Replacing a desktop with a laptop?

  • Thread starter Thread starter RF
  • Start date Start date
R

RF

All,

I am thinking about replacing my home built pc with a smaller laptop, (in an
effort to help save my marriage). I figure the convenience and portability
will make it worth it. I am not in to gaming, but think that it would make a
nice little dvd player at work. Has anyone else done this? Do you have
regrets? I am looking at spending a grand, and would like a nice display if
possibe, I have seen some nice refurbs at Tigerdirect.com.

Any advice would sure be appreciated
 
: All,

: I am thinking about replacing my home built pc with a smaller laptop, (in an
: effort to help save my marriage). I figure the convenience and portability
: will make it worth it. I am not in to gaming, but think that it would make a
: nice little dvd player at work. Has anyone else done this? Do you have
: regrets? I am looking at spending a grand, and would like a nice display if
: possibe, I have seen some nice refurbs at Tigerdirect.com.

Performance will be a little less for the buck, but if you're not
concerned, I think a laptop is a great alternative to a desktop PC.
Get a wireless router and you don't even need to be wired to get on
the internet. I have a desktop at home with a 17" screen but I almost
never turn it on anymore - I almost always use my laptop with its 15"
screen.

Consider shopping at Costco for a good deal with a 6-month
no-questions-asked return policy on computers.

Andrew
--
----> Portland, Oregon, USA <----
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----> http://www.bizave.com <---- Photo Albums and Portland Info
----> To Email me remove "MYSHOES" from email address
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RF said:
All,

I am thinking about replacing my home built pc with a smaller laptop, (in an
effort to help save my marriage). I figure the convenience and portability
will make it worth it. I am not in to gaming, but think that it would make a
nice little dvd player at work. Has anyone else done this? Do you have
regrets? I am looking at spending a grand, and would like a nice display if
possibe, I have seen some nice refurbs at Tigerdirect.com.

Any advice would sure be appreciated
Click to expand...
Check out U-bid for many refurbished laptops at about half the price
of new, and with same as new warranty.

jimbo
 
Subject: Replacing a desktop with a laptop?
From: "RF" <[email protected]>
Date: Today 7:21 PM
Newsgroups: alt.comp.hardware, comp.sys.laptops

All,

I am thinking about replacing my home built pc with a smaller laptop, (in an
effort to help save my marriage). I figure the convenience and portability
will make it worth it. I am not in to gaming, but think that it would make a
nice little dvd player at work. Has anyone else done this? Do you have
regrets? I am looking at spending a grand, and would like a nice display if
possibe, I have seen some nice refurbs at Tigerdirect.com.
Click to expand...


I tried that ... marriage still sucks. She just found something else to
bitch about.

Hope you have better luck.
 
RF said:
All,

I am thinking about replacing my home built pc with a smaller laptop,
(in an effort to help save my marriage). I figure the convenience and
portability will make it worth it. I am not in to gaming, but think
that it would make a nice little dvd player at work. Has anyone else
done this? Do you have regrets? I am looking at spending a grand, and
would like a nice display if possibe, I have seen some nice refurbs at
Tigerdirect.com.

Any advice would sure be appreciated
Click to expand...

Since purchasing my laptop nearly two years ago, I've nearly exculsively
used it. I've just purchased a USB 2.0 PCMCIA adapter for my external DVD
burner use, and am now free of the desktop. The big issue for me was
getting away from the desktops that made my ears ring, and this has been a
terrific improvement.

With the laptop, I think it is necessary to buy what you want, rather than
being able to insert PCI cards later for future wants/needs. This includes
having sufficient RAM and hard drive space.

The display is something you want to be careful about. I just got an SXA
because I wanted to stick with a 1024x768 resolution. With a 15" display,
this is as good as the same setting on my 17" desktop monitor, but any
smaller would be too hard on my eyes. However, for my next laptop, I may
go with a better resolution, with the hope of dealing with the size issue
by using a larger DPI setting.

I originally went only with a wired network connection because of concern
about wireless security, but wound up going WiFI and really enjoying this
freedom.

I have a P4 Mobile 2.0 ghz processor, and this is fine, but next time I
expect to go to a Pentium M processor for the better battery life.

Being a NY resident, I was not able to get Dell's complete care coverage
that I wanted, but I now understand that is available by doing a Small
Business purchase instead of the Home purchase. This takes care of
potential problems such as spilling coffee on the keyboard, and dropping
the laptop and breaking the LCD.
 
I forgot to mention that taking my laptop camping was terrific. On a rainy
day, the DVD movie watching was good entertainment. And having Internet
access was nice too.
 
We did it at my house and love it!!! Talked some friends of ours into doing
it when they were looking at desktops, and they really resent the cost of
having to buy a battery every couple of years (go figure, everyone's
different, but as they see it it's operating costs are *so much* higher
than the desktop they wanted that it really bothers them). They also worry
about repair costs should it break (it probably will break more often than a
desktop on average), and of course they are more fragile to begin with, so
they do meet with more accidents.


My wife and I are now looking at buying our second laptop so we don't
compete for the only one we have!

Chip
 
Tom McCune said:
Since purchasing my laptop nearly two years ago, I've nearly exculsively
used it. I've just purchased a USB 2.0 PCMCIA adapter for my external DVD
burner use, and am now free of the desktop. The big issue for me was
getting away from the desktops that made my ears ring, and this has been a
terrific improvement.

With the laptop, I think it is necessary to buy what you want, rather than
being able to insert PCI cards later for future wants/needs. This
includes
having sufficient RAM and hard drive space.

The display is something you want to be careful about. I just got an SXA
because I wanted to stick with a 1024x768 resolution. With a 15" display,
this is as good as the same setting on my 17" desktop monitor, but any
smaller would be too hard on my eyes. However, for my next laptop, I may
go with a better resolution, with the hope of dealing with the size issue
by using a larger DPI setting.

I originally went only with a wired network connection because of concern
about wireless security, but wound up going WiFI and really enjoying this
freedom.

I have a P4 Mobile 2.0 ghz processor, and this is fine, but next time I
expect to go to a Pentium M processor for the better battery life.

Being a NY resident, I was not able to get Dell's complete care coverage
that I wanted, but I now understand that is available by doing a Small
Business purchase instead of the Home purchase. This takes care of
potential problems such as spilling coffee on the keyboard, and dropping
the laptop and breaking the LCD.
Click to expand...

So does a policy, from my State Farm agent, for around $45 a year. Covers
anything at all, including just plane old worn out breakage. It's a
separate policy from my home owners insurance, so I'm not even sure that you
need to be an existing customer of theirs.

Chip
 
So does a policy, from my State Farm agent, for around $45 a year.
Covers anything at all, including just plane old worn out breakage.
It's a separate policy from my home owners insurance, so I'm not even
sure that you need to be an existing customer of theirs.
Click to expand...

I think the only way to really find out is to contact your agent. But, I
would not be optimistic.
 
I tried that ... marriage still sucks. She just found something else to
bitch about.

Hope you have better luck.

I hear ya, man. But I gotta do something, she hates the BIG pc along with
it's big desk in our dining room.

RF
 
I tried that ... marriage still sucks. She just found something else to
bitch about.

Hope you have better luck.

I hear ya, man. But I gotta do something, she hates the BIG pc along with
it's big desk in our dining room.

RF
Click to expand...

Thats weird. I see these people where the wife will complain about the
incredibly ugly stereo gear but I think stereo gear looks beautiful.

There were lots of deals over the weekend on laptops etc. Killer
deals. Frankly if you arent into gaming I dont think you really need
that great a laptop except for the hard disk and memory requirements
which maybe a bit skimpy in the low end - and battery life and
durability. The whole screen issues etc are no where near like what
they used to be. When I went looking for one for a friend years ago ,
having the 12"+ screen was a big deal and getting a active matrix TFT
screen. I just bough a LCD 17" for home use for $159 and there were
tons of 199 deals over the weekend though they dont have DVI and arent
the best brands.

What I dont like about laptops - gross prices though they have fallen
like crazy but I still prefer the pricing on desktop components and
the flexiblity of swapping out components. Someone posted that it was
a myth nowadays that laptops were upgradeable but what did he mean by
that? You could always add a cdrom, mem, harddisk and wireless cards -
generally at a far higher cost and far more limited suppliers than the
desktop. But can you swap out the graphics? The processor for a faster
one? A new bigger screen ? A difference case?

Wht if you kept the desktop in your bedroom hidden in a wooden case or
closet ? And then buy a cheap notebook for surfing the net etc?
 
RF said:
All,

I am thinking about replacing my home built pc with a smaller laptop, (in
an
effort to help save my marriage). I figure the convenience and portability
will make it worth it. I am not in to gaming, but think that it would make
a
nice little dvd player at work. Has anyone else done this? Do you have
regrets? I am looking at spending a grand, and would like a nice display
if
possibe, I have seen some nice refurbs at Tigerdirect.com.

Any advice would sure be appreciated
Click to expand...

There can be a big difference between getting a cheap servicable laptop as
your 2nd PC and actually REPLACING the desktop. Hard drive space, fast
video card and other add-ons can make a laptop expensive if you really want
to replace the desktop. I have 2 laptops which have replaced about 80% of
my desktop use, but ...I still have a desktop hooked up to a scanner, a
nice printer and a good monitor, if I really want to do anything serious
with graphics. It has a big HDD and I use it to backup my laptops, etc.
 
Joe Davis said:
There can be a big difference between getting a cheap servicable laptop as
your 2nd PC and actually REPLACING the desktop. Hard drive space, fast
video card and other add-ons can make a laptop expensive if you really
want to replace the desktop. I have 2 laptops which have replaced about
80% of my desktop use, but ...I still have a desktop hooked up to a
scanner, a nice printer and a good monitor, if I really want to do
anything serious with graphics. It has a big HDD and I use it to backup
my laptops, etc.
Click to expand...

They make USB storage in the form of HDD's. You can do almost anything on a
laptop that a PC can do for just a little more $$. Aside from hardcore
gaming that is. Even then, that is getting better and better with time.
 
I tried that ... marriage still sucks. She just found something else to
bitch about.

Hope you have better luck.

I hear ya, man. But I gotta do something, she hates the BIG pc along with
it's big desk in our dining room.
Click to expand...


Well if you have to give up the PC, nows the time to
bargain, get something in return for your sacrifice besides
just the laptop.
 
Clob said:
They make USB storage in the form of HDD's. You can do almost anything on
a laptop that a PC can do for just a little more $$. Aside from hardcore
gaming that is. Even then, that is getting better and better with time.
Click to expand...
Exactly my point. He's talking about a $1000 re-furb. Which will make a
nice second machine. But if he really wants to replace the desktop, he's
going to spend more... more on the laptop and more on additional stuff like
the USB storage.
 
I was walking down the street, minding my own business, when on Tue,
All,

I am thinking about replacing my home built pc with a smaller laptop, (in an
effort to help save my marriage). I figure the convenience and portability
will make it worth it. I am not in to gaming, but think that it would make a
nice little dvd player at work. Has anyone else done this? Do you have
regrets? I am looking at spending a grand, and would like a nice display if
possibe, I have seen some nice refurbs at Tigerdirect.com.

Any advice would sure be appreciated
Click to expand...

Though laptops have the advantages of being smaller, lighter and
taking up less space, they have some major disadvantages. With smaller
screens they may cause eye strain. The smaller keyboards may cause
problems with typing and the onboard device for the mouse usually
sucks. If you buy one, it's adviced to buy the extended warranty as
anything on a laptop is pretty expensive to replace and fix.
 
All,

I am thinking about replacing my home built pc with a smaller laptop, (in an
effort to help save my marriage). I figure the convenience and portability
will make it worth it. I am not in to gaming, but think that it would make a
nice little dvd player at work. Has anyone else done this? Do you have
regrets? I am looking at spending a grand, and would like a nice display if
possibe, I have seen some nice refurbs at Tigerdirect.com.

Any advice would sure be appreciated
Click to expand...
Hard to beat HewlettPackard zv5000z series. Athlon 64 power for less than
$1000.

<http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/s...otebooks/hp_pavilion&storeName=computer_store>

or

http://tinyurl.com/6uwtf

regards

Dud
 
Tom said:
I forgot to mention that taking my laptop camping was terrific. On a rainy
day, the DVD movie watching was good entertainment. And having Internet
access was nice too.
Click to expand...

Where did you camp that had internet access? The local Wall Mart
parking lot? Or did you get satellite?

jimbo
 
Duddits said:
Hard to beat HewlettPackard zv5000z series. Athlon 64 power for less than
$1000.
Click to expand...

Check the specs though. That's a pretty stripped down machine at under
$1000. It's got the 64 bit processor, but way down toward the bottom of
the range, but not much RAM or disk. Compare apples to apples and it's
about the same as the Gateway. If I was going for a Linux box the HP might
be a better choice--there's 64-bit support for nvidia under Linux but not
for ATI yet. For a Windows box that sits on a desktop the Gateway would be
a better choice IMO. If it's actually going to be used as a portable and
video performance isn't critical then the availability of a 12-cell battery
for the HP might give it the edge.
 
RF said:
All,

I am thinking about replacing my home built pc with a smaller laptop, (in an
effort to help save my marriage). I figure the convenience and portability
will make it worth it. I am not in to gaming, but think that it would make a
nice little dvd player at work. Has anyone else done this? Do you have
regrets? I am looking at spending a grand, and would like a nice display if
possibe, I have seen some nice refurbs at Tigerdirect.com.

Any advice would sure be appreciated
Click to expand...

We have two Sony PCG-GRT150s here. Check out the specs. They make very
nice computers, but we also each have desktops. The laptops are used
for extended travel. I think these laptops could replace the desktops
if it was necessary. I have two USB2.0 external cases, one with a 200
GB hard drive and the other with a DVD burner. I can backup both
laptops to the hard drive. (The GRT150s have 60 GB hard drives and DVD
read/CD burn drives.)

Another option is to replace the wife.

Good luck, jimbo
 
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