The comments on this one are gonna be a doozy…
Hello there!
Did you know that some people work differently than you do?
Weird, right?
Well, today I’d like to talk to you about one of the fundamental tools I use to do my work.
This!
A laptop‽
You edit videos from a laptop‽
Why are you doing that to yourself‽
Oh it gets worse; I often write them on a Chromebook!
But anyway, this is much more than just a laptop.
It’s also quite a capable desktop computer.
I know, it’s confusing,
but that’s what we’re gonna be talking about today!
But first!
Hi! I just wa…
ooh, wrong shirt!
Hi!
I just want to set the record straight and let you all know right now that
I’ve also got a duper super pancy fants for-real desktop PC.
You can tell it’s good 'cause it has blue lights in it!
But you see, through some deep,
deep soul-searching, I’ve come to the conclusion that…
I don’t really need this thing.
It’s... it's nice to have, but I don’t really need it.
You see, while I need a fair amount of computing horsepower to do what I do for you,
I actually don’t need all that much.
especially because video editing is only but a small part of my overall video making process.
Now first - let me be clear that, just as I said there are people that work differently from you,
there are people that work differently from me!
Some people do nothing but video editing all day long, and they’re certainly not gonna find my tools adequate.
Or maybe you work with CAD
or other modelling software and you need some big beefy GPU at your disposal -
but specifically to you folks - hang tight.
What I’m about to show you in this video certainly isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution or anything,
but it’s an option that I think is really underappreciated and also just…
not very well known outside of specific corporate environments.
And that option is a laptop and a dock.
Watch this magic!
Here’s my laptop all neat and pretty.
And here’s a desk! Slightly…
less neat.
Over here is a cute little box with a bunch of cables and junk plugged into it,
and if I take this single cable and plug it into the Thunderbolt 3-capable
USB-C port of my computer…
suddenly my laptop has transformed into a veritable desktop computer,
part of a complete desktop breakfast.
I’ve got a real keyboard and mouse,
a high resolution ultra-wide monitor (and I could even have a second one if I wanted,
or just use the laptop’s own screen as a second display),
I’ve also got some real speakers, and thanks to the fact that the dock has ethernet,
I could even have this wired into networking and printers and whatever other junk I might need!
Oh, and it’s charging the laptop through that cable, too,
so it really is 100% functionally equivalent to a desktop PC.
And here’s the kicker - when I’m working on my videos in Adobe Premiere,
I don’t notice a difference at all between my laptop and my desktop when it comes to overall performance.
Granted, they are running essentially the same processors
(a 7700K in the desktop and a 7700HQ in here)
but there’s a pretty substantial difference in graphics hardware.
A 1050 vs. a 1080.
Despite that, there’s only one thing that I know my laptop doesn’t do as well, and that’s export the video file.
Some of that is down to the notoriously flawed thermal design of this Dell XPS 15
the voltage regulator modules overheat causing the most annoying throttling ever,
not thermal but power throttling and it sucks (here’s hoping the redesign has fixed that)-
but thanks to the latest Adobe update which takes advantage of the GPU for actual rendering,
that issue is much less pronounced.
As it stands now, my laptop is about 20% slower than my desktop at rendering a video.
So it takes like 20 minutes instead of 16.
Tragic, I know.
Now I’m sure many of you already know about the wonderful world of docks.
Some of you might have even heard some sort of tech tips about them.
But for those who haven’t,
well I’m here today to extoll the virtues of this wonderful method of personal computing,
and also tell you about some of its current challenges and future opportunities.
Because, you see, I think there are many more of you out there that would benefit from this computing lifestyle
than you realize.
A modest laptop these days is more than powerful enough for the average person,
and if you, like me, value having both mobile and desktop computing capabilities,
you might find having one device fill both roles to be quite splendid.
Oh and before I forget, this isn’t exclusive to Windows machines.
Macbooks can make use of docks too, but don’t ask me for any advice there
‘cause I don’t have any.
Those of you using Linux,
you’ll just have to figure it out yourself like you do everything else about your computer.
First, an acknowledgment of history.
This isn’t anything new, docking solutions have been around for a long time.
Lots of them involved weird, giant proprietary connectors
on bottoms of laptops that would give your old iPod pin envy.
What is new-ish is the world of USB-C or/and Thunderbolt 3 docks.
And, well, regrettably this world ain't perfect yet.
Particularly on the Thunderbolt side.
There seem to still be a few compatibility bugs floating around, and support for Thunderbolt 3 in general
remains somewhat spotty and also…
just incredibly confusing.
Look, I know we’re heading towards One Connector to Rule Them All which is pretty great,
but having the same physical connector support so many wildly
different technical standards is not easy to parse.
Let’s not get started on USB 4, either.
And even where compatibility seems assured, there are sometimes other nuanced issues.
Like, in the case of Thunderbolt, how many PCI express lanes does that particular connector
on your particular laptop support.
Or even weirder things.
For example, this model of dock is specifically listed as compatible by Dell with this specific model of laptop.
Which is cool, because it is, but the dock was available with two different power supplies.
This laptop needs the larger one to work correctly, otherwise it might have been power limited
by the smaller power supply, or potentially it wouldn’t have been able to charge from it,
or perhaps it wouldn’t work at all.
This appears to still be a factor with currently available models.
There’s definitely work to be done to make this a more seamless and universal experience,
like for example the fact that many docks aren’t even using Thunderbolt at all and
are just operating over USB (and for the moment those seem to be more universally compatible).
But for what it’s worth things are wonderful -
no, blissful when you have a known-compatible setup.
Take, well, take this exact PC.
The laptop’s display is a downright gorgeous 4K panel,
but since 4K on a 15 inch screen is a little ridiculous, I have Windows scaling everything to 175%
so I can see things.
Windows gets a lot of hate for how it handles scaling, and to be honest
it deserves it (though it has gotten much better lately),
but to its credit when I plug in the dock, it correctly remembers to turn off the scaling
and everything recombobulates pretty well.
After a few seconds of reconfigurationizing and handshakes and whatnot everything is good to go.
Now I have a honest-to-goodness desktop!
This particular dock is fairly basic (and also I think discontinued) but has connections for three monitors
(though I'm pretty sure it's limited to using only two at a time, if memory serves)
over HDMI, Mini DisplayPort, or VGA if you wanna go that route,
gigabit Ethernet, 2 USB 2.0 ports, 3 (but he said 4) USB 3 ports two on the front two on the back,
a rear audio jack, and a front headphone jack.
You can add a hub onto one of the USB ports if you needed, but also keep in mind that all of the ports
and the card reader on the laptop itself remain usable.
If you have any, that is!
But, sadly, even this officially compatible dock from the same manufacturer as the computer
has misbehaved a few times.
Occasionally when I first plug it in,
it just doesn’t notice that that happened and won’t do anything until I cycle the power to it.
I still haven’t figured out when exactly the little power button on it is going to actually wake up
the laptop when it’s asleep or shut down - it seems to have about a 70% success rate.
And as seamless as the overall experience is when it’s playing nicely,
the way Windows handles its audio devices is a little…
strange, and a few fights have occurred between Premiere and Windows
regarding which audio should be going where.
It’s fun!
Now, you might be asking, why is he telling me all of these bad things if he wants me
to like docks so much?
Well, for one thing, I don’t want to oversell the experience as being universally amazing.
Because as it stands now, if you (or someone you know) is
not computer savvy enough to be comfortable with A) finding a compatible laptop and dock combo
and B) a bit of occasional troubleshooting this might be a bit frustrating.
Now, a bit ‘o googlin’ reveals that at least for general purpose docks things are much much
better than they used to be (which is corroborated by my personal experience)… however
things just aren’t quite perfect yet. I won’t sugarcoat it.
But, assuming you’re comfortable with a little turning it off and on again
(and/or that things improve as I’m sure they will)
let me tell you why this might be the bee’s knees for thee. You see, if you’re like me,
you want to be able to do anything you might do with a computer on the go.
I want a portable machine with a full-blown desktop operating system
with all of my delightfully buggy Adobe software at the sometimes-ready.
So, a few years ago I purchased this fairly high-end laptop ($1,600 for those curious)
which can handle that competently.
Now say you want to also have a desktop computer.
There are plenty of reasons you might want one, such as the dramatically improved ergonomics of a
real chair with a real monitor at a real height and a real keyboard and a real mouse.
Maybe you’ve got a printer and scanner thingy set up there all nice and convenient like.
And maybe you’ve got a bunch of external drives and other peripherals just dying for something to talk to.
Well, you could buy another computer to make use of those things… or you could just instead
buy a dock.
Then, the very same computer that you use on the go can access that monitor and that printer scanner thing
and that keyboard and that mouse and even your external drives or whatever else
all with just a single cable.
And, because the dock will charge the laptop for you, if you do a lot of back-and-forth
between mobile and stationary computing, well you can just leave your laptop’s power brick and
other portable-mode accessories in your bag.
Just take the laptop out, plug it in, and boom!
Full-blown desktop.
No need to get out the power brick or anything at all.
And when you need to take your computer somewhere,
all it takes is *bink* detaching from the dock and putting in your bag.
The very same computer is now your laptop, fully charged and ready to go.
I like this solution a lot. So much in fact that I’m considering upgrading to the new
Dell XPS 17, which seems to have addressed the annoying thermal issues of this design,
and potentially retiring my desktop altogether.
I know, blasphemy!
But here’s the thing;
I have a somewhat minimalist philosophy when it comes to my computer stuff
(and more generally my IT life).
I don’t like spending any time on perfecting my workflow or optimizing system performance or any of that junk.
I just want something that allows me to do my work with basic competency.
Oh, and speaking of competency, one of the more exciting things that Thunderbolt 3 specifically has
allowed to happen is docks with external GPU enclosures.
Thunderbolt 3 carries certified fresh PCI Express through it,
meaning that real graphics cards can operate over Thunderbolt 3.
For those of you that are into gaming or otherwise need a powerful GPU at your disposal,
this is an exciting option.
Slap an RTX 2080 in there or whatever is current and suddenly your laptop
is able to take advantage of an actual desktop class GPU.
Now, if you wanted to do this, you should know that the whole
“how many PCI express lanes does this port carry?”
becomes a significant factor, and compatibility becomes even more dicey so…
I’m not saying this is perfect, but I do expect it to improve as time goes on.
If it interests you I’d suggest you do some research on the topic before you get too excited.
Compatibility between devices seems to be not-at-all guaranteed at this point,
especially when you factor in other operating systems.
Now, there are some people who like to insist that I’m somehow losing the game of life
by using a laptop for video editing.
Some people say I’ve wasted money on a laptop.
I could have saved like… 400 whole dollars if I built my own desktop
which is not portable but nevermind that.
Or sometimes they insist that by not using the fastest available hardware, I’m slowing myself down.
This, in particular, leads to an assertion I’ve had to make over and over again,
particularly on Twitter (said with extra salt);
Render time is not work time.
At all.
When I make a video, even a simple one, there’s gonna be at least two days of script writing
and revision (even with a script like this in which I don’t really do any research at all),
at least a full day of shooting video (or more depending on the project’s complexity),
and then usually two or three days at the very least of editing work.
The time it takes my computer to turn all that work into a finished video file is an entirely insignificant factor,
because it’s not work to me!
It’s about as much work as preheating your oven.
All I need is a computer that can handle the editing part,
that’s the only part where I'm actually interacting with it
without being frustrating.
If I can scrub through the timeline and preview the video without issue, I’m fine!
And both this laptop and my desktop, which are both
three years old now, are more than capable of that.
Editing only taxes hardware in short bursts, so even my thermally challenged laptop
doesn’t have a problem with that very long and involved part of the creative process.
Granted, I don’t shoot video with a RED 8K camera or even a BlackMagic Pocket or whatever…
but I don’t feel like I need to.
For my work, my camera (which is a Lumix G7 by the way) is totally fine,
and I don’t feel held back by it, at least not yet.
I’m probably gonna keep using it ‘till it either breaks,
or I find it is holding me back. If I got a new camera and find that my computer can’t
handle its output then sure, I might need to invest in a more beastly machine.
But right now… that would just be a waste of money.
And also time. Transition costs are a real thing, you know.
Serious talk time; I’m trying not to toot my own horn here, especially because there
are upgrades to my equipment that I want to make, but I think that one of the most damaging
things the tech community has done is create lust for shiny new things and worse, suggest
the thought that without them… your work is less valuable.
That’s not true.
And it never was.
You are what makes your work unique, not the tools you use.
If you have the resources to get the most whizbang stuff out there by all means have fun.
But don’t think that you can’t get started with what you have.
And while I know and understand that if your tools are faster or better
you can get more done, you need to put thought into where those
time savings will actually occur, and whether they’re actually helpful.
For me, an independent content creator, my computer is not and has never been a limiting factor.
And making regular upgrades to it would be more of a bother than it would be helpful.
I deal with a lot of people telling me that I should be doing things this way or that way,
and ya know that’s fine. A lot of it is earnest offers of help.
Or at least is perceived to be.
But a lot of it also doesn’t bother to understand my workflow, my desire for simplicity rather than complexity,
or my philosophy that time spent chasing performance gains is usually time poorly spent.
If it’s something you enjoy, or if it’s your hobby, by all means.
But I’ll tell you now that I am much more frustrated by
those who try and tell me why I’m being held back by the way I work
than I’ve ever been frustrated by this computer.
To put it bluntly, I like to do work on my computer.
Not work on my computer.
And that’s why I don’t use Linux!
Yeah.
I went there.
Anyway, that aside aside, let’s talk about cases where this wouldn’t be appropriate
or desirable.
First - gaming.
Maybe.
GPU enclosures make that a possibility, but there’s a lot
of nuance there that I won’t go into.
Secondly - people who don’t need a full-blown desktop OS on the go.
If you’re someone who does a lot of work on an iPad then maybe you don’t
use a laptop at all in which case this solution is entirely meaningless to you.
And third - real power-users who need or can otherwise take advantage of a threadripping desktop PC.
For you, even if you also have a laptop, a dock is likely not of interest.
But if you’re someone who uses a desktop operating system on the go with any regularity
(meaning, you’re someone with a somewhat capable laptop)
and you also like having a true desktop experience
for long, agonizing sessions of staring at Premiere and hoping it doesn’t crash when
you import that jpeg, then perhaps there’s no need to have two computers.
I can honestly say at this point that I really don’t.
And I would have actually saved money had I bought this laptop before I bought my desktop.
I know, that just blew some minds out there.
I could have saved money by buying this first.
Because, well, even with its thermal issues
which do annoy me quite a lot it has yet to get in my way.
I’ve spent much more time trying to eliminate the thermal issues than I could ever have hoped to save
by fixing them.
And that’s what I mean about chasing performance gains;
it can often be a silly time waster.
Now, to address the concerns of the laptop haters out there, you’re right!
Laptops tend to not last as long, they’re harder to repair, often impossible to upgrade, and
the cost of a laptop with equivalent performance to any particular desktop is always higher.
Plus, as my laptop is a wonderful example of, many have disastrously flawed thermal designs
so long gaming sessions or...
rendering video, can be a problem.
But personally I think that shouldn’t be something thrown at laptops as a category, particularly since
better thermal designs do exist.
They’re just frustratingly uncommon.
But more importantly, those concerns are more often than not irrelevant to the average person.
If you’re concerned about the thermal performance or upgradability of your machine, you are
probably an enthusiast, power user, or gamer. There are a lot of you out there, yes,
I'm not saying you don't exist, but
there are also a lot of people who don’t fall into those categories
and couldn’t care less.
Honestly, I lean in that direction, though I’m not shy to performing a few upgrades.
And here’s the thing - even I, a professional content creator (I think I get to say that now)
am fine with this flawed, three year old machine.
There is something to be said for the upgradability of a desktop PC. That’s for sure.
And it’s true that my laptop might break long before my desktop would.
But here’s my truth;
I want a laptop which can handle everything I do for this job.
I want to be able to take it with me when I travel and be productive anywhere.
That means I’m always going to have a powerful portable computer.
And given that, why would I also need a powerful stationary desktop?
The fact is I don’t. Thanks to a dock, I can have the best of both worlds
with one machine. It doesn’t matter if my laptop cost more than an equivalent desktop
or if it breaks sooner or any of those other concerns because I will always have one.
It’s that subset of people where I think a dock can be really valuable.
And actually save you money.
And there’s one other benefit that I think deserves attention; energy use.
Laptops are always, at least to some extent, designed to optimize their energy efficiency.
Because if you’ve got a battery onboard, you want to maximize the time you can use it.
Duh.
Desktop PCs have gotten a lot better in recent years, but in general efficiency isn’t a
huge concern of theirs.
My desktop pulls more power from the wall at idle than this does does when rendering a video.
And that’s… well that adds up.
Which might be part of why docked laptops are increasingly gaining favor in the corporate environment.
When you’ve got hundreds of computers running for 8 hours a day or more,
you can save some serious dough on your energy bills if they’re all laptops.
And boy are companies that made that switch happy given that there’s a pandemic right now.
If you can take your entire computer home with you when needed, that’s a nice bonus.
But I’d like to see docks get a little more traction outside of the corporate world.
As I said, I’m honestly to the point where having an actual desktop PC is superfluous
for my needs.
Yes I want a desktop computer, but there’s no reason it needs to be a 15 pound box on the floor.
One thing that DESPERATELY needs to happen, and not just for the benefit of docks,
is consistent branding and clear delineation between USB-C and Thunderbolt.
It’s a mess and there are docking solutions using both technical standards.
Given that Thunderbolt 3 is more powerful overall with the potential for eGPUs and whatnot, I would
expect it to eventually become the defacto standard but right now that’s not the case
(and the future is anything but clear) so if you’re interested in this as an idea
I cannot stress enough that you should make sure whatever dock you’re looking at is
compatible with your computer.
And also, since this is the world of tech, unfortunately we can’t be assured things are gonna be
anything near stable. If these rumors that Macs are ditching x86 architecture are true,
well I wonder how Thunderbolt will stay a thing in that ecosystem.
Perhaps it will just be fine but… I can’t imagine things are gonna just be all hunky dory
(particularly with external GPUs).
The way we compute is constantly being upended, and in fact that’s one of the primary reasons
desktop PCs have largely fallen out of favor.
I mean, loads of people hardly use traditional computers at all anymore, laptop or desktop.
I’m sure that annoys all you gamers out there but it’s true.
And speaking of rumors of switching to ARM, here’s perhaps the most embarrassing thing I own.
This is a Microsoft Lumia 950XL
the last flagship Windows phone.
Yeah.
I bought this!
For the virtually all of you that are unfamiliar with this, it had one feature that
I naively thought would change the smartphone game; Continuum.
Microsoft developed a dock that worked with this phone (and certain others)
to create a true Windows 10 desktop environment running from the phone itself.
You could plug this phone into the dock and suddenly have full desktop-versions of the
Microsoft Office suite and, hopefully down the road, other apps.
I thought this was pretty neat!
Imagine a world where your smartphone was the only computer you need.
People envisioned laptop chassis which were basically just a display, keyboard, and extra battery for the phone,
and it seemed like there was a lot of potential to make the phone the new PC.
While I never once used it (I have the dock somewhere and might play around with it on
the second channel at some point) I thought this could really be a game changer.
Of course,
it wasn’t,
not at all,
but it was a really neat idea.
And frankly, if these rumors about Apple are true
one has to wonder if iOS, iPadOS, and macOS will eventually merge into one,
and Apple will reinvent this concept and probably get credit for it, too.
But anyway, that’s neither here nor there.
Also I should add that there are android phones out there today which can do this very thing
with a USB-C dock, though obviously there are limitations there.
I want to reiterate that this certainly isn’t for everyone.
If I didn’t want the ability to edit videos in Premiere on the go, I probably would have
a much cheaper laptop.
I mean, I do, it’s my Chromebook, but that might be my only portable computer.
And if spending more money on your desktop in favor of a cheaper or no laptop is your game,
I’m not gonna stop you. That makes a lot of sense!
In my shoes, though, I want a powerful laptop. And given that, my desktop is largely redundant
at this point.
I’m surely not going to get rid of it, not any time soon, and even if
I do upgrade my laptop there is value in having a separate computer for other things.
Compartmentalizing in that way can be quite helpful, and honestly I’m doing that right now.
Plus, it doesn't hurt to have a backup machine.
But I hope this video has gotten you thinking a bit.
If nothing else, I just want to spread awareness of this solution.
Even if you had no interest at all in a desktop PC,
well maybe you’d like some way to seamlessly use a real monitor and stuff.
With a dock, form factor is arbitrary.
I bought my laptop before I was aware of the existence of Thunderbolt docks.
It was actually an upgrade of my mom’s work computer that brought them to my attention.
Seeing her new computer connect to two monitors and all the other
junk with just a single USB-C cable made me realize
hey … my laptop has one of those ports. Is that… could I do that?
Serendipitously, a quick Google revealed that indeed,
her new dock was compatible with my existing laptop, so I bought one of my own.
And I really like it. Maybe you would, too.
Thanks for watching! Again - super important thing here -
I am not you and you are not me.
My priorities are undoubtedly different from yours.
And that’s OK!
I think that being aware of options is always good, and I get the sense that not enough people are
aware of this one. I hope this video can serve as an example of what’s possible with a
little outside the desktop box thinking,
and I also hope that at least some of you will take some inspiration from the fact that a three year old,
thermally challenged laptop makes these videos for you.
♫ computationally smooth jazz ♫
*pbbbpbpbpb* noises
What I’m talking about… ohhh,
I’m not talk… well I am talking about it but that’s not how the sentence goes.
Or my philosophy that time spent chasing performance
gains is (Windows notification sound loudly interrupts from benind) …
THANKS!!
Of course...
Though, I’m gonna say for all the people
out there who are still given windows crap for this; it’s so much better than it used to be.
I guarantee you this will be less than a minute.
Probably less than 30 seconds.
A modest laptops these days is more than (voice went really high and he made lots of weird noises)
...those of you that… shoot.
This is like a minute-long line! What did I do this for?
How many takes will this line take? My guess is…
seventy.
There seem to still be a few compatibility blugs…
blugs? Bugs.
Laptop’s display is a GORGEOUS 4k …
GORGEOUS
I know, I know, I give Linux a hard time.
But I'll tell you know, it ain't gonna stop so long as there's the "BUT HAVE YOU CONSIDERED LINUX?" crowd
always relentlessly popping in whenever I make the vaguest complaint about my PC.
You're almost as bad as the "get a Mac" crowd at this point.