notebook vs desktop

JVC

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Oct 24, 2004
Messages
1,280
i will always prefer desktops, down with notebooks. they are small and hard to upgrade and more expensive to replace parts.

have you guys heard, they say people are buying more notebooks than desktops. what do you guys prefer, notebook or desktop?
 
Since I don't take much time to play games anymore, my notebook is what gets my attention. Portability wins all.
 
If I wasn't running a web server and e-mail server 24/7, I'd use a laptop. I can't justify the cost of both a desktop/server and a laptop.
 
The smaller they get and the more Wi-Fi that becomes available the more popular they will become. MOst working class people I know are using notebooks on docking stations at their jobs so they can pretty much take work home with them. Also with prices dropping and power increasing the notebooks are making more sense. Only the extreme gamer or video/audio philes need the pure power of the desktop.
 
I now use a laptop as my primary machine because it is very useful for taking to school and back. The portability factor is very useful. To a certain extent though, it's also because my desktop is a piece of crap, so when I upgrade it I suspect I'll be using it a lot more often. Obviously my laptop is almost entirely useless for gaming outside of older games and a few RTSes(basically, C&C3), so a desktop is still pretty important to me for gaming purposes, although admittedly I haven't been gaming too often lately.
 
I think the only way to go is with both. There are still a lot of things you can't get in a laptop without paying an arm and a leg to have them. Ignoring everything else, just the fact that I have a Dell FPW3007 really limits my laptop choices. I don't do any PC gaming (All Consoles) and all of the laptops I look at that have Dual link DVI out force me to spend an arm and a leg on a high end GPU solution that I will never use. Add on the fact I do a lot of work with VMs, I routinely use more than 4gb of ram. On and on....

Then of course desktops aren't portable. So I went out and got both. A nice custom built PC that I spend 99% of my time on, and a MacBook that I use 1-2 times a month for when I need to be portable. The best of both worlds, not to mention it was still cheaper to get both of my current systems then it would to get a single laptop replacement.
 
Desktop hands down

1. More bang for the buck (If High End)
2. upgradeable
3. Longer lifespan

I really regret going laptop.
 
I prefer to use my desktop when i will be using the computer for an extended amount of time. I have larger and more displays to help with multitasking.

When summer hits and the school season is in full swing, my laptop becomes my main machine. I use the laptop in the summer to keep my room cooler and during school, i need to be able to work anywhere at any time.

If i were to choose, i would choose having multiple laptops. A DTR at home and many displays and smaller portable laptops for when you are on the go.
 
Desktop hands down

1. More bang for the buck (If High End)
2. upgradeable
3. Longer lifespan

I really regret going laptop.

Even low end is good B4B.

I have lappy and am selling it. I don't need that much portability.

However I see myself getting something like a 9" in the future like an Epc with a home desktop.
 
It depends on your needs. Your question is vague, because it doesn't take this into account. For work, I must have a laptop. For home, I'm quite fine using a desktop. So, which is better? Neither and both.
 
Laptops are handy, if you need or want the portability.

If you want the highest levels of cpu and/or gpu power and/or more than a few hundred gigs of hd space a desktop is the way to go. I have tried desktop replacements and been disappointed. They are still rather expensive, and not all that great in the portability and battery life departments.
 
thinking about it now, i probably would not get a DTR.

I would say using lenovo as an example get an x61t, x300, and a t61p. Having multiple weight and sizes of laptops would be nice to choose from depending on the mobility you need.
 
I haven't used that many notebooks but I prefer desktops if solely for their ability to be upgraded. You can't upgrade your notebooks hard drive, memory, graphics card, monitor, keyboard or sound without disassembling the notebook or buying separate add-on parts(USB, Firewire, etc).

I'll take a desktop any day!
 
I build my own desktops. Best bank for the buck.

I also have a laptop. For when I am on the move and the desktop is to heavy to take with me.

If I had just one it would be the desktop... just cant play the games on a lap top the same.
 
Well, I also build my own desktops, and will probably keep doing so for the performance. I have a laptop, and will probably be forced to maintain both at least for a while. I would probably actually go laptop, if they weren't so expensive, and difficult to get upgrade parts for. My laptop is less than a year old, and they already won't sell me upgrade parts for it. You can get hard drives and memory on newegg, but forget getting a new video card... but in reference to the OP, I have seen where they claim that within the next couple of years two thirds of new sales will be laptops.
 
I prefer desktops too, it's a lot faster and you can customize it anyway you want it without paying an arm and a leg for it. And I can't stand the current designs for laptops right now, they're so bulky with an exception to voodoo's envy. But the cost doesn't make it an attractive computer for me.
 
For many years, I bought into the hype of "desktop replacement/gaming" laptops. 99.995% of the time they never left my desk. In 2007, I invested in a nice desktop that's become the nerve center of my home entertainment + an excellent workstation. I picked up a MacBook Pro a few months later and use it on job sites and vacations. I'd consider a smaller laptop if I could find one that's got a good dedicated graphics card for video simulation work.

All you've gotta do is watch TV to see why laptops dominate sales. Everything is marketed to WiFi from schools to business to the home.
 
This is like asking is it better to order in food or to go out to a restaurant. There is no right answer. It depends on your need and your preference. Notebooks are indispensable for many people who need to frequent convenient access to a computer at multiple locations (e.g. school, work, home). They are generally not useful for gaming enthusiasts for obvious reasons. I bought a desktop replacement toshiba 17" notebook with a geforce 6600 almost 2 years ago. Got it refurbished for under $1000 CDN with tax. It has been fantastic! I can game a little if I really want (I can play HL2 nearly full settings at native resolution), and I can pack it up for work. I travel a lot, move a lot, and I'm usually spend 2-3 nights per week away from home for work. So a notebook has been an ideal choice. Now that I'm getting settled in one place, I purchased a desktop for gaming and other home usage. Now it would be nice to have a smaller laptop for improved portability, but this is just fine.
 
hmm. . . I think desktops are slowly getting less necessary. Laptops are really changing. In my current machine everything except for the video card/mobo is easily upgradable ex: processor, ram, hd.

I run 4 gb ram, vista x64, multi monitors, external hard drives, media devices, flash drives, mice every day with no problems. What makes the laptop nice is that I can unplug from it all and still have all the basic functionality that I need to get computing done.

Laptops are still behind desktops incustomizability/price at the high end, but slowly I think that will get better. Barebones laptops are becoming more popular for enthusiasts which allow the consumer to select almost everything including the graphics card. It will be a while before laptops catch up, but they will. The added portability is nice.

Don't get me wrong, massive mainframes/supercomputers/desktops will always exist, but it will be less necessary to work on them directly. Remote desktop and networking FTW.

Also, in general laptops really can supply enough power for most moderate users even with conservative specs. $500-700 is enough for most casual internet/email browsers and even then that's a system that will last a while. Still more expensive than desktops, but things are changing.
 
The cost for a gaming laptop is extraordinary (look up alienware). In addition, they simply cannot compete even when price is no option due to heat and space constraints. Rare huge 20" models are virtually no more portable than small desktops. For gamers, laptops are not and will not be a viable option within the near future. When an external bus with the bandwidth of PCI-E becomes available, this may change. As of this moment, external vid cards are rare, expensive, and largely bandwidth limited to no better than low mid-range cards.
 
I have two desktops at the office (one Raptor Z90 with all of the latest cool eval samples and one Vector with an E6600 and X1900 and WinXP) and two desktops at home (well...one is the "family" computer) but I also have a 15.4" C90 laptop (with an Extreme X6800 CPU!) for when I'm on the road or out at meetings. I don't see the day when I'll go all mobile, because even a 17" notebook screen and keyboard is still not as good for me as desktop. Final answer, if I had to choose, I'd go with a desktop, and maybe a super low end notebook for roaming if that was also in the budget, but secondary. (edit: yes I know I'm spoiled, and this is not realistic if I had to pay for all of these, but it shows my desktop bias)
 
Now that is a pretty nice notebook! For the average user a notebook will probably meet most or all of their needs, and can easily be hooked up to an external monitor and keyboard at home. I sit my notebook on top of a phonebook and use the 17" screen, then plug in a separate keyboard and mouse. Problem is that I keep needing to move it from the living room where I use it to play movies to the backroom where I use it to work (read waste time on the internet). So I plan to buy a cheaper desktop to serve as a permanent home theatre.
 
I always tell people to think about a 2:1 ratio. Desktops have twice as much, for half the price. But... they don't fit in a briefcase. My wife's web machine will probably be a laptop, but I'm building a moderate desktop. Already got the 32 inch monitor.
Hoorah.
 
I've never really had the need for a computer when I'm not sitting in my room so paying more for a laptop that does less and is less comfortable to use isn't very logical to me.
 
thinking about it now, i probably would not get a DTR.

I would say using lenovo as an example get an x61t, x300, and a t61p. Having multiple weight and sizes of laptops would be nice to choose from depending on the mobility you need.
i'd consider one of these but the pricing stil places them out of my reach :(
 
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