I'm not sure why you neatpick that. I feel the complete opposite. HDMI screens are everywhere. Usb-c ones less but still present.
I have a screen at work, with keyboard and USB hub. Same at home. And at most of my friend's homes. I have a screen (tv) in a hotel and flats to rent. I even had one in a cabin recently (use them with tv stick for my kid's shows).
I also have an external USB/HDMI screen that is lighter than a laptop, that I sometimes carry for multiple reasons.
Keyboard is a bit harder, I won't have it provided in a hotel, but there are plenty of small and light models, foldable etc..
I choose current phone specifically for usb-c/HDMI option and a full desktop experience and use it often. It's easy, it's fast, it's stable. Perfect for mobile gaming with a small BT gamepad as well.
I struggle to find a place without a HDMI screen waiting for me.
> I struggle to find a place without a HDMI screen waiting for me.
It seems like this comes down to personal experience. I have literally never seen a place I could plug my phone into an HDMI display (even if I had cables for that, which I don't). As such it strikes me as very impractical, but it sounds like your experience has been drastically different so we come to different conclusions.
It's not personal experience. It's a segment of the market and also a lack of familiarity. The Macbook Air ships with only USB-C Thunderbolt and a large group of people are fine buying a dock to connect it or HDMI to thunderbolt.
While reading this article I thought it'd be interesting to read this on Android desktop mode and went looking for a cable while forgetting I could just unplug my USB-C laptop.
> I also have an external USB/HDMI screen that is lighter than a laptop
How much lighter is it than say a Surface Go that can run Windows or Linux? If they are about the same then it doesn't make sense to fiddle with Linux on a phone. Comes with a keyboard too.
I see that this thread became a "throw random edge cases and diverge the discussion".
How does Surface Go states against other commenters comment that suddenly brought poverty into the mix? :) how does Surface Go address poor people, because it's not cheap where I live.
It's a discussion that doesn't make sense.
You never said anything about affordability.
> It's a discussion that doesn't make sense.
That's on you for lack of context.
i struggle to see your point.
Your suggestion is that people should carry around four devices with them, poorly integrated, clunky, all for the experience of plugging to their phone? At that point, what advantage is there over a laptop?
No. I'm just saying that "there are no HDMI devices near me" is weird and hard to achieve.
To use my phone as a desktop all I need is the phone itself. USB cable I most often already have to charge it. Phone works as a keyboard and mouse and I have large screen to browse web, play, watch videos. ZERO new devices, only things I already carry and a screen that is already there.
i disagree entirely.
Think about a poor person. Are they better served by a laptop or your proposed solution of four different devices?
Even in my own daily life, i struggle to find places where your solution is practical.
People probably don't think about a poor person enough or they would come up with more solutions that benefit everybody.
Some only conceptualize scenarios that include those that are quite wealthy, whether intentional or not.
Even if you are not poor, one of the most respectable things you can do is to re-use and recycle rather than consume new.
For minimal cash outlay, surplus PC's can easily be found at zero cost which is naturally an unmatched bargain, compared to used monitors even as low as $10 each, unless you can get the monitors free also, but that's much more uncommon. Surplus keyboards are stacked up everywhere and being thrown away all the time too.
So it's really the monitors (and physical desk space) that's the limiting factor for aspiring low-cost operators. By a long shot.
It's been that way for years so by now with every multi-monitor workspace I have a PC for each monitor, even if I only run one of the PC's at a time usually. Each monitor also has at least two separate inputs which can be chosen from at any time and all the wiring is in place whether it is being actively used or not.
So between my office or home or an employment site a laptop used to be carried with me but now mainly collects dust except for "outreach" or distant travel these days. Laptop chargers still in each location so I didn't have to carry that as often.
Now it's usually only a miniPC (or sometimes two) that I carry for "full-strength" mobile deployment between locations. Chose miniPC's that run on the laptop chargers that were already at each desk. Even more convenient to carry than laptops.
Soon for the PC's that I have appropriately configured at each familiar location, I will only need to be carrying a bootable USB stick instead of either a miniPC or laptop :)
Might as well use the PC's that are already there too, along with the full-size monitors and keyboards ;)
Environment on a stick.
Not much different than the way you could put Windows XP on a bootable FAT32 Memorystick, then put the Memorystick into the Sony phone to utilize its remaining storage space the regular way. The cellphone folders don't interfere with the Windows folders. Then plug in the USB cord from the phone to a PC, boot the PC to USB and the phone acts like a bootable USB stick and your C: drive is the Windows volume on the phone's internal Memorystick.
This still works with Android and SD cards too.
It's good to have but it just ties up the phone and a separate USB stick is the real functional model.
I feel the opposite of you and not sure why you defend it. I can not think of the last time I plugged my phone or tablet into an HDMI screen I didn't own.
Projectors are what springs to mind for me. Though I guess less relevant if you work remotely.
Kinda solved by sharing on teams in a conference room now?