Seems like the laptop has taken over these days. I'm just about to splurge on a new desktop PC and I'm beginning to feel the odd one out!

ive just ordered a new desktop – but I want something uber-powerful to serve other bits of hardware around the house/home office. For mobility I have phones, pads, netbooks and a laptop to hand. There's a place for a high specced desktop still IMO.

May I be the first to say that you will probably need a new keyboard if you do that…

and yes, still buy desktops as I already have quite a nice screen so it's cheaper just to replace the box sometimes.

I've still got one. Couple of nice big screens and all the extras (external HDD, printers and things) attached and shared across the network and hard wired to the router.

I still have the laptop to sit down in front of the TV with though.

iMacs are good 😉

iMacs are good

imac? isn't that a type of hair removal cream?

depends , i still got one for gaming etc

Gaming is about the only reason to go for a desktop these days. I've been laptop-only for quite a few years – have a 24" monitor on my desk, proper speakers plus keyboard/mouse/external drives, etc plugged into a USB hub. Just run lid-closed on the big monitor most of the time, or open up for an extra display if I need it.

Plus if I need to be elsewhere I just chuck it in a bag and take it with me – no worrying about syncing or copying data, or if the right apps will be installed.

Just built (first) one for myself last month but the damn thing is rather temperamental with the habit of giving me Black screen of Death from time to time. (Windows logo but can't log in as the system hangs or goes very ssslllllooowwwly to Windows login screen) Still unable to find the fault but I suspect the motherboard is going to have a slow death but I just don't have time to mess around at the moment. I know the Sys_Fan header is fcuked but since I am not using it I thought I would leave it as it is. Need to switch off the beep alert from BIOS though.

Anyway, I have nothing so urgent that I need to carry my laptop around so I would rather invest in a desktop and people can call me on my mobile if they feel a need to.

This temperamental box … SFF 😡

But when it is happy it goes fast … very fast. Boot up from post beep to Widows login screen 25 seconds and working on application too is a breeze.

🙂

I still use a desktop, it sits in the lounge and runs through the wacking great telly I have nailed to the wall. Plays games, shite loads of movies on the hard drive and surf tinternet. Combine that with a wireless key board with a track pad built in and jobs a good'un.

That's exactly what I was thinking of, n-o-w. That combined with a thin and light laptop for proper mobility seems the way to go to me (currently have a 15" laptop which is neither one nor the other, not powerful enough for games, not as portable as I'd like, but handy for using around the house). Anybody else doing that with a PC, and any comments and tips for what to get?

If you want one a proper gaming laptop then you would have to spend £2k minimum otherwise you might be better off building (desktop) one yourself.

🙂

desktop for me. I have a top end laptop for work and a couple of other laptops/netbooks for messing about on but for raw gaming/screen size/videos/photo editing/disk capacity, you really can't beat a desktop.

I spent weeks speccing out a replacement desktop a couple of years ago, before deciding that what I really needed was a laptop. The old PC is now a 'server' and hosts central files and media which I stream through the Xbox, similarly the Xbox takes care of my gaming needs, meaning that what I really needed a PC for is working and spodding. About the only PC games I played were World of Warcraft, retro games like text adventures and SCUMMVM type stuff, and other relatively low-tech things.

All of a sudden, there was no point to building a big-box PC which would take up a ton of space in the living room. Got a laptop and never looked back.

Recently had mine rebuilt at the local puter shop, kept the old case,DVD burner and XP OS, but all the rest is new

Much prefer a desktop for photo processing and would be hard to get a laptop with a similar spec especially for the price

Netbooks are great too especially for backing up pictures when out and about

I used to work from home, so I have a desktop tucked away in the study along with a 23" monitor, decent mouse, proper operators chair, plus books, router, printer etc.

It mainly just gets used for photo/movie editting these days.

Netbook and iPhones cover all the "casual living room based web & email" needs.

You have all lost me it's all I can do to surf the net and print invoices. 🙄

Desktop for being in an office for home working
Desktop for gaming
Desktop for having a printer on it
Desktop for being much faster for the money
Desktop for reliability (better cooling)
Desktop for being easier to fit a shedload of storage into
Desktop for being upgradeable.
Desktop for being a media server via an extender and network
Desktop for being a file server.
Desktop for having a big monitor to sit with when doing serious work.

Laptops can't be used in an office or with printers! Who knew.

I'd concede some of those points, but a few are reaching, I fear. I've no reliability issues with my laptop, can stream media from it (or can plug directly into the TV with the HDMI socket), work from home on a regular basis, and if the mood so took me I could plug in a huge monitor or external hard disk.

Basically what that boils down to is, desktops are better for gaming and easier to upgrade, which I'd agree with.

Edit: and more bang for your buck, missed that bit.

Laptops can't be used in an office or with printers! Who knew.

Did I say that? No.

What I meant was that, if you are going to say work at home, you may find it advantageous to have your 'workstation' fixed in once place, and more ergonomically laid out, to help create a separate work area within the home, and perhaps also to separate your work PC from your home one ie not have games or whatever stuff installed on it.

Laptops CAN be slightly less reliable than desktops due to cooling – they run hotter. You can of course stream media from a laptop, but it has to be taken from your lap, the power supply moved from near you to near the TV, and then plugged into a spare plug. If you have a desktop in addition to a laptop, you don't need to do all that.

I think you misunderstood my list. It was meant to be a list of possible slight advantages, not a list of rules…

I think what you're arguing in favour of there isn't a desktop, it's a desk. (-:

What we're both saying ultimately is, it depends what you're using it for, which is sensible enough. I have a computer desk which I sit at when working, then in the evenings I can pick up my laptop and go sit next to my OH on the couch or some such. The power point is central enough that I don't need to unplug anything; I can relocate it between those two locations, next to the TV, or in my comfy chair, all without unplugging it.

Printing, file-sharing, media streaming etc can all be done wirelessly across the network with the right hardware.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to point-score here, all I'm getting at is that it can be done. I do also have a separate (old) desktop which provides some of the sharing functionality, but then presumably most people do by now?

I still disagree with you on the reliability issue though. I know which I've spent more time fixing over the years, even taking relative prevalence into account.

I have various laptops and a netbook but still prefer desktops as my main machines for work and home.

They're much cheaper for equivalent performance and I've also found that gaming laptops tend to run very hot and be too heavy to lug about much anyway.

Upgrade-ability.

Haven't bought a new desktop since 199something…

… but during that time I have bought

– a few new motherboards, normally specced to allow a few years worth of processor life / upgrades

– several processors (normally as they just slip out of the high priced bracket)

– a selection of graphics cards – again "last years models" for value vs performance and m/b compatability

– good quality memory, various storage, oh and at least one new case 😉

It's the same hammer my dad used to use; mind you, it's had three new heads and four new handles.

That's good going. Last PC I bought, I retired it about two years ago after building it in 1998. If the laptop lasts half that long, I'll be happy.

all I'm getting at is that it can be done

No arguments there!

Like I say, those things were all the possible advantages I could think of. YMMV as they say.

Personally I have a desktop that I will be using for media streaming (once I sort it all out) and that can play games, but I haven't done so for ages due to family reasons (sitting alone for hours in the spare room isn't exactly sociable 🙂 ). If/when I get to work from home though I will upgrade it.

As for reliability – I have had several laptops that would randomly bluescreen or just cut out from time to time – I thought overheating was a possible culprit. The hotter your system runs, the more likely a random fault is.

Laptops are horrible from an ergonomics viewpoint. If you're working on a PC for a good amount of time, a desktop is much better. Even if the performance / price was the same, I'd still have a desktop. As it is, the same performance is always a lot cheaper in a desktop format.

Touchscreen devices are also pretty poor in my view, due to ergonomics again.

Mmm, but there is the docking station thing tron. So you can have it both ways.

Agree about touchscreen tho. When I was buying a while back, I looked at a nice HP touchscreen jobby that folded from a normal laptop into a tablet shape. I at first thought 'oo, lovely' then I thought 'but why?' and realised I had absolutely no use for such a thing.

Gaming is about the only reason to go for a desktop these days

Errm

Media Server
Photo/vid editing. (hell, even desktops with LCDs are less prepped for that)
Not wanting to replace batteries every 6 months
Not wanting to sit in front of the TV with a laptop being the life and soul of the party….

Loads of reasons!

Most laptops don't have very good screens for colour rendition
Most laptops self-hobble when getting warm
Most laptop batteries die if used regularly, and cost 15%+ of the value of the computer.
Parts are stupendously expensive
Break one part, struggle to find a replacement without buying at mental prices from manuf or buying a whole new laptop on ebay for spares.

Nah, not for me.

So you can have it both ways.

You can. My favourite kind of both ways is a Desktop and a 12" Netbook. That way you have a good computer for doing proper work, and a properly portable machine for travelling around.

Nowadays, all but very high end laptops are only portable in the army sense of the word. It can be carried around, but it's not something you volunteer for.

Not wanting to replace batteries every 6 months

To be fair, that doesn't always happen. My dad had two that were crap on his cheap Dell, but I've never had to bin a battery.

I have far too many computers. A desktop, a large laptop for entertainment away from home, a 13" for general home use and some portability, and a tiny Vaio P series to toss in the bag wherever you might be going.

They are known as Mummytop, Daddytop, Babytop and Grampytop.

sitting alone for hours in the spare room isn't exactly sociable

If only you had some form of, I don't know, portable PC that you could bring downstairs? Maybe if you made it a bit smaller, maybe integrated a keyboard and screen into it…

(-:

Did you read the above post re my other laptops? 🙂

The one that said you'd broke 'em all?! (-:

I use both, LT and DT as I need to use 2 computers at the same time for some work

Gaming is about the only reason to go for a desktop these days

Or video editing, or photo editing, or CAD work…

Laptops are nice, but aren't the tools for the job where you need a graphics quality monitor and/or lots of processing power and storage.