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Laptop

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It's really a personal preference thing. Both have their up and down sides. A lot of it mostly has to do with how you use it and whether or not having your computer in remote places really gives you an advantage or not. If you just use computers for the purposes of word processing and maybe checking your e-mail once a day there really isn't any need for anything more than a desktop. However, if you are on the internet a lot and prefer to be anywhere in your home when on the computer for whatever reason a laptop would be considered the more viable option. I personally am a fan of doing this if you are taking classes because then you can take notes typing instead of writing and you don't have to worry about losing it unless your hard drive gets fried. If your smart you would print them out just in case. The other advantage is if you are a reporter at a daily newspaper, especially if you work in a sports section when filing game stories on deadline is necessary. This eliminates the need to drive back to the office and it allows you to get your stories in quicker on deadline. But remote and endless access to your computer isn't the only advantage.

With a laptop computer you have fewer connections because the mouse and keyboard are built in. But what if it goes faulty one might ask? No need to replace the computer (I know this from personal experience). If this happens you can do one of two things: 1. Go to a retailer and purchase a keyboard like you would a desktop and hook it up. Or the other option would be to go to the manufacturer of the product (Toshiba, Dell, etc) and buy another one. They will even install it for $100. From what I have been told by a Best Buy rep (and they didn't have my type so he wasn't making commission off it) it is easy to install a new keyboard on a laptop. You simply slide the old keyboard off the upper part of your laptop (at this point the motherboard should be showing to give you an idea) and then slide the new one on. Easy as 1-2-3.

The next advantage to having a laptop is that if your electricity goes out you can still use it. The reason for this is because they are often battery not electrically powered and it is not necessary for them to be plugged in at all times. The only potential downside to that is if your electricity goes out you may not be able to use your internet service depending on what type of internet service you have. If you have pretty much anything other than wireless you probably won't be able to use it when the electricity is out but you can still use word processing programs to write reports, resumes and do whatever other functions that you do on your computer.

Remote access, flexiblity, definitely both ways of the 21st centry. Reasons why you should have a laptop.

Learn more about this author, Erich Heinlein.
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