Community Newsletter: Q&A: Considering a move to a laptop full time, any advice?
- 4/19/07 2:39 PM
Laptop issues
by miles41 - 4/16/07 10:22 AM In reply to: From Desktop to Laptop by AlbyWFirst of all, a checklist is needed, a table or the like, to run down the basic features you need (from these posts) and the features you want (i.e. are you just doing word processing or is this a media center?. Consider if you are going to be travelling and thus would want a smaller screen, or is this going on your desk, get a large screen.
To add to all the other comments I would add two critical requirements:
At least 4 USB ports. Yes, it is possible to expand USB ports with an external device, but they are a pain and may not have sufficient power to drive everything. More and more, all peripherals come in via USB and you need as many ports as you can get. I use two USB ports, for example, for an external keyboard and mouse and a third for the printer.
Secondly, an external harddrive is basic, to have an easy back-up for your current data as well as not to be tied down by the smaller drives that are in laptops.
Laptop vs Desktop
by mvleftridge - 4/13/07 1:38 PM In reply to: Considering a move to a laptop full time, any advice? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
A laptop is necessary only if you have to have portability desktops are always more powerful (if you need power). desktops are more flexible (upgradable). You can always buy a cheap laptop for when you need portability.
moving to laptop
by kirby816 - 4/13/07 4:17 PM In reply to: Laptop vs Desktop by mvleftridgei think most people here are saying the same thing. a desktop for home and a laptop for the road or the yard, personally i have 2 desktops, mine and my wifes to keep her from deleting my files lol
and a laptop that i carry back and forth from my shop for when i need access to files or pictures stored on my home network. i love the portability but the power and upgradability of the desktops will keep them in my house.
bushwhacker
I did it...
by mpsawchuk - 4/16/07 2:36 PM In reply to: Laptop vs Desktop by mvleftridgeOut of necessity when my hard disk failed on my trusty old desktop; my laptop was there. I use a cooling pad ($49.99 at Best Buy) that also has a 5-port USB hub and I also had an external 7-port USB hub for my desktop ($27.99 at the Navy Exchange) These occupy the two USB ports on my laptop, into which I have plugged my desktop's wireless mouse, flatbed scanner, printer, photo printer, and various storage devices. My laptop also has a port for an external monitor and one PS/2 device (in this case I used my old keyboard which is a relic from two computers back; I think the system it came off was from 1998!) The flatscreen monitor for my desktop ended up plugging into my laptop and XP allows the user to extend his or her desktop to the external monitor, thus giving me a dual-screen setup (I understand this can be done with 2 screens and a desktop too, but you can't escape the fact that the laptop monitors typically have great resolution and are included in the purchase price of the laptop- in my case $350.00 on E-bay)
Consider the location of USB ports
by mjkahn - 4/13/07 3:52 PM In reply to: Considering a move to a laptop full time, any advice? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I work on a laptop 8+ hours a day, and have for the last several years. Once I got my chair height set right, ergonomics haven't been much of a problem for me, in spite of some comments already posted about screen and keyboard heights.
About 6 months ago, I moved from my old IBM ThinkPad (a reliable workhorse, but 5+ years old) to an HP Pavilion dv8000. I've been extremely happy with it, except for one thing: the locations of the USB ports. There are 2 ports on either side of the keyboard. The ports on the right sometimes get in the way of my mouse, and the ports on the left sometimes get in the way of the books or papers I'm working from. I wish my laptop had some ports in the back, where they wouldn't interfere with my desk area.
I suppose I could look into docking stations, but so far I've been able to work around this minor annoyance without the need to spend more money. But if you're looking for a new laptop, you might want to think about where you'll plug cables into it and whether those cables will interfere with how you use your work surface.
Best wishes,
MJ.
Use both!
by scayf - 4/13/07 4:49 PM In reply to: Considering a move to a laptop full time, any advice? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I use a desktop strictly for image processing, mainly because of the crappy display on my laptops. My laptops are for surfing the net, email, bill paying, i.e. online stuff.
I reckon if they all weren't 6+ years old, I'd stick with just a laptop. Tightwad that I am...
I've done it with laptops alone for over 14 years
by cleerice - 4/13/07 5:02 PM In reply to: Considering a move to a laptop full time, any advice? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have used laptops exclusively (various Windows versions) You pay more, get less expansion, but if something mucks up, you an cart it down for support much easier (never had to do this). They can be expanded (hardrives, more memory) and if you travel, there is no other option.
Travel is harder on a laptop than just sitting on a desk so be careful with it.
Now I am thinking of switching over to the MAcBool Pro. Hope they can teach an old dog new tricks.
Also, BTW...
by cleerice - 4/13/07 5:06 PM In reply to: I've done it with laptops alone for over 14 years by cleericeI don't use a monitor, keyboard, dock. Just a mouse.
Moving from Desktop to Laptop
by vijayaraghavank - 4/13/07 7:14 PM In reply to: Considering a move to a laptop full time, any advice? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hi David,
Well, I am a s/w developer and my bias is towards a desktop-laptop combination. I would urge you to think of your laptop as a temporary that you use when you are away from home and to think of a desktop as the primary machine. There are various reasons for this. Keeping this in mind, I would advise you not to splurge on a very expensive laptop. Like all technology, laptops too become obsolete. What is egregious about this though, is the fact that with a laptop you cannot do incremental upgrades of most of the components. Processor conks out? Motherboard burns up? Got a CD-Burner and now want a DVD-burner? Want additional hard drives? You are out of luck on almost of all of these things since touching any of this will cost you an arm and a leg. Let's take a simple example. I bought a Dell Inspiron 5150 in May 2004. Cost ~1800$ with the software. In Jan 2007, it conked out. It just won't boot. Now, this may be a battery problem or a motherboard problem or whatever. Shipping it to Dell to have it looked it costs 159$. If there are repairs made, then the costs are extra. Then of course, if your LCD breaks, it will cost you half the price of the laptop to get a replacement (assuming you can get one that is). So, overall, there are just too many factors that are not in your hands when you got with a laptop.
If all you want is to stay in touch and some basic word processing etc, get a simple laptop. Even if it lasts 2 years, you are in luck. For all your other needs, get a good desktop. If you have money, heck, get an Alienware or Falcon or something. Or if you are feeling adventurous, get a Mac! But the possibilities with a desktop PC are endless. You want to add additional drives? No problemo. You want to add another burner? No problemo. You want to expand to a larger screen. Easily done. You want two monitors? No sweat!
So, you see, there are definite advantages to preferring a desktop to a laptop with the desktop being a primary machine and the laptop an inferior cousin.
Mac Vs PC
by celes - 4/13/07 7:22 PM In reply to: Considering a move to a laptop full time, any advice? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hi David,
I am actually a college student. I switched to a mac last year. I have had a PC desktop for many years and now a Mac laptop. I believe that having a laptop is of course extremely portable. Especially at times while on the road, you can make quick notes or tend to your schedules. Also when you go onto trips with your family you can always upload the pictures the same night, updating everyone back home.
As other users also said, it also really depend on your uses. If you need to design or just simply love photography or making your own videos then Mac is the way to go. They have great softwares and can easily create products that are pretty close to perfections. However a Mac laptop isn't that great for gaming, it's more for designs, work and business.
As for upgrades, you don't really need to upgrade your computer that often. As long as you don't have way too many files on your computer. Besides you can always get external hard drives. They can be easily used to store the backups. Nowadays External Hard Drives are pretty cheap and can easily meet your demands. The one other great thing about Mac is that it doesn't crash as much as Windows does. Yes i do agree to those who says that a Mac also crashes but that's because sometimes a program is built onto one certain computer with a little fault in it leading to it trying to repair itself but couldn't.
Some users talked about overheating and overcharging your laptop battery. I have discovered that you can actually take your battery out and just connect the laptop straight to the AC outlet when you are using it on your desk. And when you are about to transport with it, you will always have a fully charged battery for at least 4 hours depending on your usage. It is much more convenient.
For a Mac computer, you don't exactly need any anti-virus or spy-ware program. These things are just not as common for a Mac, unless you download random things that just simply pops up on the internet.
On the other hand, there are some programs where Mac is just not compatible with. That's just because developers don't want to develop another set of programs when there aren't that many people who uses it. Which isn't true at all. Many Mac users wants to use those programs too, just that there are way better ones. Most of the time there are a better version of those types of program for a Mac than for a PC.
Well that's all I can think of at the top of my head right now. I hope this has been of great help to you.
Mac Vs Pc
by Spywell - 4/15/07 1:43 AM In reply to: Mac Vs PC by celesFirst off I am in college and also certified A+ N+ and security+. Second I use both PC and Mac in college, Third I have used desktop and laptops for a long time.
Considering the real question Desktop or Laptop here are some things to think about...
LAPTOPS
A good laptop with a 15.4" screen, duo core/X2 processor 60gb hdd, intel a/b/g wireless, 4 usb ports and dvd rw costs about $580-$800 or if you like mac a pc like this would cost $1100 and up.
If you are a power user and need the 2.16ghz duo cores or the newest AMD X2 you are looking at a latop that will cost $1600 and up. Or a Mac will cost you $2500-$3000
DESKTOPS
A good Desktop will have everything a $1600 laptop has and will be much faster and no more than $500 OR you can get a tricked out desktop for $300 on ebay
I love my laptops portability but even with its 2ghz processor it is slower than my 1ghz desktop. I do a lot of Video editing and photoshop and I also have worked with a team to do videos for an entire summer camp all summer. Our team used win XP and mac laptops. The desktops ran circles around the laptops.
I recommend you keep your desktop if you dont you could really be sorry later on. I use my laptop and take it everywhere and hardly use my desktop but when I'm in a jam my desktop has saved me and visa versa.
In response to
celes (Mac Vs PC 4/13/07 7:22 PM)
I use both op systems and a regular PC costs so much less and can do everything a mac can without the expensive updates and Software and heaven forbid your mac crash after applecare wares off. Besides cost a pc can run photoshop and premiere pro and if you know where to look you can get it (illegaly) on a pc (not mac). (PC can do everything a mac can do + it costs less and you can do much much more like games for example. Only good thing about macs is that they combine light weight and battery life. But they cost a fortune and genuinly are not worth it considering its limits.
Mac Vs Pc
by celes - 4/15/07 4:19 PM In reply to: Mac Vs Pc by SpywellThere are mac programs that actually runs like photoshop. And by the way i havnet had applecare for nearly 2 years now and it still runs Perfectly fine.
Think about it this way. Do you need to run defragmentation and really clean up your Mac once every few weeks? the answer is of course NO! Do you need to clear your whole hard drive and re-install your OS once every 1-2 years for a mac? NOPE!!! But for a PC you do!!! That costs a lot of time. Isnt it worth way more to just buy a computer and you can run it for at least 5 years or longer? Rather than to maintain it every few weeks?
Please be realistic people.
No problem...
by drobie - 4/13/07 7:49 PM In reply to: Considering a move to a laptop full time, any advice? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I'm a sole proprietor in a business which is relies heavily on a computer and am on mine many hours everyday.
I'm on a 4 yr "itch cycle" (replacement) and have used only laptops for the last 3 computers. (A Toshiba and 2 Dells.) I probably use it undocked only 10% of the time, but that 10% makes a laptop critical.
It's on a home network with a desktop and I use an external hard drive for backup.
Can't help with the "how to prepare" issue. Never had to.
Go for it.
Mac Book Pro 17" with Parallels
by brucefryer - 4/13/07 8:22 PM In reply to: Considering a move to a laptop full time, any advice? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
David,
Run XP/Vista and OS/X at the same time. And for a high end notebook, the Apple is actually cheaper. Hook all your accessories through a wireless port on the network. Docking stations are a PIA. Get a NAS device like the Iomega and hook that into the network. You can dump stuff onto it (set it up in RAID I).
...Bruce...
laptop alone, but plus
by clamoreaux - 4/13/07 8:33 PM In reply to: Considering a move to a laptop full time, any advice? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have been using only a laptop for 7 years. But I always use an external keyboard, trackball, and monitor. It has been my experience that the keyboard and screen are what wears out most often on a laptop, so I save the built-in ones for travel use.
External monitors and keyboards are cheap. And a large (external) trackball is better than any mouse IMHO.
I suppose it does help that both laptops I have used have PS2 ports for keyboard and mouse. A USB keyboard might be less desirable, I don't know about that.
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