How to Choose Between a Laptop Or Desktop Computer

If you go back several years, when people still bought music on disks of some sort, the main computing option was a Desktop PC. Laptop computers were for people who needed to take their computing out of the home or office.

These days, with Laptops being extremely affordable, more and more people are reclaiming their desk space by investing in Laptop computers and ditching the Desktop versions. From a purely design point of view, this has quite good aesthetic results in many a home. Your computer can now be practically invisible in the home.

With home networking becoming more popular, even printers can be accessed wirelessly, meaning no clumsy wires and no need for anything to be on show for accessibility. This new neater existence for our computing equipment is a reflection of the manufacturers being able to cram some quite remarkable technology into smaller and smaller spaces.

As with anything which gives us benefits, there’s also pitfalls which the salesman selling you a shiny new Laptop or Notebook will avoid mentioning.

Firstly, and probably most importantly (to most of us) Laptops are generally a lot more fragile than their Desktop counterparts. One of the considerations when buying a Laptop is the way it will be used. If you buy a Laptop which you’ll travel with, it pays to buy one which has good shock resistance and is made to be travelled with. This can add a lot to the overall cost but save money in costly repairs and data retrieval.

There’s also the level of performance. Laptops tend to be less powerful for the price and are not really great if gaming is your main motivation. That’s not to say that there aren’t some great gaming and productivity Laptops out there, but with the changing demands of software, a good gaming Laptop today could be tomorrow’s word processor.

The lack of flexibility where upgrades are concerned is another reason Laptops can be a less than ideal option. Upgrades to graphics cards aren’t possible in many Laptops as most are integrated into the motherboard. Also, hard disk space can only be increased internally by replacing the existing disk. Screen size is fixed and the keyboards are integral. Some of these things can be addressed with add-on components but this adds to the fragility and the outward bulk and awkwardness of the computer. Desktops offer a much more natural upgrade path and can be tailored to suit requirements of the individual.

For most households, a Laptop is fine for doing the day-to-day computer chores such as surfing the net, writing letters and doing homework. If you’re using a computer for more intensive work which doesn’t need the portability, a Desktop PC is the best bet.