Puressence
In Runtime
- Messages
- 137
- Location
- Walnut Creek, CA
Hey everyone,
I wanted to write MY opinion on laptops, as I have seen numerous threads about people asking advice about purchasing laptops. I have repeated the same sentiments over and over and I wanted to take some time to put this out there for anyone who is thinking about buying one.
I think the first (and probably the most important) question you should ask yourself is: DO I REALLY NEED A LAPTOP???
Personally, I bought my laptop at a time where I had a functional and decent desktop(Dell Dimension 8400) My job required me to spend a lot of time on the road and away from home. I found myself away from home for days at time and I wanted to be able to browse the internet and check my email. I also thought it would be cool to game on the road. I did a lot of research into what I wanted, and waited until I found a killer deal from Dell on the XPS m1530. They had a special 3 day deal where the base price was cut, and ALL(yea, ALL) upgrades were 40% off. So I maxed nearly everything out and ended up saving over $1000.
The laptop was a great backup computer to my desktop and was great for taking to work. And then my desktop died. Currently I am stuck(yea, I said stuck) using just my laptop. To be honest with you, I havent "gamed" in over two months now. Why? It just simply isnt the same as a desktop.
Personally, I find the laptop to be far more cramped than my desktop. The ergonomics just arent the same. As far as costs go, you can get so much more with your money by getting a desktop. With a laptop, you are paying for portability, realize that! I laugh at these 17 inch "desktop replacements." They are great, but they weigh ten pounds or more. Trust me, you won't want to take that too many places with you.
If you plan on doing any substantial gaming with your laptop, you lose the portability option. That is because gaming will suck that battery dry like a Humvee eats gasoline. When you see these companies advertise battery life at 2, 5, or 10 hours, or whatever the case may be, realize that these are under optimal conditions. That is with few to no programs running and minimal screen brightness, and power saver (if it has one) at max. In other words, you will hardly see the advertised performance. So then you find yourself always needing to be near an electrical outlet. Well if that's the case, then why not stick with a desktop where you can get so much more for your money?
Also, I bought an iphone back in September. Without getting to far off topic, I can do just about everything with my iphone i.e. web-browsing, reading and posting to these forums, emailing, etc, that I could do with my laptop. About the only thing I can't do is type up a word doc, which I am willing to bet isn't too far off. So, after buying my phone guess what no longer came to work with me? Yep, the laptop. With the death of my desktop, my laptop soon was called back into action......TO FIND THESE FORUMS AND HELP ME RESEARCH MY NEW DESKTOP. I will be building my new desktop in the next few weeks here, and once it is up and running, I will probably be sending the laptop back into semi-retirement.
Now I certainately am not saying "never buy a laptop." But I am saying that if you are thinking about purchasing one, you should seriously think about whether you ABSOLUTELY need one. With what I know now, I would not have bought my laptop. It's nice to have a backup computer, but it was a rather costly backup. Again, this was all just MY opinion of MY experience with my laptop. The bottom line is do what you want. It is your money, do what you think will make you happy.
-Pure
I wanted to write MY opinion on laptops, as I have seen numerous threads about people asking advice about purchasing laptops. I have repeated the same sentiments over and over and I wanted to take some time to put this out there for anyone who is thinking about buying one.
I think the first (and probably the most important) question you should ask yourself is: DO I REALLY NEED A LAPTOP???
Personally, I bought my laptop at a time where I had a functional and decent desktop(Dell Dimension 8400) My job required me to spend a lot of time on the road and away from home. I found myself away from home for days at time and I wanted to be able to browse the internet and check my email. I also thought it would be cool to game on the road. I did a lot of research into what I wanted, and waited until I found a killer deal from Dell on the XPS m1530. They had a special 3 day deal where the base price was cut, and ALL(yea, ALL) upgrades were 40% off. So I maxed nearly everything out and ended up saving over $1000.
The laptop was a great backup computer to my desktop and was great for taking to work. And then my desktop died. Currently I am stuck(yea, I said stuck) using just my laptop. To be honest with you, I havent "gamed" in over two months now. Why? It just simply isnt the same as a desktop.
Personally, I find the laptop to be far more cramped than my desktop. The ergonomics just arent the same. As far as costs go, you can get so much more with your money by getting a desktop. With a laptop, you are paying for portability, realize that! I laugh at these 17 inch "desktop replacements." They are great, but they weigh ten pounds or more. Trust me, you won't want to take that too many places with you.
If you plan on doing any substantial gaming with your laptop, you lose the portability option. That is because gaming will suck that battery dry like a Humvee eats gasoline. When you see these companies advertise battery life at 2, 5, or 10 hours, or whatever the case may be, realize that these are under optimal conditions. That is with few to no programs running and minimal screen brightness, and power saver (if it has one) at max. In other words, you will hardly see the advertised performance. So then you find yourself always needing to be near an electrical outlet. Well if that's the case, then why not stick with a desktop where you can get so much more for your money?
Also, I bought an iphone back in September. Without getting to far off topic, I can do just about everything with my iphone i.e. web-browsing, reading and posting to these forums, emailing, etc, that I could do with my laptop. About the only thing I can't do is type up a word doc, which I am willing to bet isn't too far off. So, after buying my phone guess what no longer came to work with me? Yep, the laptop. With the death of my desktop, my laptop soon was called back into action......TO FIND THESE FORUMS AND HELP ME RESEARCH MY NEW DESKTOP. I will be building my new desktop in the next few weeks here, and once it is up and running, I will probably be sending the laptop back into semi-retirement.
Now I certainately am not saying "never buy a laptop." But I am saying that if you are thinking about purchasing one, you should seriously think about whether you ABSOLUTELY need one. With what I know now, I would not have bought my laptop. It's nice to have a backup computer, but it was a rather costly backup. Again, this was all just MY opinion of MY experience with my laptop. The bottom line is do what you want. It is your money, do what you think will make you happy.
-Pure