Laptop.
I'm considering purchasing a Laptop, but I honestly have no idea what I'm looking for.
Could you list some major advantages and disadvantages of a Laptop when compared to a PC? I don't know a whole lot about the world of Laptops, and I'm sure they'll be certain things that I need to know before I go out flaunting my cash.
Thanks in advance.
"As the days go by, we face the increasing inevitability that we are alone in a godless,
uninhabited, hostile and meaningless universe. Still, you've got to laugh, haven't you?"
Disadvantages
1. You're always going to be thinking about battery life.
2. No matter what anyone tells you, an LCD display does not look as good as a CRT display. The colors become smudged on a laptop screen.
3. It's damn-near impossible to upgrade the thing yourself. You’re going to have to send it in whenever you want it upgraded (RAM, new HD, etc.).
4. No matter what anyone tells, a laptop is always behind desktops when it comes to performance. You'll have to wait a few months or more before you can play games like Half Life 2, while desktop users have already beaten the game.
5. They're kind of expensive (if you want a really good one).
6. The keyboard and pointer are annoying as hell.
Advantages
1. You can take them virtually anywhere.
2. If you get a satellite internet connection, access to the internet becomes available in the Sahara Desert if you want.
3. They look a lot cooler than desktops (unless your desktop happens to be an Alienware)
4. When it comes down to word processing, the internet, and other low-memory tasks, a laptop is indistinguishable when compared to a desktop.
As you can see, I favor desktops greatly, but it all depends on what you need your machine for.
I actually find the LCD screen image sharper on my laptop than the CRT my PC hasLooks much better for games, but then also shows artifacts when watching videos more clearly because of it
Battery life isn't too much of a problem on my laptop either, I can get a good 5-7 hrs off it if I'm doing stuff like word processing, or still a good 2-3 hrs with CPU intensive stuff like videos or games
The model you get also depends on how easy it is to upgrade. RAM tends to be the easiest to upgrade, just remove the cover, swap/add the RAM stick, then put the cover back. HD isn't as easy to change for a laptop, but you can always get an external drive if you need more space.
As for the keyboard pointer, that depends - I type about 50 cps faster on my laptop keyboard than PC keyboard
And laptops tend to have better support for TV-out ports than PCs do, and since they're portable, you can take them to the TV more easily and watch videos off the laptop on the TV
Disadvantages:
Don't drop it.
Don't lose it. At my college tons of laptops were stolen every year.
Unless you have a real need to use your computer out of your house on a daily basis, I'd just get a desktop. They're cheaper, faster, and better in mostly every way.
Get an Alienware Laptop, there upgradeable by hand I think, and they're cool as hell.
I had a laptop, once. I got caught outside in the rain with it before it was paid for.
I don't expect I'll be buying any more laptops.
Thanks for your advice, everyone. Especially you, Bleys, my little love crotchet.
I'll consider your points.
"As the days go by, we face the increasing inevitability that we are alone in a godless,
uninhabited, hostile and meaningless universe. Still, you've got to laugh, haven't you?"
Changing a hard drive isn't always that hard: the gateway we have needs the following steps:
unscrew the rack, pull the rack, unscrew the drive from the rack, put the new one, screw, insert the rack, screw.
It should always be that simple, too bad gateway sucks for spare parts, though (two power jacks dead), so I wouldn't recommend one.
And then there is Death
Make sure you get a good warranty with a laptop. It's not all overly important with desktops, but I'd definitely get one if I bought a laptop.
A laptop is just inherently so much more awesome than a desktop. The portability factor is just... sweet. You can take your computing anywhere.
The only disadvantages I would even consider is limited upgradability (a word?) and somewhat limited functionality (a corollary to the former). You find 2 USB ports are often not enough (depending on how much you use it, that is). You probably can't do advanced video and audio editing on it either (at least, I can't as well as I'd like to) and you probably can't play your PS2 off of it (once again, at least I can't).
Advantages are numerous. Portability, portability, portability. You can take it anywhere. Especially those 12" Powerbooks and the 10" Toshiba Notepads. I'd recommend the Notepad if you're into writing notes by hand and stuff - you just write on the screen, make little sketches and stuff... it's awesome, ideal even for a physics or engineering student who's gotta make a lot of diagrams (like me, except I don't have one. Grr...) Battery life isn't too often an issue - you're not really going to need more than 3 hours unless you're on a really long plane trip and you're really bored... however, if you're concerned about battery life, look into Intel's Centrino chip - it's supposed to reduce battery strain and stuff.
Best brands in my opinion are HP and Toshiba. Dell has these weird widescreen laptops that have messed up video cards that work with basically no applications. Sony is just way too expensive, and not as compatible with some external hardware. Alienware is great, but you usually don't need the souped up features unless you're a hardcore gamer or post-production specialist. My HP has served me quite well, and I got it for a neat $1300...
Meh, that's all. Do your own research as well.
IBM Thinkpads own btw. My brother has one (since he works for IBM =P) and it's really, really good, though I'm assuming the model he has is rather expensive. I've played games like Warcraft 3 on it and I'd say that's not something all laptops can handle ¬_¬
And here's where I'll stay / For ten years and a day
We're on a quest to find hidden treasure / And mystery on The Wild Sea
I never thought in a thousand years that an IBM Thinkpad could handle Warcraft III.
Now I'm interested.
"As the days go by, we face the increasing inevitability that we are alone in a godless,
uninhabited, hostile and meaningless universe. Still, you've got to laugh, haven't you?"
The only reason I'd buy a desktop over a laptop is because with the same amount of money, I could buy a more powerful desktop. We all know how fast computers become obsolete, and to buy a subpar system is a waste of money.
Knock yourselves down.
My IBM Thinkpad runs Halo pretty smoothly at 1024x768, although the video card doesn't support some of the nicer effects in the game so I dunno if you want to count that as cheating or not)
My brother has a widescreen Dell, and there doesn't seem to be any compatibility issues with it. And that CAN run Halo with all the full graphic effects unlike mine. It also has pretty darn good built in stereo speakers unlike most laptops where they'd otherwise sound tinny or flat or whatever.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
