At a recent user group meeting, a reader asked me what my thoughts were on the whole desktop vs. laptop issue, now that I was more than a month removed from my heavily-researched (yet last-minute) decision to go with a used G4 PowerBook instead of a shiny new eMac. I actually had to pause for a moment to recall the fact that at the time I made the decision, I wasn't more than about 51 percent sure that I was doing the right thing. It's ironic, because at this point, there's just no question that I did the right thing for myself, and in hindsight I'm amazed that I was ever even on the fence in the first place. And if there was even the slightest bit of doubt remaining in my mind at all, the circumstances of this past week have all but erased it.
Regular readers are aware that this week was punctuated by my move to a new home. And of the many things that can reach up and bit you in the behind when you're trying to get your new residence in order, waiting for the cable guy to show up and do his thing can be one of the most maddening. I mean, the utility companies know that you can't live without electricity or water, so they don't even try to screw around with it. But the cable companies? They know that your well-being won't actually come to an end if you have to go a few days without watching Scooby Doo reruns or reading your email, so they get to you on their own schedule. And in my case, that meant moving in on a Thursday, only to be told that the cable guy wouldn't mozy on out in my direction until the following Wednesday.
I suppose it's one of those situations in which you can yell at the company rep for not giving a flying crap about your needs (and risk feeling really foolish in the process) with absolutely zero chance of getting them to show up any faster...or you can just accept the fact that some monopolies get to do whatever they want to you. So, next Wednesday it is. But when your entire line of work is dependent upon spending about eight hours a day connected to broadband internet, you're in a bit of trouble if you can't come up with some form of alternate access in the mean time.
On Friday I had to make a trip back to the old place to grab a few things, so I simply took my PowerBook with me. Comically, there was almost nothing left in the apartment but a cable modem, a wireless router...and me, sitting there on the living room floor with my laptop, taking advantage of the fact that I hadn't quite remembered to call and have the old cable feed shut off yet.
So I've got to ask myself: wouldn't this have been a little more difficult with a fifty pound eMac? I think we all know the answer.
But of course, one day of hanging out in an abandoned apartment does not fill a six day gap in internet service all by itself. Fortunately, I've got relatives in the area who happen to have broadband...so here I am. In this case, there's already a computer here. It's a PC, but even if it were a Mac, I couldn't be nearly as productive on someone else's computer as I can on my own. Checking my email via the internet instead of via my own mail client is lame, not having my own bookmarks available in someone else's web browser is a waste of time, and so on. But for me, that's not the big issue. Because when it comes to running my websites, using my own machine is almost a necessity. To use someone else's computer (Mac or PC for that matter) I'd have to copy over a few hundred megabytes of files, install all of my needed software, as well as a number of other details that I'm probably not even thinking of. I wouldn't do it unless I were in the most desperate of situations.
In other words, if I couldn't bring my own computer with me. I suppose I could have brought an eMac over here...but where would I put it? On my lap? On the floor? I don't even want to think about it. Because as it is, all I have to do is yank the ethernet cable from the back of the other computer, plug it into the back of my PowerBook, and I'm good to go. Well, almost. Every brand of cable modem seems to have its own quirks when it comes to being transplanted from one computer to another, and this particular modem's degree of difficulty is merely a matter of rebooting the modem after moving the ethernet cable over. No computer restarts, no renewing the DHCP lease, not even the expected need to cold-restart the modem. Just yank out the power cable and stick it right back in. Cool.
So my decision to go with a laptop over a desktop has saved my life this week. Otherwise, I'd likely have needed to put all of my websites on hiatus until Jim Carrey showed up to install my new cable modem. But moving to a new residence isn't something that happens all that often, and few things in life are as foolhardy as a permanent solution to a temporary problem. The potential to bail a user out of a one-time relocation snag, by itself, wouldn't be justification for someone to run out and switch from a desktop to a laptop. There have to be other advantages for the user, and despite the clarity of my own situation, I'm not convinced yet that a laptop is the right choice for everyone out there. The relocation thing has been at least the twentieth time this month that I've identified yet another reason why I'm glad I went with a laptop. But I'm not you. Nor am I necessarily in your situation.
Few technology-related answers are more annoying than "it depends on what you're going to use it for," but it's the answer that I invariably give to people when they ask me whether they should buy a laptop or a desktop, whether an iPod is worth its price, or whether they should invest in a SuperDrive. With a laptop, it comes down to two factors: how often you're going to travel with it outside of your home, and how often you're going to want to use it in locations within your home other than your desk. It's not an easy prediction to make if you've never had a laptop before, because in-house mobility is one of those things that you can certainly live without until you finally have it, at which point you'll either just shrug at it or find that you can no longer live without it at all. Which of the two results occurs in your situation largely depends on you and your instincts.
I don't like to be in the same room for all that long, before wandering off into another one. I don't like to sit in one position for long without somehow readjusting, whether it be sitting differently or sitting on some other piece of furniture. I don't like to have the computer the exact same distance from me face for very long without doing something about that, as well. I like to watch TV while I'm using the computer. I also sometimes like to sit on the floor, or outside, or in bed, while I'm using the computer. I'm a mad freak when it comes to wanting to know the instant that new email has arrived, and so I like to keep my computer in the room with me, even if I'm not actively using it. Do any of these characteristics sound like you, or are you the type who wants to sit down at a desk, lock in and do your computing activities, and then walk away from the computer and forget that it exists for the rest of your day?
There are, I believe, some near-absolutes when it comes to technology. Buy as much RAM memory as you can possibly afford. Get a Mac instead of a PC, unless your primary motivation for buying a computer is to play video games. Get broadband internet if there's any way on earth that you can possibly find room in your monthly budget for it.
But laptop vs. desktop still comes down to how the user is going to use it.
In my particular situation, it turns out that there was never any question which of the two was right for me. But I'm not you. Which is my snarky way of choosing not to give you a definitive answer as to which option is best for your situation. Don't pay more money for lesser technical specs just to get a laptop, if you're not going to take advantage of its portability. But also don't assume that you won't benefit greatly from a laptop's mobility, just because you've been able to live without it all this time. That's as close to an answer as you're getting out of me.
But as for me, I'm ecstatic to be able to take advantage of this kind of mobility, and I hope I have the pleasure of never having to be without such mobility again. Just this week alone, I've used my laptop to present at a user group meeting, to tap the wireless signal outside of an Apple Store, to write a column while sitting in a restaurant two hundred miles from home, and now to save myself from the wrath of the slow-moving cable company. What more could you want?
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