Is there a point to desktops?

[Gamer Schnitzel]

Laptops have seen great improvements over the years. Is there any point to building a desktop computer when you can just plug in a laptop to a monitor and peripherals and enjoy a tiny and portable case?

[WereCatf]

Just now, Gamer Schnitzel said:

Laptops have seen great improvements over the years. Is there any point to building a desktop computer when you can just plug in a laptop to a monitor and peripherals and enjoy a tiny and portable case?

Some of us need/want more performance than you can get out of a laptop. Also, many of us don't like the jetplane-sound a laptop does when you're doing some heavy task on it. This is to say, yes, there is plenty of point to desktops.

[RoseLuck462]

You can't upgrade a laptop.

[Levent]

Lul.

Whole point of desktop computers it that you can upgrade it to your needs. Most of the laptops nowadays come with soldered cpu, ram, gpu. All you can do is add an eGPU if you paid thunderbolt3 tax. I will be sticking to having a desktop as well as a low end laptop. My current computer only been through single upgrade since 2013 and it was a $50 upgrade for ram.

[Flying Sausages]

I like big boy therefore desktop.

[minibois]

- Flexibility: I can configure my desktop however I want, there is limited choices with laptops (let's say there are 200 different laptops, but many more choices in just CPU + mobo + RAM configs on a desktop)

- Upgradability: If I want to change my GPU later on, add more RAM, or add more storage; that is easy on a desktop. Some are difficult and some of those upgrades are impossible or impractical on a laptop

- Great hardware that doesn't throttle, or sound like you're playing on a jet engine: My PC is barely audible while gaming, but I can't say the same for my laptop when just stressing the CPU. A laptop often times has a hard time keeping itself cool, or will just sound loud. On my PC I can mount a large air cooler and it's cool and quiet.

[NineEyeRon]

I’m not seeing any point to laptops except as a work machine, wouldn’t dream of owning one for myself. Tablets fill that gap far better for me.

 

I need a desktop for a huge heap of things, my work laptop for the rest and a personal tablet and phone for away from home stuff.

 

Desktops are cheap, powerful and can be small if you go ITX like I did. They are also easy and comfortable to use.

 

I would consider an Apple laptop however but never an Apple desktop.

[Brooksie359]

The main difference between a laptop and a desktop is upgrade ability. You are basically stuck with whatever CPU and gpu it comes with and if you want to upgrade either you will have to simply buy a new laptop where as with a desktop it's fairly easy to switch out those parts. 

[Touch My Hamm]

The difference between a laptop and a desktop is like asking why people purchase suv's or trucks. There are different needs per person, example is the price premium you pay for a laptop over a desktop. Same as asking why some people buy Apple. Some might want its benifits or might just like how it looks. It's difficult to ask general "why do you buy X?" when you can do this for many things and get alot of different answers. 

[SavageNuke]

you cant custom build a laptop. truly. a desktop is soo much easier to work on repair wise. 

the components are under less thermal stress in a desktop. 

I have a dell g5 5587 with an i7-8750h cpu paired with a 1050 ti. that thing gets toasty before the GPU fan died when I replaced the thermal compound. I ordered a few replacement fans and the plug was never right.

 

if I ever bought another laptop. it would be a POS that could browse the web. 

[Mooshi]

Who honestly cares? It's all preference. I have my laptop, desktop and recently an iPad. People use whatever they want lol

[spartaman64]

laptop components are much more expensive so it costs much more per fps with a laptop

[Mira Yurizaki]

8 hours ago, Gamer Schnitzel said:

Laptops have seen great improvements over the years. Is there any point to building a desktop computer when you can just plug in a laptop to a monitor and peripherals and enjoy a tiny and portable case?

What's the point of a laptop when a tablet or smartphone does almost everything I do on a daily basis anyway?

[Commodus]

8 hours ago, NineEyeRon said:

I would consider an Apple laptop however but never an Apple desktop.

Apple desktops are pretty sweet (I'm using a 5K iMac to write this) -- I'd say the issue is that Apple's priorities for desktops diverge widely where its laptops are more broadly appealing.  The iMac is outstanding if you want a highly space-efficient desktop with a very good display, either for creative tasks or just moderate everyday use.  But it definitely won't fly as a gaming rig.

[NineEyeRon]

5 minutes ago, Commodus said:

Apple desktops are pretty sweet 

Not for my use case. I could pretty much do everything that I need on an Apple laptop if I wanted to go that way.

 

I certainly wouldnt ever buy a windows laptop again, maybe a chromebook etc but never a windows laptop. A windows desktop fits my needs perfect!

[lloose]

I see the purpose for laptops, but they don't fill the same role for me as desktops. Not to mention that due to power usage, even the fastest hardware in a laptop is still on par with the mid range stuff from a generation (or 2) back.

[Intrafinesse]

What are the advantages of a laptop over a desktop?

 

Laptops have smaller screens, and I don't like their keyboards, and I still need a mouse.

So I need a docking station or lots of ports.

And I  am content to sit in one place while using my PC.

 

 

[Scatology]

customization is a big point for me about desktop. 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Laptops do not the data storage capacity of a desktop, the keyboards are not as good, they have less power, etc. Laptops are nice portable machines but just can't compare to a desktop.

[RejZoR]

Raw power, low noise, longevity and upgradability.

 

All components are more powerful, because you have no space limits you can have massive coolers that barely need any airflow, components usually last longer coz they are cooled better and you can upgrade things. Nothing laptops have...

[jakecrew]

"The bigger the stronger" simple as that

[Sang]

other already point out a lot off thing so I will point out another point.

-Price/Perfromance. ex. you can build cheap gaming pc with some second hand stuff that run game  better than cheap second hand laptop in same very budget limited  price.

 

- Monitor Angle, rotation, swirl, and etc when you work on desk. My brother do complain about  his neck when using laptop  cause it is less adjustable .

well , you can adjust it but it will adjust the whole laptop. the ergonomic is different.

 

- and more more  monitor port in some use case. bu I am not sure traffic control or cctv use desktop componet or spealize thing.

Advertise board that combine multi monitor.

 

-The keyboard. go to r/MK or geekhack website. those enthuastist would complain(freak out) a lot of thing on laptop keyboard or carry secondary keybord. 

 

-The Marco king. I don't think laptop would have enough port for our Macro King (Terran). He will not lose to iJustine. if he had usual setup.

 

-heavy lifting work that close to server or spealize work.  PCI-E slot for specialize work hard ware. nvme/sata controller for more slot, quadro fro compute some research, etc you can make it close to server but not actually use a whole server rack. even bitcoin minig in recent year.

 

-old or outdate hardeware that  still need being use. there is a lot of them out there. since there is no reason to update in some coporate use case. 

need some serial or parrarel port that use with that old equipment. and software devlopement side already stop so they stuck with old custom software.

 

basically it can do a lot more stuff and have more variety.

 

 

[Zodiark1593]

On 12/30/2019 at 5:35 AM, Gamer Schnitzel said:

Laptops have seen great improvements over the years. Is there any point to building a desktop computer when you can just plug in a laptop to a monitor and peripherals and enjoy a tiny and portable case?

Me: "What's this!? My GTX 960 in my 5 year old desktop can't play Witcher 3 on my new 4K tv at full resolution. That simply won't do at all!"

 

*goes to Amazon and orders RTX 2060 for $300*

 

*1 day later*

 

Me: "Ahh, much better!"

 

Unless mobility is a requirement, one can stretch out the rest of the desktop for quite a lot longer via upgrades over time. Considering the total hypothetical price of my desktop (initial cost of ~$650 + upgrades) would amount to just under a $1000, I see little reason to spend significantly more on a laptop to end up at comparable performance. 

 

Further, with a laptop, when newer tasks pose a challenge, you generally have few, if any options for upgrades beyond buying a new system. Even if the cpu is up to the task of newer games, the inability to upgrade the GPU will hamstring a laptop in due time.

[Reytime]

Not everyone wants to take their computer for a walk, I guess. Also, a desktop can be an ongoing project that keeps getting upgrades as time goes by. With laptop you are kind of limited to what you can improve.

[Tristerin]

I have 3 laptops and 4 desktops and 1 micro form factor desktop at the house atm.  I hate the laptops.  Low performance, squishy keyboards.  I only have them just in case I need a mobile PC.

 

My workstation laptop is amazing (Xeon 2267M, 32gb ram, 4k display), and Id rather be on my personal desktop working.