Last night Howard and I began discussing buying a new computer for me since my old one is threatening catastrophic failure. We debated the various benefits and drawbacks of laptops and desktops. Both had features that I liked. Neither one completely fit the bill, but replacing the desktop was obviously the sensible solution. As a joke I said to Howard that what would be perfect would be if I could have two computers. Wonderful man that he is, Howard seriously considered this as an option. I don’t need fancy machines, just workhorses. It looks like we can get both for around $800. And since I do all the accounting and shipping for our business, the desktop one can be a business expense.
I have never in my life owned a computer purchased just for me. For most of my life I’ve shared machines. The two times I had a computer of my own, they were older machines that someone else just didn’t need anymore. Now I’m staring at the prospect of not one, but two computers just for me. It seems unbelievable. Part of me is giggling with glee at the prospect. A large part of me feels like the laptop would be frivolous spending since I’ve gotten by without one for a long time. Of course I’ve wanted one for a long time too.
None of our money is really “spare” right now, but we’ve found $800 that isn’t imediately needed for something else. Now I am pondering on the question: Six months from now, will I be happy I spent on a laptop, or will I consider it money poorly spent?
For accounting and shipping? That’s not heavy lifting for a computer. My personal recommendation would be to get a laptop, and a docking station so you can plug it in to your existing keyboard/monitor/mouse and get the desktop layout at home.
Of course, I say this without an idea of what exactly the features are that you’ve been looking at. But with the docking station, your laptop can basically replace the CPU-case portion of your existing desktop. (I’m assuming of course that the existing monitor/keyboard/mouse is working.)
For accounting and shipping? That’s not heavy lifting for a computer. My personal recommendation would be to get a laptop, and a docking station so you can plug it in to your existing keyboard/monitor/mouse and get the desktop layout at home.
Of course, I say this without an idea of what exactly the features are that you’ve been looking at. But with the docking station, your laptop can basically replace the CPU-case portion of your existing desktop. (I’m assuming of course that the existing monitor/keyboard/mouse is working.)
I always feel bad buying computers (have only bought 4 new ones since ’79). Knowing how fast computer equipment depreciates hurts but at the same time, computers have become almost like utilities and the constant use we put them to really spreads their cost out over several years.
For what it’s worth, I’m wanting to upgrade right now (am using 800MHz machine I bought used) but since we’re trying to build/buy a house in the next year, am having to bite my tongue. Sigh. Dual/dual core 3 GHz Xeon box would be sweet!
I always feel bad buying computers (have only bought 4 new ones since ’79). Knowing how fast computer equipment depreciates hurts but at the same time, computers have become almost like utilities and the constant use we put them to really spreads their cost out over several years.
For what it’s worth, I’m wanting to upgrade right now (am using 800MHz machine I bought used) but since we’re trying to build/buy a house in the next year, am having to bite my tongue. Sigh. Dual/dual core 3 GHz Xeon box would be sweet!
I’d not thought about that…
Also, teh Laptop has the benefit of being portable… You can take it with to things like Swimming lessons, or soccer, or what ever else your kids might do after school that you have to sit and watch. You can go outside with them, and at least be around to hear when someone falls ans scrapes a knee…
And the laptop/docking station would ALL be deductable I would think…
I’d not thought about that…
Also, teh Laptop has the benefit of being portable… You can take it with to things like Swimming lessons, or soccer, or what ever else your kids might do after school that you have to sit and watch. You can go outside with them, and at least be around to hear when someone falls ans scrapes a knee…
And the laptop/docking station would ALL be deductable I would think…
I’ve wanted a laptop for a few years now, but could never really justify the cost to myself. After all, I can get so much more in a desktop for the same money. Now that I have one (work-issue) I can’t possibly go back to not having one. The ability to pull it out just about anywhere and work/play/whatever is indispensable. Then again, I’m currently living a somewhat nomadic life and frequently spending time away from home, so that may just be a special case.
I second the “laptop and docking station” suggestion, but make sure you get a decent dock. A couple of people I know have had problems with bad connections and such.
I’ve wanted a laptop for a few years now, but could never really justify the cost to myself. After all, I can get so much more in a desktop for the same money. Now that I have one (work-issue) I can’t possibly go back to not having one. The ability to pull it out just about anywhere and work/play/whatever is indispensable. Then again, I’m currently living a somewhat nomadic life and frequently spending time away from home, so that may just be a special case.
I second the “laptop and docking station” suggestion, but make sure you get a decent dock. A couple of people I know have had problems with bad connections and such.
Lap-top
My prediction is that within a short amount of time you will wonder how you ever lived withOUT a laptop! 🙂 My husband had to talk me into getting mine several years ago and I am a devout convert now! The convenience of being able to work where ever you may be (and with wireless at home, it can be on the porch, on the bed, watching TV…wherever!) is SO wonderful. It has helped on trips away from home, also. Good luck! 🙂
Lap-top
My prediction is that within a short amount of time you will wonder how you ever lived withOUT a laptop! 🙂 My husband had to talk me into getting mine several years ago and I am a devout convert now! The convenience of being able to work where ever you may be (and with wireless at home, it can be on the porch, on the bed, watching TV…wherever!) is SO wonderful. It has helped on trips away from home, also. Good luck! 🙂
I’m gonna add my vote to the ‘Laptop and Docking station’ party. A docking station adds all the benefits of a desktop (nice keyboard/mouse, large monitor) to your laptop at a fraction of the cost of another desktop.
And I’ll also vote for getting an IBM thinkpad, if you want a workhorse of a laptop. They’re massivly unpretty, but mine has survived through two years of college as a backpack computer, and then as my general laptop afterwards, including being sat on by a rather large man (while closed) and being in my bag during *two* midspeed motorcycle crashes. And all I’ve had to replace was a harddrive.
I’m gonna add my vote to the ‘Laptop and Docking station’ party. A docking station adds all the benefits of a desktop (nice keyboard/mouse, large monitor) to your laptop at a fraction of the cost of another desktop.
And I’ll also vote for getting an IBM thinkpad, if you want a workhorse of a laptop. They’re massivly unpretty, but mine has survived through two years of college as a backpack computer, and then as my general laptop afterwards, including being sat on by a rather large man (while closed) and being in my bag during *two* midspeed motorcycle crashes. And all I’ve had to replace was a harddrive.
I bet you’ll be happy.
I bet you’ll be happy.
Holy cow…
I think you sold ME on an IBM thinkpad…
The only downside to laptops is there are VERY difficult to upgrade, so you have to buy better to start with… but if you will only be doing accounting/writing on it, and surfing the web… Yeah, a laptop will last you for YEARS…
Holy cow…
I think you sold ME on an IBM thinkpad…
The only downside to laptops is there are VERY difficult to upgrade, so you have to buy better to start with… but if you will only be doing accounting/writing on it, and surfing the web… Yeah, a laptop will last you for YEARS…
I guess I’m in the minority, but everyone I’ve ever known to have a laptop in the price range you’re talking about has been miserable because they’ve been terrible, terrible computers. Lots of problems, spent more time in the shop than out, and even then…warranties expire. A friend who had $1000 to spend on a computer didn’t listen to me and got a laptop instead of a desktop…and she told me later that she wished she had. Her second cheap one hasn’t been much better (the first only lasted her about two years).
Just a different perspective.
I guess I’m in the minority, but everyone I’ve ever known to have a laptop in the price range you’re talking about has been miserable because they’ve been terrible, terrible computers. Lots of problems, spent more time in the shop than out, and even then…warranties expire. A friend who had $1000 to spend on a computer didn’t listen to me and got a laptop instead of a desktop…and she told me later that she wished she had. Her second cheap one hasn’t been much better (the first only lasted her about two years).
Just a different perspective.
Contrary to most of the other people here, I’m not a big fan of laptops. In most cases I’ve found, opening them up at all is an excellent way to void the warranty, they’re usually much harder(and more expensive) to upgrade and repair, and the cost is more than a desktop of a similiar performance.
From reading your journal here, I don’t get the picture that you’d really be in a whole lot of situations outside of the house where you’re not busy with something or other and would have the leisure to spend enough time working on it to justify the additional money spent on it. You could get much better performance out of a good desktop computer for roughly the same money, especially because you already have all the peripheral equipment for it.
If you do want a laptop, I’d think you’d do better if you got only the one computer, and spent the entire computer budget getting the best laptop you can. Upgrading a laptop is fairly expensive, and not a do-it-yourself job, so you want to buy the best possible laptop you can.
Really, just ask yourself this. Is the extra convinience of the laptop really going to be worth spending the extra money on it, when odds are that everything you need to do could be done just as easily on a $300-$400 Dell or something similiar?
Contrary to most of the other people here, I’m not a big fan of laptops. In most cases I’ve found, opening them up at all is an excellent way to void the warranty, they’re usually much harder(and more expensive) to upgrade and repair, and the cost is more than a desktop of a similiar performance.
From reading your journal here, I don’t get the picture that you’d really be in a whole lot of situations outside of the house where you’re not busy with something or other and would have the leisure to spend enough time working on it to justify the additional money spent on it. You could get much better performance out of a good desktop computer for roughly the same money, especially because you already have all the peripheral equipment for it.
If you do want a laptop, I’d think you’d do better if you got only the one computer, and spent the entire computer budget getting the best laptop you can. Upgrading a laptop is fairly expensive, and not a do-it-yourself job, so you want to buy the best possible laptop you can.
Really, just ask yourself this. Is the extra convinience of the laptop really going to be worth spending the extra money on it, when odds are that everything you need to do could be done just as easily on a $300-$400 Dell or something similiar?
Laptop all the way
I have to chime in with everybody reccomending a laptop, with or without a docking station. Even the cheapest laptop in Walmart has plenty of computing power and storage space for your probable needs. I would reccomend that you make regular backups on CD or to a portable hard drive as insurance against hardware failure.
I recently purchased a relatively cheap Toshiba laptop (~$650 at walmart) and am suprised at how happy I am with it. It even performs suprisingly well for most games that I play. As far as specific recommendations I would look for a computer with at least 512 Mb of RAM and at least a CD-burner. If you watch movies I would look for a computer with a CD-burner/DVD combo drive. My wife and find that it works very nice to cuddle up in bed and watch about 20-30 minutes of a movie before going to sleep. We end up watching about 1 movie per week this way.
Laptop all the way
I have to chime in with everybody reccomending a laptop, with or without a docking station. Even the cheapest laptop in Walmart has plenty of computing power and storage space for your probable needs. I would reccomend that you make regular backups on CD or to a portable hard drive as insurance against hardware failure.
I recently purchased a relatively cheap Toshiba laptop (~$650 at walmart) and am suprised at how happy I am with it. It even performs suprisingly well for most games that I play. As far as specific recommendations I would look for a computer with at least 512 Mb of RAM and at least a CD-burner. If you watch movies I would look for a computer with a CD-burner/DVD combo drive. My wife and find that it works very nice to cuddle up in bed and watch about 20-30 minutes of a movie before going to sleep. We end up watching about 1 movie per week this way.
Re: I’d not thought about that…
And on those occasions when you go to Cons with Howard, you’ll have your laptop, and so even if you get both that makes both a business expense.
Re: I’d not thought about that…
And on those occasions when you go to Cons with Howard, you’ll have your laptop, and so even if you get both that makes both a business expense.
Have you guys looked into any of the local shops? They may have Perfectly Servicable used machines for sale. Didn’t there used to be a place in Orem call Computer Recyclers or something? I think they’ve changed their name, they are up by Carl’s Jr.
Also, you can get some decent IBM notebooks on Ebay for reasonable prices. IBMs are nice because they are tougher than a lot of stuff.
Have you guys looked into any of the local shops? They may have Perfectly Servicable used machines for sale. Didn’t there used to be a place in Orem call Computer Recyclers or something? I think they’ve changed their name, they are up by Carl’s Jr.
Also, you can get some decent IBM notebooks on Ebay for reasonable prices. IBMs are nice because they are tougher than a lot of stuff.
Buyer Beware
Theoretically buying used should be much cheaper than buying new. However make sure you do your research. I quit going to the local stores around here (Minneapolis/St. Paul area) becasue they wanted more for used or archaic computers and parts than it would cost me to buy new.
Of course I also read the recent post that makes this a moot point.
Buyer Beware
Theoretically buying used should be much cheaper than buying new. However make sure you do your research. I quit going to the local stores around here (Minneapolis/St. Paul area) becasue they wanted more for used or archaic computers and parts than it would cost me to buy new.
Of course I also read the recent post that makes this a moot point.