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- coolchu001, on 08/11/2008, -4/+178Good that this is an "opinion"... IMHO, desktops are much faster than laptops. Yes, I know there are laptops that use the same CPU as desktops, but they don't have the portability compared to models with mobile CPUs.
- eltardo, on 08/11/2008, -1/+140Show me a laptop that is as fast or faster than my desktop system at around the same price, with a huge hard drive and ram that is easy and cheap to expand, and I'll look at laptops. I'm not really a fan of paying 3-4 times more for everything because it's smaller. Laptops also break down more than desktop systems... rightfully soon given they're getting bumped and what not, but still.
I can upgrade my desktop system inside 5-15 minutes after a trip to the local store. Hard drive, ram, processor, you name it. Can I tweak my laptop this cheap, this fast? Nadda, nope. Not happening. God forbid my power cord gets chewed by my dog, I can replace it anywhere because they're standard power cords from power supplies. Where as with a laptop, each laptop has it' sown cord and if your laptop is a few years old, good luck finding a cord.
yeah, you go have your laptop, I'll stick with my desktop. Thanks. - inactive, on 08/11/2008, -3/+96And I don't think ive ever seen a broken screen on a desktop...
- Ummagumma, on 08/11/2008, -3/+91I'm a gamer, so call me when laptops get 22" screens.
- inactive, on 08/11/2008, -0/+68You kicked your desktop away because one of the following is true:
1. You're a typical computer user who uses computer to type documents, create presentations, surf the websites, watch youtube, chat with friends, and play flash or simple 3D games. Your desktop is for general purposes. Majority of people gracefully fall into this category.
2. You're a traveling sale man. Portability is compulsory.
3. Not a 3D model designer. The job requires multiple high-end video cards SLIed together, 4GB+ RAM and Quad Core CPU.
4. Not a hard-core gamer. Most 3D game titles these days need powerful GPU to run at 30+ FPS. Think Crysis and Need for Speed.
5. Your desktop comes with a small single monitor. Professional workers need at least one big monitor or multiple monitors to be more productive. Software packages such as Visual Studio, Photoshop, Illustrator and Flash consumes a lot of screen space due to its tool windows. Desktop is a must if you're a software programmer, graphic designer, and website developer. If you can use laptop, but you're much less productive.
6. Your job is not a pro video editor, because if you were, you would notice the time difference of rendering the frames. - brad3378, on 08/11/2008, -6/+70I'd be more willing to take the plunge if laptop keyboards didn't suck so bad.
Yes, I know I can plug in an external USB keyboard, but I'd rather not carry around a 2nd keyboard - phibit, on 08/11/2008, -2/+65I love how one of the factors is "It's all about the looks", and then they go on to mention Macs. What kind of a useless tool actually thinks that "technology is [...] an extension of who you are." Granted, some Mac users actually choose Macs for the right reasons, but most of those douches in coffee shops just think their "expressing their individuality".
It's a ***** laptop, and it's mobile so you can watch porn on the bus. - gdean2323, on 08/11/2008, -1/+52Q: is it time to write off the desktop?
A: No, they will, for the time being, be more attractive to businesses (less expensive, more durable, more secure). The article pointed out a few pluses for the enterprise, but they overlooked some big minuses. - scabbers, on 08/11/2008, -3/+51"Working on a MacBook Pro at Starbucks says something about who we are"
A giant ***** of a douchelord. - inactive, on 08/11/2008, -3/+40GAMES, my laptop can't run cod4 :(
- Saitekc, on 08/11/2008, -0/+36Completely false and bias, this writer is a general computer user and has no clue what he's talking about.
Amateur - redavni, on 08/11/2008, -1/+37I've been building my own pc's for something like 15 years now, and I've always said the most important part of a computer is the screen. That's one big advantage over laptops that desktops have. Getting anything higher than 17 inches on a laptop gets prohibitively expensive. 19 inch screens are entry level on desktops these days.
There are lots of other reasons why desktops are going to remain relevant and dominant though.
.You can keep a PC running 24/7 without worrying about it burning up. This is important for media center PCs.
.If something breaks in a desktop, it's much cheaper to fix than a laptop.
.Any content producer (not just video editors) will need the extra power, customizability, and compatibility provided by desktops. - seraph582, on 08/11/2008, -3/+36- Wireless is slow/sketchy - anywhere all the time
- Laptops keyboards suck. Even Apple ones.
- Laptop memory busses/CPU's/HardDrives/GPUs are slow and suck
- Laptop screens are low-power and have horrible viewing angles and absurd dot-pitches that make everything tiny
- Laptops are expensive as ***** for how little power you get
- Laptops are annoying to fix
- Laptops have far too few peripheral/expansion ports/slots
- Built in mouse replacements (touchpads, nub thingies) suck total *****
- Fixing a laptop always nets more screws than you started with, which is sketchy
The best laptop is one that's docked to a real keyboard/wired network/mouse/monitor IMHO. Laptops are great for workers taking their work w/ them on the go, but honestly, most of what needs to be done on the go can be done w/ an iPhone, and that makes it so you don't have to carry around a big bag full of ***** - just your phone, which would be on you anyway.
iPhone/Blackberry/etc > laptop.
Desktop > laptop. - zoli, on 08/11/2008, -0/+31Let's not forget that laptops are crippling us: http://www.zoliblog.com/2007/06/10/laptops-are-cri ...
Joke apart, I have two laptops and the next computer I am buying will be another laptop, but whenever I can I still prefer to work on the desktop. The ergonomics are just better... - StarlessKnight, on 08/11/2008, -1/+31Don't forget the upgradability. On a Desktop you can do anything and everything to it. Missing hardware? Expansion card. Video card out of date? Replace it.
Laptops? Missing something? Hope there's a PCMCIA card for it. Video card out of date? Buy a new laptop. If you're lucky it's an expansion card, but you'll be paying for it.
In some cases this might not matter at all, but where it does--or just in case you ever need to add more to the computer--it just might mean a great deal. - inactive, on 08/11/2008, -0/+29Average life span of a notebook is 18 months, and they are typically broken at the end of life. Average lifespan of a desktop is 4 years, and they are usually obsolete...
Can I edit fast enough... Thinking about it for about three more minutes. That factoid is probably why laptops outsell desktops... - espouser, on 08/11/2008, -0/+27Laptops may be just as fast and have all the functionality of a desktop, but did you ever try working on one for 10 hours straight? Staring at that little 15" screen gets pretty old.
I design aircraft parts all day long on high end CAD, and need all the screen space, RAM and storage I can get. - HillerMylife, on 08/11/2008, -5/+30Sure, desktops will always be faster due to the need of a laptop to cram the same components into a tighter space, but not only is the speed gap shrinking, it's becoming far less important. The only demographics concerned with speed these days are people who edit video, render 3D models, or rank video games as a major concern.
- saikyan, on 08/11/2008, -2/+25Pieces like this have been submitted annually by tech journalists since... at least the early 90s. Some of the details change a little, but all the big factors are still at work and it will be that way for a long time to come.
- DeskFlyer, on 08/11/2008, -1/+23Yeah because it's so easy to throw a new CPU in your laptop.
- seraph582, on 08/11/2008, -0/+22Opinion - why desktops are better than laptops: your laptop can and will break, and it will need to be taken to some *****-hole store it takes 45 minutes to get to, and the part it needs WILL be on back order. Time spent on laptops is borrowed time.
Time needed to fix a desktop? One trip to a store around the corner, and 3 minutes to replace the part. - frozen1, on 08/11/2008, -1/+22This assumes that new applications won't emerge that require desktop power that everyone wants to use, as computing power increases killer applications that were not possible at the time become possible.
- TheUngod, on 08/11/2008, -0/+20Laptops won't replace desktops until they are easily upgradeable. As of now, a laptop is a disposable item. If something becomes obsolete or breaks, you toss the whole thing. A desktop can be used and upgraded one piece at a time just about forever. Also, I think your preference of laptop/desktop is all about location in your home. If you have an office with your desktop, you won't be on it as much as your laptop, which you can sit in front of your TV or on your bed. I have my desktop in my living room and thus can multitask better. When it was in another part of the house, I wasn't on it nearly as much and preferred my laptop.
- Wootstapler, on 08/11/2008, -0/+20That's a pretty ***** opinion.
- sayssimon, on 08/11/2008, -0/+19i like laptops but nowhere near as much as my desktop. for sure
- inactive, on 08/11/2008, -1/+19Spill your Bawls on your keyboard, replace the keyboard. Spill your Bawls on a laptop, replace the laptop. Laptops suck, just like this article. Buried.
- FairDinkumMate, on 08/11/2008, -2/+19Intel has program called something like "The next billion chips". Its basic premise is that the developed world has a saturated PC market & that the next billion chips will go to the developing world. Now I know that all of the laptop enthusiast will say "Great OLPC is producing laptops & they'll dominate there" but it's simply not true. The big market isn't some school in the middle of a paddock, it's the cities & homes of the middle classes of China, India & Brazil. These middle classes will buy the cheapest, most reliable PC they can find. And $150 is a huge difference when you earn $700 a month. Many will also recycle older PC's as others upgrade. This is the same reason that Microsoft will struggle if the next Windows version isn't a lot lighter. It's not so different to how PC's reached the level of saturation they have in the developed world. It's why I laugh when all the Vista fanboys say "but memory is dirt cheap" - try looking at a Brazilian online site for memory, calculate it as a % of average wages & then get back to me.
- chris062689, on 08/11/2008, -5/+21Once you can overclock your laptop to 4Ghz, we'll talk :)
- zadadka, on 08/11/2008, -5/+19Oooh, goodie....a new fanboy war !
I entirely agree with eltardo, commenting above... nail, head, hit.
But for those that like their laptops....enjoy. - shanesemler, on 08/11/2008, -3/+17This guy is a moron.
- adragontattoo, on 08/11/2008, -1/+14I have a few different laptops that I use occasionally.
I use my desktops MUCH more often, and also my desktops are 4-5x faster then ANY laptop I own.
Each desktop has dual core CPU's, 4gb of Ram and at least 750gb of storage INTERNALLY.
I dont have to worry about my desktop walking off because I forgot it or it was stolen from my bag or anything like that.
Yes Laptops have more portability but that comes at the expense of performance, internal storage capability and usefulness IMO. - Wartz, on 08/11/2008, -0/+13There is no such thing as future proofing with computers. By the time 8-16gb ram is standard, it will be $40 to buy 8-16gb
Congrats, you just spent 20x that amount on something that you don't need for any app unless you're a professional. - drmangrum, on 08/11/2008, -0/+12Not just speed, but upgradability and heat dissipation are high on many peoples lists of things a computer needs to be able to do.
- seraph582, on 08/11/2008, -0/+11Oh definitely. I barely use any of my laptops, and I've had more of them than desktops. You definitely sacrifice a lot of durability/usability for the sake of portability!
- the2989, on 08/11/2008, -5/+16Buried because everybody knows that laptops don't have number pads.
- JAGUART, on 08/11/2008, -1/+12So far, the only advantage I've really seen in a laptop is surfing the net over my wireless network while taking a crap.
- Narcism, on 08/11/2008, -0/+11futureproof computers, you make me laugh.
- medfreak, on 08/11/2008, -1/+12My ass , I have a sudden urge to scratch it.
- inactive, on 08/11/2008, -1/+10Find me a laptop with 8GB or 16GB RAM capacity, a battery that'll last me through the day, and an accessible MXM and CPU slot. Then we'll talk.
- kaniz, on 08/11/2008, -1/+10Keep a key-board where you would normally keep your desktop. The laptop keyboard is for those times of which you actually need to use it as a lap-top.
For the past while my laptop has been my primary computer. I'd take it to school/work with me, then when I got back home I'd just plug in my monitor / keyboard / mouse / speakers and keep on using it like it was a desktop. - jellygraph, on 08/11/2008, -0/+9Or carry your PC to your girlfriends place during the weekend and to a business meeting somewhere hundreds or thousands of miles away.
On the other hand, your name is deskflyer... maybe you can - mourne, on 08/11/2008, -1/+10no kidding. I want to see a laptop that has SLi 8800GTX cards in it. My desktop has this and even a single of those cards is monstrous. Of course I already ran Mass Effect at full graphic detail at an unbelievable frame rate. Something a laptop cannot do. Even a rad AlienWare lappy can't compete.
- ProfessorFoo, on 08/11/2008, -0/+8He can. I've seen it.
- Muncher, on 08/11/2008, -0/+82008. Why?
- inactive, on 08/11/2008, -0/+8Yeow... I have even worse luck with phones than I do laptops. I wish someone would make a ruggedized and waterproof phone...
Prior to the Razr, it seems like all my phones lasted for years and years. The last couple of years... If I get a year out of them I am delighted. - aeoo, on 08/11/2008, -1/+9What a crock of *****! I just got a desktop because I got sick of laptop inferior performance, heat melting fingertips and laps, if, God forbid, you actually put them on your lap, heavy weight that makes travel possible yet uncomfortable, terrible screens compared to stand-alone, terrible keyboards compared to stand-alone, terrible graphics (even with all the advances in mobile graphics they still suck ass).
If you really really really HAVE to compute on the go, laptop is the only option. If not, desktops still rule. Plus it bugs the heck out of me that all the laptops are non-standard, proprietary, non-interchangeable hardware blobs, unlike desktops. - Dozernotz, on 08/11/2008, -1/+9@frozen1
Yeah that's true, but one of the main reasons laptops have been getting popular is that software demands have been lagging hardware development for a while. Most 2D apps are pretty mature at this point, and once 3D games/modelling is cheap for all, it's hard to imagine the next big step. 4D? AI?
I could definitely see how (say when HD photo-real 3D is cheap) hardware development might plateau for a while until software demands catch up. And during that pause, companies will try to compete by shrinking the machine physically instead. Honestly, with all the ultraportables etc. coming out, I think it's fair to argue we're pretty close. For a while at least. - doshindude, on 08/11/2008, -0/+8MacDouche is the official term for it.
- Ryosen, on 08/11/2008, -2/+10A PC that's 2 1/2 times more expensive than a comparable desktop and that's about as upgradeable as an iPod. Yeah, that's exactly what I want.
- TheUngod, on 08/11/2008, -0/+8I just think they are completely different products that have many similarities. A laptop will likely never be used for high end gaming, graphic design, video editing, etc. A desktop will never be used in a coffee shop or brought on an airplane, etc. An average user may find a laptop does everything they need, but the desktop will not be completely removed for a long long time.
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