Laptop v Desktop ?

[gettingeasier]

Hi

I am moving house post divorce and have a tired old desktop and a laptop. I have 2 dc and we all use the pcs for email and a few bits and bobs but not much else

I have no pc know how and need to consider cost and dont know whether to replace the desktop with the same or get another laptop .

Couldnt find a techie area so posting on here

Thanks

For our family: desktop was quite old. DH and DD both had a laptop (one of them was for work). It worked out cheaper for me to have a laptop(c £400 PC World, Acer) than to replace the desktop. Also has freed the desk top. Daughters laptop was second-hand, about £100 I think, but still going strong 18 months later. For a while I had a Notebook, also second hand, that was cheaper and adequate at that time, til it wore out. Hth.

If you want latest recomendations from a certain consumer magazine, tell me what you want to know and I will PM you.

I, too, have no technical know-how, but persuaded my techie dh that we should get a laptop with docking station (ie it becomes a desktop with a proper screen, keyboard, and mouse). I'm very pleased we did, because it means we can - and do - use the computer anywhere in the house, yet still have the big screen and comfortable keyboard and mouse for longer or more complex typing/picture-editing/game-playing sessions. I hate typing on the laptop keyboard - because I'm a touchtyper not a twofinger, I'm always brushing the mousepad with my thumb.

BTW the techie area on MN is Topics:Other Stuff:Geeky Stuff. You can start a new thread there, if you want, or you can report your OP to MNHQ and ask them to move the thread into the Geeky Stuff topic.

basically laptops are more convenient in that you can move them about. But generally they are more expensive and more likely to get broken. With desktops you can get more for your money, but limited on location.

Desktop also have bigger keyboard and monitor - which for me is important. Making the same decision a few months ago I went for a new desktop for about £300 - couldn't get anything in a laptop that I wanted for that price.

If it was for all the family to use, I'd go for a desktop. Reasons:

1. They are less fragile, less likely to overheat, and more easily serviced
2. The bits that are most likely to be accidentally damaged - keyboard and mouse - can be replaced very easily and for very little money
3. Cost/performance is better with a desktop than a laptop
4. Because it stays in one place, you can put it where you can keep an eye on what the DCs are doing on it (this was a biggie for me)

I bought a very cheap desktop from Mesh for my DCs and it's been fine. They're not a great vendor but I'm a techie so I knew what I was looking for.

Rather than buying a flat-panel monitor to go with it, I bought a 19" LCD TV that had the right connectors on the back to connect it to the computer. It was effectively the same price as a monitor but it meant I then had a second TV which has been very handy. As you've already got a desktop you could just re-use your existing monitor.

Thankyou for your advice, I may take you up on that offer sloggies !

Snorbs does that mean if I did what you describe my ds could play on his PS3 through it ?

I am torn between the convienience of a laptop and all the plus points Snorbs listed about a desktop !

What I really want is to throw caution to the wind and get an ipad

If you get an LCD TV that's got the appropriate connectors on the back then, yes, you could plug a PS3 into it.

As I understand it, the PS3 can connect to a TV in one of three ways:
HDMI - a single, roughly rectangular connector
Component video - five round connectors
Composite video - three round connectors

HDMI gives the best image quality, composite the worst. Most LCD TVs will come with an HDMI socket or two and many come with composite video connectors. Component video is rarer on smaller LCD TVs.

The connection from the desktop to the TV would likely be either HDMI (if the desktop has an HDMI socket and you've got a spare one on the TV) or VGA (a 15-pin, D-shaped connector). HDMI will also allow the TV to act as speakers for the desktop. With VGA you'll need a (very cheap) stereo cable to carry the sound to the TV or just use separate speakers.

"I am torn between the convienience of a laptop and all the plus points Snorbs listed about a desktop !"

Then get a laptop with docking station

Laptops with docking stations are handy. But they tend to be expensive as it's the typically the business-class laptops that have the docking station capability rather than the consumer-class ones.

You should be able to connect your sons PS3 to a PC screen, DH can connect the X-Box that way.

My main machine is a PC, I?ve been able to keep it going longer as you can add bits to the inside to keep it going longer than a laptop (if you know someone who is good at these things). My PC should be long gone by now but it keeps being resurrected with new bits. DH is in charge of fitting the ?new bits?, memory etc?

We have laptop too but it is a bit more fragile and you are limited to a laptop the screen size.

I think I will do a desktop with the LCD screen idea

Thanks