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[Andorphin]

Hello guys. I've always kept asking myself this question. What's better to own? A PC or Laptop? Some acquaintances and friends recommended me a while ago to get a laptop since it's really great for portability and confort. Now, I'm personally not much of a gamer. I have a playstation one if I want to play some games so that's not really an issue. I mostly use computers for watching videos, internet, reading articles, writing, music and not many other things. Maybe I may also use it for some great photoshop software in the future but I just described my general uses with it.

What do you guys think/prefer?

 

[vinaya]

If you are looking for performance, PC is best. However, if you are looking for portability and easy to handle, a laptop will be more continent. On the battle between PC and Laptop you cannot simply decide the best. It depends on your requirements.

 

[patrickkenyi]

I would choose a laptop any day just because of its portability, a PC will have you glued to a desk all day long. Besides, the difference in performance is hardly noticeable if you buy a good laptop that was manufactured recently.

 

[Alexandoy]

Hmm, I seem to have posted already in this topic but I guess it is on a different forum. But anyway, I am in the process of evaluating what to buy - a desktop for convenience with the existing software that I use or a laptop that would provide me with portability. I understand that a laptop is more expensive and more susceptible to repairs but I seem to need the portability since I can use it anywhere unlike the desktop. However, I have a list of advantages and disadvantages, right now they are even.

 

[moneyman]

It depends on what you want to do with it. I have both. I prefer the reliability and the ease of use and upgrading a desktop on the cheap any time that I need to, but I also have a powerful laptop for portability and to be able to have near the same power as I would have from my desktop. If you're going to select a laptop, you'll want to be a little more selective than you would be with a desktop.

These days, much to my chagrin, they are making laptops harder to pull apart and work on whenever you need to. They've made it harder to replace the hard drive and upgrade the RAM in many cases, and beyond this they've even started to solder one or more ram chips to the motherboard and fuse the battery so that it is no longer modular, needs to be sent to someone with tools that are now required to remove it at their fatcory, or force the user to dispose of it instead of keeping it and using it like they always used to be able to effeciently and effectively.

One of the first things that I look for in a laptop is being able to easily get to the hard drive bay and the ram to upgrade it if I need to. The second thing I look for is whether I can replace the battery, the keyboard, or the touchpad easily...or if I have to take it apart. I look to see how hot it runs with the GPU and current CPU these days as well. Then I look at things like the max upgrade specs for the motherboard (how much ram it can have, etc), and any extra features (virtual machine / VT-X support, etc). All the other things are relatively trivial to me, because the most important factors for what I do are to be able to service it quickly and keep using it reliably.

If you get a desktop rather than a laptop, you may want to avoid falling into the "all-in-one" traps they make now where they try to make desktops as closed and unserviceable as the laptops.

If you're just looking to do office work or ******/everyday stuff that people normally use computers for, then it isn't going to make that much of a difference on many factors, but you'll still want to have the flexibility to repair or upgrade it, or have others repair or upgrade it for you reasonably. As a tech, you can still service some to most of the laptops...but as a consumer, if you have to pay that technician...the difference between $40 and $140 can often be spared if your laptop is easier to service, upgrade, and repair than not (if you have someone do it for you rather than doing it yourself). The more closed they make them, the more it's going to cost you time, money, or both. So the more flexible, the better off you'll be.

 

[Ramakrishnan]

Actually it depends on your requirements. I give more importance to portability and hence I use a laptop. I may have to stay away from home, but I don't want to stay away from my online job. Maybe if we consider the cost, maintenance and durability the desktop has an edge over laptop, but laptop is more convenient to me because it serves my purpose better.

 

[Alexandoy]

Thank you for the replies on my planned new computer. My main concern with the laptop is the capability of the existing programs that I normally use particularly the midi program which enables me to create musical composition. Another is the video editor, I use Adobe Premiere and it doesn't run on any operating system. And I'm also considering the size of the monitor since video editing requires a large monitor and a good graphics card.

 

[hg088]

You sound like a Laptop guy. I'm a Desktop guy all the way because I'm an IT guy who likes games. I'm always thinking of buying upgrades for my Desktop and that wouldn't be so feasible with a Laptop.

 

[SirJoe]

The greatest strength of a laptop is it's portability. If you want real performance there is nothing that comes close to a desktop. It really comes down to what your needs are, laptops tend to be more expensive then desktops for the same performance seeing as they are optimized to run of a battery. If you don't want to push your computer too much then a laptop would be your best choice.

 

[explorer]

Actually it depends on your requirements. I give more importance to portability and hence I use a laptop. I may have to stay away from home, but I don't want to stay away from my online job. Maybe if we consider the cost, maintenance and durability the desktop has an edge over laptop, but laptop is more convenient to me because it serves my purpose better.

I second your thoughts on this. Actually it depends on your requirements. For a person like me who travels a lot a laptop could be handy as it gives the most important factor of portability to me. A desktop could be of no use to me most of the times.

As already mentioned a laptop could be costly than a desktop. With the price of a laptop you will be able to go for a feature rich desktop. Desktops are easy to repair and upgrade. But if a laptop is damaged, most of the times only a replacement would be viable. Laptop needs a lot of care as it heats up very easily.

 

[Ramakrishnan]

I second your thoughts on this. Actually it depends on your requirements. For a person like me who travels a lot a laptop could be handy as it gives the most important factor of portability to me. A desktop could be of no use to me most of the times.

As already mentioned a laptop could be costly than a desktop. With the price of a laptop you will be able to go for a feature rich desktop. Desktops are easy to repair and upgrade. But if a laptop is damaged, most of the times only a replacement would be viable. Laptop needs a lot of care as it heats up very easily.

You are right. Maintenance problem is the main concern when we use laptop. Last time when there was a problem in my laptop it took more than one week for servicing. Also it heats up very quickly and I have to switch it off frequently and take a small break in between. But I love my laptop and it seems it has become a part of my body and a partner of my life.

 

[Nocturnal Writer]

I do respect your preference of use for your convenience like laptop and for your computer games your PC desktop. Well, if you do ask me of what I do prefer, as what I am using in writing this comment is my laptop. It is handy and it rests on my lap as I one by one encoding this reaction and discussion.

 

[remarkabull22]

Depends on what you use it for and your comfort level. I have a powerful desktop I use for work and some web browsing and to stream stuff in my room. But if I'm browsing for a while, my desktop gets old in the sense that I feel restricted to the desk just sitting there. I'd much rather go into the living room and watch tv and casually use my laptop, which I do. It's slower though so I try to avoid it.

Just write down what you plan on using it for and everything. If you're not super hardcore about anything you could get a decent desktop and a cheap-ish laptop, but idk how much you want to spend. Seems like you'd be better off with a good laptop. You can set it up at a desk and everything if you like the desktop "feel" but don't want that around.

 

[maddomo]

It really depends on the purpose of your computer activity, I'd recommend having a powerful desktop at home to use work-intensive programs, and a lighter netbook/laptop/ultrabook/chromebook for on the go work.

 

[Nocturnal Writer]

Portability convenience, laptop and netbook are best recommended. For a heavy work and maximum storage, PC desktop is better. Handiness, tablet, ipad, ipod and cellphone could do the job.

 

[MisterW]

Desktop computer is my choice, I keep it 12h per day open and working between hours and when I can and the thing won't let me down for nothing, now if I had a laptop keeping it 12h per day open and working with it would be almost impossible overkill for sure, isn't it?

 

[Sheebah7]

I say laptop forever. I am so in love with my laptop and I appreciate the convenience it gives me. I am able to take my work wherever I want to go. It is a very helpful thing to be able to do this. It is like I can take my business with me anywhere..anytime.

 

[Molly G Brougham]

I prefer a laptop. However, my needs may be different than yours. I recently purchased an Acer Chromebook and I love it! Its small enough that I can take it anywhere, but large enough that I can work comfortably from home. I primarily use it for writing documents and preparing presentations, along with browsing the web. Of course all of this can be done from a desktop, but a desktop isn't mobile. :O)

 

[Sheebah7]

Another thing is that a laptop is so much easier to maintain and seems like they may last longer. At least that is what I have found. I don't think a PC is as "green" as a laptop...seems to me it takes up too much space and uses way more electricity. I try not to think about going back to a PC because my experience has been kind of shaky in the past. My last PC was a Hewlett Packard and kept getting all kinds of viruses it was a nightmare. It was fully protected but somehow not protected enough...if that makes sense.

 

[rainhero]

For me it's the ease and convenience of a laptop. Laptops can be taken anywhere, they are usually quite lightweight, and they still have great specs and pretty good flat screens on them.

A lot of other people will probably stick with the PC though, for the simple fact that you can have a huge flat screen for a monitor, you can customize the specs by changing out parts and turn it into a highpowered gaming beast. They are also making them pretty lightweight these days too as you can also get an all-in-one.

So it just depends on what your needs are and what you are looking for specifically in a computer.