Closing the Gap between Laptops and Desktops [ARTICLE]

At one time, laptops were reserved for road warriors and affluent students, but with today’s wide-ranging price points and growing feature sets, laptops may compactly meet the computing needs of nearly every noobie.

Loving Laptops

Most of the benefits to owning a laptop are obvious. Even if you don’t travel frequently or work in coffee shops, laptops can offer more mobility within your house. If you’ve set up a wireless home network, you can use your laptop to browse the Internet from the couch while watching Monday Night Football or access Rachel Ray’s “Weekly Round-up” of recipes while cooking in your kitchen.

The small size of laptops also conserves space, allowing you to set up a home office or study area nearly anywhere. You’re also likely to conserve electricity since today’s fully charged batteries are likely to keep you “going and going” for 3 to 5 hours.

Overcoming Objections

Most objections noobies raise about laptops are easy to overcome. For those who want a larger screen, you can get best of both worlds by connecting your laptop to any monitor you choose using a standard video cable. Laptops with easy-to-access USB ports allow you to also add an external mouse and keyboard, at home or on the go, if you prefer full-sized versions and don’t mind the baggage.

Digging Desktops

Another common objection to laptops is harder to beat: price. Although prices for laptops have fallen drastically in the last decade or so, you’re still likely to pay more for less in a laptop. And, since desktops usually come neatly bundled with everything you need, including CPU, monitor, mouse, speakers (and lots of unsightly cords), it’s easier to compare apples to apples (or PCs to PCs) with laptops.

Getting less from a laptop is relative to what you actually need from a computer. Most people who choose the right laptop will get everything they need in one portable device. On the other hand, desktop diehards usually seek mega performance features that support multimedia technology for gaming or video editing as well as the flexibility to expand memory and upgrade components.

If you’ve rejected laptops in the past but like the idea of a less obtrusive, more portable computer, it may be time to reconsider your choice. Today’s laptops are faster, more performance rich and more reliable than ever.