CATS 2 Essay

Comparison Essay: Which is better, laptop or desktop?

The home computer has always been important, with many homes having a desktop computer, but now the market has evolved, and now laptops are a must have for the home, or are they? In this essay I will go onto compare laptop computers to desktop computers to see which is the most functional, reliable, cost effective and best for each user. Though in this essay I will go onto compare these two products my ultimate goal is to see which is the most effective for me, as a consumer. Also instead of comparing specific models, I am going to compare these products as a product, and not their branding and price range.

As with many people I have come to a cross roads in my life, with the big question being “Should I buy a new computer?” I recently bought myself a laptop, with it being the new ‘craze’ and have become increasing frustrated with it. As a rule of thumb desktop computers have always been the more powerful processing computers, and easy to customize as opposed to their portable, sleek counterparts. This leads me onto my comparison, to find which is best for me, sticking with my laptop, or buying a new desktop.

I remember buying my first computer, which was a laptop, at the time we had a home desktop PC which I rarely used, because it was downstairs, whereas my laptop was in my room. On the occasions when I did use the home desktop I knew it was faster, and more reliable than my laptop, but I still maintained that my laptop was more useful for me, mainly because I could take it anywhere, and I didn’t have to worry about wires, so on nice days I could take it outside and go on my laptop in the sun, all be it for about 2 hours due to battery life.

This leads me onto a very important topic of my comparison being the functionality of both laptops and desktops, and how easy they are to use and which can you live with day in, day out. As computers have evolved one of the primary things that have improved is how easy these computers are to use, and the interface of these computers. One of the big differences is the portability of laptops, as opposed to the static desktop, with its separate mouse, keyboard, monitor and tower unit. As the laptop is one sealed unit they can be used anywhere, and with the invention of Wi-Fi you are able to roam the net from anywhere, and not just your desk. In the modern world a laptop is a must have, as on those 3 hour train journeys you can now work on your laptop, instead of ploughing through a word search book.

This is all good and well, but you’re always going to have the power problem with a laptop, and the constant threat that you’re laptop may loose power and you then loose around 4-5 hours of work, whereas this isn’t a problem for the desktop computer as they are connected to the power constantly. The portability of the laptop is defiantly one of its biggest strengths, especially for someone like myself, a student who needs to work on the go, no mater what kind of desktop you have, and however many thousands you’ve spent on a graphics card, you still can’t take it into a lecture theatre and use it to take notes. Like all good things, the portability of laptops has a huge Achilles heel, and that it is the human element. With a laptop being portable it’s only a matter of time before you sit down with a coffee, and you’re laptop and end up spilling it all over you’re laptop. Though this isn’t a problem with the laptop as a unit, it is still a common problem and no matter whom you are, what kind of laptop you have you’re bound to spill something on it eventually.

Though a laptop is portable, there are arguments as to how portable it is, especially when you take into account that a laptop is only portable for as long as the battery allows. The power problem is an interesting comparison when looking at both desktops and laptops, you would think, that with its bulky design, and separate monitor and hardware that the desktop must take it far more electricity and thus have much more power that a laptop, but this is exactly the case. The modern laptop can boast a very generous 4-5 hours of battery life with very fast charging times, but this figure can never be accurate, as the battery will drain at varying degrees depending on what you are doing on a laptop. If you are just browsing the web then you will be getting the full 4-5 hours, but if you are doing more intense work, such as video editing, then your battery could only run for 1-2 hours.

I cannot deny that by using a laptop you will be using less electricity, and therefore saving money but you have to take into consideration that a desktop will use less power when doing the same thing a laptop would be, for example, if you were browsing the web on your laptop, while having it plugged in, and browsing the web on your desktop it is in fact the much larger desktop that will use less power. The reason for this is simple, but many people don’t know this, but it is because the desktop computer has more processing power, and better cooling, so browsing the web is a much easier task for the desktop and requires less power, as opposed to the laptop which requires more power to do tasks. Though through looking at my research I found this difference to be minimal, at most, it will still add up.

A laptop will save you money on electricity in the long run, but this leads me onto my next comparison being the cost of a personal computer, and which is best for the price, a laptop or a desktop? This is a difficult area for comparison, and the best way I found of doing this was to simply compare a desktop, and laptop which cost the same, or near enough, price, and look at what you are getting for your money. In the interest of fairness I am just going to be comparing buying a laptop, and buying a desktop, without the monitor and keyboard to begin with, but I will later look into adding the monitor and keyboard to the price. The laptop and desktop that I am going to compare will both be the same brands.

I will now show both of the model of desktop and laptop that I am going to compare, and the statistics that both products have, including the processor, RAM and graphics card.

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As you can see from my comparisons that both laptop and desktop are from the same manufacturer and are in the same price range, or around 320-350 pounds. The differences are not small, though when you take into consideration that when buying the laptop you are buying a entire unit, with the screen, touchpad and keyboard, and for this desktop you are only buying the tower unit the differences seem much greater. The desktop has a much greater processor meaning it is able to do tasks much easier and faster, while using less power than the laptop. Both laptop and desktop have a similar Random-access Memory (RAM) and graphics cards, but now we have two more huge factors to put into consideration.

 

The first of these factors is, as previously stated, that this desktop computer that I am comparing is only the tower unit, and if I was to then buy a monitor, keyboard and mouse for this tower it would only add up, and when you compare the figures you can see that the laptop is only slightly cheaper, and it’s figures are only slightly less impressive. If you add the cost of the monitor and other hardware, it could reach in access of £400, to which you could buy a laptop with figures to rival the desktop within that price range. Another factor to take into consideration is the customizability of the desktop, though this will be much more expensive, you can still customize your desktop in order to make it far superior for much cheaper than you could be a laptop with the same specs and figures.

 

In summary it is looking as though buying a desktop computer is the oblivious choice which will be the most suitable, but it is not as one sided as it seems. Though the desktop as a rule of thumb tends to have more power, and to be more reliable you can’t take away from the laptop the fact that it is a portable device, which is a huge selling point. In the modern times we live in laptops are very useful as they can be used on the go, for use on the train or just in the garden, but regardless of where you use your laptop you have to take into account that you have the freedom to take it anywhere, whereas your desktop computer is not portable, without great difficulty.  The age we live in dictates that working ‘on the go’ is very important and thus the laptop accommodates for this need, making it very useful.

 

However you still cannot overlook the desktop computer, as it is so much more reliable than a laptop computer and can be used from home to do a lot more work, and not have to worry about running out of battery. The desktop computer has been around for a long time now, and has always evolved and changed to be very suitable for its purpose, but you cannot help but feel that most desktops are falling behind, and becoming obsolete by their smaller and lighter counterparts. It is has to be said that not all desktops are becoming obsolete and falling behind and a lot of desktops are now becoming “all-in-ones” which basically means that your desktop computer is now a single unit, excluding the keyboard and mouse. These all-in-ones are still not as portable as a laptop, but they are becoming more modest, and smaller allowing them to almost become part of the design of your house. You also have to consider that desktops have a lot more room for expansion and customisation, which has become a big market in recent times, and you can now buy desktops built for a certain purpose, for example a gaming computer. Though you can buy a gaming laptop it is fair to say that this laptop would probably cost far more than a desktop equivalent, overheat every 20minutes and at full spin only have around an hour of battery life, and that, it what makes a desktop so useful, it’s reliability and customization.

 

The argument of choosing between laptops and desktop computers is a very large one, which could go on forever, and will continue to evolve parallel to the technological developments. My opinion on this matter is a simple one, in that I find you should simply purchase the machine that is best for your purpose; if you need to work on the go, than a laptop is the oblivious choice. On a personal matter I do prefer laptops, as you can use them so much more, and you can have the freedom of sitting on your bed typing up an essay, instead of sitting at your computer desk hunched over at your monitor. Through my essay I have tried to be as analytical as I could possibly achieve, and remove any bias, and I found it very easy to achieve as I can safely say that I believe that neither laptop or desktop are better than the other, and that they are both on par with one another, and the only thing you have to consider when buying is the purpose you require, but you cannot forget the mobile phone when thinking about computers nowadays. I tried to not mention the mobile phone threat on the computing market but it is unavoidable as personally I believe that the future for computers, both laptop and desktop will soon be assimilated by the mobile phone industry. Within the next 20 years, or even the next 5 years you could have the power of a desktop and freedom of a laptop in your pocket, on your mobile telephone, but for now we’re stuck with the laptop and desktop computers.