Decaflon

I have two desktops (and 2 laptops), but the 2nd desktop is an old rig that nobody uses these days. If I had to go out and get myself an additional system it'd probably be a laptop.

That Eee PC looks ... cute. It'd do fine for mobile blogging, I suppose, as well as surfing the net. Go for it!

I use two myself, a desktop PC and a MacBook, and then we have two other PC laptops and two other PC desktops in the house for everybody else. The MacBook could probably be considered a geeky type thing, since I bought it for a few (probably silly) reasons:

• I wanted it to serve as the main storage for iTunes (so everybody would quit taking over my PC when they wanted to shop for music).
• I wanted to be able to see sites on Mac browsers, I was curious about Mac computers as a whole.
• I needed (okay, wanted) a new laptop to go with my sewing/embroidery machine (the embroidery function is powered by software, so the machine has to be connected to a computer).

All of these reasons except the curiosity could have been satisfied by other hardware we already had in the house, so there it is: a completely geeky purchase, because I like techy stuff.

As for "needing" more than one system, it never hurts to have a backup system laying about, in case of hardware issues (like really major things I mean). Also, because we have so many things around, when something looks/acts weird on my system, I can go check it on another one right here in the same room. Comes in handy sometimes.

The Eee PC is very cute. I'd love to have something like that that had a DVD drive in it, then I could take it on the road instead of a portable DVD player and have all the connectivity as well.

I say feed the techy beast!

I've got three, my MacBook and two PCs, but I only use the MacBook regularly, hooked up to an external display. One of the PCs is nothing more than a glorified fileserver running Debian that I use for, well, serving files over the network, funnily enough -- my MacBook's HD is teeny, so I torrent everything to the Debian box, and it also gives everyone else in the house access to my movies and music. Then I've got the other PC I keep around purely for Counterstrike.

I have a MacBook and that is pretty much it.

I use two, a PowerMac G5 and a MacBook. My G5 I keep at the lab for heavy duty work and research. Use the MacBook more casually at home, in class and on the fly.

I've got my MacBook Pro and a PC, but I only use the PC maybe once every couple months. The only time it sees regular use is when my MBP breaks, actually.

2 desktop PCs at home. One is in my computer / library room upstairs; the other is downstairs and serves as a family PC. Do I need both? No, not really, but it's convenient.

Haven't found a need for a laptop or anything like that, even for school. There's tons of computer labs at the uni, and there are a few dozen computers in the library as well.

I have a laptop and a desktop. The desktop is old and I feel I should upgrade the desktop, but then I wonder why I need to bother. The laptop has got everything I need for now and is more powerful than my old desktop (so the desktop gets little use anymore), save for storage, but then I could just buy an external HD. Maybe when the laptop starts to show its age I'll get a powerful desktop for much less than a powerful laptop.

I have a relatively new desktop, running Ubuntu Linux (and Windows XP when necessary, which is seldom) and a 13" G4 iBook that I've yet to upgrade to Leopard.

I installed the Ubuntu mainly to fool around with, but over the last year it's become my primary operating system. As for the laptop, I've always enjoyed OSX, and the portability and comfort of the iBook has helped me enjoy it even more.

That said, I'll probably have to get a new iBook sometime in the next year or so, so I'll likely have to pass this one down to someone computer-deprived in the family.

This might sound kind of crazy, but the other week I was using all 3 of my computers (desktop, two laptops). At the same time.

I usually work with two computers - actual work on a laptop (it's faster), secondary stuff (IM, email, references, etc) on the desktop's screen. Though that one time, I was also installing some work-related software (VM stuff) on the other laptop. I've had them set up around myself on the desk, and was spinning around in the chair. I walked away with that surreal feeling of an evil genius in a secret lair.

I have a Mac Mini and a MacBook - the latter is replacing an older PC laptop (running Ubuntu).

I have a computer hooked up to my TV to watch dvds and fansubs, the PC in the work room, a Lenovo laptop, and a Fujitsu Lifebook U810 that I just bought to take with me everywhere else.

one macbook, and a lenovo x61s subnotebook. perfect composition: needed the windows machine for work and didn't want to ruin my macbook for the windows job.

the lenovo is REALLY lightweight (and not that shiny) so I take it everywhere!

IBM's costs a kidney and maybe part of a liver for me. Getting one of the new cheap ultraportables would be good for a poor uni student like me. Then again, since I'll be on the run a lot, it's a good idea to actually get and use one while in the lab.

Provided of course, I don't spill any biohazards on it.

A desktop and a laptop - each = 4 computers...

....and I could have use for another one too.... A really lightweight laptop would be niiiice!

I have a MacBook. It's my baby it goes everywhere and does everything.

I have a self-built PC that hasn't been updated since '04. It is reserved to play Counterstrike and Serious Sam on. And so I have a Windows box laying around.

I also have an IBM Thinkpad R31 that I've not gotten a Linux install on to yet.

Finally, I have an ancient 1GHz proc Dell running FreeNAS that I use as a NAS box for my music collection.

So what we're all saying here is that none of us really need our extra computers.

It's all a geek thing?

I consider the NAS a "need" machine since I can't fit everything I want/have on the MacBook. But if I had a proper Mac desktop, then it's all I'd really NEED.

So yes, it's totally a geek thing to have multitudes of computers afoot. :)

At work I use two machines quite often. I have the one that I use as the primary computer and an older one which I use to run batch operations.

But for my personal stuff, I don't need more than one good computer.

It's a geek thing to upgrade to a newever computer, before the previous one(s) become completely obsolete. Though in such situations we just geek it out some more, and repurpose the older system. Run a NAS server, outsource batch jobs, etc.

I think this might be a lot similar to having more than one TV in a less geeky house - one wouldn't throw out a good working TV, even if they've just gotten a shiny new Plasma for the living room. So it goes elsewhere. Right now, my older laptop is living in the bedroom. Just in case I'm in a mood for some late night Wikipedia surfing.

;)

I'm completely disappointed I'm not a geek, then. :(

I primarily use my Inspiron 700m with Arch Linux on it. I also have a Windows box, but I use it mainly for testing and occassionally surfing the Web.

I use a laptop as a secondary box at work, and I tend to run two systems at the house - one for gaming and one for work/communications. I do tend to fire up the laptop there from time to time as well...

iMac G5, macbook, and a little XPC for when I have to test things in windows (or play some pc only game... very rare.)

Then there's my iPhone, which is way more powerful and useful than the computers I had in the mid 90's.

There are four PCs in my home. My computer, my partner's computer, our gaming computer and our media PC. We could do with a laptop, I must say.

Not counting my work computer, I usually stick to one computer, my MacBook. My wife has her Dell laptop. For the most part she uses her and I use mine. Wouldn't mind getting one of those EeePCs for writing on the go. Almost spent the same on a portable word processor. (To its credit the word processor had a considerably better battery life.)

Almost spent the same on a portable word processor.

I nearly bought one of those a few years ago. What's a good company to buy these from now? Would you recommend having one? It always seemed like it could be a brilliant idea, as simplicity is often what is needed for a good writing environment, I find, but it also seemed might you might find it a bit lacking, if you suddenly needed to look something up (i.e., online).

Just thought I'd update myself anyway. I have a desktop which I use when I'm home, an old Toshiba Satellite that I use as a media center connected to the TV and finally, my EeePC, which I carry with me ll the time to uni and into my lab. I also use that round the house because I use it to remotely control all the computers at home and with the webcam, it makes Skyping anywhere in the house the best thing on Earth.

@Lelia: I'd recommend the EeePC actually. It's cheap ($500 AUD), the battery lasts bout 3 and a half hours and it can do anything a normal laptop can do including going online. The catch is that it's got a 800x480 max resolution so that might turn some people off. I wrote an in depth review of it here if it's piqued your interest. :)

Kami, my new media teacher has actually used the EeePC this year as his class computer. The thing about the EeePC is that you should be able to get something like that built cheaper. ASUS is marking it up quite a bit, I think, considering all the software is open source, and the low-end hardware itself wouldn't cost all that much these days. Good business technique, though, and they're certainly meeting a market. I'd like to give it a test run sometime. I don't know why, because all of my extra cash is really going to necessities these days, but well...I can dream. :D

I have 2 machines at home. PC and Apple. Mainly because of the various applications I use.

@Lelia: Actually, for what it has. The EeePC is quite a bargain. It is impossible to a rig with that much options for less money. Think about it. A 900mhz Celeron-M, 512mb RAM, 4gig SSD, inbuilt mic, webcam, 3 USB ports, 802.11 b/g, monitor output. Short of a bigger storage space and an optical drive, it's comparative against it's low-cost rivals. But for the same size up against its ultraportable rivals which costs 2000 dollars more.

When you look at it from both those points. It's a remarkable feat.

I only have my desktop but it does everything I need at the moment. My girlfriends computer is an entire 5 meters from it, and that's hooked up to a 32" LCD screen for watching media. So you could argue that I use two computers.

Then there's my Nokia N95 that I use about five times a day to catch up on the news. That's something I could use my desktop for apart from I do it when I go for a smoke.

I'd love an Eee but I'm holding out for the next generation, where the processor should be an Intel Atom (miles better in terms of power consumption and performance than a Celeron M) and hopefully the screen will be another touch larger, slightly larger/better-value storage.

But my eventual plan is to have a plethora of computers around the house doing my evil for me. A storage server is probably highest on my to-buy list to try and get some of these noisy harddisks out of the bedroom, possibly with a media centre element to it, possibly having that on its own, or with a games system performing that task.

I guess the end stage is to have all the TVs in the house replaced with thin clients to a media centre. And have a mini to control it all.

@LeilaThomas: In short, I don't know. I've considered it strongly for the same reason you mention: the simplicity that is often needed for a good writing environment. Most of the ones I've seen -- the good ones -- have some level of internet connectivity. (Basic text browsing, email, etc.) I've seen them priced for around $300, and the battery life is fairly long, between 7 and 45 hours, depending on the type and number of batteries, and the functionality used. From pics I've seen, most are about the size of an Eee PC. I'm not sure of any company names, though some advertise in various writing magazines. Obviously, I can't recommend any.

I also heavily considered getting an OLPC XO while the buy one/give one promotion was going on. Really wish I would've gotten one.

The XO's are trash. Really.

Perhaps with a good bit of hacking in the software/firmware you can come up with a useable computer, but the way they ship they are a complete rip off and utterly fail at their purpose.

I honestly would be ashamed to have worked on the project with the way the things turned out.

@Ozone: Now that they are putting Windows XP into it as standard. It screams for epic fail.