The portable computer has been around for some time now. When they first appeared on the market they cost much more than desktops and were less powerful.
But now you can pick them up for around the same price and are just as powerful.
The biggest advantage of laptops of course is that you can take your office wherever you go. They were designed to be used as a secondary machine for when you are away from your office. But it seems that a lot of people buy them, set them up at home and there they stay as though they were desktops.
Why is this and what are the pitfuls?
Space Requirements
While laptops are certainly compact, a desktop computer with a flat panel monitor can take up almost as little space. While called a "desktop" computer, the computer itself is most often kept on the floor. That leaves just the monitor, keyboard and mouse on the desk, which is really very similar in footprint to a notebook computer.
A great way to further reduce the space taken up by the desktop computer is get a keyboard drawer to hold the keyboard and mouse. That way, they slide out of the way under the top of the desk when they aren't needed.
Be Mindful of Ergonomics
Ergonomics is the science of designing and arranging things so that people can interact with them more comfortably and safely. The basic ergonomic principals for computer use tell us that,
1) the keyboard should be as close to your lap level as possible (assuming you touch-type)
2) the monitor should be about arm's length in front of you, and
3) the top of the monitor should be at about your eye level. Try achieving that with a laptop computer!
It is obvious then, that a desktop computer is much better ergonomically than a laptop is. For prolonged use, especially, you're much better off with a desktop computer.
And Don't Forget Usability
Another aspect of ergonomics is usability. Because of size constraints, laptops also are lower on the usability scale than desktop PCs are. For one thing, laptop keyboards lack the separate groupings of the different sets of keys with space between them. For another, there are fewer keys on a laptop's keyboard, so some of them have to perform double duty. On a standard keyboard, you don't have to deal with that.
Screen Resolution
Computer monitors -- the bulky ones, anyway -- can be set at different resolutions. In other words, you can change the fineness of the image on the screen. The range is typically 640x480 -- that is 640 pixel across and 480 pixels up and down -- to 800x600, 1024x768, or even higher. At 640x480, the icons and such appear quite large; at 1024x768, they are substantially smaller. The most common resolutions today for desktop computers are 800x600 and 1024x768.
Something They Don't Tell You
Laptop displays, on the other hand, have a fixed, or native, resolution. You can change the setting, but then the images and text don't look good. While people tend to think that bigger numbers are better, a higher screen resolution may not work as well for you. It may make everything too small to see comfortably.
Make sure you can see everything clearly before choosing a high-resolution laptop.
And finally, a lot of people as mentioned plug the laptop in and leave it as though it was a desktop. But what about the battery?
You're doing it no favours keeping it permantly charged.
Li-ion batteries have been around since the 1960's but were expensive and so they were only used by the military and space missions. Now due to the economies of scale the technology is used in most if not all laptops. These batteries tolerate being partially discharged and recharged but hate being continually charged 100% of the time, which is what happens if you leave your laptop plugged in. If after a few months you decide to use your laptop free from it's mains lead you may find that the capacity of the battery has severly reduced.
To stop this from happening it would be advisable to unplug the mains from time to time and drain the batteries a little, say down to 40% and then plug it back in. Of course you could remove the battery pack altogether (better check your manual first) but don't store it fully charged. Use it until the charge is at 40% or so and then remove it and keep it in a cool place, as too hot conditions also has a detrimental effect on them. You could even put it in the fridge, NOT THE FREEZER!
Now having said all that it is quite possible that your particular make of notebook comes with a plugged in power management mode. This will use the battery some of the time, giving a cycle of discharging and charging, helping to keep the battery in good condition. But you have to make sure you use it. Check your manual to see how to activate it.
