Hmm it seems difficult to find statistics that separate desktop boxes from laptops (I see separation of desktop and laptop va ultraportable) but I think the trend is less desktops and more laptops. So I'm not entirely surprised.
Honestly I constantly built my own towers for years but these past 3 or 4 years I haven't even booted a desktop tower; laptops are just so good nowadays and I can pick it up and go or dock it with multiple monitors it almost seems silly to do a tower anymore. Obviously there are still plenty of power user use cases or high end gaming to consider but many laptops can do a lot of that well enough.
Not to detract, but are you booting on a hard disk or SSD.. the HTPC in my livingroom does a full reboot in about 12 seconds (ubuntu 15.04) and my desktop isn't much slower. Both of which are way faster than my 1+1 android phone.
I also prefer a mechanical keyboard, have my own at work as well... I hate when I'm on my rmbp, which is about as good as a laptop keyboard/touchpad interface gets...
I agree about the mechanical keyboard and large screen. But I do use a laptop. It sits on my desk docked in (usb and thunderbolt docks are awesome - 1 cable). Then, I can take it with me.
Honestly I constantly built my own towers for years but these past 3 or 4 years I haven't even booted a desktop tower; laptops are just so good nowadays and I can pick it up and go or dock it with multiple monitors it almost seems silly to do a tower anymore. Obviously there are still plenty of power user use cases or high end gaming to consider but many laptops can do a lot of that well enough.