Laptop vs Desktop

The development of laptops revolutionised the way we use technology. No longer tied to the desktop PC and thanks to the invention of Wi-Fi, we now have the ability to surf the Internet wherever we roam, the tethers of cords and plugs no longer a problem. While there is still a place for the desktop PC, does the advent of more powerful, faster and more feature-rich laptops make the old ‘box under the desk' redundant?

Logistics, logins and leads

A laptop is great - you can wander around the house and even work in the garden if the mood takes you. But a laptop is only good as long as the battery has some life in it. Once that ‘low battery' symbol starts to flash, you're back to leads and cables to juice up your hardware. With a desktop, the power's constant, you don't have to worry about a low battery suddenly wiping out six hours worth of work (if you haven't got into the habit of hitting ‘save' regularly, that can send you into a snarling rage) and unless you suffer from powercuts on a regular basis, nothing should interrupt you as you work at your desk.

Laptops take up much less space than a desktop PC. Because a laptop is a self-contained unit, there's no CPU, monitor, keyboard, mouse and all the paraphernalia that goes into connecting the various components into one, working PC. While this may seem to be much more convenient, the extra space that a tower unit has inside its outer casing means that desktop PCs can be upgraded, added to and ‘pimped' up - particularly useful if you're a serious gamer, want to add some memory or are into high-tech gadgetry. The companies also take this into account, and most of the real cutting edge technology such as new processors, liquid-cooled chips and high-resolution graphics boards are designed for desktop PCs rather than laptops.

Price - you get what you pay for

Unless you're seriously into upgrading, a desktop PC is still cheaper than a laptop. And with so many people opting for the laptop, there are plenty of exceptionally good, second-hand desktop PCs for sale at a fraction of the cost of a top of the range laptop. Another major advantage of the desktop PC is that if one of the peripherals such as the keyboard or mouse fails, it is easy, quick and cheap to replace. Old, bulky monitors can be replaced by sleek, LCD screens and if you have a particular aversion to cables, wireless keyboards and mice can declutter your desk considerably.

All of this favours the desktop PC over the laptop, but if you're highly mobile, use a computer for work and spend much of your working day travelling between meetings, the laptop is head and shoulders above the desktop PC for convenience. Board any commuter train during rush hour and you'll see plenty of people making the most of their journey time by spending it working at their laptops. So for the go-getting businessman or woman, a laptop is the obvious choice. Once again, price is a factor, and laptops can range between a £150 bargain from Ebay right through to a top of the range AppleMac weighing in at just shy of £1000. It all depends on what you want your PC to do, where you want to do it and how deep your pocket is.

Despite the all-conquering laptop taking the lion's share of the PC market, there is still a place for the desktop PC, and it is doubtful that the laptop will ever completely replace the desktop unit. Rather, the two work in synergy with each other, with each having its own pros and cons. If you want to cover all the bases, have your desktop PC at home and invest in a laptop as well to cover you when you're away from your ‘basestation'. That way, you can have the best of both worlds!