WizGidget

This week we’ll look at desktops in order to compare them to the laptop discussion from last week.

One major difference between laptops and desktops is that the laptop has the display built in. There are exceptions to that, I believe both HP and Dell sell desktop computers that have the CPU built into the display. This is helpful in terms of reducing the real estate consumed by your computer, but it also means that if something goes wrong with the display you can’t just go buy a new display — you have to have the current display repaired, which will likely cost more than a new standalone display. This shouldn’t be too much of a problem — LCD displays tend to be long-lived and trouble-free.

I have found that desktops tend to be cheaper than laptops for equivalent horsepower. Just last week my favorite office supply had laptops on sale cheaper than their cheapest desktop. The catch was that their cheapest desktop was a quad-core (4 cpu’s) and 6Gb memory, 1Tb disk, compared to the laptop that was a dual-core, 3Gb, and I think 500Gb disk. You also have to figure in the cost of the display, but if you’re upgrading you may already have a display and don’t need a new one.

Another advantage for a desktop is that they generally have one or more “PCI” card slots that can be used to add functionality to the desktop. This may or may not be an advantage. For instance, it may be that the feature you need to add to the desktop is a wireless network or bluetooth, both of which are generally a built-in for laptops these days. Another possibility would be a multi-display capable display card, which would allow you to run 3 or maybe more displays. If you needed that capability, you definitely wouldn’t be able to do it with a laptop.

One thing to watch out for in a desktop is how noisy it is. I have chronic tinnitis (ringing in the ears) that I at least partly attribute to spending too much time around computers with noisy fans and/or disk drives. Most of the current crop of desktops are built to run fairly quietly, but some might still be noisy enough that you wouldn’t want it sitting on top of your desk where you’ll have to be listening to that whirr all the time. A potential solution might be to put the computer under your desk. I recommend that you don’t put it directly on the floor, because it will collect too much dust. Dust in your computer tends to clog the heat exchangers that keep your computer components cool. The dust can also get into the bearings of the fans, which will shorten their life as well as create noise when the bearings start to wear out. The better thing to do is to find something you can use to lift the computer a few inches off the floor. There are computer stands, some with wheels and some that attach to the underside of the desk, to do just that. Such a computer stand would be a good investment.

Do you remember the old “luggable” computers? I remember such brands as Osborne, Kaypro, and believe it or not even Compaq was in the early fray of portable PC’s. I’ve had friends who worked at both Kaypro and Compaq back in the day. The name “Compaq” referred to the fact that their luggable was “compact” compared to their competition. With the advent of LCD displays, it became possible to integrate the display into a notebook-sized computer. Some of the earlier notebooks were quite expensive compared to desktop computers, and weren’t as powerful. Nowadays there are notebooks that are very powerful and yet quite reasonably priced compared to desktop computers.

Even though there are some economical choices for laptops, they do tend to be a bit more expensive than desktops. This is somewhat offset by the fact that they come with a built-in display. However, unless you have a really huge laptop (more $$), the display is going to be a bit small. Most if not all laptops have a display connector that allows you to add an external display. This can be handy when you’re working from home or at the office, as you can usually set it up to use both the built-in and external displays which combine to provide a lot of display real estate. I have a 19″ external display that I use in my home office, which I couple with the internal display. The 19″ display is enough bigger and brighter that I tend to use it for the primary display, using the built-in display for windows that I need to watch, or as references. For instance I might have a second browser window, with information I need to write the Wizgidget article. I tend to have a zillion windows open all the time, so more display is better for me.

Another potential issue with the laptop is the keyboard/mousepad layout might not be the most convenient for you. I use one of those “ergonomic” keyboards that has the keys split into two groups — one for each hand — with the groups at a bit of an angle to each other and slightly elevated in the middle. This configuration allows me to keep my wrists straight when I type, which helps prevent carpal tunnel syndrome. If you aren’t a touch-typist, this won’t matter much as hunt-n-peck typists tend to move their whole hand rather than just their fingers when they type. My hands stay more-or-less still while my fingers “do the walking.”

One thing that I find especially helpful is the docking station. Unfortunately the lower-end laptops aren’t designed to be dock-capable although there are “universal” docking stations available that simply connect to your laptop via a USB cable. Some of them have display capability. My laptop has a dock: when I come home from a trip, I plop the laptop down onto the dock, which connects it to my ergonomic keyboard and mouse, external display, external speakers, network, power, and a host of usb-connected devices. It has the capability of housing a CD drive and a PCMCIA card device. There was a fancier dock available that could house an internal hard disk, that served as network storage even when the laptop wasn’t docked.