Laptop vs. Desktop????

[DeniseinNS]

We have always had a desktop but decided to purchase a laptop a few months ago and we love it, it's so nice to be able to take the computer wherever you are. We rarely use the desktop now and will continue to purchase laptops. I must say I enjoy being able to lie on the couch and surf the internet lol.

 

[imLissy]

While laptops are very affordable, you still get more bang for your buck with desktops. Only the most expensive laptops can run games like a good desktop can. For most things, my $1000 laptop keeps up with my husband's $3000 mac desktop pretty well, but he can run four instances of world of warcraft on his computer. Mine wouldn't be able to handle that. My laptop IS a desktop replacement though. It's heavy, has a big screen and poor battery life. I don't care, since I always keep it plugged in. I just need to go from my apartment to my parents' house.

You can hook up a large monitor to both, but really, if you're going to be using your laptop as a desktop computer most of the time, you're better off with a desktop.

Desktops last longer. It's easier to replace parts, monitor, keyboard, you don't have to worry about the battery dying or dropping it.

So really, it depends on how you use your computer. For a lot of people, desktops make more sense than laptops.

 

[pixiewings71]

We have an awesome HP desktop that we bought specifically for it's capability to stream internet via an HDMI cable to our TV. It was very top of line when we bought it 3 years ago and it's still very top of line and works great. That said the video card went out on it a couple weeks ago so we spent the weekend fixing it. No real trouble there, once we figured out the error beep sequence we picked up a new card and replaced it, but while at Best Buy getting the new card we looked at computers just to see. There are some really massive systems out there right now, some we looked at had 1TB of hard drive space......that's massive!! We also looked at laptops and netbooks while we there but didn't buy at that time. The following day we went back to BB and bought an ASUS netbook and an HP laptop. The netbook is mostly for the girls to use, they mostly play games on it but they also will use it for checking emails. It's much slower then either laptop or the desktop but if both of those are in use it's great for them. The laptop is the "entertainment" model. LOL It's got a blu-ray player (we had a BR player but we returned it since the laptop is sooooooooooo easy to hook up to the TV) great sound system, 3 GB of RAM and 750GB hard drive, the RAM is the same as our desktop and the hard drive is bigger! It's got a 17 inch screen and man it's a dream to use. While we plan on taking it places with us we didn't want the tiny screen that most of the laptops had so we went bigger. It's super easy to hook up to the TV, just plug it in and it's ready to go, the BR player is faster then the BR player we returned and the picture is amazing. All in all we are very satisfied with our purchase. And BB currently has the 18 month no interest deal in effect, so we bought the laptop & the netbook on that deal.

 

[librarygal]

I just bought my first laptop to use for travel. I find the laptop less comfortable to use because the screen is too low. The top of a computer screen should be slightly below your eyes for comfort. Since I am tall the laptop screen is way below that. Also, if you get a desktop you can get a nice big screen.

 

[Pixieflip]

While laptops are very affordable, you still get more bang for your buck with desktops. Only the most expensive laptops can run games like a good desktop can. For most things, my $1000 laptop keeps up with my husband's $3000 mac desktop pretty well, but he can run four instances of world of warcraft on his computer. Mine wouldn't be able to handle that. My laptop IS a desktop replacement though. It's heavy, has a big screen and poor battery life. I don't care, since I always keep it plugged in. I just need to go from my apartment to my parents' house.

You can hook up a large monitor to both, but really, if you're going to be using your laptop as a desktop computer most of the time, you're better off with a desktop.

Desktops last longer. It's easier to replace parts, monitor, keyboard, you don't have to worry about the battery dying or dropping it.

So really, it depends on how you use your computer. For a lot of people, desktops make more sense than laptops.

We do absolutely NO gaming on the computer. Only photos, email, documents and we'd like to do video editing (current doorstop, I mean desktop too old to handle that). Should I let my DH do a desktop or can I get a reasonably priced laptop that will accommodate our needs?

What if we stripped the desktop of everything that is bogging it down (like all my photos and software) and left that for the kids to do homework and email. A laptop could be for just DH and me. Hmmm.

 

[LilyWDW]

Yes we have our trusty 7 year old Dell Desktop. Are you suggesting making that my external hard drive? So to speak?? (Translation: I have no idea what a Newegg is or an IDE or SATA!)

Budget is a factor for us. We can't just drop $1200 on a laptop right now. I guess that's why he's leaning toward a desktop, so we can get the most bang for our buck.

Newegg is a online company that sells all sorts of electronic products, including full computers, laptops, netbooks, monitors, and computer components. They have an amazing selection and great prices. http://www.newegg.com/

What you would have to do is purchase what is called a hard drive enclosure. Go to the main page, computer hardware (the first tab on the upper bar), and external enclosures. Now, you would have to find out if your old hard drive is an IDE or SATA. This is the connection type that the hard drive has. With it being 7 years old and a dell, I would guess IDE, but it will say on the hard drive itself. You will have to remove the hard drive from your computer and hook it up to the enclosure but this is super easy!

There are some really massive systems out there right now, some we looked at had 1TB of hard drive space......that's massive!!

It is massive and honestly for most people it is unneeded. Unless you download a MASSIVE amount of movies, tv shows, and music to your computer, the odds of you using even half of that is slim. I'm a gamer and I have a 74GB rapter and a 160 GB regular hard drive in my new machine.

 

[ohlas]

one desktop we have the big monitor.... 2 laptops one for the kids to share one for the adults to share, i like the desktop better then the laptop but it has to do with the hugh screen... lol

If you have laptop i would get the desktop for family use and then laptop for adults and then maybe when kids are in middle school i would get them a laptop...