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.