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King Desktop

Why the Desktop is Supreme Discipline for both Hardware and Software

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Table of content of JMB's King Desktop Page

Opinions – Mobile Mania, Pressure for Change, Superficiality
Facts – Need for Ergonomics, Quality, Resolution and Size of the Screen
Conclusion – Lessons to Learn

Why is such an article necessary?

Opinions – Mobile Mania, Pressure for Change, Superficiality

General tendency to think smartphones or tablets are suitable to work with: people try to not only surf the web for small pieces of information, but also checking mails, in education there is the idea of making lessons with laptops, tablets and even smartphones, though they are expensive and lacking in any respect;
Even in the professional domain we see seminars coming up like: The era of Desktop Computing came to an end: Mobile Work with Smartphone and Tablet (from Chamber of Industry and Commerce [IHK] Academy, Coblenz, Germany: No. 30-MoAr-S-T);
Developers of GTK consider Desktops laptop-like – particularly when it comes to CPU power and screen size (see LWN Article);
Intel Icelake (10th Gen. Core / Gen. 11 GPU) comes for ultra-mobile laptops etc. first {Oct. 2019} ... then for servers in 2021 ... desktop CPUs are not even announced yet {rumours say beginning of 2021 - or even with Tiger Lake ...}; this may have a cause in manufacturing problems of the new 10 nm technology just good enough for thin‑and‑light laptops (Y‑series chips are rated for TDP 9 W or 12 W, U-series chips for 15 W or 25 W; cf. Weblink); after rumours gone wild saying Intel will never show any desktop CPU with 10 nm, there was an official statement, but the situation stays as is (see e.g. Intel adds 10nm Ice Lake desktop and server CPUs to Linux kernel, PCGamesN, 23.10.2019);
Even concerning safety at work we see more and more blurred language / imprecise terms not making clear what is required for mainly working with IT Technology (in Germany BildscharbV [Bildschirmarbeitsplatzverordnung, 1996‑2016] and ArbStättV [Arbeitsstättenverordnung, therein Section 6: Measures to design monitor‑based workplaces]).

Such technical nonsense is quite common today, even tech companies don't give technical details and one can easily find graphic cards with feature DP: yes, HDMI: yes without given the version. Other prominent examples can be found in the list about ⚙️Technics or the list on the pages 💔Stress.

Ruining the Discussion by Contaminating it with the Facts^😎.

Facts – Need for Ergonomics, Resolution, Quality and Size of the Screen

Of cause the question of which device can reasonably be used for which task can be answered without any problem or doubt – if one realy concentrates on the facts, comparing needs of the usage for a given task and the power a device can provide for the user. But one must switch off the influence of convenience – people not wanting to learn something new – and sadly also prejudice / fake news and addictions (especially concerning 💔Smartphone and Internet, in a comparable way as due to heavy drugs; cf. 💺support for combating such addictions by Autogenic Training).

Snapshot of Categories

Category	Output: Screen	Input	Power
* vvv ➀ vvv *
Workstation	> 22"	Keyboard & Mouse + ...	mains power
Desktop	> 17"	Keyboard & Mouse + ...	mains power
* vvv ➂ vvv *
Laptop	11.0"-17.3"	Small Keyboard & Touchpad / TrackPoint	both
Sub-Notebook	..9"-13"..	Small Keyboard & Touchpad / TrackPoint	both
* vvv ➅ vvv *
Tablet	7.0"-12.9"	Touchscreen	lithium-ion
Smartphone	3.2"-6.5"	Touchscreen	lithium-ion
* vvv ➉ vvv *
Server	–NA–	–NA–	mains power

For details see Valuation below.

Ergonomics

Essential for long and yet healthy VDU work is a height-adjustable desk, a comfortable height-adjustable office chair with adjustable backrest, as well as armrests (alternatively an exercise ball – at least for the sake of variety), place for wrist rest in front of the keyboard, a full keyboard (no server or laptop keyboard, large enter key and seperate cursor block; I recommend an illuminated keyboard), a straight view to the center of the screen in upright posture (necessary to avoid muscle tenseness in lumbar region, in shoulder or neck area; a stable position similar to the 💺cab driver posture known from Autogenic Training is advisable).

Quality (Screen)

Next to the general quality of work equipment like chair or desk special characteristics are in focus: flicker-free screen (at least 60 Hz; no neon tube for illumination), minimal reflection of desk and particularly screen incl. its rim (no elegant but bothersome black sleek finish and no

glossy displays, like urgently suggested by occupational safety: [glare screens would be] ergonomically questionable and not suitable for work in an environment with strong light sources – i.e. using anti-reflex foils on glare displays: typically found together with toy devices like Smartphones and Tablets, concerning Laptops it finally gets increasingly rare {similar for TVs with HDR [🆧]}; it is best to take care for non-glare / matt / anti-reflex displays right from the start – and not be taken in by

euphemistic terms of advertisements {like e.g. CrystalBrite, Glossy, Polish, TrueLife, Crystal View, SuperFine, BrilliantView, UltraBright, BrightView, VibrantView, MagicBright, Xbrite, X-black, Clear Bright, TruBrite, Clear SuperView} and not to be an easy pray for the ideology of smartphone addicts that reflexes are invisible on their beloved devices).

Screen: Resolution and Size

Desktop Publishing (see 📜L^AT_EX), Preliminary Printing Stage, Image Manipulation, Digital Photography, Optical Data Reduction (e.g. in 🎓Astronomy, as I worked with 2000×2000 pix CCD frames mid 1990-ies and optical 1-1 review is important), Image Data Evaluation (e.g. Medcine), ...
It should be obvious that screen resolution for professional usage ought to be similar to detectors or printing processes – sometimes even higher. So it's quite clear that current technology leaves a lot to be desired – and is starting to reach analogue resolutions of tens of years before.
To enlighten this further, two tables follow below, one for European paper sheet sizes (ISO 216, also known as DIN ?A?), the other for screen resolutions, both giving typical parameters with number of printing elements / pixels and diagonal to directly compare the quality.
But note the different aspect ratios – DIN ?A? uses √2 = 1.41421..., while the modern screen resolutions have 16:9 = 1.777... (i.e. NTSC, 2k, WQHD, 4k, 8k, 16k; e.g. 16:10 = 1.6 is used with CGA, WSXGA, ...; 4:3 = 1.333... is used with VGA, XGA {i.e. first standards of the PC era}; 5:4 = 1.25 is used with SXGA; etc.).

Data of DIN A Page Sheet Formats (ISO 216)
Format	Size^❶	Area	Diagonal	Number of pels^❷
DIN A10	3.7 cm × 2.6 cm	0.000962 m² = 1/1024 m²	0.0452 m = 1.8"	0.134199 Mpel
DIN A9	5.2 cm × 3.7 cm	0.00192 m² = 1/512 m²	0.0638 m = 2.5"	0.267840 Mpel
DIN A8	7.4 cm × 5.2 cm	0.00385 m² = 1/256 m²	0.0904 m = 3.6"	0.537076 Mpel
DIN A7	10.5 cm × 7.4 cm	0.00777 m² = 1/128 m²	0.1285 m = 5.1"	1.083917 Mpel
DIN A6	14.8 cm × 10.5 cm	0.0155 m² = 1/64 m²	0.1815 m = 7.1"	2.167834 Mpel
DIN A5	21.0 cm × 14.8 cm	0.031 m² = 1/32 m²	0.257 m = 10.1"	4.335660 Mpel
DIN A4	29.7 cm × 21.0 cm	0.0625 m² = 1/16 m²	0.364 m = 14.3"	8.718767 Mpel
DIN A3	42.0 cm × 29.7 cm	0.125 m² = 1/8 m²	0.5144 m = 20"	17.437535 Mpel
DIN A2	59.4 cm × 42.0 cm	0.25 m² = 1/4 m²	0.727 m = 29"	34.875070 Mpel
DIN A1	84.1 cm × 59.4 cm	0.5 m² = 1/2 m²	1.03 m = 41"	69.750139 Mpel
DIN A0	118.9 cm × 84.1 cm	1 m²	1.46 m = 57"	139.500279 Mpel
DIN A0++	125.0 cm × 91.4 cm	1.1425 m²	1.5485 m = 61"	159.379069 Mpel
DIN 2A0	168.2 cm × 118.9 cm	2 m²	2.0598 m = 81"	278.986328 Mpel
DIN 4A0	237.8 cm × 168.2 cm	4 m²	2.9127 m = 115"	557.972658 Mpel
Note: ^❶) for landscape [🖵 or 🖼️], i.e. wider than high as seen by standard screens (portrait [📱 or 🖼] would be rotated by 90°, i.e. higher than wide as typical for Smartphone use); ^❷) at 300 ppi (pels per inch – being unit of printing point density; pel: printer element; " = inch = 2.54 cm).

Example Data of typical Screens
Resolution^❶	Size	Diagonal^❷		Pixel Pitch	Pixel Density^❸	Number of Pixels^❶
CGA = 320 × 200 pix {~GTR}	6.0 cm × 3.8 cm	2.8"	2"-5"	0.19 mm	135 dpi	0.064000 Mpix
VGA = 640 × 480 pix	26 cm × 19 cm	14"	5"-11"	0.4 mm	63.5 dpi	0.307200 Mpix
XGA = 1024 × 768 pix	27 cm × 20 cm	15"	8"-17"	0.26 mm	97 dpi	0.786432 Mpix
SXGA = 1280 × 1024 pix	29.7 cm × 25.1 cm	17"	11"-22"	0.24 mm	106 dpi	1.310720 Mpix
WSXGA = 1440 × 900 pix	37.0 cm × 23.0 cm	17"	11"-23"	0.256 mm	99 dpi	1.296000 Mpix
2k = 🆝 = FullHD = 1920 × 1080 pix	47.5 cm × 27.0 cm	22"	15"-29"	0.25 mm	102 dpi	2.073600 Mpix
2k = 🆝 = FullHD = 1920 × 1080 pix	59.8 cm × 34.0 cm	27"	15"-29"	0.313 mm	81 dpi	2.073600 Mpix
QXGA = 2048 × 1536 pix {iPadAir Retina}	19.7 cm × 14.8 cm	9.7"	17"-34"	0.105 mm	242 dpi	3.145728 Mpix
WQHD = 2560 × 1440 pix	59.8 cm × 34.0 cm	27"	19"-39"	0.235 mm	108 dpi	3.686400 Mpix
4k = 🆞 = UHD = 3840 × 2160 pix	63.0 cm × 35.0 cm	28"	30"-58"	0.163 mm	155 dpi	8.294400 Mpix
	69.7 cm × 39.2 cm	32"		0.182 mm	140 dpi
	121.0 cm × 68.5 cm	55"		0.315 mm	80.4 dpi
5k = 5120 × 2880 pix	59.8 cm × 33.6 cm	(≥) 27"	39"-78"	0.117 mm	218 dpi	14.745600 Mpix
8k = 🆟 = UHD2 = 7680 × 4320 pix	88.7 cm × 49.9 cm	(≥) 40"	58"-117"	0.115 mm	220 dpi	33.177600 Mpix
16k = 15360 × 8640 pix	110.8 cm × 62.3 cm	(≥) 50"	118"-235"	0.072 mm	352 dpi	132.710400 Mpix
Note: ^❶) pix: pixel = picture element (used not only as area unit, but also as length unit of width x and hight y); ^❷) The Diagonale is given in inches, first a special value followed by a reasonable range (for 150-75 dpi, the comfort zone; according to the equation: d /["] = √(x²+y²) / ρ_x\|y, cf. following table of reasonable Pixel Densities and Distances); ^❸) dpi: dots per inch (unit of pixel density ρ_x\|y).

To have a means to decide if a resolution is reasonable, i.e. not wasting pixels for too high densities or making picture elements / pixel matrix visible which can result in headaches, one needs to calculate the distance to the media (i.e. typically paper or screen) at the point the pixels as entities dissolve which should be slightly below the typical distance to the medium. The resolving power of the human eye is 135" = 0.0375°, i.e. largest distance to resolve pixels is pixel size divided by tan (135") (who needs a small Maths refresh may consider looking at 📋my trigonometry summary), or as more suitable transformation:
d = 1528 · 2.54 cm / ρ_x|y /[ppi|dpi].

Thus one can get a first impression by the following table:

ρ_x\|y / [ppi\|dpi]	3600	1200	600	300	150	100	75	50	20	10	5	3	1
d / [cm]	1.1	3.2	6.5	12.9	25.9	38.8	51.7	77.6	194	388	776	1294	3881

I marked typical distances for paper, desktop screen and TV in bold font, i.e. for paper 300 ppi is OK and more may be good for a nicer impression or usable with a magnifying glass, for desktop screen 75 dpi and slightly above may be appropriate, above 100 dpi the pixel waste starts, and for TV with at least 2 m distance 20 dpi is appropriate. And it's nice to note that with 40 m distance even 2.5 cm may not be really resolvable.
[Amateur 🔭Astronomers may have examples of

binary stars at the nighty sky where the mainly atmospheric

seeing can be judged if one can separate the components or not. It's not magic, it's just pure sciences. 🤓 ]

Valuation of Categories

As already seen in the snapshot section above, the list is ordered by screen size.
Thus,  ➉  Servers mark the end, while typically they can be found at the top of such a list (having huge amounts of computing power, main memory, and storage – and frequently full redundancy to eliminate single points of failure; and thus highest prices).
The other three categories can be regarded as splitted in main category and a sub‑category:
➅  Smartphones and Tablets have different sizes, but share the same technique and OS (not to speak of the many problems);
there are lots of special devices below a Laptop but above a Tablet which may be best grouped together with  ➂  Laptops;
and last but definitely not least Workstations are just professional  ➀  Desktops, and this is the most professional place to work with a screen.
The following list should present the decisive features which should be seen in light of the necessities mentioned above for long work being ergonomics and quality.

- Workstation:
  an expensive professional Desktop with huge screen larger than 22", certified for real standards like Open GL or Vulkan and for professional programs like special CAD/CAE programs, maybe even special input devices like 3D Space Mouse etc.; PC (i.e. Intel/AMD CPU) with Linux, IBM Power AIX, ....
Desktop [🖥️]:
large screens of sizes bigger than 17", full keyboard, full-size mouse, no touchscreen (too imprecise input and interference with screen quality), running on mains power; typically PCs (i.e. Intel/AMD CPUs) with Linux, Windows, or macOS.
[As a personal note: I am working predominantly on PC desktops since 1987, with a 13.666 year gap using perdominantly PC laptops ...]
Laptop / Notebook [💻]:
typically internal 11.0"-17.3" {uncommonly 20"} display, external power supply and/or lithium-ion battery (also Li-ion battery or rarely LIB), usable for professional work via dockingstation for connected desktop screen and peripherals (full keyboard, mouse, printer, ...).
[As a personal note: I worked from 04/1998 to 12/2011 predominantly on PC Laptops mainly due to them being more silent, but this has changed thus I returned to Desktop systems as done since 1987 ...]
- Sub-Notebook / Netbook / Convertible / ...:
  a mix of smaller Laptop trying to be more mobile while keeping functionality or bigger tablet being of more use while trying to stay portable: screen size about 9"-13" (can vary); currently I can see no reason for them, but if they can be attatched to a real dockingstation and be more of use than tablets are they may find traction to get a reasonable market share
- Tablet / Huge Cell Phone:
  Small Touchscreen: 7.0"-12.9", just a big smartphone suitable for reading few pages and for getting an overview concerning images or tables; maybe for viewing films when no good screen is available; thus it is more suitable for reasonable things, but share all the negative effects with Smartphones.
Smartphone / Cell Phone [📱]:
Tiny Touchscreen: 3.2"-6.5", only lithium-ion battery, quite performant, but currently despite some effort no things like docking stations similar to laptops; most Smartphones use ARM CPUs with Google Android; the extremely small screens (in Germany called Mäusekino, i.e. mouse cinema) is not suitable for more than short messages or calendar functions and thus not for high quality videos, reasonable web pages, let alone real work; additionally, as Smartphones are typically used too frequently and/or for too long, they are harmful and even spoil education due to their many effects of distracting, disturbing concentration and even suppress higher brain functions (like transfer efforts {solving another example with expertise gained in a slightly different situation} or abstraction {constructing a general scheme from a few known examples applicable to many other examples}). Those negative effects are strong even above 30 years of age, similar to the negative effects from alcohol, but lowering mental functions faster as mid term effect.
[As a personal note: I never used a Smartphone and never used a Tablet – just a dump phone without Internet / WLAN connection – the latest from 11/2010 (Samsung S5230 Star with inferior touchscreen but with antireflex foil).]
Server / Cluster / Cloud [🗄️]:
No direct display connected, no direct input devices and other peripherals connected, just connectivity with LAN⁺ and SAN⁺, PC, special server or mainframe hardware frequently built in racks; their data will be displayed on the screens of the other categories.

^😎 )
The Headline is derived from the citation:
There is no surer way to ruin a good discussion
than to contaminate it with the facts.
—

Cecil Adams

Conclusion

At a time when electronic devices didn't even exist, no

Tamagotchi (a digital pet), no Smartphone, it was already apparent that human beings had the tendency to get their priorities wrong regarding inanimate things.

Things are there for Human Beings
  and not Human Beings for Things .
—

Don Bosco (1815‑1888; Italian Priest and Social Education Worker)

As long as technology is helpful to people and not harmful, it is good and reasonable.
If this changes to people having to care for technology, to adapt to it and personally suffering from that, something is severely wrong.
Should this tendency ever reach the extreme, with people no longer taking an active part in handling and controlling technology, mankind is just comitting suicide.

So everyone should take reponsibility for making technique beneficial for people and not make people better fitting to technics. The latter will first result in an enourmous health problem which can be seen already about 💔smartphones and tablets – but this will not be the end of this harmful evolution ...

Please note my 📄Disclaimer.

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First version:	13th	October,	2019
Last update:	01st	January,	2024