Laptop or Tower?

[Drago]

You don't have to put anything on the cloud with a Chrome book if you don't want to. A simple USB stick will suffice if that is what one desires.

There is a midway between the compactness of a laptop and the bulk of a tower: an all-in--one. Not being remotely interested in pooters I bought an HP all in one. I bought one with a beefy processor, but for casual Web surfing emails and writing the new Dirk McDagger (tm) novel it'll never run out of power.

 

[mr_cellophane]

I have the same tower that I bought over 20 years ago. I call it Trigger as it has had; new motherboard, memory upgrade, PSU upgrade, graphics card upgrade, CD reader upgrade. Try doing that with a laptop.

 

[chris667]

A simple USB stick will suffice if that is what one desires.

That's not in their nature. And USB sticks are really unreliable.

With anything cloud-based you get convenience, but you are also buying into a model where you have a perpetual financial relationship with the company that provides the service.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

But you'll still have to buy all the peripherals

They will already have the peripherals attached to current PC. Just move them over, no need to buy those bits new.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

We still haven’t heard what’s wrong with current PC. Changing hard drive or a bit more memory may be all it needs.

 

[Drago]

That's not in their nature. And USB sticks are really unreliable.

In their nature? Its easy, just select the destination when you go to save, not much different to OC or Mac in that regard.

Or save it on the cloud as well. Or two USBs. Or whatever. Millions of folk use them daily without losing data. Indeed, thinking back over the years my old Chrome book had a better record in that regard than the PCs I've owned.

 

[Alex321]

That's not in their nature. And USB sticks are really unreliable.

Not sure just what you mean by "not in their nature"?

And by "really unreliable", you mean that one may fail once in every few years. I haven't had them fail as often as HDD (and those haven't been frequent)

With anything cloud-based you get convenience, but you are also buying into a model where you have a perpetual financial relationship with the company that provides the service.

True. I personally would be unlikely to buy a Chromebook, but more because of concerns about updates and continuing support than because of cloud storage.

I have a networked HDD (two actually) at home, and would use that for storage.

 

[chris667]

Its easy, just select the destination when you go to save, not much different to OC or Mac in that regard.

No. By design, chromebooks work with Google Docs. You can save these files to their (very limited) internal storage or a USB, but it's all extra steps than what they're meant to do. That's very different to how PCs and Macs work (actually less so these days - Microsoft are trying to become a cloud company too).

The point of cloud-based computers is that everything you're working on is hosted on the Internet, so you can view it from anywhere. That's fine, but the explanations never point out that if your stuff is on someone else's computer you never actually own it.

A PC with its files on its own hard disk (when combined with proper backups) is the best way to ensure you don't lose your stuff. Relying on a USB drive (or even two USB drives) is poor practice, as you have to remember to do an extra thing every time.

 

[Drago]

I have the same tower that I bought over 20 years ago. I call it Trigger as it has had; new motherboard, memory upgrade, PSU upgrade, graphics card upgrade, CD reader upgrade. Try doing that with a laptop.

For the money spent you could buy a new laptop.

 

[chris667]

Not sure just what you mean by "not in their nature"?

See my reply to @Drago - they are not designed for local storage if you have to do extra steps.

I haven't had them fail as often as HDD (and those haven't been frequent)

That's because you haven't used them as much. MLC memory as used by USB thumb drives is inherently less reliable than hard disks and there is no wear levelling. USB thumb drives fail all the time, with a much lower chance of recovery than you have with data on conventional disks.

 

[Profpointy]

Laptop !
A decent make laptop with enough power ad memory might be £500 to £700 and is simply a lot handier and versatile than a desktop / tower even if the latter is going to be more powerful for the same money, though likely not much cheaper in practice.

Given you want to do spreadsheets and such you do need a proper PC not a tablet, though doesn't have to be an especially powerful one assuming your spreadsheets aren't the accounts for IBM

If doing proper work on it I'd also get a separate screen as big as you've space for. They aren't that dear these days. In a previous flat we had our biggish TV on top of the work desk in the lounge so this did double duty. Have a separate monitor now. I favour a modest sized screen on the laptop if you do have a separate monitor as it's less to lug around

You don't really need a DVD drive in the machine itself, a USB unit is more sensible and keeps the laptop size down.

Definitely get a SSD drive rather than a normal one unless you have a load of stuff that needs local storage. You still want USB hard drives (x2) for backups. You alternate which to use. If you only have the one then it's a problem if something goes wrong mid backup. These days cloud storage may be a valid alternative to local backups

 

[chris667]

Laptop !

Fine, but...

If doing proper work on it I'd also get a separate screen as big as you've space for.

... if you're routinely attaching a screen, what's the advantage of a laptop?

 

[Profpointy]

Fine, but...


... if you're routinely attaching a screen, what's the advantage of a laptop?

Umm, you can detach the screen and use it sat on the sofa or on an away trip, or on the train

 

[vickster]

Fine, but...


... if you're routinely attaching a screen, what's the advantage of a laptop?

two screens

 

[chris667]

two screens

But then surely you'd be better off with a desktop? Why would you want two different sized screens?

It strikes me that a laptop with its built-in screen is trading a very suboptimal experience (weird keyboard, trackpad instead of mouse) for a portability advantage that you give away when you connect peripherals to it.