OK, My PC at home died (motherboard issue, HHD is ok so no data loss) and I'm looking to get a replacement. What are your thoughts and opinions on going to a laptop only? I do some light graphics for various websites I work on, but other than that mainly just used for email and web connection. While I would like to say that money is no object with it, I need to keep my cost to about $700.00 ($1000, would be a stretch but doable) Thanks
Glad to hear you didn't lose your hard drive...... that really scares me, so I back up my important stuff every couple weeks minimum. I personally couldn't make it on just a laptop, I do too much with it, but it sounds like you don't really. You might consider that sticking with a desktop will be cheaper than a laptop of similar capability, especially since you can scavenge a lot of your old desktop parts for the new build. But a laptop is certainly capable for what you need. Heck, they even have really good ones for gaming now. And you can buy a USB mouse and keyboard to make it more comfortable at home. If you do go laptop, the one thing I wouldn't skimp on is a very well padded/impact resistant carrying case (if you'll take it with you places).
I have both.... And I never use my laptop unless I'm traveling, or don't feel like sitting in this room....But that's just me...I'm more comfortable with my PC...Actually, my laptop is much newer and has WAY more memory, and features...I'm just not comfortable with it......but very happy to have it on trips with all the hotels having Wireless connections in rooms now... Just my 2 cents...
Theres a small shop near to where I live that sells refurbished/used PCs. I have never actually bought anything from them, but I often go in to chat about PC related issues. Last time I went in there I was having great problems with my year old laptop, and I was asking for some advice. It was simple -he doesn't touch laptops and never will. He cited a couple of reasons: Companies like Dell and Acer who have flooded the market with cheap laptops. They do so by buying cheap, mass produced and often inferior components than the more expensive makes. These components will simply not last any length of time. (My Acer lasted 18 months -and I even sent it in for repair under warrenty ) Then to make matters worse, the more reputable companies, seeing that there losing market share also start using cheaper components, bringing down the quality throughout the whole market. Buying a Laptop has turned into an expensive gamble with no guarentee of quality, nor of any sort of meaningful warrenty no matter what brand you buy. Lastly, before I go into a long rant about how pissed off I am with Acer, its worth considering the price of replacement parts. A combo CD/DVD on a laptop will set you back £90. On a PC they cost about £20... Nuff said!
I am a laptop person, I have a couple and use them ten times more than the desktop. I use them in my truck, my car, at my desk, at my recliner, in bed, and sometimes even while making dinner. I love the world of wireless, and the loss of constraints of the desktop feel like a ball and chain.
To add to the above, I see them at BestBuy and Circuit City for well under that price from time to time.
I would be lost without my Panasonic Toughbook. It goes with me everywhere. I have four desk-tops at home and four Laptops that stay pretty busy but the Toughbook rules! My travel compliment is the TB, a Neatreciept scanner, a garmin USB gps, a Canon IP90 printer, A Canon multi-media projector, a 500gb external HD, a Bluetooth mouse with laser pointer, and a headset to make voip calls. This all fits into a Pelican case and gets checked with baggage.
I have several PC's and one Laptop and, like CRC, the PC's get the most work at home. I take the Laptop to clients but very rarely us it at home. I can replace anything on the PCs myself at a very reasonable cost but I find Laptop parts too expensive. Plus, it's been my experience that the laptops heat up too much and destroy components before they should fail. Just my experience and preference.
I switched to LT only about 2 or 3 years ago. It takes some getting used to and I STill double capitalize... but I have found that mine does everything that I need it to do. I don't game and don't play with pictures much bigger than 4 MB. I rarely even take it out of the house unless we travel. I just prefer it now.
kckndrgn, been laptop only for 4 years and I couldn't go back (have tired). $700 would be a little tight for a laptop but with the light duty work you do it can happen. Watch the Dell sales (if you like Dell) and you could squeak it by. If you come up with a little extra money I'd recommend an upgrade in RAM and the fastest disk you can afford.
I have done plenty of research on this subject, and I can honestly give you two great options that will suit your price range and your requirements. First, there is the resale price of your used computer, and notebooks keep more value than PC's. Second, there is the advantage of having portability and space saving with a notebook. You just have to decide if you wish to spend less on a PC desktop and gain the ability to upgrade it (not always cost effective), or go with a laptop by spending a bit more up front and keeping a resellable item. I purchased two laptops recently, and each has their own advantages; first is the SATELLITE series notebook, by TOSHIBA. The one I purchased has an AMD 64x2 processor, with 1gb of ram and a 150gb HD. The laptop comes with an ATI vid card, and will suit your needs well. It is a most excellent work computer and will run you about $800.--- The second is made by http://www.ibuypower.com (great deals right now before xmas), and it has an Intel duo core 2.4ghz processor and 4gb ram (for gaming). The model I bought was the Battalion CZ series Ultra, and has a GeForce 8600 512mb vid card, built in web cam, net adapter, usb, firewire, wireless card, and is fully customisable at the site. I could also choose Win XP Pro as an operating system, since Win Vista is a memory hog. This laptop ran me about $1500 with shipping (free to US shipments). This is basically a $3000 laptop elsewhere. Anyway, I would suggest picking up an AMD 64x2 processor based laptop. The prices are great right now, and they are teriffic processors. Either way, if you decide to buy a PC desktop and save some cash, the company I linked above is highly rated as being very dependable and has excellent equipment, as is currently described in the latest issue of PC Gamer magazine. You can find deals there for any type of computer you decide on buying.
Thanks for all the info!! I'm leaning right now towards the LT, a Toshiba Satellite TK-53 from "Worst"-Buy, on sale for $549.99 right now. Thanks again
FWIW, I have both. The desk top (tower) gets by far the most use, the LT goes with me when I have to hit the road. Other than that, the lappy's main use is 100% backup of all files, active and inactive. This I learned the hard way with a hard drive crash. Both machines are getting long in the tooth, probably to be traded or replaced next year. Based on the experience with high end Toshibas (which we have in the office) I'd make damn sure to back things up regularly. Nice, flexible machines, but they can and do die with very little warning. I'd suggest an external hard disk for regular backups, and possibly for holding a bootable sector. (Not to mention things like Firefox for web work if the main machine isn't to hand.) Best of luck with the chain store buy. Mine are both custom builds by my son for one, and the other a small dealer. Excellent service that way, with fast turnaround and no hassles. ('Course, no service has been needed --) Also, FWIW, I get not too good feedback on Vista thus far. SP1 is due out in a couple months, so I would NOT go Vista just yet. I have XP Pro, (SP3 due in parallel with V SP1) and it has functioned quite well as long as I don't try to get too fancy with customizing. It goes without saying you'll get some sort of AV immediately --
Don't mean to get off topic but regarding the backup, I'm now ghosting the whole drive to a second drive. If it goes down, I can pop in the second drive and I'm good to go. A really cheap and effective alternative to backup.
I got the cheapy lap top (Everex) from Wallmart for about $400 or a little under and aside from the fact it came with Vista and I havent changed that yet, I like it a LOT better than the desk top and use it almost exclusively. I even got my cell phone set up with internet and got a bluetooth dongle for the laptop and it makes it so that even if theres no Wifi cloud as long as I have cell signal I can use my cell phone as a modem and have a lot faster connection than 56k dial up.
How old is your desktop pc kckndrgn? If it has ddr memory in it, an AMD Athlon or P4 processor, and Windows XP, it might behoove you to just get a new motherboard. I do these upgrades all the time for people with their desktop pcs. You can get a really nice motherboard for under a $100 nowadays. If you have XP on it, you can just do a repair install to reconfig the OS to accept the hardware change and update the HAL on the system.
Conagher, It is an older system that I built, probably 5 years ago. Ancient by PC standards LOL. No, no XP, it's still running Win2K . I wouldn't mind just getting a new MB, and I may in the future, dunno. I have a pack rat mentality, so won't be tossing the dead PC anytime soon. Besides between workin' 2 jobs, keepin' up with a 3 yr old and having a pregnant wife I don't have the time to mess with re-buildin' a new PC. Thanks for the info though.
