# Laptop, desktop or both?.........



## etexas (Jul 9, 2007)

Due to the speed and power of laptops many now use them as ones "primary" computer, some people, gamers and such need a little more, boost. Some juggle between laptop and descktop. I am now using a laptop as my primary, what are you folk doing?


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## lwadkins (Jul 9, 2007)

You can get more power for less cost in a desktop, but its hard to beat the convenience of being able to carry a laptop with you. For me those are the two most important factors to weigh in making a decision between the two. I use a 19" laptop. It amounts to a desktop replacement in a large and heavy laptop. I tried to have my cake and eat it too


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## govols (Jul 9, 2007)

And boy, it is hard to keep pace whilst juggling with a desktop.

Oh, you weren't talking about that type of juggling - darn English language.

Thankfully I have a sweet laptop from work and a great desktop at home that I purchased.

Best of both worlds. Until I get let go.


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## jsup (Jul 9, 2007)

I do both and love it. Laptops are limited when it comes to upgrading, so I prefer a desktop. Yet, I love being able to sit down in Starbucks with an Iced Caffe Latte surfing on my laptop. I guess I'm a juggler.


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## sastark (Jul 9, 2007)

I have to use a desktop at work, but my primary personal computer is a Black MacBook. I love it and feel very restricted whenever I have to use a desktop.


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## etexas (Jul 9, 2007)

govols said:


> And boy, it is hard to keep pace whilst juggling with a desktop.
> 
> Oh, you weren't talking about that type of juggling - darn English language.
> 
> ...


Desktops are not hard to juggle................IF you remove the keyboard and mouse!


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## ReformedWretch (Jul 9, 2007)

I use both, and both of mine are very powerful machines. My laptop even plays the latest games, but it runs very hot!


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## etexas (Jul 9, 2007)

OOPS! Sorry my friends about the typo in my poll! I added an s! Mods? Anyway I can fix that?


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## MrMerlin777 (Jul 9, 2007)

I voted desktop but only because that's what I use. I don't have a laptop, but wouldn't mind if I did.


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## etexas (Jul 9, 2007)

MrMerlin777 said:


> I voted desktop but only because that's what I use. I don't have a laptop, but wouldn't mind if I did.


Don't feel bad. This is my very first laptop..............I decided to try out the 21st century!


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## jbergsing (Jul 9, 2007)

Being a truck driver, a desktop isn't feasible for my situation, however, my wife has no interest in a laptop due to the probability of damage/destruction from our four kids. So we have both. What's strange about her position is she hords my laptop when I'm home and her desktop never gets turned on other than to update Quicken. Hmmm....


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## jbergsing (Jul 9, 2007)

jsup said:


> I do both and love it. Laptops are limited when it comes to upgrading, so I prefer a desktop. Yet, I love being able to sit down in Starbucks with an Iced Caffe Latte surfing on my laptop. I guess I'm a juggler.


Oh no, double French Vanilla Latte, thank you!


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## Semper Fidelis (Jul 9, 2007)

A notebook might be fine as long as I had a docking station for it. I've got a spaghetti factory around my desk at home with all the peripherals I have plugged in. Desktops are also much cheaper to get a lot of processing power. I use notebooks out of convenience but do all my "heavy lifting" with desktops.


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## VictorBravo (Jul 9, 2007)

I've got four desktops gathering dust. I've been cannabalizing them for various other projects. (I play around with automated monitoring and control--they water the garden).

I also have two laptops gathering dust, and our household has a total of three functional ones.

My first computer (other than the novelty one I built from Radio Shack parts) was a Tandy dual floppy laptop. I ran WordPerfect 4.2 on it, Lotus 123, dBase, and I thought I was king of the hill. I could put 200 pages on a floppy! That one got me through law school and my first two years of practice. I printed with a daisy wheel and could even do legal research though a modem connected to a BBS. I also wrote BASIC programs and dabbled with PASCAL on it. I actually miss those innocent days. It was stolen in 1994, when it was practically valueless anyway.

Another obsolete laptop still works. It is DOS and runs WordPerfect 5.0. It has a hard drive with 20 MB storage, which was enough for a novel back in those days.

A remaining Sony laptop that was provided by my employer flat out died. Not the hard drive, but the motherboard. They gave me another one and let me keep the old one. I was going to do something with it, but haven't.

These days I'm pretty much exclusively a laptop person. I don't do heavy lifting anymore. Just text based stuff and the internet. There was a time when I was running three machines and had four monitors going, with separate modem lines and a linked network. It was like NORAD in my basement. But now I carry my work everywhere on an old (2003) Toshiba.


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## bookslover (Jul 9, 2007)

A laptop (Dell) at home and a desktop at work.

Dell packed Wordperfect with the laptop. I didn't think anyone used that anymore. Why does Dell do that? Isn't it obsolete?


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## etexas (Jul 9, 2007)

victorbravo said:


> I've got four desktops gathering dust. I've been cannabalizing them for various other projects. (I play around with automated monitoring and control--they water the garden).
> 
> I also have two laptops gathering dust, and our household has a total of three functional ones.
> 
> ...


I am glad to hear the Toshiba is durable! That is what I now use, the Satellite A205.


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## VictorBravo (Jul 9, 2007)

bookslover said:


> A laptop (Dell) at home and a desktop at work.
> 
> Dell packed Wordperfect with the laptop. I didn't think anyone used that anymore. Why does Dell do that? Isn't it obsolete?



I'm sort of jealous. WordPerfect is still being sold and upgraded. I used to like it better than MS Word: more features and ease of use. I haven't tried the more recent versions, but I do know that you can save WP docs as Word docs and vice versa.



Brego said:


> I am glad to hear the Toshiba is durable! That is what I now use, the Satellite A205.



Mine's an A20, I think. Built like a tank. It's heavy too. My wife has a newer lighter version of the Satellite that's much faster. They keep getting better.


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## RamistThomist (Jul 10, 2007)

I use an HP laptop for school and writing. I have a 2002 Dell desktop that is connected to the internet. If I had to buy a brand new comptuer, I would get a desktop.


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## Semper Fidelis (Jul 10, 2007)

bookslover said:


> Dell packed Wordperfect with the laptop. I didn't think anyone used that anymore. Why does Dell do that? Isn't it obsolete?



Corel is still hanging around.

It is quite amazing to think how quickly some of these programs became obsolete and behemoth companies have come and gone.

Wordpress never really made the turn fully from MS-DOS into Windows and Word came into dominance.

Anyone remember these:

Enable
Harvard Graphics
Lotus 123
Lotus Notes


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## bookslover (Jul 10, 2007)

SemperFideles said:


> Corel is still hanging around.
> 
> It is quite amazing to think how quickly some of these programs became obsolete and behemoth companies have come and gone.
> 
> ...



Back in the late '80s or early '90s at work, we had Lexitrons. Anyone remember those?


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## Contra Marcion (Jul 10, 2007)

Mac Powerbook G4 - Had it since 2004, and never needed anything else. The only issue has been USB and Firewire connectivity - my laptop only has two USB ports and 1 Firewire port, but there are hubs available for both. Bluetooth and Airport help free up the laptop from all the wires. 

BTW, I LOVE MY MAC!!!!


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## Dagmire (Jul 10, 2007)

I would have a hard time justifying the cost of a laptop with a third of the power of a desktop for the same price even if I had the money to pay for it. I have no reason to carry a computer around with me.


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## VictorBravo (Jul 10, 2007)

SemperFideles said:


> Corel is still hanging around.
> 
> It is quite amazing to think how quickly some of these programs became obsolete and behemoth companies have come and gone.
> 
> ...



Yes to all, and there was also Reflex, which was the best inexpensive spreadsheet around. 

I forgot about the "portable" Kaypro I used to use. It was similar in size and weight to a manual typewriter, but you had to plug it in. It ran Wordstar, the state of the art word processing program that would never be beat.


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## Davidius (Jul 10, 2007)

both


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## jsup (Jul 10, 2007)

jbergsing said:


> Oh no, double French Vanilla Latte, thank you!



Too sweet for me. I forgot to mention that I put an extra shot in mine. Now that I said that, does it matter what I put in it? Who cares?!


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## tcalbrecht (Jul 10, 2007)

SemperFideles said:


> Anyone remember these:
> 
> Enable
> Harvard Graphics
> ...



Lotus Notes is still built and marketed by IBM.

VisiCalc and MultiPlan, anyone?

Let me tell you about my TRS-80 ...


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## etexas (Jul 10, 2007)

jsup said:


> Too sweet for me. I forgot to mention that I put an extra shot in mine. Now that I said that, does it matter what I put in it? Who cares?!


Does anyone like plain good coffee anymore.....maybe with some cream and or sugar! 
Well I don't want to hijack my own thread....in a week or so I might do one on this subject......with a poll!


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## VictorBravo (Jul 10, 2007)

Brego said:


> Does anyone like plain good coffee anymore.....maybe with some cream and or sugar!
> Well I don't want to hijack my own thread....in a week or so I might do one on this subject......with a poll!



I can hardly wait. I have some Starbucks observations that have been waiting for an excuse to tell.


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## etexas (Jul 11, 2007)

bump


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## etexas (Jul 12, 2007)

Contra Marcion said:


> Mac Powerbook G4 - Had it since 2004, and never needed anything else. The only issue has been USB and Firewire connectivity - my laptop only has two USB ports and 1 Firewire port, but there are hubs available for both. Bluetooth and Airport help free up the laptop from all the wires.
> 
> BTW, I LOVE MY MAC!!!!


mac


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## Raj (Jul 16, 2007)

I always use desktop in cyber cafes or in the school's library. Praying to God to provide me one, of my own....


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## turmeric (Jul 16, 2007)

Just used my new Mac in the coffee-shop yesterday. As soon as I get Office Mac installed, I'll see if it's feasable to use as my main computer. Boy, they DO run hot! You almost have to go to the coffee shop, cuz it's air-conditioned!


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## etexas (Jul 16, 2007)

turmeric said:


> Just used my new Mac in the coffee-shop yesterday. As soon as I get Office Mac installed, I'll see if it's feasable to use as my main computer. Boy, they DO run hot! You almost have to go to the coffee shop, cuz it's air-conditioned!


Smiling in Texas, Meg............I sort of think(correct me if I am wrong), that you sort of like the Mac!


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## Bladestunner316 (Jul 19, 2007)

I only use a desktop and have limited experience with a laptop. So I would choose a desktop as of now.


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## Poimen (Jul 19, 2007)

I love my laptop (especially when I am travelling - all my music and internet access; it's like a big, clumsy I-Pod!) Once I got a deal on one I never looked back... However I will probably purchase a desktop as a backup once I save up some money.


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## dalecosby (Aug 3, 2007)

I have had both and like using both. I currently have just a desktop after my laptop died.
I use a MacMini which is basically a laptop in a desktop configuration.
It uses all laptop parts just like the MacBook but I only paid $550 shipped to my house.
When I can afford it though I will by another laptop.


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