If you dont game my suggestion would be a lap top and also get an external hard drive. The laptop is portable and having an external hard drive allows you to transfer info easier. Also the external drive allows for alot of info to be placed externally instead of cluttering up the drive on the computer. The downside to a laptop is the upgradability...usually there isnt any. I did buy my son an HP DV7 series from COSTCO last year and he can do everything including gaming on it. If you go laptop remember to look for one with a seperate video card as it will be more useful when it comes to graphics.

 

I have been buying Dell products for work and home for about 8 years and have always been very happy.

 

I've gone through 2 external drives in the last two years, not sure what the problem is, but they just go bad!

Steve, I'm looking Dell this time for sure!

 

It's great to be able to surf while watching a football game. I don't think I'll buy another desktop.

Unfotunately, I have not had the same experience with Dells. Both had monitor hinges that ended up screwing up the flat panel frame. Too expensive to fix. One had the wireless card die.

My Toshiba is holding up much better than either Dell. I need to buy another but the middle daughter is off to college next year so she gets an Apple where the Apple stores will always be able to help her with problems when I can't.

 

I have been buying the basic dell small office desktops (Like the vostro) for years now. Between the office and home i've purchased close to 30 of them i'd guess. If you watch the promo you can get a nice system for $400-$500 with a monitor. Don't buy cutting edge system for top $$$. You can get a new system in two years and pass the old one down the line. So $200 a year gets you a new system every 48 months. We use them at work, so the old box get's passed down though.

I have never had any trouble with them. They may not build the best, but they are a good value.

 

I have not purchased any Dell laptops.

 

Laptops are more expensive, and seemingly less durable than desktops. That said, I think laptops are the way to go, mainly because they are so compact. You no longer need a piece of furniture for a computer station. The whole station disappears from your house. You don't have to look at it, mess with unsightly cords, or dust it.

Instead you have a laptop that can live in a drawer. Better yet, get a carrry case, and take it along. I get lots of good work done on my laptop at coffee houses and brew pups.

 

"Instead you have a laptop that can live in a drawer. Better yet, get a carrry case, and take it along. I get lots of good work done on my laptop at coffee houses and brew pups."



Where in the world did you find a dog that makes beer? I want one! :wink:

 

Desktop will be cheaper, easier to clean up (physically anyway), more upgradeable then a laptop, and generally more powerful processor wise.

Get a good desktop and use the money you saved not getting a laptop and buy a netbook for surfing in front of the TV.
:twocents:

 

Hey. Not a bad idea. And laptops get stolen a lot more, so netbook is a much smaller loss. Important data will be on the desktop. Hmmmm. Going to have to think on this one....

 

What are your needs? If you need to be portable, get a laptop. If not, get a desktop.

 

Video editing is resource intensive, as is playing the latest video games in any sort of detail. Laptops are great for siting on the couch but not for video editing or games.

Get a laptop for the couch and a desktop for the other stuff. PC's in general are cheap these days and powerful enough. RAM, hard drives and video card upgrades are also cheap so get the basic and upgrade yourself.

 

Currently have a laptop
Moved 2 yrs ago and desk was falling apart so the desktop sits in a box in the closet(need to get a desk)
I miss the desk top's much larger screen (i'm getting older)
The laptop is a gateway have had it for 6 yrs still going strong
The first 2 yrs it had a rough life, keys popped off and lost o-rings that hold them on, dropped it and wrinkled screen and broke latch
Called gateway and actually talked to a women in Arizona who spoke perfect english (go figure) she said we had over a yr left on warranty and it was covered
She sent us a box to send it in
Got box next day fed-ex with pre-paid shipping label
Sent it in friday morning
Got it back monday morning
Brand new computer with our hard drive and battery
Cost $35
Excellent customer service

 

The portability of a laptop can be very handy, just make sure that you actually need the portability because laptops are inferior in every other way. Desktops cost less, have much more ability to upgrade/repair, are more reliable, and have better performance(even if the specs appear to be the same). I agree with the suggestion to get a desktop and a netbook, that would be the best of both worlds and cost about the same as a decent laptop.

If you want to keep the computer for 5+ years like the last one I would recommend looking for a custom PC because all of the major manufacturers cut too many corners on quality any more. A custom PC may cost a little extra but if you find a decent shop you will mainly be paying for the quality, as a bonus you'll get a clean Windows install without all of the bloatware that most PCs come with.

 

laptop... toshiba and vaio both have 6-7 hundred dollar options that are more than enough for what you plan to use if for...

 

I own both. I use the laptop more than the desk top. I have had it for 5 years without a hitch. Sony Vaio. Yes it was expensive, but you get what you pay for. The beauty for me is I just plug in my verizon air card (ten times better than AT&T coverage i.e 40 miles out Tuna fishing off Garibaldi) and I am working out of my boat with full internet access while I fish, which is most of the time

 

If you want to travel or use it at the office, get the Mac Book Pro 15". Well worth the investment. So many fewer problems and essentially no virus worry. If you primarily use it at work, it's tax deductible. At home we use an I-Mac and will never willingly go back to PC's. If you want to run Windows, you can always buy Parallels.

 

I have a dell lap top that is three years old. It made it through my deployment in Iraq. Still working great. I ordered a dell dest top for home office when I got back. We also have a netbook that is great for travel if you are just checking email and doing small aps.

I am not sure what you are doing with your computer but if you if you do go with a desk top I would go with a gig and the HD. You want have to worry about room. Pick up a netbook for travel stuff unless you need it for larger apps.

I will say that all of the guys that bought Toshibas and HP's through the PX in Iraq had major problems with them crashing or going on the fritz. I had to blow the dust out of mine every other day because of the dust as you can imagine and also ran a cooling fan under it that plugged into the usb.

Maybe someone can chime in here but I have had a few problems with the 64 bit system running older programs. It took me a while to find the newer drivers and sometimes I could not like my Garmin GPS. Might want to think about Windows version as well. I have ran them all. Make sure you check compatability with windows 7 before you purchase extras.

Good luck!

 

I wasn't gonna chime in but after reading all of the posts, I had to...
Get a laptop. Not only that but get a Macbook Pro laptop. The support is second to none. If you have any questions or problems (BTW, I have zero problems) you can walk into the Apple store and they are solved. If you want to learn how to use any of their programs, you walk into the store and they show you. You can't do that with any PC. Add all of that to no threat of getting viruses or spyware and you have every reason to make it a Mac!