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Here is a little thing very few who have not worked in Desktop Support for major OEM PC manufactures know: all that matters when purchasing a laptop is the warranty.

Don't believe me? Consider this: of all the parts that make up a laptop, only the hard drive, the keyboard, the memory and maybe the optical drive (CD/DVD-ROM/RW) can be replaced. Everything else on modern laptops typically comes as one finished unit that cannot be disassembled and reassembled. Moreover, those parts that are replaceable such as the hard drive, keyboard or optical drives (though not the memory) are likely to be OEM only, meaning that you can't get them from aftermarket sources and when your laptop's manufacturer stops making them, you're all done.

In fact, if you crack the LCD on your laptop, the typical repair for this is to take your optical drives, memory and hard drive and drop them into a new unit altogether. That's why Gateway and Dell can guarantee two-day turn around on laptop repairs: all they do is strip your old one and put it all in a new one. But of course, that would be expensive and difficult to do without the warranty. You'd be better off buying a whole new laptop.

With Desktops, there are very few parts that *cannot* be replaced at home or at a computer shop. Those are basically the motherboard, the case and the power supply. And you might be able to get the power supply from the manufacturer long after they've stopped making the PC. Replacement parts are industry-standard designed and can be purchased from anywhere, not just your PCs manufacturer. Moreover, your PC is also extensible, so if the onboard sound fails, you can pop in a PCI card instead.

So, when your warranty runs out on the PC, it can still be repaired with a few exceptions. When your warranty runs out on the laptop, it's on borrowed time. Even though PCs and laptops are reaching a point at which the price for comparable system of either type is getting closer, you have to add in a three- or four-year warranty and Accidental Damage Protection (assuming you can get that in your state) in the price of the laptop, making it much more expensive.

So, generally, laptops might make sense for specific applications, but ultimately the PC is a better purchase. Even if you're only going to have it for a few years, you will still be able to sell the PC for a better price than the laptop when it comes time.

Learn more about this author, Thomas Belknap.
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