by Jonathan Cardell

Created on: March 07, 2010

It can be pretty tough trying to figure out what you want in a computer. From an outside view (IE. asking a friend) the question will probably be: "Do you want mobility or functionality?". In all reality that's a fairly simple question to answer, but with all these ads and commercials you get torn between the mobility of a laptop or the interchangeability of a desktop.

Say you're leaning toward that laptop you've been drooling over for a few weeks. You'll have everything you need with you all the time. Some even come with cellular air cards built in. So now you've got all your information and now the web at your fingertips and you're working on something for quite some time. You're almost done and the battery dies. All you're thinking is, "Where can I find a place to plug this in sitting in this field?!". 

If you're a big gamer and there's that brand new speedy laptop that you don't think you could live without, you wont be disappointed. Well you wont be disappointed for a few years until you have to buy another to play the totally awesome new game that came out. You'll try it all to make that game work. First you'll turn down all the graphic settings. Next you'll try to make the resolution smaller, but it's still very jumpy and it lags. So you think to yourself, "Hmm. How could i fix this? Oh! All i need to do is go and buy a new video card!". So you go out to your local electronics store and buy a video card that's compatible with the new game you bought. Once you get home you realize that the video card you bought, it's half the size of the laptop itself! You're going to be confused, you'll call a computer repair place and say, "How do I get this video card to work in this laptop?". Then they'll probably laugh at you and tell you that you can't replace video cards in laptops, the video card on laptops are dedicated (Built in).

Now you've realized that maybe a laptop isn't for you, so you check out the latest in desktops. Again you'll have all your information in one place, just where you wanted it. You get all your work done, your battery didn't die, and your game's working fine. A few weeks after you've purchased your nice new desktop computer, your boss wants you to go on a business trip. You start to panic, you think, "Maybe I'll pack up my desktop and take it with me everywhere I go." but that wont work; too big and clumsy.

If you're the gamer type, after you've had that desktop for a year or two; your new game wont perform like it did. So you go out and buy that video card that was as big as your laptop and it slides right in. You turn your computer back on and away you go into your game at the highest quality levels.

Choosing the right kind of computer is important for what you're going to use it for. Think into the future. Will you need it on the go? Will you need to replace the video card in a few years? Do you have the money to buy a new laptop every few years? These are all important questions to ask yourself. For the person with a couple extra bucks, who lives in both the worlds of business and gaming maybe invest in both a desktop and a laptop. You'll have the best of both worlds, mobility and functionality. For the person who's tight on cash like a lot of us, it's going to be tough but it's a decision you'll have to make one time or another.

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