Laptop vs Desktop

As I mentioned on Monday, I now have a new desktop PC. Which might make you wonder why I went with a desktop this time considering that I deliberately went with a laptop 3 years ago. Was this an acknowledgement that I had made a mistake with my laptop purchase?

Not as such, no.

The reason I went with a desktop is simply because I already have a laptop and didn't see the need for another one. Bear in mind, although the desktop will be "replacing" my laptop in that I will probably use my desktop more often (particularly for games), the laptop is still invaluable to me. The laptop gives me a couple of key advantages:

Portability

The first is obviously portability. If I ever go on holiday, I can take my laptop with me which clearly isn't possible with a desktop. This has several major advantages - the biggest of which, from a hedonistic point of view, is that I can take my PC gaming with me.

Also, with the installation of Dropbox on my PCs, I now have access to key files even while I'm on holiday. That is, assuming that I did adequate planning and put those key files into my Dropbox folder in the first place.

Now all I need to do is find a way to change the default save locations for my games to my Dropbox folder and I will effectively have a cloud save game system!

Multiple home PCs

The second advantage of having a laptop is that I now have 2 home PCs. In the past, with just one PC, it could sometimes get awkward when both the missus and I want to get online. Or rather, it could get awkward for me as I generally lost such arguments and corresponding PC access...

With an additional PC, we can now both be online at the same time. And with one of the PCs being a laptop, it doesn't take up much space in the event that I'm not using it. Granted, this doesn't happen that often but considering how important internet access is in this day and age, the value in being online and connected should not be underestimated.

Conclusion

In short, I don't regret my laptop purchase. In fact, I might even end up alternating between buying laptops and desktops on a go forward basis to ensure that I always have two usable PCs. With that said, who knows how tablet PCs will develop in future. In three years time, I may no longer have any need for a laptop at all as I will just be using dumb terminals to log into my home PC.