Desktop Computer Or Laptop?

[All Seeing Eye]

I love my computer, I love my 20 inch acer monitor, I love my all in one printer scanner, I love my speakers, I love my keyboard and mouse but one thing really annoys me................all the wires.

I've tried wireless options before such as wireless keyboard and mouse except it really wasn't that wireless because it still had a wire and a sensor and they were crap causing me signal delays and stuff so I switched back.

I have wires everywhere, they get wrapped around my legs, the back of my comp desk is just full of wires and even trying to seperate them and wrap them up hardly helps so I want a cleaner option so I was thinking of maybe getting a Laptop.

Do you prefer desktop comps or laptops? Would I be better off switching to a Laptop?

One thing I hate about laptops is the stupid mouse sensor thing but you can just plug an ordinary mouse in the side right? can you buy laptops with 20 inch screens? I don't want a smaller screen.

Am I doing the right thing switching to a Laptop? are there any downsides?

 

[Neutral Zone]

Like most I started with a desk top and thought that they were great. But then I bought a second hand lap top with Win98 and realised that laptops were for me. Recently we bought an Acer which does the job just fine. Connected to it all in one printer, scanner & copier and we use an external mouse and key board. I like them because they are light and portable and come the unthinkable day that it packs up it will be easier to dispose of than a desk top. At present I have this Acer and my wife a Fujitsu Seimans (spelling?) and no complaints. Unless there was real good reason I would not go back to desktop! Once upon on a time laptops were far too expensive but now they are in most peoples price ranges.

 

[Jadzia]

Yes you can plug mice into USB. Keyboards too. The downsides: It will be more expensive for what computing power you get. It won't run games well because the graphics system in it will be relatively poor. That may not be a problem for you.

It will feel more sluggish than a desktop anyway, say when browsing websites with lots of animated/flash graphics you will notice it loads and displays more slowly. Especially if you have lots of website open in tabs at once. In fact, doing anything demanding and it will get hot and the little (inadequate) internal fan will be grinding away for hours. The computer will slow down when it gets hot in order to protect itself, so will feel more sluggish if/when it does this.

If you intend to use one as a pseudo-desktop, then invest in a base station that the laptop will normally sit on that has a couple of fans within it to help keep the machine cool.

I don't much like laptops. Power consumption is less - probably enough to reduce your electricity bill by a few pounds per month. Mobility is the only other plus from me, that I can have mine with me throughout the day. In all other ways though laptops get a thumbs-down from me. Wires behind my desk with my desktop don't bother me. But I have a nice desk that hides them all That may be all you need.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

I love my computer, I love my 20 inch acer monitor, I love my all in one printer scanner, I love my speakers, I love my keyboard and mouse but one thing really annoys me................all the wires.

I've tried wireless options before such as wireless keyboard and mouse except it really wasn't that wireless because it still had a wire and a sensor and they were crap causing me signal delays and stuff so I switched back.

I have wires everywhere, they get wrapped around my legs, the back of my comp desk is just full of wires and even trying to seperate them and wrap them up hardly helps so I want a cleaner option so I was thinking of maybe getting a Laptop.

I have been using a laptop as my primary means of computing for over 6 years now. I chose the laptop simply out of necessity: my line of work took me all over the country, never really staying in one place for longer than 6 months or so. In that respect, a laptop is very much a necessity if you need to keep the work going.

However, whether you go for a laptop you have to consider what you want it for, as inevitably you will need to make some compromises. If it's a portable computer on the go, then you need one with excellent battery life and good power utilisation - but of course don't expect to run the likes of Call of Duty 4 on it without it crying for its uncle. If it's a big desktop replacement, not only will you need to consider weight and size - the bigger and more powerful the laptop, the heavier it is, the hotter it may get, and the noisier it generally is from the fans required to cool it down - unless (as stated above) you invest in a suitable base station for it. I personally do prefer a desktop replacement laptop at the moment, as it's something I can take with me - I don't find the size and weight to be a burden, although I don't tend to use mine in public places. And of course, don't expect it to run the biggest games as well as you remember them, unless your games are quite a few years old.

You can get laptops with very big screen sizes and resolutions in excess of 1920x1080 (the size of my current desktop replacement lappy), but remember that the bigger the screen, the greater the power required to use the screen and the more powerful the graphics chip required. And of course, you'll need a big enough carry case if you want to lug it around, and these might only be available from specialists if you want a big screen laptop.

Plus, if you want to plug in a fresh keyboard, mouse, etc. in order to maintain your home comforts, remember that you'll still only be adding more wires to the laptop, and because the USB connectors are usually on the side rather than in the back (your own laptop may vary - my first one had a combination of both) then the wires will be all over the place, with no really easy place to stow the excess. In fact, a laptop with all holes filled with hot USB plugs is even messier than a desktop.

The other problem is, as mentioned above, performance and power usage. Using the same or similar workload as a desktop on a typical working day, the laptop will heat up more, simply because its own fans are not as powerful as the typical desktop computer's, and eventually performance will deteriorate.

Also, unless your choice of laptop is very reputable with excellent build quality, expect fan failures to be the bane of the laptop's existence, with frequent sudden power cut-offs if it's a particularly poorly-built computer. (This happened to my first laptop; my second one so far has had zero serious hardware failures in the 16 months I have had it.)

Keeping it plugged in the mains will help performance (you can adjust this in Windows too) but will wear the battery's life down gradually and slowly unless it is fully charged and then allowed to run down to near zero, then recharged while the computer is switched off. Plus, the mains power pack will glow hot after a while.

 

[Brent]

Biggest screen I've seen on a laptop is an 18.4" screens - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ption=&Ntk=&CFG=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc=

 

[Ward Fowler]

Desktop. I have a laptop on the same desk as the desktop and it rarely gets used. While my laptop is nearly brand new, I built my desktop a little over a year ago and it's still a much more powerful machine. I prefer it for games and running any sort of resource intensive apps. Really the only time I use the laptop is if I want surf the net out on my deck.

 

[Psion]

A few years ago, buoyed by success with a 266 MHz Dell Inspiron, I decided to purchase the most powerful laptop I could find. I was very happy with its wide-format display, integrated numeric keyboard, and outstanding graphics. It worked well for me for about seventeen months.

Then, one morning, I found the display had lines running through it. A little research told me the graphics card had overheated and was dying. So I took it back to the center where I'd purchased it and, since it was under an extended warranty, they agreed to service it for free. Weeks went by and the machine finally came back with a diagnosis that the display cable was loose. An hour after booting the machine, the laptop once again had display problems and promptly locked up. It went back in for service that same night.

Three weeks later, I got the system back and found another questionable diagnosis, this time blaming the hard drive. Three minutes into booting, the display went bad again, and once more I had it back to the center the same night.

After another month, I was notified that the machine was scrapped and that I could get a comparable unit from the store's inventory as a replacement. So I grabbed my original specifications, walked into the store, and prepared to order a replacement. I was told the store no longer allowed customers to customize computers from the manufacturer and that I'd have to accept an equivalent unit from stock. Except, in direct contravention of Moore's law, the store didn't stock a laptop that came close to the machine I had ordered through them twenty months earlier.

After a lot of wasted effort dealing with the store, regional managers, and customer service at the chain's headquarters, I finally compromised on a few points and took home a slightly inferior laptop with more memory, a video tuner box, and some free software. Even though it was an inferior laptop, it was of a later generation, so I hoped the heat dissipation issues that plagued my original machine had been resolved.

I was wrong. Fourteen months later, the exact same problem hit the new computer, and I found the best I could do would be to order a new motherboard for the laptop for $300 - $400 and hope that it wouldn't suffer the same problem eventually.

At that point, I decided to build my own system from scratch. I abandoned 'desktop replacement' laptops in favor of a home brew desktop. Now, if a part fails, I pull it and replace it in a few hours at minimum cost -- a solution simply not available on most laptop brands. To avoid issues with Windows' tendency to reject significant hardware changes, I switched to Linux and have happily said goodbye to two problems at once.

 

[Stone_Cold_Sisko]

Laptop. I live in a city, and apartments, and my lifestyle is such that I want to take my computer around, cafes, to the living room, etc.

 

[Marc]

Biggest screen I've seen on a laptop is an 18.4" screens - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ption=&Ntk=&CFG=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc=

There have been articles about companies like acer and lenovo coming out with 19 and 20" displays but I guess they came to nothing.

Psion raises one of the biggest issues with laptops - you're very much at the vendor's mercy. IF something goes wrong you have to get back to them for parts and repairs and if they decided to useless morons there's not much you can do about it.

 

[Red Ranger]

Well, I switched to a laptop two years ago because as a freelancer, I sometimes need to bring it with me to work sites, or to do things on the go. I'm not a gamer, so I'm not concerned about my computer running slow because of games. I do keep my laptop plugged in when I'm using it at home so the battery doesn't run down -- which is probably making the battery less efficient when it's unplugged. The portability factor makes the tradeoffs acceptable. My current laptop is a Toshiba Satellite and I've had few problems with it. Doubt I'd go back to a desktop. -- RR

 

[All Seeing Eye]

Well I'm considering getting one of these laptops HERE.

It's custom built so I have the ability to tweak it to my own liking.

 

[sojourner]

DO NOT buy a laptop from a no name company like that. The minute something goes wrong you will regret it.

 

[Australis]

My sons swear by Dell. Well, certainly Dell in Australia. No 2 son bought his online and he's had no complaints about it, except for some supportt issues early in the piece which were resolved.

I much prefer desktops. Larger screen, modifiable, robust.

 

[All Seeing Eye]

I'm still in 2 minds now.

 

[Jadzia]

I'm still in 2 minds now.

With a laptop with plug in power supply, plug in mouse and possibly plug in keyboard, you'll still have wires. Add a printer, and it has wires.

Laptop speakers are not much good. If you want it to sound any better than a 1980s pocket AM radio, then you'll want external speakers = more wires.

In fact, the only wires you're likely to lose with a laptop serving as a desktop are the power and data cable for the monitor. And if you get a base station, you'll get one of those wires back.

An alternative for you, is a compact desktop, that has the screen and disc drives built into the one box, which eliminates some of the wires. I don't know if they come in 22 inch varieties, but their internal speakers are... better.

If mobility is the priority for you, then a laptop is obviously the way to go. If less visible wires is the priority, then there are various other solutions. If lower power is the priority, then there are various other options for that too.

I would say, only choose a laptop if mobility is what's important to you, because you will make sacrifices with a laptop. But you can use it in the lounge, you can use it in bed, you can take it with you when you visit friends and family...

 

[All Seeing Eye]

Well this is the thing, if I was to get a Laptop the only wires I would have coming out of it would be for a mouse and for my printer/scanner and that's it and to be honest the printer/scanner would only need plugging in if I need to use it.
I can easily cope with the laptops inbuilt keyboard and speakers.
Mobility WOULD help though. At the moment my computer is stuck in the corner of the living room and there's really nowhere else to put it, with the desktop out of the way and computer desk out of the way and all the other bits and bobs and wires there's more room available for other things.
With a laptop I could sit with it on the sofa, sit at the dining table and as you said up in bed. Another problem is my phone line is in the kitchen (which is stupid) so I have a long wire leading from the Kitchen all the way into the living room just so I can access the internet (I do NOT want wireless! before anyone says anything) so if I have a laptop I can relocate closer and it's not as much hassle plugging and unplugging the wire.

The only thing I'm really bothered about is gaming. I like my games and my desktop is quite a good gaming system and I really don't want to downgrade.

 

[Jadzia]

I've tried playing games on my laptop, but it is a real challenge with the compact low profile keyboard. But that's only my opinion. You'd probably end up getting a plug in keyboard for it to play games.

If I was in your position, with these space and cabling issues, wanting the gaming power of a desktop and the mobility of a laptop, I'd consider using my television as a monitor with the current desktop computer. Having the computer on the floor beside/under the tv, and fixing up a more permanent phone line extension to it. This would eliminate the desk, and any need for speakers. Yes you would have some wires, but they're all out of the way behind the tv. Yes you'd have trailing wires to your mouse and keyboard, but these could use ps/2 extension cables that make connecting/disconnecting them convenient. (Assuming you don't want wireless input devices.) I don't feel there is a perfect solution for you.

Purchasing a new laptop (it doesn't have to be high spec) would then give you some mobility, without sacrificing your current games system.

 

[Red Ranger]

I'm reading all these comments about mouses plugged in to a laptop, and they don't make sense. My laptop, like most others, has a mouse in the middle of it. It takes a bit of getting used to, but you can. My mother has a laptop and she did get a wireless mouse with a USB connection -- she couldn't get used to the sensitive mouse built into the laptop. I suppose another solution would be to get a desktop that has a laptop built into it (not sure what that's called) so you can have the best of both worlds. -- RR

 

[Jadzia]

I'm reading all these comments about mouses plugged in to a laptop, and they don't make sense.

If our OP plays games that involve aiming at things using the mouse, then expecting him to do the same with a laptop trackpad is unrealistic.

 

[All Seeing Eye]

I'm reading all these comments about mouses plugged in to a laptop, and they don't make sense.

If our OP plays games that involve aiming at things using the mouse, then expecting him to do the same with a laptop trackpad is unrealistic.

Exactly. I play games like Oblivion and Fallout3 making a Laptop mousepad a bad idea.