Replacing desktop with laptop?

[hornet]

Anyone done this? I'm on the verge of becoming a homeowner, but said home isn't exactly spacious, what with being a first time buyer in the South East.

Occured to me that all I really use my desktop system for is web surfing, the odd bit of Word and Excel usage, the odd print or two, watching DVDs (although I also have a PS2 for that) and CD ripping/burning. No online gaming, no monster downloads or anything that eats up processing power. I'm wondering if I can get a modest laptop that would let me do everything I currently do, but take up less space and be portable at the same time? Would also use it to store the bulk of my current CDs in mp3, although I might buy an mp3 jukebox to do that.

Current desktop spec (I think) :-

Pentium 4
224mb RAM
35gb hard drive
Windows XP Home
CDRW/DVD

Plus printer and scanner.

Opinions? What sort of price range would I be looking at for those sort of requirements? Had a mooch around online, but there's millions to choose from and I don't know where to start!

[GreenV8S]

It'll be quite a bit slower doing anything that involves IO, and I find the disc drives are less reliable so you might want to get a decent backup system (I use an external 250GB disc, so far so good).

[SoftwareSorcerer]

Why not? I work in several offices, and always take my laptop with me. At home I have loads of machines available to me on my network, but nearly always still use my day-to-day laptop for essentially everything.

For the spec you've mentioned, costs should be around 800ish including VAT.

Look at Dell for good reliable kit.

[SoftwareSorcerer]

GreenV8S said:

It'll be quite a bit slower doing anything that involves IO, and I find the disc drives are less reliable so you might want to get a decent backup system (I use an external 250GB disc, so far so good).

For the usage mentioned though, the I/O limitation shouldn't be an issue at all. Agree about the drives though, and cheap USB2 external drives are a good idea.

[BrianTheYank]

www.alienware.com/system_pages/area-51m.aspx

[SoftwareSorcerer]

BrianTheYank said:

www.alienware.com/system_pages/area-51m.aspx

Heheheh... Our simulation guys have those.... Not quite normal machines though, but they are plenty tasty. Just need to throw away the budget I mentioned earlier!

[BrianTheYank]

SoftwareSorcerer said:

BrianTheYank said: <a href="http://www.alienware.com/system_pages/area-51m.aspx"><a href="http://www.alienware.com/system_pages/area-51m.aspx">www.alienware.com/system_pages/area-51m.aspx</a></a> Heheheh... Our simulation guys have those.... Not quite normal machines though, but they are plenty tasty. Just need to throw away the budget I mentioned earlier!

You know people that have one.............wanna nick it and mail it to me. Ill throw in $50 for ya.

>> Edited by BrianTheYank on Thursday 15th April 21:57

[gopher]

if you want less space to be used then a reasonable shuttle system may be of interest - with a tft could make a very nice system - depends how important the portable bit is.

take a look at www.shuttle.com/hq/ you can buy them from a number of stores (dabs, ebuyer etc) and configure to your needs.

I have a 1.7 celeron version acting as my web server running server 2003 and is doing a fine job (with one user lol!) - but if portability is not that important it can be a serious bit of kit, reasonably priced with a very small footprint.

Cheers

Paul

[hornet]

Just had a look on Dabs.com - this is the sort of thing I think would do the trick, as it has similar spec to my current desktop setup :-

www.dabs.com/uk/channels/hardware/notebooksandtablets/productView.htm?quicklinx=3100

I'm still at 80% free space on my desktop, so I don't need anything mega powerful or with huge memory, just a day to day piece of kit. Being portable would be nice too

[Andy M]

My main computer is a 17" Apple Powerbook which suits me down to the ground.

Easily powerful enough, 80GB hard drive and a wireless network card so that I can surf the internet anywhere in my home - in fact I can't sleep right now, and so am surfing the net while in bed

I've bought an external bluetooth keybord and mouse just in-case I have to write any long word essays as the computers standard keyboard and touch sensitive mouse can become a bit of a strain, but except for that I couldn't ask for much more...

[pmanson]

hornet said:

Just had a look on Dabs.com - this is the sort of thing I think would do the trick, as it has similar spec to my current desktop setup :- www.dabs.com/uk/channels/hardware/notebooksandtablets/productView.htm?quicklinx=3100 I'm still at 80% free space on my desktop, so I don't need anything mega powerful or with huge memory, just a day to day piece of kit. Being portable would be nice too

Don't get an IBM! I have to deal with them at work (Purchasing on a corporate deal). We have had so many supply and support issues with IBM that we are know looking to move our deal to HP or Dell.

Compaq laptops are very nice....

[Mr E]

Just got a new laptop, and I still find myself using the old P3 workstation.

Why?

Resolution. Laptop, even with the docking station, can't handle more than 1200x1024.

Workstation runs at 1600x1200.......

[Plotloss]

Dont do it.

Only ever buy a laptop if the firm is buying it for you.

[bga]

pmanson said:

hornet said: Just had a look on Dabs.com - this is the sort of thing I think would do the trick, as it has similar spec to my current desktop setup :- <a href="http://www.dabs.com/uk/channels/hardware/notebooksandtablets/productView.htm?quicklinx=3100">www.dabs.com/uk/channels/hardware/notebooksandtablets/productView.htm?quicklinx=3100</a> I'm still at 80% free space on my desktop, so I don't need anything mega powerful or with huge memory, just a day to day piece of kit. Being portable would be nice too Don't get an IBM! I have to deal with them at work (Purchasing on a corporate deal). We have had so many supply and support issues with IBM that we are know looking to move our deal to HP or Dell. Compaq laptops are very nice....

IBM have been great for me. I have a (work supplied) thinkpad which is indestructible. I dropped it only this morning. It's been 100% reliable and is pretty fast for everything apart from games.

If it was my money I would go for a dell though

[pmanson]

bga said:

pmanson said: hornet said: Just had a look on Dabs.com - this is the sort of thing I think would do the trick, as it has similar spec to my current desktop setup :- <a href="http://www.dabs.com/uk/channels/hardware/notebooksandtablets/productView.htm?quicklinx=3100"><a href="http://www.dabs.com/uk/channels/hardware/notebooksandtablets/productView.htm?quicklinx=3100">www.dabs.com/uk/channels/hardware/notebooksandtablets/productView.htm?quicklinx=3100</a></a> I'm still at 80% free space on my desktop, so I don't need anything mega powerful or with huge memory, just a day to day piece of kit. Being portable would be nice too Don't get an IBM! I have to deal with them at work (Purchasing on a corporate deal). We have had so many supply and support issues with IBM that we are know looking to move our deal to HP or Dell. Compaq laptops are very nice.... IBM have been great for me. I have a (work supplied) thinkpad which is indestructible. I dropped it only this morning. It's been 100% reliable and is pretty fast for everything apart from games. If it was my money I would go for a dell though

Don't get me wrong when the IBM's actually arrive they are very good quality but IBM seem to have supply issues. They always seem to run out of memory and delay our orders. (And we can be ordering 10+ PC's/Laptops per week)

[stevieb]

I had a go at changing from a desktop to a laptop but to be honest after the novelty has worn off i still prefer the desktop for the reasons that have been said before. Full size keyboard, better performance, better res can all be had from the desktop even if a little older.

I dont by all means have a top spec laptop but i prefer my old P3 1GHz anyday over the laptop for long use.

Plus the T and R key on the laptop have stopped working. and its only 3 months old and they are refusing to repair under warranty

[t1grm]

I have used a laptop only for six years now and have never wanted to go back to a desktop. My first was a Dell which was very good. My second was an IBM which was OK except that they don't supply the original software CD's. They just give you an image CD which formats your disk and dumps all the software onto your HDD pre configured. Not much good if you want to do a repair install of Windows. Am now looking at a Samsung or Toshiba Portege. As I fancy something sleek, sexy and slim and I'm too old to chat them up down the pub now

For just basic day to day stuff you should be able to get a perfectly good laptop from Dell for well under 1K. Another big advantage is if you have ADSL get a WiFi access point. Since most laptops have WiFi now this means you can take the lap top anyware around the house and surf the web. e.g. posting on PH whilst lounging on the sofa watching Top Gear - all with no wires!