Desktop V Laptop.

[Retired]

Hi,

I've now owned a desktop computer for around 15 years. It's been upgraded over the years but still retains the original 17" Compaq MV720 VDU which is huge.

Later on this year possibly nearer Christmas time I would like to buy a whole new system but thought it worthwhile before I do to ask for information and advice.

I have only ever used a desktop computer and would like to ask if there are any real benefits or advantages by changing over to a laptop? I'm completely in the dark regarding Laptops other than seeing the adverts saying how good they are.

At the moment I have an 80 gig hard drive but with an external hard drive hooked up of 1TB. With two disc players/recorders I can easily copy CD/DVD's and download music videos or movies to DVD. The OS is XP home edition.

I'm very used to my computer and when it slows down I simply wipe everything after backing up then start from a clean hard drive giving it a good boost in performance. It works and is reliable but generally slow and it's time I bought a new system. I'd like the make to be a Dell but am open to suggestions.

Kind regards, Col.

[Joe]

I would never buy another desk-top system new, if one dropped into my lap cheap or free that would be a different thing!

The only disadvantage with laptops is the lack or proper keyboard and mouse but they can easily be plugged in.

- Joe

[Paula A]

One massive problem with laptops.. there is no upgrade potential with them... add to that the way you will be forced into windows7 or vista (we call it fista.. with good reason, but it's too rude to explain in polite company.. rental.. not owned, and totally unreliable.. it breaks like everything since 3.1 every 6 months or so) and it's a deal breaker for me.

I used to swear by Dell, but in the last few years I have come to an understanding.. there is the right way to build a computer, and then there's the Dell way. Not quite as bizarre as Acer, but pretty close.

Take it from a pro.. DON'T buy a complete system off the shelf.. Buy the best bits you can afford and put it together yourself, (research research) along with your XP if you must use windows.. guess what.. modern hardware means you will have to find out how to build your XP disk as well to get the SATA drivers into the install. (I remove vista/7 and install XP for people on laptops.. it's a valuable skill). It won't cost any less, but it will have upgrade potential and you are going to know exactly how it all works just like your current beastie.

My desktop was "state of the art cutting edge" back in early 2005, and it's still a pretty good system these days. The only way to "futureproof" them is to go the homebrew route. Laptops are now the same as the latest phones.. use for a year and throw it away and buy a new one... they are built to die I think.. at least the dvd drives and operating systems are.

I can throw links to computer building discussions, but they seem to be mainly silly kids who want to play the latest games throwing money away by the bucket load every 6 months when the next new game comes out.. I'm happy with 7 year old technology, last years from the "build it yourself" stores should be more than adequate.

What do you want to do with it?.. thats the best way to start. If it's late 90's (same as this laptop) there are ways to give it a whole new lease of life without spending anything except a bit of time learning a different way of doing things... but it's never going to be quite up to speed in the way a 2006-9 desktop can be.

Don't fall for the advertising hype.. todays £699 laptop is 2 years from now my £60 junker.. I want some more ram in this.. but it's not worth spending £14.99 on. It's worth more as parts....
Desktop all the way.. they can be "repurposed" after their end of life in very meaningful ways. If you want a laptop keep checking freecycle for a vista laptop "blue screens on startup, shop wanted more than it's worth to fix it" and you will get one to play with (or a rack of 16 twin xeons).

[Skywave]

I've never needed the portability that a laptop provides. I am so used to the keyboard layout of a desktop PC that on the odd occasions when I have used a laptop I have found that operating the keyboard to be a very annoying experience. I will always choose a desktop over a laptop simply because with a desktop I can maintain it hardware-wise - especially when it comes to the mechanical aspects. Not that I haven't repaired laptops: it's just that with laptops, the hardware availability and choices are so much less. And then there is the question of cost to consider.

Al.

[Andrewausfa]

I've got a desktop upstairs in my work room, a laptop which travels around the house with Boy no.2, the missus has a laptop and at work I've a laptop.

Personally, I find working directly on a laptop really, really annoying as I've a reasonably quick typing speed, so I find it easier to bang away on a proper keyboard and use a mouse. My laptop is a Dell and it's been OK operationally but I just cannot stand to type on it. I go from 50wpm to about 3!

At work it's connected to a proper keyboard and mouse and a monitor, so the laptop really becomes a desktop in disguise.

Desktops for me.

Andrew

[Yorkie]

The main issue is whther you want portabilty or not.

Ordinarily, when at home I use a desktop and a 17" flat screen monitor. I also have a 15" Macbook Pro laptop and a slimline 'Macbook Air' which is very light and portable. Both of the latter were rescued from my elder son who was ditching them - they literally fell into my lap! One needed a new hard drive, (fitted myself at a cost of £28.00), the other needed close on £300 of repairs, but Apple repaired in FOC as it was a known design flaw.

We're often away from home, and I take the Macbook Air. I also take it to town if my wife goes shopping - so many coffee shops have free wi-fi that I just plonk myself in a corner with a coffeee and furtle about on internet. Same if we're away for longer - free wi-fi on the train, at motorway services, at B&Bs. Most Hotels in the UK and the rest of Europe offer free wi-fi and any hotels that charge for wi-fi such as Holiday Inns, I cross off my list. Just booked hotels in Leeds, Paris and the Yorkshire Dales, and B&B in Northumbria - all offer free wi-fi or I wouldn't have booked them. I also take a laptop when we stay with our two married sons who live away, and I sometimes use my laptop at home in the evening if I'm sat in the lounge after tea and my desktop is switched off.

Having said all this, no way would I consider a laptop as an alternative to a desktop - only ever in addition to.

Unless I was pushed for space, or need the portabilty of a laptop, personally, I'd only ever consider a desktop if I couldn't have one of each. You get a larger monitor, larger kepyboard, proper mouse - not an annoying mousepad, and as Paula has said, a desktop is upgradable - many, if not most laptops, aren't. That said, the spec of many desktop computers far exceeds what most of us want to do, such as gaming, but I guess it's better to have a higher spec computer that exceeds our needs and limps along at a pedestrian pace, than a lower spec one that struggles at times.

Really, if you only want to have one computer and consider that portabilty around the home and away from home is an essential requirement, then clearly it would have to be a laptop. If on the other hand, portability isn't a must-have, I don't think a laptop confers any advantages over a desktop, but has several disadvantages as I've tried to outline. When we were stuck with stonking great big CRT monitors I might have aceeded that a laptop isn't so 'in your face' but that isn't so with modern flat-screen monitors.

As to operating systems, I've no interest in the merits of the various offerings and when people start enthusing about Linux or whatever, my eyes glaze over. I use Windows 7 Home Premium 32bit, and it's never skipped a beat. Some older programs aren't very happy with it, but you can run them in 'compatibility mode'. I'm happy with IE9, but on the laptops use Safari. For e-mail I use Mozzila Thunderbird rather than Outlook.

Not everyone will agree with my stance - I don't mind dissenting views.

[Joe]

To me a desk-top PC is a big lump needlessly cluttering space up, said he who's got two of the darn things plus several partial ones. If that's ALL I'd got I'd hardly use them. I'm typing this sat in comfort in the room I wish to be. To use a desk-top system I'd have to go to it, switch it on, wait about five minutes for it to warm up and only then be able to do what I wanted to. Given that I'd be sat in a relatively uncomfortable desk chair I wouldn't linger for very long.

I often use my lap-top in bed to watch stuff on YouTube or the i-Player and to read books &c in PDF form. Again these are things I wouldn't be able to do on a desk-top system.

The keyboard and mouse criticisms are very true but it's a simple matter to connect full-size ones if you want to type a lengthy document or do something like photo-editing. Basically it's easy to turn a lap-top into a desk-top but not vice versa.

As for upgrades and repairs, unless you can do it yourself these aren't going to be economic either way due to the labour costs.

As David says, just my opinion and not a statement of fact.

- Joe

[Aerodyne]

I too use Windows 7 home premium 32bit and am quite happy with it. I cannot stand the keyboards of laptops. For serious work, give me a mouse and separate keyboard every time, not the awkward touch device fitted on laptops. I like a big monitor. I have in front of me an LG hi-def flat screen monitor with an angular screen size of 21" and am very pleased with it. I built the computer myself. Not a question of saving money (you don't in my experience) but at least you get what you want. Since I switched the thing on for the first time early last year it has been used practically daily and for long sessions and so far has proved 100% reliable (tempting fate, am I not). The big screen is great for watching U Tube and similar clips (its HDMI connected and disks in the blu-ray drive look fantastic) and for typing and photographic work. I fitted an Intel i5 chip and have ample RAM, internal and external storage.
The upshot is that, like David, I'd always keep a desktop setup at home and only use a laptop either on a journey (unlikely for me) or in a crisis! I guess it greatly depends upon your uses for a computer. Searching the internet, a laptop is very convenient. Not so convenient for Photoshop work, for example.
-Tony

[pwdrive]

I had various door stops over the years, pretty rugid and usually fixable, because of space contraints at the moment we bought a laptop, we have had it for two years then the other day it packed up completely, the man said it's uneconomical to fix so that's that, I now need a new one, if you get a modern laptop be prepared to throw it away if it goes wrong.....

Lawrence.

[Skywave]

As for upgrades and repairs, unless you can do it yourself these aren't going to be economic either way due to the labour costs.
- Joe

. . . we bought a laptop . . . then the other day it packed up completely. The man said it's uneconomical to fix . . .
Lawrence.

It's nearly always the labour cost that makes the repair of things like laptops (and ink jet printers ) unrepairable (in an economical sense). And that's why if you have the enthusiasm and the will to learn about the basics of PC operation and maintenance and are happy with a desktop or tower type of PC, in the longer run you'll save yourself a good deal of money and inconvenience. I've never bought a brand new PC and this one I'm using right now was built from bits, mainly salvaged from other machines plus 'old' but functional software.

Al.