I think a very common misconception makes this a terrible idea.

We, developers, are also "common computer users". Just like a sound engineer, a graphic designer, a movie editor, or any specialist, really, has fancy hard- and software, but remains also a "general user".

I have to do my taxes. Write a CV, or a speech. I have to make a presentation. I want to watch netflix. Listen to spotify. Must use trello, read my email, or use that abysmal internal time tracker. Play a game. Order new sneakers. Find a restaurant. And no, I don't do all that in emacs, terminal, bash scripts and lynx. Like every "general computer user" I use my computer for those things as well.

Despite what Hollywood makes it look like, developers, hackers, sw architects, sw engineers etc do use the stuff that everyone uses as well. Commonly and often.

But sometimes it's helpful to have two computers, one for "deep work" and one for all of that stuff.

Maybe.

It's not common amongst any of the developers I see in my bubble. Could be my bubble. And it doesn't mean this practice of having one machine for all uses, is actually "good".

Though personally, i'd dislike the idea of having to maintain, update, etc multiple machines. And to sync data/logins/documents/tools between the two.

I like grepping through my "Administration/invoices". I prefer putting "Documents/contracts/" under git, eventhough all are pdfs and word. I need my todo-list to be a mix of work related and personal tasks.

Also, I listen spotify when I work. I check or answer work and personal mail when waiting for a meeting to start. I use my notes for work and private. Same for password manager, calendar.

In my case, the line is too blurred to be able to switch between machines. Theyll very much overlap, making having two a burden rather than a benefit.

But that's me.

It might not be a good idea if you have any concern that the company you work for may ever be involved in litigation. This was part of the training when I joined Microsoft, many years ago, as a result of the big antitrust trial: anything at all that you do on your work computer or the company network might someday be subject to discovery. I have since maintained a strict separation between work accounts, data, and activities, which exist only on company-owned hardware, and my own personal data, which only lives on my own personal hardware.

Some companies are strict about firewalling corporate data in, but I think it's also important for us to protect ourselves by keeping our personal data out.

This is extremely good advice. It’s frequently at odds with convenience, since things like iPhone screen mirroring, iPad as a 2nd display, etc. practically beg for you to sign into your work laptop with your personal Apple ID. All I can say is resist the urge to do such things.

I do keep a browser profile on the work machine signed into personal accounts, and do everything personal only in that browser, but even that is probably a mistake. Screen-sharing to home would be a much better compromise, unfortunately my gigabit internet comes with like 50Mbps upload so screen sharing sucks.

I live in a world with lots of custom x11 apps. Unfortunately, browsers couldn't historically consume enough data fast enough (though that's probably changed I. He last several years.)

Not everything in the world is a browser.

I'm guessing they're targeting people who currently use something like a Bloomberg terminal and used the word "terminal" because that community already used it.

I'm vaguely interested in looking at new window managers. I3 is nice but isn't perfect. I'm happy to look at new ways of doing things. It seems a bit retro to tie a specific WM or a specific Distro to a specific bit of hardware. Sort of like a MBP with macOS.

>At that price point

Idk, 96GB of Ram and 1TB of storage on a Mac Studio is $3999. At least this one comes with a keyboard.