I’m thinking about buying a new computer. Went to the “cow box” computer store last night to look at laptops. I understand that internet access on a laptop is a bit slower, which is all I would be using this laptop for. I don’t travel for business, so portability is not an issue. I was considering a laptop only for convenience purposes, i.e. setup, space, etc. I, obviously, have my desktop computer at work and a desktop at my S/O’s house.
Does anyone have any advice? Suggestions? Comments? Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance!
“Words fascinate me. They always have. For me, browsing in a dictionary is like being turned loose in a bank.” - Eddie Cantor
I don’t have any advice, just an opinion. I LOVE my laptop. Frequently I’ll check my email while in bed, just before going to sleep for the night. On the 0ther hand if I want to do a little computer work while I watch t.v. in the living room, I can do that too. I also have a desktop machine at home, and I don’t use it much anymore except to play some high end games. I’m 38 years old by the way, but a kid at heart I guess.
I like laptops for a lot of reasons, but I have one very important reason why I prefer desktops (at least at this point): ergonomic keyboards!
I have the ergonomic keyboard (the basic one made by Microsoft). It came as a free upgrade when I bought my computer. As soon as I got it, I could magically touch-type, and my typing speed doubled. I always used the “right” fingers to type, but I just was never any good at it. The ergonomic keyboard somehow just made it a whole lot easier to type. And then, of course, there is the added bonus of carpal tunnel syndrome avoidance.
Until I need a laptop for portability purposes, or until they come up with a decent laptop keyboard, I will stick with desktops.
Certainly having a laptop can be a convenience, but as usual, that convenience comes at a price. Not just initially, in the higher cost of a comparably equipped laptop, but in maintenance and upgrades down the line. Because of the space and weight constraints of a laptop, components tend to be specially designed for particular models. They tend, for that reason, to be significantly more expensive, to be harder to find, and to require more skill and/or training to install. Computers are obsolete by the time you buy them, so for anyone who doesn’t plan to buy a new machine every year, upgradability is desirable, and it’s more difficult and expensive to upgrade laptops than desktops. If your needs change and you need to add new components or peripherals, you’ll spend a good bit more in most cases to add them to a laptop than a desktop machine.
A lot depends, of course, on your level of technical proficiency, what you expect from a computer, and how much you’re concerned with the total cost of owning the machine over its lifetime. If you’re not the type who would ever pop open the case on a machine to install a new hard drive, additional RAM, a new video card, etc., and don’t mind paying someone else to do those things for you, then the cost and hassle of having the machine professionally maintained by someone else is something you’re going to have to live with anyway.
I tend to avoid certain brand-name computers, even desktops, for similar reasons – the components in Dell and Compaq machines, for instance, often are specially designed for those machines and come at a premium relative to functionally identical components designed to be used in any machine. Give me a cheaper machine from a white-box reseller that I trust any day – but then there’s nothing inside a machine that I don’t feel quite comfortable taking out and replacing. The additional cost of proprietary parts bothers me much more than the prospect of handling hardware maintenance, upgrade, and repair myself.
“Ain’t no man can avoid being born average, but there ain’t no man got to be common.” –Satchel Paige
One thing you may want to consider is processor speed. Laptops tend to consistently be abouit 50-100 Mhz behind desktop units. Another thing that you may wish to consider is whether you would like to have an active-matrix monitor or a passive-matrix. Almost all laptops have a partially passive matrix, meaning that you have to be looking directly at the front of your screen, and you cannot be sitting to far away, or it will be impossible to see whats on your screen. Yet another issue is that of your mouse. Its perfectly feasible to attach a mouse to your peripheral port, but having an external mouse lowers the portability of your laptop. Personally, since you said you are not going to be traveling much with it, I would suggest a descktop. However, its all personal preference, and I am sure that there are as many satisfied users of laptops as there are of desktops.
I own a laptop. I bought it a year ago when I was going to school out of state and would frequently fly back and forth. I was very happy with it. Now that I’ve transferred to an in-state school, I’m getting rid of it as soon as I can. It may have been something in its hayday, but now, I can’t upgrade anything except the RAM, and even here, I can only add one chip. I’m using an external monitor and external mouse, so it’s practically a desktop already. It’s not that portable anymore, since I have to unplug the phone line, ac cord, scanner, mouse, and palm synchronizer just to move it to another desk. If you travel a lot, get a laptop, otherwise, just plunk down less cash for a similarly or better equipped desktop model.
*“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop to look around once in a while you could miss it.” - Ferris Bueller
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Of course, posting to The SD while working on your car or building a set of drawers if of extreme importance
As for laptop modems, as someone stated, they are the same speed.
Economics should be your first consideration when buying a computer. If all you are going to be doing is using it for internet access, then spending 2,000-3,000 on a laptop is bad use of your money. Yeah it’s convenient, but you can buy an okay machine for under a grand and use that extra cash on other items.
Of course if you have a limitless bank account and you want to take your laptop to the couch, bedroom etc, then by all means, do it.
Oh and my opinion of computers in general, like cars, they are a terrible investment. Once you take it out of the store, it’s just lost a lot of value.
I’d get a desktop machine unless you have lots of money to burn or have a definate use for it. There is about a $2000 difference between a laptop and a similar desktop. Plus, laptops are fragile, with the exception of a few.
Speaking of which, if you go for a notebook, you need one of these. http://www.panasonic.com/computer/notebook/products/toughbook27.htm
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“I never meant to hurt you,” you said,
And buried yourself in lies instead.
Next time I would rather be slain,
Than forced to bear your mercy again.
I have both types of machines, and I work on many of each type at work. Here are my felings:
Laptops are great if you need to travel a lot. However, they’re not so great when you get back to the office, as the display size and quality, ease of using peripherals, ergonomic setup, and other factors are not as good as desktop machines, even on very good laptops. To work around these shortcomings, most of the laptop users I support also have a docking station and a monitor on their desk. All of this costs substantial money.
Desktop computers generally cost substantially less, have substantially better performance, are more ergonomically correct, are easier to work on and expand, and so on. The big disadvantage, as several people have noticed, is that you can’t easily carry it to the living room, the garage, the boardroom, or whatever.
It’s a personal decision that will be different for each person. I personally find it more desireable (most of the time) to work at my desk on my desktop computer. There are a few times when I like to use the laptop, but they are pretty infrequent. The only reason I have a laptop at all is that my job provides it to me, and I would not be upset if I didn’t have it.
A committee is a lifeform with six or more legs and no brain.
One thing though, desktops are real easy for you to get into & change. Laptops seem to have a Fort Knox kind of security when you want to take them apart.