Laptop or Tower?

[wafter]

FWIW I have both; desktop does (or rather did) heavy lifting - i.e. stuff that needed a decent size monitor, decent processing power lots of typing so proper keyboard. Laptop is small and used around the house / mainly for web browsing in bed.

In the desktop's favour it's cheaper for a given spec, far more standardised / easy to upgrade / repair and capable of storing a lot more drives / data. I bought mine new in 2009 (1st gen. i7, highish-end at the time) and it's still going strong despite being old-hat; having in this time had a new PSU (old one died), graphics card (old one died), SSD (far faster than an HDD), and a RAM upgrade.

In the laptop's favour it's obviously a lot more portable so can be used around / outside the house, while it doesn't require its own dedicated space, takes up a lot less room and is easier to tuck away. If you only want one machine but some of the versatility of the desktop, you can run the laptop with an external monitor, keyboard and mouse; made easier by using a laptop dock.

Sadly it seems that laptops have a much shorter lifespan than desktop as they have a harder life and are much more difficult / limited to upgrade. While not immediately obvious from viewing stuff online, consumer-grade latops are basically rubbish; their lower price reflected in a nasty user interface (mouse and keyboard), poor screens (colour rendition, viewing angles) along with generally shonky build quality, limited lifespan and poor upgradability. Also bear in mind that many laptops (esp. smaller ones) now come with RAM soldered directly to the motherboard - meaning what you get initially is it / you can't upgrade to more.

If you have the space and the application permits a desktop is the way to go; decent used ones can be had for very little money and not everything has to be some massive tower - there are a lot of nice small / ultra small form factor machines about. If going for either laptop or desktop I'd recommend Dell and Lenovo products.

Alternatively as others have said there might be scope in upgrading your current machine - do you know what processor it has / how much RAM is installed? Might just be that fitting a solid state drive and some more RAM will sort it out for not a lot of money

 

[neil_merseyside]

Has anyone mentioned power consumption yet? Laptops use a fraction of the power of a desktop/tower. Less heat more than anything but will save some money.

 

[Shadow]

do you know what processor it has / how much RAM is installed?

If I've looked correctly, processor is Intel i3 and RAM is 4GB.

 

[Seevio]

Has anyone mentioned power consumption yet? Laptops use a fraction of the power of a desktop/tower. Less heat more than anything but will save some money.

Power consumption of a computer is directly tied efficiency of the parts and their performance not what type of case they are in. Equivalent spec desktops and laptops will use similar amounts of power.

 

[Profpointy]

Power consumption of a computer is directly tied efficiency of the parts and their performance not what type of case they are in. Equivalent spec desktops and laptops will use similar amounts of power.

Whilst that's likely true up to a point, rather more effort is put in to reducing power consumption on a laptop as it needs to operate for a "reasonable" duration purely on the battery. Tends to drop into standby mode more regularly. Fans are only on when needed, maybe a bit more passive cooling. Discs tend to only run when being accessed etc. Less likey to have a power hungry graphics card and such. Admittedly some of this means they may not quite be be the "equivalent spec" for some aspects, but nevertheless lowpower consumption is more of a design goal for a laptop.

 

[bonzobanana]

Power consumption of a computer is directly tied efficiency of the parts and their performance not what type of case they are in. Equivalent spec desktops and laptops will use similar amounts of power.

I don't think that is true. A desktop computer might have a 500W or more PSU and is less efficient when using less power that a typical laptop. Some of the low power laptops only have a 20W psu but most typically laptops are around 45-65W I would say. Desktops have to allow for a lot more expansion and extra ports. I think I've got a desktop with a 700W PSU but its not powerful enough to run a certain graphics card I have as one of the power rails isn't powerful enough. 12V possibly.

 

[Dadam]

Power consumption of a computer is directly tied efficiency of the parts and their performance not what type of case they are in. Equivalent spec desktops and laptops will use similar amounts of power.

Not really, laptops usually have components optimised for active power management and lower power consumption generally. CPUs, especially in thinner and lighter machines are often specific low power consumption variants (the U suffix on Intel chips denote this). If the chips are the from the same fab they are frequently cherry picked of the production line for having better thermal properties, i.e less waste heat.

 

[Seevio]

A desktop computer might have a 500W or more PSU and is less efficient when using less power that a typical laptop.

Or it might have a 20W PSU if its a low power machine like a NUC. Why would anyone put a huge PSU in a low power machine?

Some of the low power laptops only have a 20W psu but most typically laptops are around 45-65W I would say.

And some high end gaming laptops run into the hundreds of Watts.

Desktops have to allow for a lot more expansion and extra ports.

They don't "have" to.

Not really, laptops usually have components optimised for active power management and lower power consumption generally. CPUs, especially in thinner and lighter machines are often specific low power consumption variants (the U suffix on Intel chips denote this). If the chips are the from the same fab they are frequently cherry picked of the production line for having better thermal properties, i.e less waste heat.

And you can build a desktop with components optimised for active power management and lower power consumption. There's nothing stopping a 'U' variant Intel chip from going in a desktop. Here's a desktop with one in.

The point I'm trying to make is that laptops don't usually use less power because they are laptops, they use less power because they are lower specced computers. Lower power consumption isn't usually the prime target for the desktop market but it absolutely can be. If that's what you want, you can build a desktop to the same spec as a laptop and it will have a similar power draw. As an example, my Pi uses 2-5W and while it won't be running Cyberpunk on full settings anytime soon, it is still a proper desktop computer.

 

[Dadam]

I don’t disagree that it’s not the form factor that determines the power use. You can indeed build ultra low draw desktops and high draw laptops. However that does not detract from the fact that on average, laptops use less power than desktops.

 

[gzoom]

my Pi uses 2-5W and while it won't be running Cyberpunk on full settings anytime soon, it is still a proper desktop computer.

Cloud based solutions + tablets and mobile CPU are already changing what’s required to run demanding processor applications. The idea of being ‘tied down’ to one device like a tower PC just to play Cyberpunk for example already seems mad!!

This is my Fold 4 phone, running 2 (TWO) different instances of Cyberpunk AT THE SAME TIME using cloud based services via split screen……..the red pill is there to be taken .

 

[Cycleops]

Poor OP I'm sure he's more confused than ever now.

 

[Shadow]

Poor OP I'm sure he's more confused than ever now.

Not really, just ignoring all the stuff that is not relevant to my original query.

Anything relating to gaming or multiple screens for example!

 

[mr_cellophane]

For the money spent you could buy a new laptop.

Can't find a laptop with 5.25 and 3.5 floppy drives.

 

[Alex321]

Can't find a laptop with 5.25 and 3.5 floppy drives.

You won't find a new desktop on sale with those either, you will need external drives, or add them in yourself if the case has space. Of course the latter is not possible with a laptop.

 

[bonzobanana]

Or it might have a 20W PSU if its a low power machine like a NUC. Why would anyone put a huge PSU in a low power machine?


And some high end gaming laptops run into the hundreds of Watts.


They don't "have" to.


And you can build a desktop with components optimised for active power management and lower power consumption. There's nothing stopping a 'U' variant Intel chip from going in a desktop. Here's a desktop with one in.

The point I'm trying to make is that laptops don't usually use less power because they are laptops, they use less power because they are lower specced computers. Lower power consumption isn't usually the prime target for the desktop market but it absolutely can be. If that's what you want, you can build a desktop to the same spec as a laptop and it will have a similar power draw. As an example, my Pi uses 2-5W and while it won't be running Cyberpunk on full settings anytime soon, it is still a proper desktop computer.

The way I'm thinking of desktop PC's is your standard windows desktop PC you would get from Dell and other vendors or see in Currys. Of course there are lots of low power mini PCs using low power chips but one of the main selling points of windows desktop PCs is their expandability and upgradability. I had a gaming laptop in the past and the thing was utterly pointless. It had such short battery life and its performance for gaming was still compromised. It was an utterly pointless, however it wasn't super powerful I seem to remember the PSU was 90W. It was probably an entry level gaming laptop with dedicated graphics hardware. A desktop at the time could easily beat it for a fraction of the money (perhaps a 3rd of the money) but perhaps using 3x as much power.