Using laptop as a desktop replacement--good idea?

Power user, willing to spend around $2000, but seriously can you use a
laptop as a desktop replacement? Last I looked into this issue, about
10 years ago, the answer was no, because of excessive heat concerns.
At that time I had (and am still using!) a Dell Inspiron series
Pentium II laptop (that is heavy but gets the job done--I still use
it, as it has a 56k modem in it).

I might be setting up another office (my third!) and I'm thinking,
because the room itself is very small, that a laptop could be used as
a desktop replacment, but maybe it's better if I spend $500 and get
one of those entry level desktops.

So the more general question is:

what gives you more bang for the buck: a $500 desktop or a $2000
laptop for heavy duty use? The latter will outperform the former, but
only on performance indexes, but long term the former is more easy to
service and is (I guess) 70% of the power of the latter, which for me
is good enough. Right now BTW I am writing software via Visual Studio
using XP Prof on a Pentium IV! Slow, but it gets the job done.

RL

Ray,
It sounds like you already know all the things you should be considering.
Generally I'd say yes, modern laptops are PC replacment capable. You don't
have to spend $2k on a good one. I have an HP-HDX configured to my specs
that's about a year old. It cost $1250 and has done everything I ask of it
with no problems. Its running vista home premium, has 4gs of memory, and a
320gb hard drive, a 12 cell battery, TV tuner, antenna to pick up HDTV off
the air, web cam, mic, numberic keypad, satae port, 3 usb ports, HDMI port,
etc., oh yeah, and a high def screen that added $175 to the price. Also has
a fingerprint reader to turn it on. It runs nowhere near as hot as my 4
year old compaq. So, if space is the consideration, a laptop is the answer.
If upgrading and maintenance is the overriding concernern then a regular pc
is the answer becausse it is so much easier to service, especially if you
have to replace the motherboard.
Hal


"RayLopez99" wrote in message
...
Power user, willing to spend around $2000, but seriously can you use a
laptop as a desktop replacement? Last I looked into this issue, about
10 years ago, the answer was no, because of excessive heat concerns.
At that time I had (and am still using!) a Dell Inspiron series
Pentium II laptop (that is heavy but gets the job done--I still use
it, as it has a 56k modem in it).

I might be setting up another office (my third!) and I'm thinking,
because the room itself is very small, that a laptop could be used as
a desktop replacment, but maybe it's better if I spend $500 and get
one of those entry level desktops.

So the more general question is:

what gives you more bang for the buck: a $500 desktop or a $2000
laptop for heavy duty use? The latter will outperform the former, but
only on performance indexes, but long term the former is more easy to
service and is (I guess) 70% of the power of the latter, which for me
is good enough. Right now BTW I am writing software via Visual Studio
using XP Prof on a Pentium IV! Slow, but it gets the job done.

RL

RayLopez99 raylopez88 gmail.com wrote:

Power user, willing to spend around $2000, but seriously can you
use a laptop as a desktop replacement? Last I looked into this
issue, about 10 years ago, the answer was no, because of
excessive heat concerns.

A laptop is not a home built computer. The answer is clearly No
here because my homebuilt PC is perpetually home built. There is
no comparison when talking about upgrades. You can find a wide
range of components for desktop for much less money.
--


















RL


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From: RayLopez99 raylopez88 gmail.com
Newsgroups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt
Subject: Using laptop as a desktop replacement--good idea?
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2010 02:50:21 -0700 (PDT)
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On 3/26/2010 5:50 AM, RayLopez99 wrote:
Power user, willing to spend around $2000, but seriously can you use a
laptop as a desktop replacement? Last I looked into this issue, about
10 years ago, the answer was no, because of excessive heat concerns.
At that time I had (and am still using!) a Dell Inspiron series
Pentium II laptop (that is heavy but gets the job done--I still use
it, as it has a 56k modem in it).

I might be setting up another office (my third!) and I'm thinking,
because the room itself is very small, that a laptop could be used as
a desktop replacment, but maybe it's better if I spend $500 and get
one of those entry level desktops.

So the more general question is:

what gives you more bang for the buck: a $500 desktop or a $2000
laptop for heavy duty use? The latter will outperform the former, but
only on performance indexes, but long term the former is more easy to
service and is (I guess) 70% of the power of the latter, which for me
is good enough. Right now BTW I am writing software via Visual Studio
using XP Prof on a Pentium IV! Slow, but it gets the job done.

RL

For office applications and normal business/recreational computing a
laptop is the the better choice, particularly if you don't spend any
time "under the hood". It combines functionality with portability. And
if you connect a real monitor you won't be missing anything.

Where the desktop still rules is in graphics intensive programs where
large or multiple video cards are needed, gaming where big graphics and
cooling are key, and "extended use" machines that require additional
peripherals and cards, multiple hard drives, etc.

You figure out what the job is you need to do and pick the right tool to
do it.

On 3/26/2010 10:49 AM, John Doe wrote:
RayLopez99raylopez88 gmail.com wrote:

Power user, willing to spend around $2000, but seriously can you
use a laptop as a desktop replacement? Last I looked into this
issue, about 10 years ago, the answer was no, because of
excessive heat concerns.

A laptop is not a home built computer.

I beg to differ:
http://www.zug.com/pranks/powerbook/

In article ,
RayLopez99 wrote:
Power user, willing to spend around $2000, but seriously can you use a
laptop as a desktop replacement? Last I looked into this issue, about
10 years ago, the answer was no, because of excessive heat concerns.
At that time I had (and am still using!) a Dell Inspiron series
Pentium II laptop (that is heavy but gets the job done--I still use
it, as it has a 56k modem in it).



Of course you can. Get a docking station (not expensive and cheap on
eBay) Hoook a real kbd, mouse and monitor on it. Set the laptop up so
it's screen is blank when it's in the dock.

Advantages;

The laptop will last longer. Items like the hinge and the screen
backlight will not get as much abuse.

It will run cooler becuase the power supply doesn't have to light the
screen.

You can leave the little power fob in the bag and won't forget it. If
yu leave it somewhere, the dock gives you a spare.

--
Al Dykes
News is something someone wants to suppress, everything else is advertising.
- Lord Northcliffe, publisher of the Daily Mail

On Mar 26, 3:23*pm, "~hp-hdx~" wrote:


Thanks. Very interesting. I did not know a laptop could be so
powerful. I like the fingerprint option too--with so many machines
you start forgetting the passwords on each of them.

HP is a good company, I was looking at their stuff and now in some
areas they are cheaper than DELL (at the high end).

Also do you think I should go for 64 bit Vista? From the net: "32bit
operating systems can access a total of 2^32 (2 because machine code
is .... 32 bit will only recognize up to 3.5 GB of RAM.... 64 bit
will do 24 GB+! "

RL

On Mar 26, 5:49*pm, John Doe wrote:


A laptop is not a home built computer. The answer is clearly No
here because my homebuilt PC is perpetually home built. There is
no comparison when talking about upgrades. You can find a wide
range of components for desktop for much less money.

That's what I thought...but I dunno. What do you think is the price
multiple, is a laptop 2x as costly as the same power desktop? Aside
from the obvious service issues (and I've built many a desktop from
scratch).

Also: 64 bit or 32 bit Vista/ 7?

RL

On Mar 26, 8:47*pm, (Al Dykes) wrote:
In article ,

RayLopez99 wrote:
Power user, willing to spend around $2000, but seriously can you use a
laptop as a desktop replacement? *Last I looked into this issue, about
10 years ago, the answer was no, because of excessive heat concerns.
At that time I had (and am still using!) a Dell Inspiron series
Pentium II laptop (that is heavy but gets the job done--I still use
it, as it has a 56k modem in it).

Of course you can. Get a docking station (not expensive and cheap on
eBay) Hoook a real kbd, mouse and monitor on it. *Set the laptop up so
it's screen is blank when it's in the dock.

Advantages;

The laptop will last longer. *Items like the hinge and the screen
backlight will not get as much abuse. *

It will run cooler becuase the power supply doesn't have to light the
screen.

You can leave the little power fob in the bag and won't forget it. *If
yu leave it somewhere, the dock gives you a spare.

--
Al Dykes
*News is something someone wants to suppress, everything else is advertising.
* * - Lord Northcliffe, publisher of the Daily Mail


Aha....so you are of the 'traditional' or 'classic' old school of
thought that says (and I'm the same way) that laptops, since they use
different chips in tighter spaces, run hotter (and probably slower)
than desktops?

Also: 64 bit OS or 32 bit OS--which do I pick? I'm leaning towards
64 bit, since in theory it should run all 32 bit programs as well,
plus you can expand the RAM to beyond the 4GB limit.

RL

In article ,
RayLopez99 wrote:
On Mar 26, 8:47=A0pm, (Al Dykes) wrote:
In article =
.com,

RayLopez99 wrote:
Power user, willing to spend around $2000, but seriously can you use a
laptop as a desktop replacement? =A0Last I looked into this issue, about
10 years ago, the answer was no, because of excessive heat concerns.
At that time I had (and am still using!) a Dell Inspiron series
Pentium II laptop (that is heavy but gets the job done--I still use
it, as it has a 56k modem in it).

Of course you can. Get a docking station (not expensive and cheap on
eBay) Hoook a real kbd, mouse and monitor on it. =A0Set the laptop up so
it's screen is blank when it's in the dock.

Advantages;

The laptop will last longer. =A0Items like the hinge and the screen
backlight will not get as much abuse. =A0

It will run cooler becuase the power supply doesn't have to light the
screen.

You can leave the little power fob in the bag and won't forget it. =A0If
yu leave it somewhere, the dock gives you a spare.

--
Al Dykes
=A0News is something someone wants to suppress, everything else is advert=
ising.
=A0 =A0 - Lord Northcliffe, publisher of the Daily Mail


Aha....so you are of the 'traditional' or 'classic' old school of
thought that says (and I'm the same way) that laptops, since they use
different chips in tighter spaces, run hotter (and probably slower)
than desktops?

"run hotter" is too vague. Try touching the heatsink on a desktop
system. Yes. Cooler is better.


Also: 64 bit OS or 32 bit OS--which do I pick? I'm leaning towards
64 bit, since in theory it should run all 32 bit programs as well,
plus you can expand the RAM to beyond the 4GB limit.

RL


64bit seems ready for prime-time and if you run lots of stuff at once,
physical memory in excess of 4GB can speed things up, but as a
generalization, any specific application can't use 4GB unless it's
compiled for 64 bits.

--
Al Dykes
News is something someone wants to suppress, everything else is advertising.
- Lord Northcliffe, publisher of the Daily Mail