One year later, I took that one out, placed it inside an external USB enclosure, and got a new 1 TB drive inside the beast. Needless to say, I got a machine with mid-range gaming capabilities, and even today I can try some new games without being ashamed of how slow they run. This is naturally taking us to the next part, where we’ll talk about the big things you need to keep in mind when choosing between a laptop and a desktop computer…

Laptop vs Desktop – The Price

For a long time, laptop computers were really expensive when compared to the desktops, but now those times are gone. Even laptop replacement parts come for decent prices, although they won’t send you into bankruptcy, as it was the case a few years ago. Anyway, if we draw the line, you will always get a better bang for your buck from a desktop, that’s a fact.

Laptop vs Desktop – Upgradeability & Warranty

Speaking for myself, I have 5 years warranty for all my hard drives, 3 years for the mainboard and video card, lifetime warranty for the memory, and so on. If something breaks, I just get it out, and get some temporary replacement to use until I get it repaired or replaced. While most laptops come with standard 1 year, maybe 2 years warranty, upgrading them is very hard, and if something gets damaged… there’s more likely to need a full replacement.

Even more, I heard enough cases of laptops with broken mainboards after the warranty period ended, and the repairs were expected to cost almost as much as a brand new laptop. Fortunately, it’s not the same with desktop computers…

Laptop vs Desktop – Mobility

While you can carry your desktop computer around, not even the all-in-one computers like the iMac can’t beat a laptop. If you really need to move a lot and have to carry your computer around… it’s obvious who wins here!

Laptop vs Desktop – Storage Space

I guess I said it earlier, but let’s make it clear – while a 500 GB is still large for a laptop, and can only be found in expensive models, grabbing a 1 TB drive for your desktop is really cheap these days.

Laptop vs Desktop – DIY Factor

I have seen only a few real DIY laptops so far, and the options available weren’t extremely rich. If you want to build your own desktop computer, the options available are countless… and you also get out much cheaper. A DIY laptop is considered something for geeks and priced accordingly, while desktop computer parts can be found virtually everywhere for decent prices.

Laptop vs Desktop – Gaming/3D Capabilities

I can’t say there aren’t laptops capable of handling 3D modelling/CAD tasks, but they come for really painful prices. Same goes for gaming. If you’re a gamer, then you surely know that “gaming laptop” is more of an utopy, than something real.

Laptop vs Desktop – Peripherals

Lately, more and more laptops started to include a camera, as well as various security accessories (fingerprint scanners, and so on), and this sounds great. With desktop computers, adding a bunch of external devices is easy, but may require some extra space and extra cash. If you’re using a lot of USB devices, you should be careful when deciding to get a laptop, because some of them may not have enough ports to spare.

That’s most of it, but if I forgot something, I hope you’ll step in and help. Just drop a comment below and let us know about your opinion – who’s winning the laptops vs desktop match in your court?