I had many clients over time ask me whether they should get a laptop, or a desktop, or run both at the same time, possibly. The answer to this varies depending on what level you are at in terms of your computer usage, and should be considered upon very carefully. Not only does it differ in its costs, but it also makes your business experience very different.

If you are reading this with curiousity still, I will assume that you are not as much of a computer geek as myself. If you truly know what you’re doing, you need not read anymore. Why not read my blog about marketing flows instead? Now, if you do want to figure some more things out about this to make your decision, please read on…

Now assuming you are not a web developer/designer like myself, you need a medium-grade computer setup for business purposes with easy-to-use interfaces for USB cables, CD/DVD, Flash Drives, internet and what not, along with a good screen that will not get your eyes too tired from blurriness.
Pros of a Desktop

1. A desktop is always there, does not require you to set it up, plug anything in when you sit down to use it.
2. A desktop is cheaper than a laptop. Much cheaper. A decent laptop for business purposes, at regular price, will run you around $1,000 Canadian with taxes and what not, unless you get a cheaper deal. Chances are, though, it will be even more. A desktop that is decent for your purposes can be purchased or assembled manually by your local computer dealership for around $400~$600 actually, and add a monitor (often these package deals include all but the monitor).
3. The screens are larger (assuming you get a larger screen) to work on.
4. They often come with more USB ports. Many of them come with 4 in the back (for items that are constantly plugged in such as printers, mouse, keyboards) and 4 in the front (for flash drives, cameras, MP3 players and other items that are plugged in and out constantly), or perhaps even more!
5. It is easy to expand more drives on it. Having a DVD ROM and a DVD burner both makes it much faster to copy disks, and run multiple disks’ contents at once.
6. It is easy to expand another hard drive if you need to, although you probably do not need more than 60GB if you are not like me. Unless you are a music/movie fanatic.
7. It is easy to expand more cards in it for additional functionalities, such as graphic cards, although, chances are, you don’t need to, if you just use it for business purposes, not gaming or graphic editing.
8. It is more secure. Laptops are more likely to get stolen in public places and your data may be lost and/or exposed to others with malicious intents.

Cons of a Desktop

1. Obviously, it is not portable. You can only work at once place.
2. It is more exposed to damages due to power surges.

… That’s all I can think about, really. If you have other ideas please add in the comments.

Pros of a Laptop

1. It is portable. That is the greatest feature of a laptop. You can take it everywhere. Many cafes these days have wireless internet equipped, and most laptops manufactured come with wireless internet as a very basic feature. You can increase your productivity so much by getting more work time.
2. It can be used as a presentation device. This ties in with the portability, but I had many situations where I could review the files instantly without having to print anything out.
3. They often come with extra monitor slots as well as an S-Video slot you can use to hook up a secondary screen or a TV for the display. I can watch movies on my widescreen LCD TV using this S-Video connection!

Cons of a Laptop

1. The screens are often smaller. Although I personally have a 17′ wide-screen monitor, many of you will find it too large and too heavy. The most common screen size of laptops are 15.4′, and some (especially women) gravitate towards the 14′ models.
2. The keyboard is NOT a full keyboard, unless you get some of the 17′ models. The 17′ Macbooks don’t even have the keypad on the side, which makes number entering so tedious. You could get an extra keypad that connects via USB, but that’s just another gadget you need to carry around.
3. The touchpads are not as easy to use as regular mice, but you can always carry a small mouse in your laptop case.
4. For the above 2 reasons with the keyboard and mouse, you often need a full mouse/keyboard set sitting in your office so that life is easier at least when you’re sitting at home.
5. And for the above reason, there is the hassle of having to set everything up when you come home to your office. You need to connect the USB for the keyboard/mouse, your printer, and an external monitor if you like big screens where available.
6. You can’t expand more cards. They usually come with 2 slots for expansion.
7. Because of the limited size, they often don’t have more than 4 USB connectors. Mine has only 3.
8. They have a battery limit, which means you need to plug it in after using it for 2.5 hours straight. Most laptops come with an advertised battery life of 3 or 4 hours, but in reality, as you use it intensely with the screen bright, it lasts less than that.
9. You cannot expand another hard drive. You can only connect an external hard drive, which you would have to carry around with you if you needed the data all the time.

So. More pros than cons for the desktop breed, while we have more cons than pros for the laptop breed. BUT!!!

The few PROS that the laptop has, and the few CONS that the desktop has are bigger factors than the rest of the little reasons!

Here’s the conclusion. All those pros and cons that lead to the verdict of the desktop over a laptop are relevant ONLY if you use your computer intensively, and need to improve performance and add on parts. The simple factor of portability and increased productivity should drive you, as a businessperson, towards a laptop, not a desktop. The increased productivity and efficiency can make a tremendous difference in your performance.

Now you’re asking : “Why not have a laptop and a desktop?”

Unless you are diligent and computer-savvy enough to synchronize your files between your desktop and your laptop every time you come to your office and leave, this will drive you crazy. The files that you edited on your laptop is no longer up-to-date on your desktop, and vice versa. It can be such a hassle and a major pain in the ass. Synchronizing files sucks. It’s time consuming. It’s boring. And if you mess up, you may end up losing some files. Or you’ll put a bit of work on your file on your laptop and then a bit more on another, and you realize you’ve done it on seperate files, and you need to compare the two to make it right. It can waste so much time.

So. Why waste money on having both? That is why I recommend having just a laptop. It’s convenient, it’s powerful enough for your purposes, and with a bit more hassle each time you sit down at your office, you can have it all anyhow.

Let’s summarize :

You should get a laptop if :

• You are a businessman who works on files and data often.
• You do NOT require advanced gaming platforms and hardware.
• You do NOT require an expansively large hard drive that is always with you.
• You love efficiency.

You should get a desktop if :

• You require a very heavy-duty machine that is versatile for new parts, new upgrades and expansions often.
• You do NOT work outside your office or home very often.
• Your computer is an entertainment centre where you watch movies and play games.
• You do graphic/video editing intensively.
• You are absolutely short on cash and you cannot afford a laptop for now, and would rather save $400 and decrease productivity.

You should get both if :

• The purposes of using your laptop and your desktop are completely separate. You use your laptop for work, and your desktop for gaming, or video/graphic editing.
• If the above is the case, you do not mind having to copy files from one machine to another when needed.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 13th, 2007 at 3:33 am and is filed under Gadgets and Electronics, General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.