Ask HN: Desktop as a Service for Personal Use?

4 points by jacksonkmarley 5y ago ↗ HN

I'm wondering if anyone has any experience/suggestions about providers of virtual desktops that are suitable for personal use (price/usability/convenience etc.).

I have found that I like having the ability to spin up different virtual machines set up for different projects. For the sake of the argument let's say for example 5 VMs. My current laptop struggles because it's old, and I'm wondering if I can just get a cheap one next time and do everything on the cloud. Also there are issues with storage etc. if I want it accessible from anywhere.

I tried Amazon Workspaces with Amazon linux, it was just ok to work in, and got a bit expensive once the trial period wore off. Also just dealing with the AWS interface stuff was too complicated for my simple needs.

Suggestions? Ideas? Comments?

3 comments

[ 6.4 ms ] story [ 20.8 ms ] thread

rasengan 5y ago ↗

You could try Shells.com [1].

It's much cheaper than AWS and dedicated to personal desktop service. You can access it with desktop and mobile apps or via any modern browser.

[1] https://shells.com/

jacksonkmarley 5y ago ↗

Thanks for the suggestion! I had a look, is that a product you are involved with directly?

TBH, to me personally a "Risk-free 7-day Money-back Guarantee" seems like kind of a put-off compared with some sort of free trial period, even when the amount is small.

Re involvement: Yes!

Re trials: I agree.

However, free trials have led to large scale abuse in hosting providers in the past which is why we opted for this route. I apologize for the inconvenience!