Despite being founded in 1981, the laptop remained under the shadow of desktop computers until the late 2000s. HP, Dell, Sony and Apple desktop computers have been controlling the markets for the longest time ever.
But in the last ten years, people have been ditching the desktop for its lighter, mobile counterpart. From stay at home parents to students, office workers and gamers—no one seems to appreciate the desktop anymore. So, why the obsession with laptops? Is a laptop better than a desktop?
Laptops vs Desktops: Specs Overview
While modern laptops have improved in performance and functionality, they still lag behind desktops. Everything a laptop can handle, a desktop can do better. Whether it’s a high-end CPU or graphics cards, desktops are designed to handle any job that can be done using a computer.
The only areas laptops tend to be better come in power consumption, portability, and ease of assembling. Powering a laptop simply means hitting the power button and it powers on. With a desktop, you have to connect the monitor to the desktop. At least two power cables are required to power the machines and not to forget keyboards and mice are also necessary.
Laptops vs Desktops: Growth Rate
Considering that desktops can be improved to handle more power guzzling jobs, you would think they upsell laptops. Quite the contrary, laptops have been selling like hotcakes since 2010. The competition has been close but laptops are bought in higher numbers than desktops every year.
In 2010, more than 201 million laptops were sold compared to 157 million desktops. 2013 to 2016 were the best years for both machines, with more than 200 million units selling every year. Still, more laptops than desktops were purchased. In 2013, for instance, 180 million laptops were sold compared to 134 million desktops.
Laptops are projected to continue recording higher sales than desktops in the next five years. According to researchers, desktop growth will decline sharply whereas laptop growth will rise steadily.
5 Reasons People Love Laptops
Portable
One of the biggest perks people acquire from laptops is their portability. Not only can you move your laptop from the living room to your bedroom, but you could also carry it to your workplace. If you like it, you can carry your portable gadget to Starbucks and have coffee while utilizing the company’s WiFi.
To some desktop users, portability doesn’t always sound like a big reason to own a laptop. But ask anyone that loves their laptop and they probably wouldn’t trade it for a desktop. The best laptops weigh less than 10 pounds and come in numerous designs.
Offers Fairly Great Performance
Most people find laptops’ speeds and processing powers to be good enough for their regular activities. Whether you are a programmer or a professional gamer, there is a laptop out there suited for your needs. Review websites like bestreviews.guide can help you pick a good choice better since they only list the best-rated products.
But before you make a buying choice, it’s always great to know what laptop choices are out there. Gaming and web designing websites offer high processing speeds and top-notch graphics. Laptops designed for travel are lightweight and store battery for days.
Most medium-priced laptops use the same processors as desktops of similar price ranges. The Mac Pro laptop, for example, uses a 3.7 GHz Quad-Core processor. By comparison, the iMac laptop uses a 3.5 GHz Quad-Core processor.
While the iMac could be integrated with a much powerful RAM and processor, the laptop’s specs are impressive enough for most jobs. You could do the laptop for all the jobs the desktop can handle and still benefit from portability and other features.
Laptops can be upgraded too
Upgrading a laptop ten years ago was a privilege accorded to very few laptop owners. As such, gamers and professionals who used powerful programs didn’t have a reason to purchase them. If you installed a power-guzzling program, they would collapse and shut down anyway.
Technology has since improved many parts of a laptop that control its performance can be upgraded. The easiest thing to upgrade is the battery. You don’t need any special knowledge to replace one. RAM and hard drives can also be upgraded at home but you must know to change them properly and how to format the hard drive.
Unlike traditional laptops, you change a modern laptop’s processor. You can even replace the motherboard but that often means paying a price as high as purchasing a new laptop. Graphics cards can also be purchased, and so can the keyboard and fans. As such, many professionals don’t shy away from laptops because they can’t be upgraded anymore.
Affordability
Desktop and laptop prices tend to overlap. But before the growth of the portable gadgets, desktops were much cheaper. To date, you can find desktops costing as little as $70. By comparison, good laptops cost $200 or more.
Of course, when compared spec by spec, standard desktop and laptop prices are competitive. A $500 desktop offers the same functionality as a $500 laptop. But given the portability of a laptop, the presence of a battery and the lightweight design, most people prefer them over desktops.
Additional Features
Space is unsurprisingly a big reason why people buy laptops over desktops. With a small laptop measuring just over 10 inches in length, it leaves plenty of space for other reasons. Desktops, by comparison, require large spaces to place the monitor, CPUs and other components.
If you care about energy saving in your home, laptops are more power saving. When additional features like keyboard and screens are put into comparison, laptops still hold an advantage.
To Conclude
Days when people either owned laptops or desktops are long gone. More people own both kinds of machines. However, laptops keep selling in larger numbers than desktops. Their portability, low costs, energy saving, and performance benefits place them at a better advantage than desktops.
In some professional settings, people prefer desktops over laptops. They can be fitted with more advanced specs after all. However, laptops are back in fashion and are projected to continue gaining popularity worldwide at least in the next decade.
