Experts predict laptops will be the dominant form of computer, compared to desktops, in 2011.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6474581.stm
I’ve got one of each, with my laptop doing everything my desktop is capable of (only slightly slower and with a slightly smaller hard drive). For me, this is no big deal.
What do you people use for home use? Work use?
i use a desktop.
i dont really like laptops that much. if i wanted portability i’d buy a generator and walk around with my desktop and generator everywhere i go.
My desktop outpowers my laptop by a huge amount, in every area (PSU, GPU, HDD, etc.), but the laptop is still mighty sufficient for cafe internet-ing and lounging in bed, sipping a capp, using my home’s WiFi. The desktop I use for just about everything at home. The laptop is for travel, cafes, and laziness. It’ll be more useful in high school, though.
Gotta love the techie life.
I hate laptops. Mainly for the flat keyboard and the useless trackpad pointing device. But you also get spoiled using a dual screen setup on a desktop system.
The only way to make a laptop useful is to put it in a docking station, add a Microsoft Natural (or similar) keyboard, add a real pointing device, add a second screen, add some external storage, and add a good USB sound module. At that point you’ve got a desktop system that’s more expensive and not as upgradeable.
Laptops are better for the neat freaks though. The people who don’t want a big mess of wires on a computer desk.
Laptops can be moved. Desktops can be used.
Exactly my thoughts.
With a mouse, the most demanding game my Laptop can play is Diablo II.
I have a desktop PC, and my laptop is a MacBook. The MacBook is brand new, and is what I am using at the moment, but I still primarily use my desktop at home with dual monitors. The laptop is more for work use and the convenience of portability. If I’m home the portability isn’t as necessary so I use the desktop. I’m trying to get used to the Mac so I have been spending more time on it lately.
i use two desktops and a laptop
edit: by 2011…who knows!!
It costs alot more to get the same specs in a laptop then it does in a desktop. Desktops can be upgraded much more easily.
I choose desktops.
“Experts” predict a lot of things… whether they are true or not… well…
Laptops rule.
At home, My desktop has it’s own room, and is 2x faster than my laptop. But I only turn it on the desktop once every other month. And that is briefly.
At work my laptop goes everywhere, If I need a larger computer I log into it from the laptop.
Laptops are better. They are quiet, boot quickly, and can be used in front of the TV. Information is sharable, I don’t to yell come look at this, just turn the screen since I am where the other folks are.
I hate rich kids.
I don’t have a laptop, but I do really want one. My desktop also…sucks…but hey, what’re you gonna do?
Laptops for me too and for the same reasons.
We have one each in our house. If we had to go into another room to use the desktop (if we had one) we would never see each other.
here’s my thoughts…
if you make money by working on your computer, you want the effeciency/upgradbility of a desktop.
if you are just some guy who looks at pictures and surfs the web (IE…the computer is a hobby) laptops are fine.
granted there are exceptions, certainly people work with their laptops…but in my case (working from home doing computer/video stuff, i need a whole office dedicated to that anyways, i’m never going to bother getting a laptop again.
and what am i doing with the laptop i paid $2500 for 4 years ago? I think I’m going to install it into my living room as a revolving picture frame…speaking of a laptop’s upgradability 
since getting my laptop i dont think i will ever get a desktop again. the main reason i got a laptop was because i was going to university and want to be able to take my laptop with me easily.
but there are loads more advantages than just portability; desktops take up way too much space, the monitor is never quite in the right place, the keyboard is harder to use and gets in the way when you have to use a pen and paper at the desk aswell. the mouse also is harder to use than a touchpad - especially when trying to draw things.
at home we all have a laptop and so can be sociable while on the computer, when we had a desktop the only place it could fit in the house was in the garage! and the house isnt thaaat small.
my laptop runs just as fast as alot of desktops and i have an external hard drive because i filled up most of my memory after a year (mainly due to finding a nice free and fast download network and gathering a large film collection…).
i definately agree that by 2011, or at least at some point in the future, laptops will be dominant over desktops - its happened with phones, cameras, music players and other things already; technologies are improving, shrinking in size and converging, so its inevitable.
Anna.
Awesome brevity. I can say the same thing in at least three or four paragraphs.
Or how about this: Laptops become junk. Desktops become salvage for new computers.
(I haven’t purchased a whole computer since I first switched from Amigas to PCs.)
My desktop has a 24" widescreen LCD monitor (which can swivel to portrait mode), a real keyboard, a real mouse, tons of memory and disk space, etc. – it will forever blow away any laptop I can afford to buy. And when I have to use my laptop at home, I VNC to it from my desktop.
Given the Internet, high-speed connections, and (I think) today’s technology… desktops don’t have to be moved (security issues aside).
Having a laptop is absolutely necessary for me… I need the portability. It will never be able to do what my desktop can do though.
I have to disagree on one point. I can’t stand those ‘natural’ keyboards. I type properly so having the keys separated they way they are isn’t a problem, I just don’t like them. I’ll take a flat keyboard any day of the week over one of those.
You’re right that a real pointing device helps. I don’t mind the trackpad at all, but I tend not to use it if I can help it. Instead, I use a wireless mouse which connects to my laptop via bluetooth. Much easier to use, mostly due to the versatility of the mouse as compared to the trackpad.
There is one problem with having a white macbook… it sure shows the dirt. Looking back, I should’ve spent the extra $20 for a black one.
I don’t think I would like a “natural” (broken) keyboard. But I can’t stand the flat, recessed keys of a laptop. I like the now-hard-to-find-at-computer-shows old IBM clicky keyboards with the buckling-spring technology. And a real mouse, thank you. Oh, and I refuse to type with an antiquated keyboard layout that was designed in the 1800’s!