Are you interested in laptops? Perhaps you are interested in buying one, or you already have one and just like to read more about them. Either way, I have some good information for you regarding laptops and their use. I really like laptops. I think besides executives, gamers, multimedia guys and the like that have their own dedicated purpose PCs, more and more people will have their own laptops as their primary and only computer.
You see, they are very portable. How many times have you tried lugging your computer tower from location to location? If you have not tried this, you are not missing much. It's a pain to have to carry the bulky tower, then collect your monitor and then pick up your keyboard and mouse. With your laptop, you close the screen/lid, shove it into it's carry bag and away you go.
They are also all-in-one. What this means is, all the components and peripherals you might buy for a standard PC such as the monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, microphone, camera, network card, modem, wireless adapter, etc are all built into the laptop case. This means nowhere near the amount of messy cables to connect everything. You may have an external mouse (which I highly recommend) and plug in the phone line or network cable for your internet, but beyond that, there is little else that you need to have. It's all in there. That saves cable mess and desktop space that might have otherwise been used up by other peripherals.
As a side note however, despite the hype, they are not designed for speed. The processor (brain of the machine) may be fast, but there are so many other factors that come into play regarding how fast and responsive a machine is. So, if you are a keen gamer, a laptop might not be doing you many favours. It is certainly not going to be a bad purchase, but the built-in video accelerators still have a good long way to go before they match their desktop counterparts.
A major concern is price. However, this is becoming less and less of an issue, as many laptops are now the same price if not cheaper than some particular desktop computers and laptop computer are outselling desktop computers in many, many places.
One other note is compatibility. You wont be able to use standard off the shelf components in your machine, if you decide to perform some hardware maintenance yourself. Laptop components are generally pricier than their desktop equivalents, so keep that in mine. However, most USB and firewire devices should work out of the box if you wish to extend your laptop's capabilities that way.
They are not the promised land of computing, but they have come a long way in portability, ease of use, speed and price. You certainly wont be making a bad decision buying one, and you should that they are really reliable little machines. Consider one next time you are thinking about upgrading. Maybe you could abuse their advantages for yourself?
Martin is a technology consultant, programmer and author. He recently started a computing and technology podcast which you can download for free from http://www.techfilez.com
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