Discussion Laptops VS Desktops

[jnjnilson6]

In the last 10 years the desktop market has decreased twofold at the benefit of an increase in regards to the laptop market.

Sitting on the edge of the night and typing away, the keyboard shining frailly, the thinning expanse of your laptop sitting there, reflecting eternity, beeping lightly with the speed of the fans... It would be a redolent experience, reminding you lightly and remorselessly of the days gone by in which you used to power on your desktop in the night and gaze through the darkened monitor and experience the same thing yet in more memorable and bulbous nuances... Those immemorial and arresting words, typed over the whitened keyboard, the solidity and gloom-filled solidarity of the big box and the display, the fleeting hours spent... And again, the darker keyboard of the laptop, the sleekness of the proffered words typed away, the sobering mobility and portability, the glad revelations connoting the possibility of grabbing the machine and taking it away - practically anywhere... Briskly fleeting, unrememberable hours!

I've always said that desktops are better for gaming than laptops due to the parts themselves and better cooling.

But, generally, which type of system do you prefer and why?

Would be glad to hear about it!

Thank you!

 

[USAFRet]

But, generally, which type of system do you prefer and why?

I have some of both, whatever meets the actual needs.

 

[jnjnilson6]

I have some of both, whatever meets the actual needs.

I've, personally, turned to laptops and have been going generally at it since around 2013/2014. (Just for clarification, I've had many laptops before too.) The last desktop I'd had was an i7-3770K with 16 GB RAM, a 1 TB Samsung 850 Pro (which I'd later used in my laptops) and 2x Radeon HD 7870 GHz in Crossfire... It was quite the thing back in its day. I've gone down the immemorial pathway of cheap laptops until practically last November, when I got a laptop with a high-end CPU, the first real upgrade after the Core i7-3770K.

 

[hotaru.hino]

If you were to force me to choose one or the other, I'd rather go with a laptop. The versatility of where I can use it outweighs any loss in absolute performance.

 

[CelicaGT]

I'm in the camp that believes that multi use tools are generally just meh for any given task. I'm not talking about all out performance but the trade offs between portability, ergonomics, performance and battery life (for those devices to which that applies). I have my desktop for all out gaming, a gaming laptop for gaming on the road or in front of the TV if it's a controller friendly game, and a MacBook Air for general use in and out of the home or when I can't be encumbered with cables, chargers etc. Software has to be considered as well in regards to my somewhat light officey type tasks. For my Windows machines I would need to pay for an office suite, as well as a PDF editor and converter. These things are included with the Mac so there is a cost reduction there. I know there are free alternatives but they do not fit my needs at the present and the Mac just....has them already and updates etc are handled with the OS. Correct tool for the job I guess. To be clear, what would be a budget for a high end desktop (or almost 2) is split 3 ways so there are compromises, but it works for me.

 

[sonofjesse]

Desktops 100% for me. Desktops are so much better for me personally (some is subjective, some is objective) .

I have a good case and a good power supply. I can easily upgrade RAM/CPU/MB/VIDEO card (whichever I choose) and keep the case/powersupply.

Working desktops are better
Airflow is better
Portable is NOT better.

Even when I had a nice gaming laptop I always went back to my desktop (real keyboard and mouse), dual monitors etc. Now you could do that with a laptop, but why pay more for lower performance?

Now if you can only have one machine and you travel etc, I see the benefit in a laptop.

This is like what is better a Camry or F350 it depends.........

however for me I find desktops the best and laptops pretty worthless for me personally (would rather have a tablet in most situations or just my phone)

 

[USAFRet]

This is like what is better a Camry or F350 it depends.........

Thats why I have an F-150 AND a Mini Cooper.
Or, a desktop for most uses, and a laptop for traveling.

 

[Tac 25]

desktop for me. More easier to upgrade the cpu / gpu. Also I don't have to worry about heat.

my brother has two laptops though, so it's just a matter of preference.

 

[little_me]

depends on a budget too, sub 500usd/EUR laptops tend to be somewhat... lacking in memory, cpu and storage.
so if goal is to do anything heavier than office work, they are not really an option.

I prefer desktop myself but I've had laptop or two in case I need to go somewhere and do stuff there.

so.. I think it goes into budget category for most people.
if budget is 1000 or under, you can get low level desktop (will play games fine in 1080P resolution) and really cheap laptop for occasional out of place work.
anything under 1400 and I'd forget getting both and get either one, most likely desktop since I prefer them but... you can get good laptops at 700+ price, not "gaming" laptops but they'll start to have some options for use outside basic browsing and office work. You need to know what you want though.

at 1500+ you can get good enough laptop and separate keyboard/mouse/display and you can most likely start to play games in that 1080P range with details while still having option of grab laptop, run somewhere else.

for 2000+ you kind of start to have option to have decent/good in both. Forget 4k gaming at high fps though, GPU prices are still utterly mad.

so.. I think due to prices and budget people allocate to computers, desktop+laptop is out of budget for most and then they choose possible mobility.

Having had desktops for years kind of allows you to do small upgrades on either platform as you want since lets face it, old 3770 or 4770 can still do windows well and past most recent games, if you wont go over 1080P they work well enough.

TL;DR;
I prefer desktop but have both.
most choose laptop as 1st computer due to it's versatility/mobility, not necessarily cost effectiveness.

 

[Nighthawk117]

My primary machine is a desktop, more powerful hardware and lower temperatures make it better suited to heavy sustained workloads.

I also have a much less powerful laptop that I use around the house and away from home though.