Taking sides; laptops vs desktops?

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Last one, I promise.

OK, I am going to get an Apple of some kind. Other events of this week as well as the PC dying have convinced me that it's a must, and I have looming minor financial improvements. The question is iBook or iMac? Consider they are both the same price for the same RAM and software, but the desktop has double the hard disk (cos that's near enough the situation).

Pros and cons on either side. I really cannot choose.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Friday, 13 January 2006 12:07 (twenty years ago)

You still have a keyboard and monitor yes?

Apple laptops function like Mac Minis when you plug in an external keyboard and display and shut the lid. So I think this would give you the best of both worlds.

― tissp! (the impossible shortest specia), Friday, 13 January 2006 12:13 (twenty years ago)

Hmmm...

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Friday, 13 January 2006 12:14 (twenty years ago)

i did not know that!

tbh, nick, it depends on if you think you'll need to port it much.

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Friday, 13 January 2006 12:17 (twenty years ago)

TS: Laptops vs. Desktops

Laptops vs Desktops

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 13 January 2006 12:21 (twenty years ago)

I love my iBook. I can take it to bed and watch telly on it. And if you want a bigger hard disk you can get an external one, no? Or store stuff on the gmail server. Or summat.

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Friday, 13 January 2006 12:53 (twenty years ago)

Laptops kick ass i have a powerbook and it is probably the best thing i have ever bought/been bought.
just plain sick. I cant even imagine having a desktop now just seems stupid.
macs rule!!!

― lewis (lewis), Saturday, 14 January 2006 01:16 (twenty years ago)

i love my laptop (a thinkpad t42). i agree, i'll never go back to desktops now.

― yvette yreka (Jody Beth Rosen), Saturday, 14 January 2006 01:20 (twenty years ago)

I think desktops will be somewhat obsolete, though I covet one for editing.

― adamrl (nordicskilla), Saturday, 14 January 2006 01:32 (twenty years ago)

iMac. Faster, bigger screen, cooler looking, much better value and sitting at the beginning of a product cycle (the curren iBooks will be replaced in three or four months, if not sooner). Plus you'll be able to play games and use Windows programs on it as soon as they get VirtualPC sorted.

If carrying it around town isn't a necessity, I see no reason to get an iBook.

― Erick Dampier is better than Shaq (miloaukerman), Saturday, 14 January 2006 01:33 (twenty years ago)

Jesus christ I wish I had a laptop.

― deej.. (deej..), Saturday, 14 January 2006 01:36 (twenty years ago)

I like mine

― RJG (RJG), Saturday, 14 January 2006 01:38 (twenty years ago)

i use my imac like a laptop... weird situation, but i am able to sit on the couch using my desktop... i would say get a laptop. i'm dying for one, and if you still have other components and can plug the laptop into a monitor when necessary like tissp said, you are set.

― tres letraj (tehresa), Saturday, 14 January 2006 02:18 (twenty years ago)

Laptop to sit in front of, giant rack-mount beast to actually do stuff.
Desktops are a useless inbetween size - big enough to be inconvenient,
too small to actually stick a real computer in.

― shieldforyoureyes, Saturday, 14 January 2006 04:39 (twenty years ago)

John Gruber has wisdom on this:

http://daringfireball.net/2005/11/full_metal_jacket

"I have, for several years, subscribed to the theory that those who are mostly desk-bound should buy the cheapest laptop they can get by with and the most expensive desktop system they can afford. One reason is the idea that laptops — slower and more fragile — aren’t really worth a big investment. Better, say, to spend $1200 on a 12-inch iBook and $1800 on an iMac than to spend $3,000 on a big PowerBook. Get a portable that’s truly portable, and use a real desktop system the rest of the time.

As of two weeks ago, I officially unsubscribed from this theory, and I am filing this report on a new 15-inch PowerBook G4, maxed out with 2 GB of RAM and the 7200-RPM hard drive upgrade I pondered in my initial coverage the day these new machines were announced. New theory: get the best PowerBook you can and live off it."

― Mike W (caek), Saturday, 14 January 2006 16:33 (twenty years ago)

However, the new MacBook Pro will have teething troubles, so I wouldn't get one for a while, and anyone who buys an iBook now is insane (switch Powerbook for iBook in that article -- it was written assuming iBooks would go Intel first).

― Mike W (caek), Saturday, 14 January 2006 16:36 (twenty years ago)

My next computer will be a MacMini. I don't mind laptops at all, mind you, I just have very little need for them since I have my computer at home and then another at work. Slugging a computer around everywhere I go doesn't really appeal.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 14 January 2006 16:42 (twenty years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.