For many years now, laptops have been the preferred choice of users to take work and leisure from one place to another, without the limitations that a desktop PC has. However, in modern times, numerous alternatives have appeared that give us, in each case, all the main functionalities of laptops, making today we can ask ourselves whether or not we need to buy a laptop having everything we need. these alternatives provide us.
In 2019, more than 168 million laptops were sold globally, while only 88 million PCs were sold (in this case we are talking about complete OEM PCs, not computers assembled by parts). However, this does not mean that buying a laptop is the right choice for all users, since generally when you buy one of these devices it is because you have a specific need. So, let’s see what they give us and what alternatives we have, so that perhaps after reading this you can rethink whether or not you need a laptop.
Why would you want to buy a laptop?
Before we go into the alternatives, let’s take a moment to understand why people often buy laptops. The main advantage of laptops over desktop computers is obviously portability, meaning the ease of transport, their battery and basically the possibility of using them anywhere even without an electrical connection.
However, what do people normally use their laptop for? The vast majority could fall into one of these categories: work, word processors, gaming and entertainment. However, laptops are not always the best choice in each of these categories, so let’s take a look.
For better portability, you have the tablets
Back in 2010, Steve Jobs made this famous statement, in which he assured that the post-PC era had arrived:
“When we were an agrarian nation, all cars were trucks. But as people moved more to urban centers, people started to use cars. I think PCs will be like trucks; fewer people will need them and this transformation it will make many uncomfortable, because we have been with the PC for a long time. They were incredible, but things change. Interests are going to change, and I think we are already embarking on this change. “
Evidently, Jobs referred to tablets as the essential instrument of this Post-PC era. And the fact is that on average tablets are much cheaper than laptops, at the same time that they are lighter and with greater battery life. In general, a tablet will be able to offer you practically the same as a laptop but with even greater portability, being a better option for many users for this reason.
For productivity nothing can rival a PC
If you need to work and travel a lot, you can always buy a keyboard and mouse for your tablet and “turn” it into a laptop, since in general you will have all the productivity applications you need available in the Play Store or App Store. Now, if you need to have high productivity (we are talking, for example, about video editing, music, content creation) a laptop can get you out of trouble, but of course the best performance both in terms of hardware and comfort for your productivity only you’re going to get with a desktop pc.
And it is that at the productivity level, a desktop PC will give you numerous advantages:
- Value : Desktop PCs have a much lower cost-per-performance than laptops, primarily because laptop parts are more expensive on performance equality due to miniaturization.
- Ergonomics : nobody can question that it is much more comfortable to work on a desktop PC, with your screen, keyboard, mouse, chair, etc. than working on a laptop with its small screen, the keyboard attached to it and its touchpad.
- Screen size : laptops are designed for portability, and after all the largest screens you can find are 17 inches. On a PC you can have the screen of the size you want and, in fact, configurations of several screens easily, greatly improving your productivity.
- Performance : A PC will always perform better for the same price, and it will also be quieter and less hot than a laptop.
For leisure and entertainment: media players
Many people buy a laptop simply to be able to take their multimedia entertainment with them everywhere, but again we enter the position that for that you have other devices that will allow you to do the same for much less money.
For example, if you want to watch Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, HBO or any of the other streaming platforms, you can always do it on a tablet, on a smart TV, or with media players like Google Chromecast. You will spend much less money and the result will be the same, even better since you will use native applications.
Buying a laptop for storage is pointless
We are not going to tell you here that you do not already assume: laptops are generally quite scarce in terms of storage, and it is absurd to have one of these to store your digital content when you can do it on external hard drives or even NAS.
In fact, if you are a little handyman we have a tutorial to convert a Raspberry Pi into a home storage server spending very little money and easily and quickly; obviously doing this with a laptop would be quite economically inefficient.
Why would you YES want to buy a laptop?
So far we have seen some alternatives why you would not need to buy a laptop, but there are also many reasons why you do. And it is that a laptop can be an ideal solution for those who do not have a fixed work station but who have to be constantly carrying their work from one place to another. Likewise, users who travel a lot will want to take their data and even their games with them, as there are many very worthy gaming laptops at fairly decent prices.
Of course the result is not the same: a laptop does not have the portability of a tablet, the performance and ergonomics of a PC, nor is it the ideal tool for multimedia entertainment, but it is the only option to have ALL this in a single device to take with you everywhere.
