desktop or laptop?
By sharadbajaj
@sharadbajaj (266)
India
2 responses
@slavezero (833)
• Philippines
31 Aug 08
Desktops and laptops are becoming very close in their capabilities it's a matter of what your primary use is for them. If you're traveling a lot and you need the computer to be accessible to you at all times, a laptop is the only way to go. But a desktop has more going for it in terms of cost, durability, and ease of maintenance.
Laptops' biggest advantage is portability it also makes them more vulnerable. They're more likely to be dropped and broken, or lost, or stolen. You can probably store as much data on a laptop as on a desktop, but you probably wouldn't want to risk losing it all.
Traditionally, desktops have had zero portability you only could access files located on your desktop computer from that computer. But that's changing; your desktop may stay in one place, but your files don't have to.
USB (Universal Serial Bus) memory keys, small devices that plug in to your computer to extract or load data, let you move files from one computer to another quickly and easily. And wireless networks allow you to work on the same files from any other networked computer.
Just as Internet capability is no longer a desktop vs. laptop decision point, features and functions are equivalent between the two, although desktops generally have better sound quality. The cost for a laptop is considerably higher than for a desktop with comparable speed and power. Although laptop prices are falling, you'll still pay hundreds of dollars more,
Service and repair costs are much higher too. To get at the parts, laptops pretty much have to be taken apart. The parts themselves are more expensive, almost double, and labor costs more. With a desktop, you can just open the back or side panel and replace the parts.
Because desktop components can be added or removed separately, unlike many laptops' all-in-one design, desktops can operate without some parts.