When you’re in the market for a new computer, you have to make sure that you know what you need before purchasing one. Are you looking to get a laptop or a desktop? Not sure yet? Below are some tips to help you decide what to get.
Portability
If portability is a huge factor for your choice, there’s no question that a laptop is what you should get.
Laptops were manufactured solely for portability. Travelling? Check. Want a change of scenery as you work? Take your laptop to a coffee shop and work there. You can take it anywhere.
Desktops are not at all portable, because there are many peripherals connected to it and you simply cannot take it with you.
Upgradeability
Are you the type who replaces components with higher specifications as your laptop ages and specification demands go higher?
While both laptops and desktops can have certain parts upgraded, desktops are more upgradeable, because the motherboard ports allow more customizability. You can easily pull out old parts and insert the new ones.
You can upgrade certain components of a laptop, but not all of it can be upgraded. Most of the time, the only parts you can upgrade in a laptop are the RAM and hard drive. As another example, certain Apple laptops have their parts soldered on the motherboard, and thus, cannot be upgraded.
If upgradeability is a huge factor for you and supersedes portability, go get a desktop.
Power
There’s no doubt about it, desktops are more powerful than laptops.
While there are many laptops nowadays that have specifics catering to the power users, you can’t go wrong with a desktop if power is what you’re after.
If you need a powerful laptop, you can easily go for the Ultrabooks and laptops with higher specifications. These come at premium prices, however, so you would need to shell out a lot of money.
At the end of the day, your decision should be based on your overall needs taken into consideration. Computers don’t come cheap, so you have to be sure you’re going to be satisfied with your purchase.