Who prefers a laptop over your desktop? (1 Viewer)

[Pamela]

But how about actually trying to balance a stack of 81/2 by 11?s with the laptop and inputting. Does this work?

I bought a laptop document holder that clips onto the side. Also, the laptop desk is here: here

 

[DaveF]

Mary - don't forget to consider powering the laptop. Laptop batteries only last two or three hours before needing a recharge. With your work demands you would have to keep it plugged in. Make sure there's no problems plugging it in as you move around the house -- and consider buying a few extra power cords for the laptop so you always have a cord right where you need it.


I hope to soon have "2000+ ft of livable Stepford wives cookiecutter neighborhood" and look forward to getting a laptop with wireless network. Then I will no longer be locked away in an office working. I will be able to noodle around in the family room, do the budget in the kitchen, or work in an office.

 

[Matt Stryker]

Can I send to a printer via wireless now? or is this still a necessarily docked function?

As pamela said, it shouldn't be a problem. Most of the wireless routers (which will allow you to share your network connection between the two PCs) have a printer port on the back, so you can print from either computer to the same physical printer.

As far as pricing, check the "deals" section of this forum...Dell is really good about running very nice specials (sometimes 10%-20%) that might help pare down that price, or even get you a few free upgrades thrown in.

 

[Andrew W]

It's always good to have Desktop for the heavy work: digital video editing, digital photograpy, games and software development. Plus I like the fact that I can jam four huge hard disks into my tower chassis and work on a dual display.

My wife always has several notebooks around the house. She has a power adapter in the bedroom and the living room and we have wireless networking.

Both are useful depending on the circumstances.

 

[MarkHastings]

NickSo, No offense taken. Me never claimed be good at write-ing.


Ralph Wiggum: "Me fail English? That's unpossible!"

Homer: "Ligual dead?"
Lingual: "Lingual IS dead..."

 

[VinhT]

For me, my desktop is so versatile that it is indispensable. However, for light-duty work on the go, I have one of those thousand dollar disposable laptops. On paper, desktops may seem infinitely faster, but a long time ago, I noticed that anything over 300MHz is fine for non-multimedia work, including compiling small scale applications (I'm a patient guy ). Also, my laptop is far more durable than I ever expected. It gets none of the usual delicate treatment given to laptops. I refuse to own a laptop bag, so I just chuck it into my backpack. The case has plent of scratches, nicks, and dings. Has it been dropped? Yup. Thrown? Definitely. No liquid mishaps... yet. Will I ever be able to sell it? Not a chance. But, I am fairly satisfied with it, and plan to keep it until the battery capacity drops too low to be useful.

By the way, the limiting factor for how much work is done on my laptop is the touchpad. Sure, I could use a regular mouse, but that's just another thing to carry. Plus, my laptop is frequently used in situations where a flat surface for a mouse is not available.

 

[Michael*K]

I'll never, ever buy a desktop system again. Laptops just offer me way too much freedom. Having to stay tethered to a desk in order to use a desktop system is just soooooo 80's. I guess if you're into retro workflow, a desktop system's for you. Not for me, thanks.

 

[Justin Lane]

If I only had to own one computer, I would choose a desktop. If you are not doing much travel where you need your own computer, or for business presentations, a laptop is overkill for most people. A desktop will offer a higer level of performance at a lower cost, be ergonomically easier to use. Of course you could always add a docking station and monitor to your laptop, but if you are not doing extensive traveling, your laptop may very well remained stationed most of the time providing you with an equivalent desktop at twice the cost. If money is no object though, buy a laptop, docking station, external LCD display and be done with it.

That being said I own a couple desktops as well as a laptop and use them all frequently. Since adding wireless capability to my home network, I have found that I am using the laptop a bit more for non-work related tasks. It is nice to be able to go outside, sit on the deck, enjoy nature and surf the HTF.

J

 

[Andrew Pratt]

Andrew (congrats on your daughter!!!) may I ask a nincompoop ??

..I could go and look all this up...but as stated time is of the essence. If I purchase I'll hire someone to get it all 'talking' then deal with learning to tweak later.

Can I send to a printer via wireless now? or is this still a necessarily docked function?

Yes there's three ways to do this.
1. buy a wireless router that has a printer port on it. These are only parralel ports though so make sure your printer isn't just USB...also some printers need to have the bi cirectional support enabled to work properly but most (all?) routers won't allow for bi-directional informaiton. This bi-directional support is what tells you that you're running out of ink etc.
2. buy a regular wireless router and then buy a seperate print server box. These are likely more flexible then the built in printing ports on routers but I've never used one so I'm not as familar with them...its also an added cost vs. just buying a router with one built in to begin with.
3. the other option is to simply keep your old PC around and use it as a print server. If you leave the printer connected to the old PC you can share it across the network so its available to any PC connnected to the network. This is nice b/c it still allows bi=directinonal support and its "free".

If you keep your old PC around as well I'd install a decent sized hard drive in it and also use that to back up critical files from the notebook. Transfer rates across the network will be very fast so it won't take long to back up those files you spent hours working on just in case. This is essentially what I did only my "old" PC is still plenty fast enough for my wife to use (Athlon 1.4 GHZ). Its got the CD burner and printer attached to it and a spare hard drive that I copy critical files to. One day soon I think I'll add another dedicated file server PC to the network for back up purposes and as a common source for shared files (photo's , MP3's etc)

 

[Mike Voigt]

Mary,

what Andrew did is what I ended up doing. Desktop is server with battery backup, storage, and data backup. Networked printer. And a laptop for my wife that she moves around with. We use wired connections (a little less versatility than wireless) but I prefer them. That's ok, we have 7 in the house... so we can hook up pretty much anywhere.

Battery power is an issue, you'll snake power cables & adapters or else will need to purchase one of those long-term batteries (12h). We've talked about that, but haven't bought one, so no personal experience on whether they actually last that long...

Mike

 

[Andrew Pratt]

Some of the centrino notebooks can now last 6-8 hours on a battery which is pretty amazing. I get about 4 hours on mine which isn't bad considering my notebook uses a regular P4 CPU.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

If I were just a writer or somebody else with light-duty needs I could get by with a laptop. I work in an IT shop and I see broken ones every day, though.

I compile huge programs in VB and C++. At home, I process (not just stream) large amounts of video and audio, editing, mixing, and doing my own authoring. I've got gigs of RAM and RAID arrays even in my workstations. Time is money, who has time to wait?

I also play games.

Upgradability notwithstanding, the limited memory, drive, video, and general bus bandwidth of a laptop makes it a cute little toy computer, not acceptable for my needs.

 

[Mary M S]

Just wanted to touch base and express my appreciation for all the replies. Due in large part to your (mixed ) responses. Confirming some of the drawbacks I had anticipated with a purchase but also raising hopes that acquisition of a LT would free me from my corner!

I ordered one from Chembooks, it arrived late yesterday, so I have had no time on it yet. Hope to put in some hours this weekend. Will have to sort out all the wireless hookup through my DT etc, get used to the new OS and prob order some additional peripheral support..dock...on and on.

Unfamiliar territory (aggravating) but nonetheless I am excited.

Thanks to EVERYONE for their input!!
Happy 4th to ALL.

 

[NickSo]

Good luck with the notebook! Im thinking of getting a notebook as well when i go to university next year. This thread will be a great source of info!

Happy 4th to our neighbors to the south

 

[Matt Stryker]

Mary-
I saw this today on the front page at CNN and thought of this thread: http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/ptech/0....ap/index.html
Good luck with it, and enjoy the freedom.

Nick-
If you do get a laptop and take it to school, PLEASE get a laptop lock (Kensington makes a nice one). My brother had one disappear from his dorm hall this year, from a locked room. I see reports of them stolen all the time at work. Probably the best $30 upgrade you can make.

 

[Lance Nichols]

I use a Dell Latidude @ work now. My primary home systems have been, for the most part, "desktops" (well homebuilt mid/full towers). Gaming demands a desktop/workstation these days.

I have personally owned two laptops, a Compaq Armada 386/SX. I bought the copro and 4MB of extra RAM with it, loved that box, damned near indestructable. My personal favorite computer of all time was my IBM 701C Thinkpad. This was the most elegantly designed notebook ever! With the butterfly keyboard, built in sound, etc. I loved it. I reluctantly gave it up as my primary computer after installing Win2K on it (486).