Yep, I can relate to why you find it curious, I do too, from the other end of the spectrum.
I, for one, feel _very_ unproductive with a laptop. Personally for me I think the reason is lack of a mouse. For a long time people told me its because I was not using a MacBook (and hence its touchpad), but I tried that for ~5 years too and it didn't make much of a difference.
I guess at the end when I'm using a laptop it feels like I'm "converging" or "constraining" my body (eyes, hand coordination) into the laptop. In contrast, connecting to a dock with a full size keyboard, mouse and monitor (1) makes my body feel more stretched and relaxed. While doing this, I rarely use my laptop (I might even just close the lid, if I weren't lazy).
This is to the point where I will decline to work if I am not allowed to use a monitor+keyboard+mouse setup.
It's hard to conceive a working device that is less ergonomic than a laptop. They're really not made for human anatomy. From the screen that makes you crane your neck, to the staggered terrible keyboards.
While there are certainly posters here with people that have developed for 10 years without any issues, carpal tunnel is a lot more common than people think. It's very easy to cause irreparable damage to the body when using these devices that have about zero consideration for the human body.
Agree. For me, I always preferred the ‘nub’ present on some laptop models over the trackpad (despite their sad tendency to wear and drift over time).
I, for one, feel _very_ unproductive with a laptop. Personally for me I think the reason is lack of a mouse. For a long time people told me its because I was not using a MacBook (and hence its touchpad), but I tried that for ~5 years too and it didn't make much of a difference.
I guess at the end when I'm using a laptop it feels like I'm "converging" or "constraining" my body (eyes, hand coordination) into the laptop. In contrast, connecting to a dock with a full size keyboard, mouse and monitor (1) makes my body feel more stretched and relaxed. While doing this, I rarely use my laptop (I might even just close the lid, if I weren't lazy).
This is to the point where I will decline to work if I am not allowed to use a monitor+keyboard+mouse setup.