. I built a customwood/MDF base with some recycled PC fans for a "dock" and the thermal throttling was handled really well (surprising difference, it made a vast improvement). I used the sole USB3.0 port to connect the peripherals with a hub and screen. It worked amazingly well, exactly your findings. And yes I constantly got poo-pooed by people. Except, I had my computer with me, with all my files on hand, and all my programs while on the move. Friends/family would need IT help, over comes my machine.

Anton

Maaan your Linux shade hit close to home. :) For the record, I'm writing this comment on a Debian Linux desktop, while dealing with a hardware failure on a work-provided Dell running Ubuntu Linux (The thermal systems are failing, ironically.). Of course, my workplace _allows_ but only provides "best effort" support for Linux users, so while I am waiting for a replacement machine, I figured out I could set the frequency governor to a lower value thereby reducing the thermal load without compromising performance too much. For anyone who may be interested to know, both Debian and Ubuntu Linux handle thunderbolt gracefully in most setups, in my experience so far with substantially less compatibility hassle than Windows. Mac ... is mac.

Jack Mudge

Our IT department at work was "we only give you a docking station if you have two monitors". Which considering I'd been asking for a second monitor for ages just made me go kick the CTO and get a requisition for the second monitor, which also forced them to give me a docking station as well. So double win, really.

Chris Crowther

I loved this video! Up until I got a new desktop in the past month, I used my laptop as both a desktop and my portable work machine. I didn't have a dock, but instead I would plug in my charger, HDMI cable, and a USB hub that then connects to my mouse, keyboard, and Blue Yeti. Having the USB hub was also really useful /after/ I got my new desktop because I could do the same setup and move the single USB plug from my desktop to my laptop and seamlessly go from personal computing to working from home. I wish I had known about docks before, they're such a simple solution to the hassle of setting up a laptop for desktop environments.

Naishaline

The new docks are great if everything is compatible. As a former PC tech in an enterprise environment, they were a PITA due to tons of legacy equipment that worked fine but needed replacement, & legacy users who worked fine but needed to be replaced... No one liked, 'Here's the new computer we're forcing you to migrate to, sorry your two monitors don't work with it, put in a requisition.'

USB-C based docks are one of the best things to happen when it comes to working; I have one for work laptop at home and in the office.

Chris Crowther

I’ve done effectively this for a couple of decades through various dock types (currently 6yo Thunderbolt 2) and I agree it’s very convenient. It feels like laptop+dock, and “computer integrated into screen” are pretty much all that will be left soon, aside from some high end workstations (real time gaming, design work, etc); everything else really compute intensive has been “in the cloud” for years. I hope the Thunderbolt 3/USB-C mess settles down soon, as it’s very “N standards to choose from” still, 3+ years later. Ewen

Ewen McNeill

21:40 Check out USB4! It fixes a lot of issues with previous USB naming conventions. It's based on Thunderbolt 3 (PCI-E tunneling) (because Intel let the USB IF use it without the branding). It requires both type-C connector, and USB PD too. It just might be a change of pace from their terrible history of naming things.

[claps in Corporate Worker With A Docked Laptop]

evistre

The only thing I would recommend for your "all-in-one" docking solution would be to add an eGPU to the mix. Yes, it adds a bit of extra overhead in the troubleshooting / configuration department, but it also removes one of the very large heat sources from your laptop's duties, the GPU! :) The external GPU takes over all of the work of the dGPU and therefore the entire GPU/CPU cooling solution (yes, they're shared :/) can be dedicated to cooling the CPU resulting in quite a bit more performance under heavy loads :) I have the same laptop as you, 1 year newer, an eGPU, and a docking station and absolutely love the setup. My use-case is a bit different from you, I don't edit videos, but I do play games and 3D-design and I noticed a major change by adding an eGPU for thermals.

Johnathan Chamberlain

I would love to see a demo of that Continuum dock. I had a Windows Phone for a bit a long time ago, but it was before Continuum was a thing.

Michael Dragone

I've been using a XPS13 with the same dock you have for a few years now and it's great for working from home with dual screen on an ultra wide monitor and a proper mouse and a bunch of other thugs plugged in and means if I need to go to a clients office or something entirely unlikely like that, I know it's all set up how I like it and if they have docks, I can use those too. I also recently moved to Linux, cos it's apparently the thing to do, and was worried that the dock wouldn't work with it anymore, but somehow managed to get it working without too much hassle, which is saying something from someone not hugely familiar with Linux based stuff. So I agree, a laptop and a dock is a pretty good way to go and if I ever got back into doing video editing, I'd imagine I wouldn't need to change much, if anything.

Andyface

Nice video bro. (I don't like Dell computers, specially notebooks though). Now, I'm considering buying a dock and a High Res screen, so I can pluggin my notebook on it. Neat. BTW (I know this is personal) but you seems to be losing weight. You're slimmer! Nice! Congratulations for more this amazing video!

Matheus Bitencourt

It's interesting that you put this video out... I was just talking to my wife about getting a dock for my old Toshiba.

Brendan Meteer

I rather enjoy these rants I have to be honest 😂

Zveebo

You spent half of this video and half of the previous one (about the US electrical system) on rants against people who keep complaining about stuff you use and tell you it's shit. Annoying as that is, filling half your video with it makes it a chore to watch. Besides, if you find these people so irritating (and I understand that), then don't do the exact same thing about British plugs and Linux.

Michael Steenbeek

I still use my Windows Phone to this day, already at my PC 24/7 so when I'm on the go, I don't need any apps like Twitter to distract me, if it's really important people will call and in that regard the Windows Phone does it's job very well

OrionGamerCat

There's a lot to be said for being able to spend the same money on a better laptop than buying both a laptop and desktop, if portability is essential. $1800 laptop + $200 dock >> $1100 laptop + $900 desktop, after all. I'm still ready to die on the hill that laptops are a fairly niche solution these days*, but I absolutely recognise that the ability to /work/ on the go** is that niche. [*I think tablets and phones are broadly better for most low-end laptop uses. (Your Chromebook being the obvious exception here.)] [**Recent advancements in Small Form Factor desktops have definitely decreased the portability gap, but they're still not really a work-on-the-go solution. (Or for the tech-unsavvy or people who need/want to strongly limit power consumption)] ETA: The 'How much performance do you really need anyway?' part is also a very, very good point.

Kevin Kostka

Conclusion: Someone has a deep seeded hatred for Linux ;-)

Insider Chad

Using your display as a dock can be an option too if you want to keep your two devices. Plug everything into your display. Switching video inputs switches all periphery. I don't have thunderbolt so I have to deal with 3 cables (power, USB up-link, HDMI) when I unplug my laptop. Not sure there are thunderbolt options out by now. I have a dock for my dell flying around but don't need it with that setup. EDIT: Btw. highly recommend those cheap upright stands for your laptop for space saving on the desk.

But you do use Linux and it just works! When writing your scripts anyhow. :) Seriously though, I very much connect with what you're saying about wanting to use your computer to work, and not work on your computer. I work in IT, and while I know better, I outsource all of my storage needs, backups etc to third parties, because I am not willing to do IT at my home. Also team dock! I sometimes work from home (esp. after Covid), and I like to do my actual work on my work laptop instead of my personal desktop which I mostly use for gaming. Separation of concerns and all that. Neat development: Monitors with built-in docks! Don't let the haters grind you down. Do what works for you. Sad how hard it is for people to accept that different things matter to different people.

Örn Arnarson

To be fair to channels like MKBHD and LTT, they are working with 4k and 8k video. This is an order of magnitude more data per frame of video and requires hardware that is a lot more powerful. Not only that, but they're working on multiple videos simultaneously, so it makes more sense to have the big, powerful computing and networking infrastructure in the workplace. Also, those channels' whole purpose is to showcase new tech.

Tedd

+1 on the Lumia 950 XL. It's a pity that Windows 10 on phones was abandoned some 18 months in, it was a genuinely great experience for those of us who don't need the gimmicky app of the week. Surprisingly, apps for loyalty cards and the like were common as late as early 2019, after the platform's death was formally announced. Continuum was a good proof of concept but never went very far. The Office apps stopped being in sync with mobile Office in early 2017 or so and never got close to feature parity with desktop office. Edge worked great, but that was about all you might want to do with the phone. Maybe some media playback? The dock isn't useless, though, it's a fairly compatible USB Type-C with DisplayPort Alternate Mode dock, so it still works with laptops these days, assuming they support DP Alternate Mode (which all Thunderbolt 3 laptops do).

The problem is these days channels like MKBHD get all sweaty over multicore CPUs, quoting single digit percentage improvements being somehow worth the $6k they dropped on their Mac Pro and people eat it up with out a second thought. In a well organised workflow that's insensitive to latency the speed of the computer is almost irrelevant and so are the time savings. Generally big multicore CPUs are really only a massive cost savings for programmers working on large projects in a multi-user environment, like game development for example. And even then we've found that using software to distribute the load over multiple office PCs is a cheaper, less stressful solution than getting everyone a 64 core monster machine.

Leigh Beattie

I mean, they're not exceptional by any means (and are USB-powered) but for being $20 they're surprisingly good. A bit boomy for my tastes, but a little extra oomph doesn't hurt with such a small footprint

Technology Connections

Opposing viewpoints are not necessarily mutually exclusive :P

Compartmentalizing is also good for focus and productivity. Unfortunately my bed has evolved to become the place where I go to do armchair philosophy ;)

Wow, a Windows phone. Normally, the only place I see them is at Microsoft dev conferences.

Michael Dunn

I'd been using Audition 3.0 for years until I noticed it doesn't handle USB inputs well. So, now, I pay $20.99 a month (plus tax) for Audition 2020.

Mike Chimeri

As a Linux user (and a Linux user with a docking laptop at that!) I have to say that I completely agree with your assessment! I took a 10 year break from Linux to focus on gaming and music production, and only came back to the OS because I got back into programming. For programmers Linux is AMAZING (I hear the macOS crowd revving up their keyboards), but honestly if you're not a programmer its biggest benefits are cost and ethics. I'm currently in the position of having 3 machines, with all three major OS's on them (though with WSL and QEMU/KVM when needed) that I use for completely different purposes, and I can honestly say they ALL have their strengths and weaknesses. And if somebody is comfortable with the ethics, and has the budget, Windows is almost universally the better choice over Linux for every user except (a certain segment of) programmers.

Skoddie

I actually went the other way. At start of lockdown I was using my laptop connected up to a monitor, keyboard and mouse (well they're wireless but you know...). I found a few issues, I eventually decided I needed a better screen and I hated having to take my laptop upstairs, fiddle around with the 20 year old apple keyboard which doesn't immediately pair (It's mechanical and kicks the arse of anything Apple have made since) and then dig around under the table because the usb cable had dropped behind the desk. The biggest benefit is I can shut the door on my office, leaving all that nightmare behind. So for the first time in 20 years, I bought a desktop. It makes me happy. If I get sent back to the office in a few months it'll be a bit of a waste of money, but whatever

Mark Stradling

If you have access to Adobe Audition, try out the Denoise effect on your rumbling. I think it's cool because you train it on the noise to remove using a FFT (Fast Fourier Transform). Although I wouldn't try training it on your ranting, because it's indistinguishable from your rhetoric ;) P.S. Where's the remarking about KVMs?

What do you do for storage? I have several PCs at my home and most of them are filled to the brim with hard disks.

George Schizas

Extra ❤ for Windows Phone. I had 3 of them, and I miss them (I had to switch to Android even before Microsoft killed it)

George Schizas

I agree with this message! I'd love having just one slim laptop being my main computer and connect it to either a eGPU enclosure or a dock. Honestly, my main use for the GPU is gaming, which is why in my last refresh I decided to build a desktop instead. The 4x PCIe lanes Thunderbolt supports is just a little short for the gaming GPU scenario and leads to performance decline. The other side of the coin is picking a laptop that has a nice GPU in it. Right now the technology is starting to be at a spot where you can have an ok GPU without having to lug a huge and heavy laptop. The downside there is that USB-C is only rated for 100W of power (though Dell's new XPS series advertises 130W, I wonder what they're up to) and these laptops need more power than that, leading to multi-cable docking solution. Compromises. But I like that there are choices for everyone's use cases and preferences. I'm also looking at the Dell XPS 17! Looks a tempting laptop.

Hang on a sec... You seem to be saying that people can have different opinions without anyone being "wrong." Naw, that can't be right... How do you tell who wins the conversation?

B3

Speaking about USB-C/Thunderbolt and Display Port: I have a Lenovo Yoga machine that has two whoppin' USB-C ports, but for some reason they did not include Thunderbolt with those. Super-weird. So I had to buy TWO mini docks (one for each port) so I can drive two monitors. It's...weird, but it works very well. Did the same at home and now I only have one machine I always carry with me. I love docks. ♥ Still...I wish they would've included Thunderbolt. But Thunderbolt, pen support AND replaceable RAM? We cannot have THAT many features for our customers!

Danny

how do you like those Creative speakers? I've been looking for some lower profile ones than my current Bose set, and those look perfect.

Charlie

Agreed, it is a bit of a mess. It's mostly caused by bad documentation. I think USB SIG should have defined a set of icons for the ALT modes or something and use them throughout the chain to indicate compatibility. As it stands, it's surprisingly challenging to find out what modes an USB-C port supports, I mean, there is the lightning pictogram for Thunderbolt for often nothing about the Displayport ALT mode. I agree, for most people plugging couple cables in when they (if they even do) move their laptop to the desk is completely fine. Personally I agree with the video, I love a dock of any kind.

For me the biggest problem with Thunderbolt 3 is that the standards for what is ACTUALLY a Thunderbolt 3 cable is very opaque. After damaging the first cable I had, it was four more cable purchases - all but one of them described as Thunderbolt 3 - before I actually got one that works *SOMETIMES* with my 4K monitor and Belkin Dock. I am currently actively using two at the same time - one for Ethernet and Power (but not display because it's DisplayPort connector is damaged) and the other for IEEE1394 acquisition and driving the 4K monitor.

Im a laptop guy too, (I own two, and have a company issue one for work). I haven't touched a real desktop system in years. Now that Im working from home and don't need to constantly pick up my laptop for going to meetings I found that hooking up the monitors and keyboard at home is easier without the dock...... so I abandoned it at the office. The dock's main problem is that it lacks a mini display port and hdmi, which are the most convenient for my home office.

Jacob Nelson

I have a bunch of audio I/O that windows freaks out with too. I use "voicemeeter" (free) as the default input device which is always there as far as windows is concerned, and use the program to set which outputs when. If something doesn't work right it even has a restart engine button which fixes everything. I think it could be great use to you! I know it changed my life with audio struggles...

Christopher Bassett

what a fantastic video! I'm a software engineer at Microsoft (no, not on a product you'll recognize, don't send your complaints here). My work machine is a Surface Book 1 with Surface Dock. I love being able to just pick it up and take it to meetings. At home, I have a second dock that is hooked up (via switches) to the same monitor/keyboard/mouse as my desktop. I could really use a new laptop, but a newer surface book would probably work fine too! One other thing to keep in mind when buying a dock is how the display data is actually routed to the output ports. The iGPU in my surface book is limited to three displays at a time, so to power my fourth display at the office, I use a usb3 dock plugged into the surface dock. however, since that one goes over usb3, all its video data must pass through the CPU first, causing a slowdown if anything intensive happens on that display. Just something to keep in mind!

My primary machine is a 16" MBP and I have a TB3 dock for when I want to connect it to a large display, Gigabit Ethernet and various USB drives. The MBP alone is more than powerful enough for me for development, photo editing, audio editing and whatever else I need to do. I do have a desktop machine; but, it runs VMware ESXi for network services, Plex media server and MariaDB for my development environment. I have my old MBP 15" running my local testing VMs. I don't do a lot of desktop gaming as I'm more of a console gamer. I do play some GOG/DOSBOX and OpenEmu games and those run fine on my MBP.

Linh Pham

So I have a tip about the 4K display that made my life with my 4K work laptop considerably less frustrating. 4K is exactly double 1080P in both dimensions, so you can just set your resolution to 1080P, set the scaling to 100% and it'll work perfectly with no distortion of the image.

George Davidson

I have to say I wouldn't have heard the rumbling if you hadn't mentioned it before I watched. Now I need to know what it was. A tumble dryer?

Andy McDade

USB3/Thunderbolt and the USB-C connector are an even bigger mess than you allude to. Some C-C cables are charge only, some are USB3.1 10Gbps, theres passive Thunderbolt (which can work as USB), and active Thunderbolt (which can be longer), and then you add in the whole mess of DisplyPort and HDMI alt-modes and whatever capability those have. Not to mentioned low quality cables, took me over an hour to figure out which C-C cable I'd need to connect to my monitor (because Dell, in their infinite wisdom, decided a 12" cable would be sufficient for a 38" monitor). I think the reason docks arent more popular is that they are so expensive relative to the mid-level spec that most laptops end up being, and for the reasons you mentioned, compatibility sucks. Spending an additional 15% to get a dock, that more likely than not won't be compatible with your next laptop is just ridiculous

Unfortunately, the dock I use at work is pretty much indispensable. Maybe my eyes aren't what they used to be, but I can't read the tiny text on my hi dpi laptop screen. (oh, if only corporate software would properly scale) So, in essence, the laptop has become a hobbled desktop, permanently chained to its budget priced HP dock. A dock that visibly degrades performance if you plug in more than one monitor, and gets so warm you can use it as a hot plate.

Erwin Bierhof

Great video! My workstation is a late 2018 MacBook Pro that I use with an eGPU (AMD RX580), the eGPU enclosure has USB 3 ports, Gigabit Ethernet and even a 2.5 inch SATA bay that I use for TimeMachine backups with a 1 TB drive. I have two 4K displays, a 1440p display and a 1080p display on the GPU. I mainly use it for my work (I’m a fully remote DevOps engineer) but sometimes I use it for video production for my small YT channel. Having only one thunderbolt cable for pretty much everything is awesome and I wouldn’t change that anytime soon.

lululombard

ROLLERCOASTER TYCOON! Have you played open rct2?

We use docked laptop across whole our company, works great, yes, I also have a dock at home (and an old work laptop I took over from the company for private use). Only the people needing huge amounts of computing power, e.g. for 3D CAD work still have desktops. Privately I switched a lot of times, when cost was of more importance than portability, I had a desktop, when I needed portability, a had a laptop, with at least external keyboard and pen tablet for a better working position. Now I have a 5K iMac (the old 2014 version, still more than fast enough for anything I could want!) mainly for photography, the display is still the best I've ever seen, and the ex-company laptop with Linux (yes, I could not get Windows to work properly, was more troublesome and difficult...), I use it for on the road, it has a horrible display, but I'm not in for spending the amount of money on a laptop as long as my iMac keeps on working, I hope it will, as really wouldn't know what to buy now... But a laptop with docking station would definitely come into consideration!

MrHammond

I have one of those docks for my work. My work has been issuing laptops for some time, mainly because we occasionally need to go to a meeting or something. This dock sucks, let me tell ya. They are extremely sensitive to static discharge. I’m on my third dock because they all just stop functioning in some way after even the slightest shock. Do yourself a favor and ALWAYS discharge static on something else before touching it.

Quinton Wilson

Funny, just discussed getting a dock for home yesterday. That's the setup I have in my office (I think, it's been a while since I was there. I can kind of remember it). Right now to work, I sit down at my desktop PC, unplug a USB hub and plug it into my work laptop, unplug a HDMI cable and plug it into my laptop, open laptop, switch it on, close laptop and work as if I'm on the desktop. Easy as pi! Whereas in the office, I would arrive in work, shower, change into my work clothes, make a coffee then take my laptop out of my bag, plug in the USB 3 and/or thunderbolt cable (who can tell?) and I'm ready to go. Actually that's a lie, due to the same issues with dell docks you mentioned, I have to plug my keyboard directly into the laptop due to power issues, open the laptop and switch it on because that button on the dock that looks like a power button is really only there for show. Then once I'm presented with the log in screen I can close my laptop and then I'm ready to go! Why can my unpowered USB hub at home handle a wireless keyboard and mouse, a webcam and a headset, whereas the powered hub in the office not manage a wired keyboard and mouse? Seriously? So I guess what I'm trying to say is, great video and quite relevant to me. [Sent from my desktop PC].

Brian Condron

It looks like you have a great solution and rationale for your workflow. Linux can be great but you're indeed right; until it start to displace the incumbents (Mac & Windows) and starts receiving more support from larger companies (Dell & Lenovo are making hopeful strides here) it will always be extra work.

ck3ml

I want a laptop anyway. So... no.

Technology Connections

Edit: I'll take comments I should've waited to write until after finishing the video for 100 So not to be that guy, but wouldn't you rather be able to just drop $500 on some more ram and a new cpu instead of $1000+ for,an entirely new machine? I guess that really isn't an argument on Intel platforms considering their horrid business practice of changing their sockets every couple of seconds. Also as a side note as a desktop tech who works on dell machines every day, those dell docks(WD-15 methinks) are finicky as hell. Maybe it's just my companies terrible image(takes 2 minutes just to boot a dell 7400 2 in 1 with an NVMe drive), but I've had to fight with those drivers more times than I can count. Oh, and watch that battery, we have a bunch of lattitude 5480s, 5490s, 5289s, and 7390's batteries expanding like no tomorrow. I'll give it to them though, it's shocking how well those chassis can take the flex. I've seen machines with the bottom,cover half popped off go right back to normal after having their fire hazard removed.

SovietBear

Impressive! I love your channel, and you make these on adobe premiere, nice! The behind the scenes stuff is so fun, I loved watching how you put together your set on a prior video as well, I never would have guessed those were tv screens behind the cubbies either. Genius. Your humor is always awesome, I used to hate movies that made us sit thru credits to see additional content in theaters, but I absolutely love how you end your episodes.

Jeremy Heiden

The Lumia mention was a pleasant surprise. Oh the failure of the Windows Phone.

Anicast

none of us have hearing as good as yours ;)

Adam Wishneusky

RapidCAD Engineering CoProcessors, sounds like a video right there?

Fred Leckie

It's strange to think when the phone notification plops in, he's fiddling around somewhere with a pc to upload his video at that very moment...


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