Tuesday, 4 September 2012
of a computer in a handy size and easy to
carry case. The handy notebook size was the one that defined notebook
computers. There was not even a replaceable hard disk or other peripherals associated
with them initially.
The two have similar origins and use but differ in terms of size and
functional capacity.
Comparison chart
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Desktops
vs. Notebooks
While
"regular" desktop PC systems have always been and likely always will
be the way that most people buy PCs, notebook PCs (also called laptops)
have become very popular in recent years. At first they were almost exclusively
the province of big business "high rollers" due to their very high
cost. Now the cost of some notebooks PCs has come down dramatically, and they
have really entered the mainstream. Many people use a notebook as their only PC
today, and for some they offer advantages that make them very worthwhile.
However, notebooks also represent a trap that far too many people fall into.
Let's
illustrate the reality of desktops vs. notebooks by looking at the relative
advantages of each. First, the advantages of desktops over notebooks:
·
Price: Desktops are always cheaper than
notebooks for comparable performance and features. In fact, they are often half
the price or less. (Although part of the reason for this discrepancy is the LCD
screen used on notebooks; see below for more on this subject.)
·
Performance and Capacity: Most desktop PCs
provide better performance than notebook PCs in addition to
being cheaper. For example, you can't get at any cost a
standard hard disk for a notebook that is as large as the ones shipping in
better desktop setups. You can't get a 10,000 RPM hard disk for a notebook. You
can't get a 21" monitor; etc.
·
Technology Lag: With rare exceptions, new technologies
show up in desktop PCs at least six to twelve months before they make their way
to notebooks. Notebook users are always "behind the technology curve"
relative to desktop users.
·
Reliability: Due to the extreme miniaturization and
difficult design constraints inherent in the compactness of notebooks, and the
fact that they get moved around a great deal, notebooks are considerably less
reliable than desktops. The "rule of thumb" figure I last saw was
that a notebook was ten times as likely to require service as a desktop. That
seems a bit high to me, but regardless of the exact number, it is significantly
more likely that a notebook PC will need repair. They are fragile and must
always be treated with care.
·
Expandability: Desktops have far more expansion
options than notebooks. A desktop PC has expansion slots that let you add any
of a variety of thousands of hardware cards. Notebooks now have PC card slots,
which are a wonderful improvement over how things were before
they were invented. Some notebooks also have available docking stations that
can take one or maybe two expansion cards (at considerable expense). Still,
there's really no comparison; desktops are much more expandable.
·
Selection: There are thousands of notebook models
made by hundreds of companies, but there even more options for desktop units.
This is also less of an issue than it was several years ago, but still, you
don't have nearly as many choices for notebooks as you do for desktops.
·
Configurability: When ordering a new notebook you will
have fewer options for customizing your configuration than you will for a
desktop. Most notebook manufacturers have a number of different standard
configurations from which you can choose, but limited options beyond that
point.
·
Upgradeability: Most desktop PCs have a myriad of
upgrade options available to them; more memory can be added, hard disks easily
replaced, and sometimes, even the system processor can be upgraded at low
expense. A motherboard upgrade can be a bit pricey and difficult, but is much
cheaper than getting a whole new system while yielding many of the benefits. In
contrast, despite improvements in recent years (user-upgradeable memory and
hard disks being the most obvious) notebooks have few upgrade options.
And
again, having said all of this, bear in mind that notebooks have actually
greatly improved in several of these areas over the last few years! This is
especially true in the areas of expandability, selection and reliability. Yet
still, the gaps persist, and likely always will. Now, let's take a look at the
advantages of notebooks over desktops:
·
Portability: Notebooks let you "take your PC
with you". You aren't tied down to one location; you can work at the
office and your home with the same equipment and the same data. You can work in
transit, and take everything with you on trips.
·
Power Savings: Notebooks use much less power than
desktops.
That's
pretty much it! And in fact, that's what the decision of desktop vs. notebook
comes down to: how important is the portability to you? Do you really need
to take the machine with you? For many businesspeople, the answer is a
resounding "YES!" However, some folks (including myself once, many
years ago) talk themselves into buying notebooks by greatly overestimating how
much traveling they will do, or based upon romantic notions of writing the
Great American Novel on the beach in the moonlight. Unfortunately, that's not
how things usually work out in the real world. :^) So be sure to be honest with
yourself about your portability needs.
To
be fair, there's one other important and usually overlooked advantage of
notebooks that should be discussed: they come with LCD screens. Many people
find LCD screens "night and day" superior to conventional PC CRTs,
including this author. These screens are expensive, and their presence on a
notebook PC is one of the reasons for the increased cost of notebooks. Now that
LCD monitors are available for desktop PCs, and people are seeing their very
hefty price tags, buyers are starting to better understand part of the reason
why notebooks are so expensive. At any rate, if you are an LCD screen lover
like me, be sure to add in the cost of a desktop LCD monitor into your
comparison of desktops and notebooks; it will greatly narrow the cost gap
(though the other limitations of notebooks will remain). If you haven't used an
LCD screen before, compare one to a CRT sometime--you may find yourself hooked!
:^)
Of course, the LCD screen on notebooks is also part of
the reason why they use so much less power than
