Thinkin of getting a laptop

I have been thinking of getting a laptop and selling my desktop pc. With the work we do it would make it much easier when doing estimates. I wouldn't have to come home and work the estimate up on the comp. I could do it and give it to the customer right then. It would also give me alot more room in my house. I wouldn't have this HUGE desk taking up space in the living room.
Can anyone give me some pros and cons to a laptop. I really need help deciding on this

That is a great thing for you to have with the estimates. I don't know much about the pros and cons but I am sure someone will! Good luck finding a great deal on a great laptop!

they cost more, also unlike desktops they are hard to get service sometimes from local people. also they dont always play games very well(granted i am sure you do not care about that part) .

But for what you do it would work very well i think, however keep the desktop for the kids to play on

We have laptops for our estimators (to be honest they don't really use them and give them to someone in the office to type up).

Generally, with desktops, you will get more for your money, they are easier to upgrade, less likely to get stolen (especially if you will have the laptop on jobsites) and are more powerful (depending on what programmes you are running)

With a laptop, you can take it with you (I assume you are getting a small laptop printer to give the estimate for the customer or is it just verbal?), you could use GPS on it to find jobsites, and then is opposite to everything I said about the desktop above.

It also really depends on what you are going to buy, if your desktop is a little older and not as powerful and you are willing to spend $$ for a decent laptop, the laptop maybe better than the desktop.

I'm not sure which one I'm going to buy. My best friend's husband works for Circuit City and he's helping me find one. I'm not worried about gaming. I only use it for doing estimates, downloading, and storing pictures. DH is upset that I'm thinking of trading up to one. He doesn't think it can burn cd's and such That's why he's a roofer and I do the computer work

Laptops are also harder to fix if something goes wrong internally. In college I had a lap top that died and I lost two years worth of papers and research. Just like any computer make sure you back everything up that you want to save. I learned that the hard way.

Laptops can't be upgraded so they become obsolete very fast.

Laptops are more difficult to fix and are way more expensive to fix.

Laptops aren't as durable as a desktop and break down and burn out faster.

Oh...and don't get a Dell! I bought a Dell laptop in November of 2002 and paid almost $6,000.00 for it. I made sure it had all the high end components including the top of the line graphic card at the time.

I couldn't get used to the design of the keyboard or the resolution. Over the course of the first 20 months that I owned my laptop I used it about 6 times in total.

Then I got sick and couldn't sit at my desktop and started to use my laptop as my primary computer. I used it for a total of 18 months and the motherboard failed: that was 5 months after my hardware warranty expired!

The motherboard is the most expensive component in the computer, and when I pay $6,000.00 for a computer I expect the main component to last longer than 18 months of use!!!

I wrote to Michael Dell several times and didn't even get an acknowledgement of receipt of my letters! Finally I stopped playing Ms. Nice Person and called the company and steamrolled my way through a number of departments and people and I admit I wasn't very nice, but many of those that I spoke with were down right ignorant, rude and sarcastic when they heard why I was calling (seeking warranty repair on an out of warranty computer).

I finally talked to someone who agreed with my claim and put me through to the top level of some department where they resolve issues such as mine. After 2 weeks of back and forth correspondence and my answering every question given to me, they write me back saying that they won't cover it under warranty because the warranty has expired! Like DUH!!!! I knew that. That's why I called because the warranty was expired but the computer had only been used 18 months before the motherboard failed.

They didn't care. The best they said they would do is reimburse me 1/2 of the cost of repair after I had paid the invoice in full. The total cost of repair would have been something like $1200.00; they were prepared to give me back 1/2 of that.

I didn't go for it because I had sunk $6,000.00 into it and I didn't feel it worth spending more money on. I still think it should have been covered by warranty.

I also know 5 others who have Dell laptops and all 5 of them had to have the motherboard replaced within or shortly after 3 or 4 years.

The only thing Dell has that is worth anything is 24/7 telephone tech support while you have a warranty on your computer. So far as the quality of their computers, they are poor.

Anyway, sorry for rambling. Whenever I hear the word "laptop", my blood boils because I remember my disasterous Dell experience.

ahh, laptops. I'm possibly getting a new laptop, so I've been doing a lot of research. My current laptop is a Sony Vaio - run, don't walk AWAY from Sony Vaios. The motherboard died on me a year after I bought it - it wasn't under warranty so I had to pay 400 bucks to get it fixed.

I have heard many good things about HP and Acer laptops. I've heard bad things about Dell. Not sure about this "you can't upgrade laptops" bit tho - you can put a new anything into a laptop, it's just going to cost a little more, cos working on them is harder than working on desktops.

personally I love laptops.. it's cool to be able to lounge in bed and surf the net sometimes, it's cool having something that's portable, you can take on the road with you if need be...they do everything a desktop can do these days (pretty much). the only downside is they're a tad more expensive, but personally I think they're worth it

Wouldn't want a laptop - I don't overly care for the keyboards on them and like to play games, so would need to hook up a mouse anyway. I prefer desktops, although my daughter has a new laptop that she absolutely loves.

wireless mouse

We have rechargeable batteries and hubby uses that. When they die, i get the ones that are charged, put the old ones on the charger right away. They last about 3 or 4 weeks in the mouse itself.

Laptops have their place and if all you are doing are estimates, it won't become obsolete fast.

If you were playing games, it would..after a few years, all the new games wouldn't be playable on your laptop but if all you are going to do is surf, type stuff up on word and print it..go for it, it will/can last you a while.

We got an e-machine and we initially had overheating issues but i sent it back to them (after the warranty expired but they let me send it in since i had called before a few times, just hadn't had a chance to send it in) and in under a week, i had it back.

No problems since! We've had it 4 years or so. It IS obsolete for games, for the rest, it still works great. And of course you can burn cds and stuff but you do have to be careful because if something does break, it's pretty hard to fix and expensive.

Originally Posted by DixieDarlin256

I have been thinking of getting a laptop and selling my desktop pc. With the work we do it would make it much easier when doing estimates. I wouldn't have to come home and work the estimate up on the comp. I could do it and give it to the customer right then. It would also give me alot more room in my house. I wouldn't have this HUGE desk taking up space in the living room.
Can anyone give me some pros and cons to a laptop. I really need help deciding on this

Click to expand...

Just MO I hate laptops Did that help?
Hubby has one I just don't like the hassel, but then I don't need mine to go

If you do decide to get one, buy one from a store...I personally would avoid Dell. We use to use them at work and things just kept going wrong. So unless you're willing to spend the $$$ on Dell, you can get an HP equipped the same with 1/2 the cost.

If you go through CompUSA, Circuit City, or Best Buy, look into their extended warranty programs. Some laptops only have a 1 year warranty and this does NOT include the screen (which can be super sensitive). If this thing breaks, its $500-700 out of pocket. If you get the extended warranty w/ screen protection (make sure it says this) you're golden.

It is true though, laptops do become obsolete after 2-3 years.

I got a laptop for college - thank goodness it was only a 2 year college, because after that, it died - it was horrible - always needed fixing and I'd take it in and pay mega $$ for it to be fixed, only to have the same problem with it a month or 2 later. I'd never buy one again! And I only used mine for internet and writing papers! I've had my desktop for a year now and no problems at all!

Good luck with your purchase!

Thanks everyone!
I think I've found one. I'm waiting for an email back from the guy. Here's a pic of it. The guy was asking $500 for it but went down to $200 and it won't come with the wireless router. I can get those from a local guy for like $60
I'm still waiting on all the details of it though but I do know its an Hp computer with an AMD athlon (tm) xp processor 298mhz and microsoft xp.

Originally Posted by DixieDarlin256

Thanks everyone!
I think I've found one. I'm waiting for an email back from the guy. Here's a pic of it. The guy was asking $500 for it but went down to $200 and it won't come with the wireless router. I can get those from a local guy for like $60

I'm still waiting on all the details of it though but I do know its an Hp computer with an AMD athlon (tm) xp processor 298mhz and microsoft xp.

Click to expand...

Hmmm.... you do get what you pay for, s don't expect much from it!!

DH and I predominately use laptops. I have an Apple Powerbook G4 for home and an Apple MacBook Pro work laptop, and DH has a Dell Latitude D610 for home, and an IBM Thinkpad T43 for work. I love the Macs, but they're a bit pricey, and can be expensive to fix and for parts. DH's Dell was fairly cheap, but he's had some issues with it, and had bits replaced a few times - under warranty and they were very good about doing it fast. He wouldn't be too keen on getting another one though. We wasn't very excited about the IBM laptop, but has found it to be very durable, and much better than he expected, and would probably get an IBM if he got another home laptop.

We've both gotten into the habit of taking our laptops everywhere, which can be good and bad We can do stuff on the computer while sitting on the couch, or in the park if there's wireless access, or like on the weekend - in an RV in a trailer park on holiday. This can get a little unsociable, but it was nice on holiday to be able to use the laptop to find local attractions, check addresses and maps for things and that kind of thing.

So, yes a laptop can replace a desktop, but if you are going to fully replace it, get something durable and reliable. If you're going to get a cheap/secondhand laptop, do not rely on it and do not get rid of the desktop, because you will have problems otherwise.

Good luck!