Thread: should i get a laptop or a desktop?

  1. #1
    Registered User Nutshell's Avatar
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    should i get a laptop or a desktop?

    Heya,

    I am planning to buy a new Dell computer. Do you think i should buy a laptop or a desktop? Desktops are cheaper and more powerful. But sometimes i have to work and i can't stand the noise downstairs, so if i get a laptop i can take the computer upstairs and work there. mmmmm....hard...choices...

  2. #2
    Its not rocket science vasanth's Avatar
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    Well i would say go for a laptop.. The Toshiba Sattelite 5100 series is really good.. If you have money to spend go for the 5200 series... I think it will cost around 2500$.

  3. #3
    Seven years? civix's Avatar
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    Believe it or not, most laptops have surpassed desktops. For example, i'm pretty sure that the Sony Vaio has got my Presario 2500 beat.
    .

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    I bought a Toshiba Satellite Pro 4600 about a year and a half ago and love it. Mind you that I use mine in place of a desktop, but the portability is there if necessary.

    -Skipper
    "When the only tool you own is a hammer, every problem begins to resemble a nail." Abraham Maslow

  5. #5
    Registered User tgm's Avatar
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    If you're willing to fork out the extra cash I'd say go for a laptop. I've always wanted one but couldn't really afford one until recently. You might also be interested in a site that Rick suggested over at FD's; I'm thinking of getting one from there soon. www.armcomputer.com
    Laptops aren't easy to upgrade, but they do hold their value better. If you want to do serious development then I'd say build a killer workstation, otherwise I'm sure you'd be very happy with a laptop.

  6. #6
    Redundantly Redundant RoD's Avatar
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    Laptop.

    Dell.

    Nuff said.

  7. #7
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    At home I prefer a desktop, since it is more practicle in terms of extending it, putting devices in it and adding devices to it.

    For work I prefer a desktop, since I can take it easily to other places.

  8. #8
    Registered User Nutshell's Avatar
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    Yea. I was thinking that if i bought a laptop i can't add devices to it later, well....maybe a usb drive and that kinda stuff. Also, if it breaks down, it won't be as easy for me to fix it that if it was a desktop. But....i still like a laptop, so i think i'll buy a Dell laptop then ^.^.

  9. #9
    Redundantly Redundant RoD's Avatar
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    Also, if it breaks down, it won't be as easy for me to fix it that if it was a desktop.
    Dell makes everything so easy if you buy the three year warrenty, so i wouldn't even sweat it. I had to make this decision (have rather) as i am getting a new pc of my choice when i graduate in june. I chose a dell laptop for several reasons:

    - Pricing.

    - Prior eperience with Dell. They are fast, accurate, polite, and educated. The support is wonderul.

    - Ease of use. I "test drove" one of the inspiron 8### series and it was wonderful.

    - College. This was my main reason for going with a laptop. Being as how i am going into college for CS, i want to be mobile when i need to be. If your more comfortable working on a desktop when at home, use an old one. You don't need a brand new desktop for home work.

  10. #10
    Registered User Nutshell's Avatar
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    But if the laptop breaks down, you'll have to take the whole thing to the store for repair, you can't just take out the harddrive or such. I still have 2 years till i go to college.

  11. #11
    Registered User xds4lx's Avatar
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    Well you need to think of what you want overall and what types of applications you are going to be running on your new computer. Is it just for office apps and some development? Do you plan on playing lots of 3d games? Do you plan on expanding it in the future or can you live with having to buy a whole replacement? Id personally go with a desktop because they are more taliererd for playing games and are easier to upgrade, better for things like 3D studio max, ........... but I travel a lot so a lap top is good too. I just built a pc and now im going to save up for a laptop, i dont care if its not a 2.8ghz p4 blah blah blah as longs as its reliable and at least 1ghz

  12. #12
    Redundantly Redundant RoD's Avatar
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    But if the laptop breaks down, you'll have to take the whole thing to the store for repair, you can't just take out the harddrive or such
    You wouldn't have too worry bout that. If you get the 3 year warrenty they have onsite repairs, at no cost. They replace parts at no cost.

    My cdrom quit once, and i called them up to get a new one. Well the next day (i called at 5pm too) at around 1:00 a dell technician showed up and fixed it for me.

    Depends on where you live, but my town is SO small and SO out in the woods it takes us an hour to reach the mall, if they get here in one day, i wouldn't worry.

  13. #13
    Registered User dirkduck's Avatar
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    I have a Dell Inspiron 8100, which I got mainly cause A)my other comps were outdated, and B)I have to go back and forth all the time from house to house, and I cant upload quick enough on 56k, then download again on 56k to transfer stuff.

    It's been great so far, I can play pretty much all my games (its got a Radeon 7500 64MB DDR card), and works fine for development of cource. I carry it around every week, and theres no dead pixles or anything wrong with it yet. I've probably had it about 6 months or so id say.

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    Depends...

    First of all, in terms of sheer performance, desktops still are and always will be superior. Its just a matter of hear dispersion. Desktops have more room to put between cards, and can thus disperse heat better. A good example of this would be comparing the top of the line nVidia GeForce 4 GO with 64MB DDR VRAM (about the best cideo card a laptop can take) and a top of the line MSI-chipset AGP-interface nVidia GeForce 4 Ti4600 with 128MB DDR VRAM.
    ( drooling). If you look at the chipsets and texel rates, the desktop version is far superior, because, among other things, it has its own fan and heatsinks built onto the card. There just isn't enough room and air circulation inside a laptop for the beastly NV25 or bleeding edge NV30 chipsets.

    Also, desktops are far more extensible. If you want to use your desktop as a LAN router, just pop another PCI NIC in there, but good luck doing the same with a laptop. If you want to add TV funtionality, drop a tuner card in. There are PCI cards to interface with everything imaginable, but a laptop's configuration is somewhat more fixed. and the extensability provided by those little add in cards on the side is rather pricy.

    The idea of a "Desktop Replacement" laptop is simply not something I take seriously. Laptops have their advantage in portability, and the optimization required to operate on battery power for an extended interval, but in terms of the ability to disperse heat, which is directly related to speed, bigger is simply better.

  15. #15
    Registered User compjinx's Avatar
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    I got a toshiba sattelite pro laptop back in 97. We used it for many years for games and miscelanious. right now it's running the navigational reference system for my families fishing boat. We never had one hardware issue with it.

    About a year and a half ago I got a compaq laptop (from the outlet, yeah, I know, dumb idea) and so far the DVD-drive and the hard drive have failed (luckly I was under and extended warranty and got them replaced). But it too is still running and is in fact the very computer I am typing on now.

    I also have a compaq desktop, it is now in my sister's dorm. it runs fine, although the fan is a tad noisy.

    I just got a Dell desktop two weeks ago and it is really sweet.

    I say, if you have the cash then get a laptop. otherwise get a desktop and some sound canceling headphones -never actually used those type of headphones- for the noise "downstairs".
    "The most overlooked advantage of owning a computer is that if they foul up there's no law against whacking them around a bit."
    Eric Porterfield.

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