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AnchorDesk

David Coursey
Desktop vs. laptop: Which do you really need?

David Coursey
Executive Editor, AnchorDesk
Friday, Feb. 13, 2004
TalkBack!Add your opinion
The March issue of a "major consumer magazine" that doesn't like its name mentioned in advertising--OK, it's Consumer Reports (subscription required)--promises to answer the question, "Desktop or laptop: Which do you really need?"

Best of both worlds?
Want a truly portable notebook with desktop power? Then you'll pay for it. Here are our current favorites.
I LIKED the question, and CR's attempt to answer it, so much that I decided to try and answer it for myself.

The magazine's basic contention is that, in terms of capabilities, modern desktops and laptops are fully equivalent. Anything one can do the other can do just as well. The big difference: price. A laptop is likely to be $300 to $500 more expensive than the equivalent desktop, according to CR's numbers.

And even then, you're getting a laptop that weighs six to eight pounds--not really a travel machine, as far as I'm concerned. You'd have to add another $1,000 or so if you want a laptop that's light enough to travel but powerful enough to replace your desktop.

Those numbers alone tell me that, while laptops and desktops may be technically comparable, they still live in very different worlds. And there are plenty of other material differences.

For starters, I've never seen a docking station I really liked. I've had a number of them over the years and didn't really like any of them. Yes, many people do, but I find them a compromise.

I don't much like widescreen notebooks, either, and wish they'd just go away. The screens add a lot of bulk without adding a lot of functionality. Maybe someday I'll find an example that'll change my mind, but widescreens aren't as portable as I'd like.

THAT SAID, any screen smaller than 15 inches really isn't suitable for day-to-day work. That said, I'm typing this column on a 12.1-inch Fujitsu Tablet PC, which works fine; the screen is too small, but it's very portable--as a tablet should be. Ditto with the praiseworthy 12.1-inch Apple PowerBook. Small screens make these machines good travel companions but inadequate desktop replacements, despite having the speeds and feeds well covered.

When I'm not writing, I use a desktop computer with a 17-inch screen and more memory than many notebooks can hold. And even if they can, bringing a notebook up to a gigabyte or more of RAM can put a real dent in your wallet.

In my experience, data on desktops tends for some reason to get backed up more often than on laptops. Doesn't have to be that way, but it is, if only because desktops can stay on the network overnight for unattended backups to the network server.

My desktops have wireless keyboards and mice, something a docking station could have--but, remember, I've never meet a docking station I liked.

THE POINT HERE is that, whatever technical equality now exists between the two form factors, there remains both dollars-and-cents and practical/personal choice reasons to choose a desktop, laptop, or both--which is really my recommendation.

With prices as low as they are, I can have a laptop for use around the house and occasional trips and a very nice desktop for a combined price of $2,000 or less. That's a heck of a deal compared to hardware prices not that long ago.

Buying a real travel notebook means spending $1,500 or more, but adding the dock can be fairly pricey. For not a lot more money you can get a desktop machine and use it when you aren't on the go.

If I could only have one computer, though, it would be a notebook, but only because writing is my primary task and I've gotten comfortable doing it in the den rather than in my office. But that is only a David work-style issue and, you know, it's easy for me to say I'd forgo the desktop, which I use for big projects--Web design, music, photo editing, etc.--because I know it won't actually go away.

As much as I like the little notebooks, one thing is certain: No machine with a screen smaller than 15 inches could ever be my only computer.

What do you think? How would you go about answering the desktop vs. laptop question? TalkBack to me below!

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