Laptops really grow on you.

[r.hall]

I personally use a laptop more than a desktop computer. Whenever I have to use a desktop computer, it feels weird. The keyboard feels stiffer and just bad.

Does this happen to anyone else? I've grown to be more adept in using the touchpad rather than a mouse, as well.

[Depressed Man]

I kinda despise laptops for the power they sometimes lack. (for example the graphics card in my desktop is better then my laptop..though my laptop beats my desktop in other specs).

But I've slowly grown attached to my laptop since I use it alot more and it's easier to carry it places. But given a choice between the two in my dorm room, I'll use my desktop most of the time (I prefer my logitech keyboard + logitech mouse vs laptop's keyboard + logitech mouse). Plus I have a bigger screen. :)

[50words]

It's all about mobility vs. power for me. I want mobility. I play no graphics-intensive games. Mostly I do work-related writing from a variety of places. I don't need much of a screen, so I want a small laptop that can run a few programs at a time, and that's about it. A desktop is next to useless for me.

But I love laptops. The smaller the better, as long as the keyboard has regular-sized keys. I hate desktop keyboards (although I wish a PC manufacturer made something like the new Apple keyboard instead of the bulky, crappy ones that are all I ever see.

[KCPokes]

I kinda despise laptops for the power they sometimes lack. (for example the graphics card in my desktop is better then my laptop..though my laptop beats my desktop in other specs).

But I've slowly grown attached to my laptop since I use it alot more and it's easier to carry it places. But given a choice between the two in my dorm room, I'll use my desktop most of the time (I prefer my logitech keyboard + logitech mouse vs laptop's keyboard + logitech mouse). Plus I have a bigger screen. :)

I agree. I use a laptop more then anything else, but given the chance I'll always use a desktop. Bigger monitor, better keyboard (normally), etc... Plus, usually, I'm wireless on my laptop and wired on my desktop, which wireless tends to restrict some of my capabilities.

[Mazza558]

Laptops really grow on you.

Are you sure you're using a laptop? :)

(cookie for anyone who gets it)

[gn2]

I have a Core 2 Duo desktop and a Pentium III laptop.
The laptop gets used more.

If the desktop blew up, I would replace it with a higher spec laptop.

[Akre]

Yep, laptops are great, unless you do seat before computer for like 8 hours in work or sth. Then you will want to make best comfort available, so that means big screen, big letters, nice keyboard, big mouse.

Any way, for ocasional computing laptops are great.
Good solution is to have laptop with docking station. Synchronising files between desktop and laptop is such an horror...

[rsambuca]

I can't stand using my laptops unless I really have to. Even with higher specs, they run slower because of the hard drives. The screens are tiny - Once you use two monitors on a desktop, you can never go back!

[markp1989]

i have a laptop and a desktop, i use both, because i use the desktop for comfort, and the laptop when i go out

[SomeGuyDude]

A lot of people here seem to be speaking from the perspective of "sure I might buy a notebook as a travel toy", but you know most of us don't have that kind of cash on hand. Much as I'd love to own a powerhouse desktop and an adequate notebook for travel... I can't. I mean, when you're talking about having multiple-monitor setups and your laptopS (in the plural) only get used occasionally, your perception's a touch skewed.

If you can only afford one, I can't think of any reason it wouldn't be a notebook. Maybe if you NEVER need to take it anywhere, but then there's the problem of the "computer room". If for no other reason, I shudder remembering the days when the PC was in its own little area and if I wanted to do something crazy like "look something up while watching TV" it was just impossible.

[50words]

I can't stand using my laptops unless I really have to. Even with higher specs, they run slower because of the hard drives. The screens are tiny - Once you use two monitors on a desktop, you can never go back!

I use a spare monitor with my laptop so I have two screens. If only it would work in Ubuntu . . . (ATI video card, for one thing)

[rsambuca]

A lot of people here seem to be speaking from the perspective of "sure I might buy a notebook as a travel toy", but you know most of us don't have that kind of cash on hand. Much as I'd love to own a powerhouse desktop and an adequate notebook for travel... I can't. I mean, when you're talking about having multiple-monitor setups and your laptopS (in the plural) only get used occasionally, your perception's a touch skewed.

If you can only afford one, I can't think of any reason it wouldn't be a notebook. Maybe if you NEVER need to take it anywhere, but then there's the problem of the "computer room". If for no other reason, I shudder remembering the days when the PC was in its own little area and if I wanted to do something crazy like "look something up while watching TV" it was just impossible.

I definitely understand your sentiments, but for my use, if I had to choose only one it would be a desktop without question. For the same amount of money, you can get a much better desktop than a laptop. I don't need the portability that much. I don't mind being free from the computers once in a while!

[Depressed Man]

Yeah, that kinda holds me back from using a laptop only. Dual monitor support isn't so hot (though I have an Intel 945 so I could probably get it to work..xrandr is just confusing though). It works in Vista though (until I disconnect it at home and take it back to College Park to find half my applications are off screen so I have to move them all back onto my laptop screen -_- ).

The next laptop I get will definantly have more power in the graphics area though. Though I still use my desktop to watch TV (it has a TV Tuner card) and it has the most space. (600 GBs total right now). My laptop only has 160 GBs.

[rickyjones]

I love my laptop. If I had the money I'd buy a desktop powerhouse for gaming, and then use my laptop for everything else. I do my schoolwork on it, I run my business from it, etc... Couple it with the dock and an extra monitor it becomes a full featured workstation.

-Richard

[BDNiner]

I only use my laptop if i am not near my desktop. It is not as powerfull as my desktop and doesn't run most of the programs that i use all the time. in fact i try out new stuff first on the laptop and work out the kinks before i attempt them on the desktop.

[raul_]

i have a desktop and a laptop. I use my desktop basically for media (music, movies, etc), and my laptop for work. At least that's the idea. I don't think i'll ever buy a desktop again :P

[Rutabega]

I switched to a laptop a few years ago, mostly to stop myself from getting into the expensive habit of upgrading a desktop computer for the sole purpose to play videogames. Well it was like going cold turkey at first, but I am now glad that I "converted".

[Crashmaxx]

I really disagree here. I used my laptop for almost a year primarily and it quickly got on my nerves. The screen is too small, and the touch pad is awful. It not that it is too slow, but it overheats and kills the battery in no time. Very quickly it ends up attached to a mouse, a power adapter, maybe a printer. Then I want to bring it with me and say forget it, cause I don't want to unplug, pack up, and move everything.

Eventually I just built a desktop and I much prefer it. I leave it on recording shows all the time and when I want to use it I just move the mouse and I'm all ready to go. Most of the time I am in my room, or have another computer to use so this is just so much better. Nice big screen, nice speakers, very fast, quiet, nice chair and desk, all setup like I want.

Best of all, it lets me use my laptop as I need to. This way I can carry it around, fully charged with no attachments. So I can just grab it and go. It is perfectly usable and portable, but I'd prefer not to use it all the time.

[SomeGuyDude]

I definitely understand your sentiments, but for my use, if I had to choose only one it would be a desktop without question. For the same amount of money, you can get a much better desktop than a laptop. I don't need the portability that much. I don't mind being free from the computers once in a while!

Desktops have a number of advantages, I admit. Price for the power, for one. Another big one is that if something breaks, you can replace it, which also means you can upgrade more. I can't put a new video card in, for example.

That said, the freedom of a notebook trumps all to me. And freedom's what it's all about, yeh? :)

[SomeGuyDude]

I really disagree here. I used my laptop for almost a year primarily and it quickly got on my nerves. The screen is too small, and the touch pad is awful. It not that it is too slow, but it overheats and kills the battery in no time. Very quickly it ends up attached to a mouse, a power adapter, maybe a printer. Then I want to bring it with me and say forget it, cause I don't want to unplug, pack up, and move everything.

Eventually I just built a desktop and I much prefer it. I leave it on recording shows all the time and when I want to use it I just move the mouse and I'm all ready to go. Most of the time I am in my room, or have another computer to use so this is just so much better. Nice big screen, nice speakers, very fast, quiet, nice chair and desk, all setup like I want.

Best of all, it lets me use my laptop as I need to. This way I can carry it around, fully charged with no attachments. So I can just grab it and go. It is perfectly usable and portable, but I'd prefer not to use it all the time.

Wait. I'm confused. Why is unplugging so hard? I think it takes me a total of 15 seconds to unplug my notebook and put it in a bag. And because it's plugged in, its' always charged.

Also, your complaint about heating doesn't make much sense because all computers can overheat. My notebook doesn't, but an older one did.

[lancest]

I take my laptop to coffee shops sometimes and use it outside with a projector. Very useful for these things. I especially like showing people Ubuntu. Prefer my desktop PCs though as they are more comfortable! There is the laptop heat factor also- so I don't like leaving my 13.2" ASUS running for more than a few hours.

[Crashmaxx]

Wait. I'm confused. Why is unplugging so hard? I think it takes me a total of 15 seconds to unplug my notebook and put it in a bag. And because it's plugged in, its' always charged.

Also, your complaint about heating doesn't make much sense because all computers can overheat. My notebook doesn't, but an older one did.

Unplugging isn't hard, but having to unplug a bunch of things, pack up the power cord and mouse and go anywhere is quite a hassle. If I want to use it without these, soon I'm sick of the touch pad and want a mouse, and within a couple hours I need the power cord cause the battery is dead. Plus the booting and shutting down takes a while, though there is suspend, but if I forget I suspended it, the battery will die. So I just ended up leaving it on my desk 90% of the time. Sometimes I'd take it to class, but it is just troublesome when I get back and have to plug in all these things and reroute the powercord so it is out of the way.

The overheating is just mine I guess, but laptops do tend to heat up a lot worse then desktops. My laptop will get so hot it will slow to a crawl and sometimes eventually freeze under normal use. So I found myself needing a cooling fan to set it on, which is more stuff to plug in and carry around. Never had a desktop with such a big heat problem, and if I did I could just add a fan or two right in the case.

I've used my laptop a lot for many things. Sometimes its nice with it being portable. But overall trying to use it for more then a few hours and especially everyday I just find to be a hassle and quickly the laptop is tethered to everything I own. Maybe my laptop is junk, maybe I just have too many accessories, but that is just my experience.

[ynnhoj]

Unplugging isn't hard, but having to unplug a bunch of things, pack up the power cord and mouse and go anywhere is quite a hassle. If I want to use it without these, soon I'm sick of the touch pad and want a mouse
maybe you should find ways to avoid the mouse altogether? i'd be happiest if my fingers never had to leave the keyboard. another thing: one bonus to a laptop's touchpad is that i can move the cursor around using a thumb, and keep my fingers on the home row. but i'm just biased against the mouse :)

[lancest]

In my experience the larger laptops (desktop replacements?) may run a little cooler than the smaller ones. Also having higher quality video card and faster CPU might cause a smaller laptop to run hotter. I use a cooling plate under my laptop. Can't stand hot keys! My Laptop runs cooler off battery for some reason also. Anybody notice difference in laptop temperature running Windows? (just curious since I don't use XP or Vs)

[Depressed Man]

maybe you should find ways to avoid the mouse altogether? i'd be happiest if my fingers never had to leave the keyboard. another thing: one bonus to a laptop's touchpad is that i can move the cursor around using a thumb, and keep my fingers on the home row. but i'm just biased against the mouse :)

Haha I'm biased towards a mouse. Especially Logitech mice, wireless + lots of buttons that I assign to actions. Though if I'm using my laptop for something quick I just use the touchpad.

[reidbold]

i love computers
desktops, laptops complement
pry them from my corpse

[alwiap]

i have a desktop and two really old HUGE laptops, and am planning on getting a darter ultra from system76 (its very small at 12.1'') and I believe I will use a laptop a lot more if it actually doesnt weigh 500 pounds and only last an hour on battery life. :)


To me, if I get a laptop, its for portable use, so the smaller the better and more effective is my reasoning.

[SomeGuyDude]

i have a desktop and two really old HUGE laptops, and am planning on getting a darter ultra from system76 (its very small at 12.1'') and I believe I will use a laptop a lot more if it actually doesnt weigh 500 pounds and only last an hour on battery life. :)


To me, if I get a laptop, its for portable use, so the smaller the better and more effective is my reasoning.

I get around 5 1/2 hours with a 12 cell on my HP, and it's a 15.4" screen with 2GB ram. I'd imagine a littler guy would get about 3-ish hours or more just on a 6-cell.

[Warpnow]

My dell e1405 got between 4 and 6 hours depending on screen brightness mostly with a 6 cell. Once I can afford a new battery (this one is dead) I'm going to go with the 9 cell.

That said...I really love my desktop.

Build a desktop for $400 and it will outperform a $1200 laptop.

You can add a hard drive when you need more space. You can add new cards and drives. You can get a much nicer keyboard and mouse...so many options.

I'll keep my desktops cheap. $400 max I would spend unless I was very well off. My laptops will cost more and get used less. I like having them, but they're not a necessity. My desktop goes out- it gets fixed before I pay for food.

Edit:

laptop: c2d, 1gb ram.
desktop; p2 250mhz, 128mb ram

desktop is more important to me.

That said I'm saving to repair my pentium 4 with 2gb of ram that I used to virtualie on alot...I miss virtualization...

[Dimitriid]

I don't have to be on the move too long and even when I do if I can find a better way I don't take it with me ( i.e. I needed something printed and just uploaded the document to my cellphone and took my usb cable with me: both fit in my pants' pockets easily )

However there is occasions when I do have to be on the move, and for example had to work in documents, in research, etc. And I knew it was going to be too late to go back home so having a laptop I can use to keep working when I have to crash a friend's house its just an enormous time saver.

Other things like finishing something or showing somebody a website while waiting for meals to arrive ( the Italian place for example takes a good 20-40 minutes to get you the food on crowded days ) its very convenient. As soon as I get better storage I can even skip the hard drive altogheter ( using Puppy ) and ssh home for files and music and whatnot, saving a ton of battery :) This is also a good plan for when hdd dies ( first thing to die in notebooks by a long shot , it almost waits until you are just out of warranty to fail in fact :( )

[ericesque]

I moved to my notebook almost exclusively for quite a while. The Desktop did pretty much nothing in the spare room. Eventually I migrated back to the desktop for the simple fact that it's more ergonomic.

The wife still loves to be able to surf from the couch, but it's not for me.

[K.Mandla]

I only use laptops. They're easier to maneuver, they take up less space and usually eat less power, and hold their value better than desktops. I still tinker with desktops from time to time but they're not nearly as interesting to me as laptops.

[raul_]

i have a desktop and two really old HUGE laptops, and am planning on getting a darter ultra from system76 (its very small at 12.1'') and I believe I will use a laptop a lot more if it actually doesnt weigh 500 pounds and only last an hour on battery life. :)


To me, if I get a laptop, its for portable use, so the smaller the better and more effective is my reasoning.

i have a 12''1 packard bell, and that's as small as you get without being uncomfortable. Of course I spend a lot of time programming so i need to be very comfortable, but maybe if you spend less time on your pc you can use a smaller monitor

[clipse]

Every since I got my laptop, its all I use. I love it. In fact, my father in law has been coming over and uses it when comes to our house. Of course he has a desktop with dialup and I'm on broadband. Still, he says all the time how he loves being about to surf from the couch.

clipse

[Depressed Man]

btw, does anyone know of a good way to sync files between a laptop and desktop? I looked at rsync and there was this other solution, but I couldn't get it working.

I'm looking for something that would look at the files on my desktop (being shared) and the files on my laptop, and copy over whatever's newer date wise. Or if one, has one file, but the other doesn't have that file.

This has to work both ways though..

[koleoptero]

I acquired my first laptop this summer (a 2yr old toshiba) and I immediately sold my desktop to a friend. I'm never buying a desktop again. The only thing they're better than laptops at is gaming, and I'd prefer an xbox360 or a ps3 for games than a pc.

I can't understand why you say that a desktop is more comfortable than a laptop. I find my laptop much more comfortable than the desktop. I love the packed keyboard that has every key in short range. But I do use a mouse, the touchpad is not so good when you want to move the cursor all the way across the screen and you have to drag you finger on the touchpad repeatedly. But still I think that I'm more comfortable with my laptop than with the desktop.

[Harpalus]

I have a few desktops lying around. They're all relatively old and crappy. Newest is a P4. I use them as servers, I tinker with them. I saved them from trash heaps/garage sales, mostly. There's an advantage - unless you want to play games, they all work fine - and I paid under $50 for my three desktops, all totaled.

For my money, nothing beats my laptops. I have two of them, actually. One of them newfangled widescreen obscenely expensive Thinkpads, and an older Thinkpad that I picked up dirt cheap and use as my main desktop. (Can only run Windows on the newer one, open source hates on my video card :(..so I use it for gaming)

[jpittack]

I only have a laptop, but am glad that my brother uses a desktop, because I find it easier to fix, since he toasts it once a year with bad user pratices. My next computer will probably be a desktop around 2009 with all the trimmings from AMD. When this laptop goes south, I will be smarter about my laptop purchase and get something more mobile.

[tdrusk]

I can sit on my couch with a laptop.

I can lay on my bed with a laptop.

I can go to the bathroom with a laptop.

I can bring my laptop to school.

I can go anywhere i want.

I'm free!

jk for some of those.

[raul_]

I can go to the bathroom with a laptop.
.

...

[Tundro Walker]

If the desktop blew up, I would replace it with a higher spec laptop.

Blasphemy!

:)

[Depressed Man]

I acquired my first laptop this summer (a 2yr old toshiba) and I immediately sold my desktop to a friend. I'm never buying a desktop again. The only thing they're better than laptops at is gaming, and I'd prefer an xbox360 or a ps3 for games than a pc.

I can't understand why you say that a desktop is more comfortable than a laptop. I find my laptop much more comfortable than the desktop. I love the packed keyboard that has every key in short range. But I do use a mouse, the touchpad is not so good when you want to move the cursor all the way across the screen and you have to drag you finger on the touchpad repeatedly. But still I think that I'm more comfortable with my laptop than with the desktop.

I dunno, my monitor on my desktop is bigger then my laptop (and I haven't figured out dual monitor in Ubuntu yet). Plus the keyboard (honestly it's so much better then any laptop I've ever used [friends, family, mine, doing tech support]). But it's not a normal keyboard, it's a logitech one. :) I suppose if they made logitech keyboards for laptops I'd like it too.

Plus there's the space issue. It's nice knowing I can store whatever I want on my hard drives. On my laptop I need to be conscious aware. (I'm down to 20 GBs in Windows and 3 GBs in Ubuntu). There's no way my laptop would ever come close to having the amount of data space that my desktop can offer me.

So I'd switch permantly to a laptop if..

1) Laptop's somehow bypass desktop's in space (by desktop I mean my custom built desktop) without the help of externals. Since I could easily add those same externals to my desktop.
2) Their keyboards improve (Logitech!)
3) dual screening in ubuntu works easily -_-. Even in Vista it has kinks...like if you use it then disconnect it. All the windows will still have their orignal x,y coordinates (aka the ones that were on the second monitor will be stuck there, unless you move them manually back onto the laptop screen).

[wolfen69]

i just put xp on a 256mb IBM Thinkpad. it took a looooooong time. anyway, i get paid by the hour. im ok. thank god for windows.

i went into services and cut it down to 120MB of memory
on xp. not bad

[wolfen69]

disregard above

[wolfen69]

last time i checked, "depressed man" isnt the best name. it's ok though. been there.

[SomeGuyDude]

Plus there's the space issue. It's nice knowing I can store whatever I want on my hard drives. On my laptop I need to be conscious aware. (I'm down to 20 GBs in Windows and 3 GBs in Ubuntu). There's no way my laptop would ever come close to having the amount of data space that my desktop can offer me.

External HD, anyone? Since you're talking about using a desktop normally, I'm assuming you don't need travel with however much data you have, so obviously there's no reason you couldn't just pick up a 1TB external HD. Here's one for $300. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822204022

Meanwhile, I have a 120GB HD inside mine (with a 500GB external) and have yet to come close to filling up all my available space, though I'm considering picking up a 250GB HD for the notebook just so I can carry more movies with me.

[PurposeOfReason]

I used a laptop for a year, then got this desktop (2.7GHz dual core, 2GB RAM, 320GB HDD, Nvidia 7600GT). It's nice, 17" widescreen, ergonomic keyboard, fast, nice bit comfortable mouse. However, my parents old computer is absolute poop so I'm giving them this one, turning their old one into a server and just ordered this (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834117601) but with 160GB HDD and a 1.8GHz processor. Put all that to just openbox and the battery will last quite a while to do whatever and still be powerful enough for whatever I throw at it besides games. Not too heavy, not too big, just right IMO (which would be why I got it :D). Pretty darn excited to go back to a notebook.

[Whiffle]

I have both, I use both, alot. My laptop goes with me pretty much everywhere, like a home away from home. I use rsync to sync it with the desktop and I have it setup to sync my calendar as well. Its faster than my desktop too.

But, my desktop has a full size IBM clicky keyboard (the mother of all keyboards, i love this thing), a much bigger, brighter, screen, and a real actual mouse. It works much better for doing things like writing big reports and such. I do miss dual screens though. I miss them alot...

They each have their uses.