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I sit on the fence that a laptop fits most users. There's circumstances where a desktop makes sense.. such as for workstation power users or gamers... however, most users are not workstation power users or gamers.
I sit on the fence that a laptop fits most users. There's circumstances where a desktop makes sense.. such as for workstation power users or gamers... however, most users are not workstation power users or gamers.
For every person you talking into a laptop who now takes in into the next room, I know one who has a laptop that hasn't left the desk in 5 years and should have just bought a desktop.
My personal beef with laptops has nothing to do with how technically-capable they are - it is concerned with their practicality.
And gamers? I don't do that myself but why would someone want to sit for hours with a heavy and hot computer on their lap, manipulating all the various game controls after finally finding a comfortable nook on the couch or wherever to make sure their hands are positioned decently, when they could be sitting in a comfy supportive chair with their arms and hands in optimum positions for those controls and facing say, a decadently large 22" monitor at the proper height so your eyes are also treated well? Plus you can have a nice sound system connected to the desk-located system to take advantage of all those sound effects created for most games, not to mention all the games with full surround sound that need at least five speakers to work correctly (not just for added sound effects, but IIRC to help the player orient himself better in the on-screen action and hear what is happening around him so he can aim more accurately - sounds like a lot of fun to me!)
For every person you talking into a laptop who now takes in into the next room, I know one who has a laptop that hasn't left the desk in 5 years and should have just bought a desktop.
I know a person who replaced a desktop with a laptop and it sits on a desk and has for two years straight. It gets her by because she doesn't do any specialty computing. Mostly office-type work. There would be no advantage of purchasing a desktop over a laptop in her case. Even less of a compelling reason to do so when you consider the average desktop runs at 150w while the average laptop runs at 30w.
I'd dispute your wattage numbers. My desktop is far above average, including 4 hard drives and 2 monitors, and I'm only drawing 142w at the moment. The typical desktop PC with monitor is under 100w. 30w seems a bit low for a laptop too.
I'd dispute your wattage numbers. My desktop is far above average, including 4 hard drives and 2 monitors, and I'm only drawing 142w at the moment. The typical desktop PC with monitor is under 100w. 30w seems a bit low for a laptop too.
I was being generous with laptops. My laptop draws 46 watts at full load with battery removed and as low as 11 watts idle (at the outlet). It reports less in the software... but that leaves out the inefficiencies of the power supply. I took a the desktop numbers off of google. The desktops I have are too not a good example of average oem desktops.
Either way, there's no way desktops run nearly as clean as laptops.
So Peregrine, where is this study/poll you talked about?
That was my OPINION, plwhit. Come on now. I am allowed to state my opinion.
Eh... I AM a gamer and I see zero need for a desktop. Ya' know what? Yes, you CAN upgrade your computer every few years, but personally I got SO sick of doing that.
Re: the poster that said he upgrades his video card most often. Really? Because back when I built PC's, I would get the latest greatest mobo and video card. Fast forward 2-3 years. You cannot just get a new video card because now there is a new standard called AGP. You really going to waste money on another PCI card? Of course not. So you buy a new mobo and new RAM and a sweet AGP card. 2-3 years later you want a new video card... o wait! Now there's PCI-E. S So you are going to buy another AGP card, or upgrade that mobo + RAM + Card yet again? Now what do we have? PCI-E+2.0???
As for sitting for long periods of time: I am much more comfortable at my dining room table all spread out then at my cramped desktop when I play Battlefield3. Or the couch is a pretty perfect spot to play Civilization V. Or the break room at work on lunch. Or my mother in law's sofa. or or or.... Portable laptop gaming is where it's at for gamers. IMO.
Quote:
For every person you talking into a laptop who now takes in into the next room, I know one who has a laptop that hasn't left the desk in 5 years and should have just bought a desktop.
So far I am batting 100. I'd say about 12-15 people. But I do have a few co workers like that. We get them laptops and they never leave the desk...
I even have a projector connected to my old antiquated desktop PC in my mancave in the basement. Laptop works just as well. If not better. Keep in mind I bought a gaming laptop, not the $500 models I refer to, although my previous laptop was a Dell $550 model which worked great for most stuff. And still does.
I think the answer for many people is both a desktop and laptop.
I greatly prefer my fast desktop when I edit video or manage my music. It has >2 Tb of storage, none of it external. It has great audio. It has two monitors.
My quad core i5 Dell laptop at work theoretically has a faster processor. But there is no doubt the system is slower than my quad core Q6600 desktop.
I use my laptop in the living room. But for serious work I use the desktop.
I think down the road a tablet better than an iPad would be a good alternative to a laptop. But that tablet doesn't exist yet.
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Portable laptop gaming is where it's at for gamers. IMO. 
