Laptop or Computer - Which Do You Find Better For Productivity?

In my opinion using desktop computers enhances your productivity compared to Laptops.

I use both. A desktop keeps me sitting in one place, so I know I'll be less distracted by trying to do 2 things at once (like writing articles while watching TV). However, if I go on a trip, or I head over to the laundromat, then a laptop is the only way I can be productive!

I preferred a laptop. I store all my business stuff in my laptop.

My desktop is kind of for school works and games.

Definitely laptop, as you can take it pretty much everywhere you go unlike a desktop.

I use a laptop all the time.

The main advantage is that I can work anywhere in the house.

The main disadvantage is that I can work anywhere in the house.

Seriously though, I like being able to go upstairs, downstairs, spare room, living room, or the front porch on nice days. It allows me to work at my leisure (oxymorinic?), and to use blocks of time more effectively.

All the best,
Michael

I like using my desktop because it has dual monitors which greatly enhances my productivity. Laptops are great as well because like right now I am traveling and can take it with me.

With that being said I find my iPhone a must as well because it keeps me always connected to my business(which can be a good or bad thing).

Here is my usage ranked from most to least:
1. Desktop
2. gPhone
3. Laptop

I plan to get a netbook later this year once they have some running Android with touch screen.

laptop and blackberry
you will never be alone again. my other work means i work 6 months in the uk and 6 months in spain so i think if you travel get a laptop if not buy a mac

Laptop.

The only use for my desktop is for recording tv, watching movies and listening to music.

I use a laptop right now, but mainly because my job provides it. I am using it for getting my online business going. Once I have the money I'm going to buy a laptop of my own and get all my stuff off the work computer.

I will also get a desktop once I get an office. My area has office space I can rent for a few hundred a month that comes with my own phone line and receptionist that will answer it with whatever greeting I choose.

Once I set the office up I will set up an account with GoToMyPc.com or something similar so I can access all the files which will mainly be housed on the desktop. That way I can work from the house if I want to.

For productivity I'm better on my desktop.

The laptop allows me to have the thing I covet most, flexibility in my work schedule AND location.

It totally depends on how mobile you are. If you're working from home, a desktop will run faster and all the litle 30 second waits that you don't have will add up and save you a bunch of time.

Of course if you have a lot of transit time that would otherwise be wasted, the laptop is your friend.

Or, and I just suggested this to someone in another thread, have your cake and eat it too. Buy a laptop, and also buy a monitor, keyboard and mouse, all with USB. Set the monitor, keyboard and mouse up on your desk at home.

When you're at home, plug the laptop into your setup and it will behave much like a desktop PC. You won't have the extra processing speed, but you'll have the larger screen and keyboard, and more room to move. Then when you go out, pull out the USB's and you have your laptop.

I used a setup like this for about 6 months and it worked great.

On a performance note, for anything text based like word, or html coding, you shouldn't notice a big difference. The same goes for web browsing. The big difference between desktop and laptop is graphics. If you need to create graphics and you want a laptop, choose carefully, because mobile graphics just can't compete with a big beefy graphics card.

Oh, and Acer for the win. I swear by them for laptops.

Get an Acer Aspire One and then hook up dual screens or a flat screen monitor to it and add a wireless mouse.

It's like having both all in one and when you're ready to travel disconnect the Acer and take it with you

It's the best of both worlds plus it's relatively inexpensive.

Laptop. I don't like being tied down to a work station and I work with offline clients so it make life easy meeting in coffee shops, etc.

Also when I watch sport during the day I can still work LOL.

Jens

Laptop for me. Everyone is different. I actually own two laptops but I think it's more productive because you can take your business anywhere you want.

Personally I use my laptop a lot more because I can hang out with my family when I'm "working" online. Although when I get to the point that I can do this full time, I will definitely have a dedicated desktop / work spot that will be designed around productivity to get stuff done w/o distraction.

I'm a big believer in both. If that isn't possible, I would suggest a laptop because you can still use it in a home office situation and it can also go "on the road" with you so that you can be productive when you away from home. The versatility and portability of a laptop often pays for itself over a short time.

Hello,

I was in a very similar situation...

So, here goes my story:

I was having a HP Desktop and HP laptop, with 1GB DDR 2 RAM, And Dual Core 2 2.0 Ghz processor..I was happy with it but the problem with it is was that it wasn't a power horse, like I was not able to run widgets, AIM, Firefox, Visual Studio 2008 at the same time...

So, then I decided to buy a new PC.

And I started to think whether should I buy from HP or DELL?

Since, I needed a very powerful PC, my only choice was DELL. I am from India, and in India only DELL provided power horses...

So after choosing DELL, I got confused whether I should get a Laptop or Desktop...

It took me many days to decided between this and I ultimately brought Dell Studio XPS 1640 Laptop and the reason behind this was:

->You can take your laptop anywhere..right now in my country time is 11 PM and I am in a bed..lol...seriously..

->I can take it to other places, like other parts of my country..anywhere

->The design of this laptop is very attractive PLUS it is very powerful..

Here are my laptops specs -> 250GB SATA HDD, 3GB DDR3 1066 mhz RAM, Intel DC2 2.56 Ghz processor, ATI Raedon 3670 512mb video card...

Now, I come to the "productivity" point..It depends on the PC configuration which makes one PC more powerful from another...If you want to work near windows..or different positions/places then choose laptop...

Also, if you do full time IM and you sits in front of your PC 12 hrs a day then choose laptop, the reason behind this is that you should not keep sitting in just one place for more than few hrs, after getting a laptop you can move from one room to another, sit on sofa, bed, etc and do the work...

Let me know if you have any questions...

Regards
Shakul

My vote is on laptops - take them everywhere - get mobile internet and a couple long lasting batteries... Your good to go

I only use laptops but I'm finding that I tend to just work from my desk in order to actually get any work done.

Like others here, I use both. My desktop is generally where I keep most of my important stuff. It's almost like the mother ship. However, I also use a laptop for when I am traveling, and then later I can come back to the desktop to update my files.
Hope this helps.
Jim

I have a laptop now after 4 years of using a pc, i should of done it years ago, they take up less room, a real plus point for me, as my house is tiny.

Laptops deliver horrible ergonomics. Not only that but laptops have failed on the promise to deliver portability: they are heavy, slow and have horrible battery life.

Recently I bought a new desktop workstation as well as a netbook. Couldn't be happier. The desktop is much faster than my old laptop and the screen real estate is nice. The netbook on the other hand gets you real portability: tinny and great battery life.

In short, I've quit laptops.

Tyrus

We have 2 laptops and a PC that we use remote on. Did not network them. This give us a second mointor also. I used my laptop for most of my work, the wife uses hers the sameway. As we are in doing different jobs or business ops. I find that I am able to sit at my favorite StarBucks and do my thing and get some ideas from the customers there. mainly there are others there doing the same, like working,meeting clients,etc. We also help each other. My laptop is a Toshiba, wife laptop is an Acer and the PC is a London Drugs Store model, and each have 4g of ram. So they are not slow.

Definitely a laptop! And a small-screen one at that. I've used laptops with 8", 11", 12", 13", and 17" screens, and I've gotta tell you, I thought I'd really like the 17" until I had to lug it around with me! It's a lot harder to take on a plane, or anywhere else. It's bulky, heavy, and to me, just wasn't worth the aggravation.

Laptops nowdays have all the functionality you need - they're fast, portable, and you don't have to stay seated at a desk. I'd much rather work on my deck, at the park, on the beach . . . even in a library rather than be confined to an office.

Laptop with an extra screen (dual display) is the most productive.
Desktop with a quad core is for gaming, video encoding & video editing.

If you're not addicted to gaming, then a desktop can be cheaper and faster.
However, laptops are more expensive but provide a more work-friendly environment.

Im more of a laptop fan. Because i can take my work with me. I also have HDMI outputs on it so i can connect to big LCD's or Plasmas for a presentation. It makes life alot easier

Remeber every post here is no more than personal opinion...

So here is mine, I went down the laptop route even sold my self on it for some of the reasons given here. But I'm back to a desktop and my 2 laptops are rarelt used unless im going on a trip...and even then i only use it to log into my desktop through goto my PC

I find i cant work from a laptop any where near as efficiently as I can from a desktop, posture is bad and i get tired and cranky trying to use one.

So my vote is desktop

Robert

Depends on what I am doing. If I am writing I tend to prefer my laptop, because I can kick back in my recliner, jamming to pink floyd and type away. Other advantages include being able to take my laptop to B&N/Starbucks and do work while I sip on mocha frappuccinos.

If I need to multi-task though I tend to prefer my desktop as it has dual 21" displays, more ram, storage and cpu power... that and I can't stand the touchpad on a laptop.

But you can get some pretty powerful laptops these days with plenty of storage and ram and cpu power. My laptop is a few years old though. If you are on the go all the time, you just can't replace the benefits of owning a laptop.

To be honest it would be ideal to own both a desktop and a laptop so you get the best of both worlds.

Dennis

Definately DESKTOP.

I just bought a laptop though for my office... and didn't really like the compactness of it all so went and bought a desktop yesterday.

I just find it more relaxing to sit at a desktop and comfortable.

Adeel

My wife has a laptop and I hate it. I have never owned one, and seriously doubt I ever will, unless they make one with a 21" screen and ten key number pad. I can't type for damn on my wife's computer. It is like my first computer (Vic20) with a flat keyboard. And the screen is so small to me. I don't have very good eyesight and my monitor is a 21" and I want to swap it for a 24". It is not in the budget right now, so I will make do with the one I have for the time being. But as soon as I hit that lottery ticket....

I have both but I find that a laptop is better just because I can take it anywhere and work whenever. So whenever I have an idea or anything I just jot it down. Or if i'm working on something and don't want to stop working I can continue to do so no matter where i'm going.

Desktop for productivity. With two 22" monitors there is just no way my laptop can duplicate this workspace.

I use the laptop away from the office.

Office - quad core desktop with dual 22" monitors and oodles of RAM for FAST compilation of software.

Kitchen table - Acer Ferrari laptop - a good, fast PC with a big screen but portable enough for the kitchen table. It often gets dragged along on trips away.

Asus eee Netbook thingy - gathers dust in the corner of the office. I took it on a trip once but it's just a toy IMHO.

Cheers,

Neil

I have a desktop and love it....but miss the convenience of having all my stuff when I travel on my laptop (my laptop has become my second computer and the files are not as up to date).

I say get a good laptop and have a monitor for home. This way all your data is stored on the machine you travel with.

Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but I still love my desktop. Sitting comfortably in a good chair, with a nice view overlooking gardens and with all my back-up hard drives and other accessories like good quality speakers on hand, I feel I'm in writer's heaven.

Plus, having the advantage of peace and quiet, together with a sense of familiarity and room on the table for other (hard copy) reference, maximizes productivity for me.

However, I do also own a laptop which I use when traveling. Not such an old fogy, after all!

Desktop if you are working at home.

Laptop if you still want to work while you are out.

I have several of each but I find myself working on this beat up old laptop. The paint is worn off the palmrests, the keys are shiny from heavy use, the display hinges are loose, case cracked, etc. but it is the most used computer in the house. Why? well, it is always on my lap and I am always writing these days and I like my giant massage chair (although some settings make it impossible to type ).

TomG.

I use both honestly.

For productivity and serious stuff, nothing beats a desktop. You're upright, at the desk, and zoned in.

But when I'm doing some browsing, light research, or even composing some content with IAW, I use a laptop. Simple browsing and research is not too engaging and can be done on the couch in a laid back manner, with the TV on.

1 - Laptop
2 - Blackberry
3 - Desktop

I prefer laptop. It enables me to work wherever I want.

I prefer a laptop as you can work from any place. I do some IM work during my lunch time at work. With a desktop, I wouldn't be able to do so.

laptop, you can work from anywhere considering nowadays laptops can handle photoshop

I prefer laptop because it's handy. You can bring it wherever you will go unlike the computer.

I am a laptop girl!

i love them i can work wherever i like, i have just moved house and loved the fact that two laptops and a few folders was all i needed to move my business. If i had packed up a couple of cimputers it would have taken a lot of space and lots of time to set up again.

It also depends on your disipline i am very well organised and strict with myself. but others struggle to be able to do it.

sam
X

I prefer laptop because everything is stored and it's portable for me. No need to keep data transferring to laptop everynow and day just to make sure that I have the latest copy of my IM stuff.

If you are based at your desk - surely Desktop. If you are on the more - laptop. I use both though.

A 24" iMac with a second 23" screen is my way to go... there's nothing like editing a web page, document, or designing something on a HUGE screen.

Way easier to see and change things.

Plus, if you've got kids, a dual screen means you can work while the little ones are watching something on the other screen.

Ronnie

I use both, but I prefer my computer. For some odd reason I seem to do more work when I use the computer lol

Will be going for a desktop.

Thanks guys

hey Skribblez,

I totally recommend Laptop.
Due to the simple reason that
you can take it anywhere you go and
work from practically anywhere in the world.

Igor