cali_beemer Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 So, I got my desktop compter to my new place and it doesnt run anymore after about 8 years old. After some diagnosing, it appears to be a bad motherboard and not worh bringing back to life. SO I am starting to look into a new computer and I have the debate to go to a laptop or a desktop. It seems the value is in the laptop computer these days. I already have a nice Dell 20" flat screen computer so I would only need the computer. The things I use the computer for are internet, music storage, some video storage and potential editing, mocrosoft aplications and I wouold like to be able to run solidworks on it. The last program is the most demanding as it sucks up processing power, lots of memory and rewuires a good graphic card. So, waht do I lose if I go with a laptop over a desktop? Are AMD processors any good or should I stick with an i5 or i7 processor? Any new features I should be looking for? Link to comment
Selden Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 If you have Wi-Fi at home, probably go with a laptop. My desktop iMac is pretty much a dust collector at the moment. Supposedly IE9 screams with AMD processor. In my experience, RAM is more important than almost anything else; even the fastest CPU will be compromised if you don't have sufficient RAM, while a surplus of RAM can make even a modest CPU feel fast for most tasks. But, really, there is no "right" answer to your questions. Go to a store with a decent selection, and see what feels right for you. Whatever you choose, it will be "obsolete" in 12 months, but if it meets your needs, so what? Link to comment
BerndM Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 Laptops are really nice and have come a loooonnnng way in the last 10 years BUT they are a MAJOR PITA when it comes to trying to perform virtually ANY upgrade to them. You are basically stuck with what came out of the box. In that aspect, the desktop is infinitely upgradeable for relatively little money. Just my 2 cents Regards Bernd Link to comment
Skywagon Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 Laptop and Wireless router. Work anywhere in your home, take it with you, etc. Haven't used a desktop since 1995. Link to comment
Lmar Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 We have a desktop that hasn't been used for years. I think a laptop is the way to go. Wireless allows you to use it anywhere in the house. Get nothing less than 4 gigs of RAM. Link to comment
Danny caddyshack Noonan Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 It isn't optimal but, we issue laptops to run ProE and Unigraphics at work. These are, based on older versions, more demanding than SolidWorks. I don't know what the top level laptop/workstation is but, mine is a Latitude E6400. The workstation has a mondo screen and requires it's own special case. Link to comment
RichEdwards Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 Desktop and iPad. Best of both worlds. Link to comment
w2ge Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 I think each has it's place... I let my desktops run 24/7 and would never do that on a laptop. My view on laptop.. get a small screen one (i.e.13") and then it truly is portable. With the processing power your looking for I would do that on a desktop. Laptops RUN HOT... it's the nature of the beast. Everything is crammed in and uses heat pipes, cooling fans to the best of "their" ability but there is no space for air movement, etc... These are just my opinions.. but let me add , I'm co-owner of a PC shop and have been involved with PC's since my first CPM op. sys machine in 1979... I wanted to be an electronic engineer but became went into the medical field.. this is a side business, we are one of the only shops around that really tear laptops apart for repairs.. and I'm the only one that does them. (Other shops send them to me) P.S. I'm a BIG LINUX fan... and ham radio geek. Oh.. AMD, I like.. I used to really like and then they kinda gave up the HP, overclocking war with INTEL... so now I'm okay with both. Re: IE9.. NOOOOOOO, USe Google CHrome, fastest by far and safer. (And change your DNS servers to Google DNS Servers! "Tip of the day for ya')-"google it" if confused Link to comment
Kathy R Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 I can't imagine only having one place in my house to access the internet and having to duplicate expenses, so that I have a computer with me when I travel. 13" Laptop Secure wireless When needed a large monitor, wireless keyboard and wireless trackpad (all told only a few hundred dollars) Being limited to one desktop is like having a GPS with maps limited to your neighborhood Link to comment
upflying Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 I just got rid of my desktop. No regrets and I have way more room on my desk top now. Upgrades don't matter to me since opening a computer tower was a stressful procedure for me. Link to comment
Skywagon Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 W2....I leave my laptop running full-time unless I am rebooting for a download, leaving for a few days, or taking it with me. It has been on virtually 7x24 for nearly 7 years. Curious why you wouldn't leave it running but would leave a desktop running? Link to comment
w2ge Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 W2....I leave my laptop running full-time unless I am rebooting for a download, leaving for a few days, or taking it with me. It has been on virtually 7x24 for nearly 7 years. Curious why you wouldn't leave it running but would leave a desktop running? Heat... They fail more regularly due to heat and because the motherboard is so proprietary and such a beyotch to replace that if/when they fry.. forget it... they're "toast" (No pun intended..) I'm glad your laptop lasted 7 years 24/7.. that's amazing. Link to comment
Mike Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 Strictly an amateur opinion, but I prefer a laptop. I can haul it anywhere in the house, rather than being tied to one location. If screen size or having a full-size keyboard are issues for for you, you can always buy a large monitor and keyboard, and connect the laptop through a dock, giving you the best of both worlds. Link to comment
cali_beemer Posted March 20, 2011 Author Share Posted March 20, 2011 Strictly an amateur opinion, but I prefer a laptop. I can haul it anywhere in the house, rather than being tied to one location. If screen size or having a full-size keyboard are issues for for you, you can always buy a large monitor and keyboard, and connect the laptop through a dock, giving you the best of both worlds. And I already have a large flat screen to hook up. I was thinking I would eventually buy both but not sure how long before I ever can afford both. It just seems that a laptop with near the same specs as a desktop without monitor are nearly the same price. I was expecting more bang for the buck on a desktop. Usually the hard drive is larger on the desktop but that's it. We had a very nice lenovo laptop with the i5 processor but she got the laptop and I got to keep the old desktop. We would mostly use the laptop in front of the TV. I am now confined to a 12 x 12 room but I have a desk and room for a computer and there is wifi in the house. So what's in a brand name with a desktop computer? It seems when you open one up, it's just a bunch of components bundled together other than the case. I see prices for similar speced desktops all over the place Link to comment
Bob Palin Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 W2....I leave my laptop running full-time unless I am rebooting for a download, leaving for a few days, or taking it with me. It has been on virtually 7x24 for nearly 7 years. Curious why you wouldn't leave it running but would leave a desktop running? Heat... They fail more regularly due to heat and because the motherboard is so proprietary and such a beyotch to replace that if/when they fry.. forget it... they're "toast" (No pun intended..) I'm glad your laptop lasted 7 years 24/7.. that's amazing. I have 4 laptops running 24/7 in my house, one of them has been for over 5 years. However, I agree that heat can be an issue, mostly I think because they get clogged with dust. The older two both get hot and the 5 year one (running my weather station) does mysteriously turn itself off occasionaly. The second oldest one I have supported by some plastic cups giving it about 4" clearance from the desk, that keeps it out of the worst of the dust and allows better air circulation. The two newest ones don't seem to have heat issues yet, both are about a year old. All four are Toshibas. The older two have about 100,000 miles on the back of the RT between them, the oldest one was dropped on a concrete floor and smashed the screen, it still runs just fine with an old monitor attached. I like Toshibas! Link to comment
w2ge Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 Even the case is made from some other company with the "Brand Name" logo on it... Yeah, PC companies generally (if not ALL- even INTEL) do not manufacturer their own components.. They do "spec out" what they want to Chinese/Taiwan manufacturers and take the lowest bid... thus crap MB's. Build your own, it's too easy and you get much better components. Look at Tom's Hardware Guides if you don't know what to order and Newegg has "builders-kits" with all the components already picked out for you and generally good stuff. (P.S. Go for Gigabyte Motherboards... VERY good these days) i.e. MSI MB, Seagate Drive, Intel CPU, Cheapo Ram.. etc.. and you think your buying a DELL! hehe Link to comment
w2ge Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 @Killer.. Yep, absolutely dust is a killer in laptops.. (desktops, too) All the fans along with the static charge and PC's/Laptops are dust collectors. I have taken apart laptops and the CPU heatsink is TOTALLY clogged with dust (usually CAT hairs)as well as the fans themselves die due to wear and dust in the bearings... Almost certainly when laptops, PC's turn-off by themselves it is overheat issues (Northbridge and/or CPU heat sensor) and the BIOS shuts it down when it hits a specified overheat temp. Vacuum it out and try blowing all the dust out with a compressor (Not too high pressure, and make sure it's off! Don't ask me why....) Oh yeah.. I recommend TOSHIBA laptops, too. Absolutely. Link to comment
Twisties Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 Ryan, I think a laptop with the same specs as a beefy desktop is gonna weigh a lot, and be a battery hog. In my mind it only makes sense as a laptop if what you really need is a barely movable desktop. On the other hand, these smaller lightweight laptops with modern busses, 64 bit, and W7 are pretty amazing. As I said on another thread, my little Acer ulv 1300 mhz dual core laptop can run Lightroom, where my older XP dual core AMD with more than double the clock speed could not. With the 90-day return policy at Costco, my suggestion would be to try a 13" ulv dual core laptop and see if it does what you need it to. 4 gb ram, 64 bit, a real graphics card. I still use my desktop for final image processing because of the large color calibrated monitor, and the much faster processing, but the laptop is adequate for processing. Link to comment
David Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 I use a 17" laptop as my main machine, and just plug it into a 30" monitor when I'm back in the office. It's running the Intel 2.3 GHz Core i7, which is essential a 4 core (8 back and forth processes) processer. 8GB of ddr3 RAM. 480GB SSD for storage. It'll run circles around most desktops on the planet, I'd guess. I haven't owned a desktop in a 15 years. Link to comment
DiggerJim Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 Laptops are really nice and have come a loooonnnng way in the last 10 years BUT they are a MAJOR PITA when it comes to trying to perform virtually ANY upgrade to them. You are basically stuck with what came out of the box. Most people will only upgrade to add disk space or memory - I'd say both are easier done on a laptop now than a desktop. (Been doing both since the Compaq Lunchbox was the "laptop" du jour.) Most laptops you flip over, unscrew a door and can slip out either the drive or the memory. With a desktop I have to remove cables, unscrew the box, finagle it off the frame, pull the drive out of the cage, add spacers if needed for the drive bay, etc. etc. Just dropped a new 500GB drive into an Asus netbook for $55 this weekend - less than 10 minutes from box to firing up the restore. To the OP's question - go with a laptop with wireless (secure) in the house. I've got 2 desktops running & can't remember using one. The kids use them so we know what they're doing (the boxes are downstairs not in their bedrooms). YMMV Link to comment
beemerman2k Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 Desktop and iPad. Best of both worlds. I like this approach only because I run some serious resource hogging apps on my computer (Microsoft Flight Simulator, Crysis and all manner of games, Adobe Lightroom 3, etc). I prefer my desktop far more than my laptop as my computer is located in a very convenient location, so I don't care about roaming anyhow. Having said that, I am looking to buy a new AMD based desktop with a minimum of 8GB RAM (preferrably 12GB), a kick butt graphics card, and a huge power supply to drive my 7TB or so of hard disk drives. I also enjoy running Linux, Windows Server 2008 R2, and other OS's using virtual machine software. I don't have an iPad, but I do have an iPhone, and that's great for roaming pretty much anywhere! Link to comment
Jerry Johnston Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 Laptops are really nice and have come a loooonnnng way in the last 10 years BUT they are a MAJOR PITA when it comes to trying to perform virtually ANY upgrade to them. You are basically stuck with what came out of the box. Most people will only upgrade to add disk space or memory - I'd say both are easier done on a laptop now than a desktop. (Been doing both since the Compaq Lunchbox was the "laptop" du jour.) Most laptops you flip over, unscrew a door and can slip out either the drive or the memory. With a desktop I have to remove cables, unscrew the box, finagle it off the frame, pull the drive out of the cage, add spacers if needed for the drive bay, etc. etc. Just dropped a new 500GB drive into an Asus netbook for $55 this weekend - less than 10 minutes from box to firing up the restore. To the OP's question - go with a laptop with wireless (secure) in the house. I've got 2 desktops running & can't remember using one. The kids use them so we know what they're doing (the boxes are downstairs not in their bedrooms). YMMV Add a removable drive bay to your desktop and it's even easier then your laptop. You can get them for 2.5" or 3.5" SATA or 3.5"ATA Link to comment
JayW Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 Oh yeah.. I recommend TOSHIBA laptops, too. Absolutely. I have had a couple of IBM (now Lenovo) ThinkPads that have held up very well under ongoing heavy use. The first one is now over 6 years old and still gets used all day 5 days/week, and the T60 is now my personal workhorse. I bought the T60 just before the industry started forcing everyone to buy "shortscreens". I have gotten spoiled by IBMs high quality keyboard feel too. Just my 2 pennies. Jay Link to comment
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