Question For Qualified Computer Person

[MSTRshenanigans]

So, I have this mate who refuses to see the merit in the use of a laptop although he admits he would never move his PC, ever.

He used to work in a computer shop and build PCs for people and he claims that laptops are made of a lower quality components to a PC almost always.

My arguement is that his statement is that it depends on the manufacturer of the laptop and PC, realistically the board would not matter its the components like chips etc that go in to make the boards work. What I wonder is how a laptop component needs to be tougher for movement could be of a worse quality?

I'm not pro laptop or tower as I have both but this mate is totally narrow minded so I'd be interested in hearing from someone certified about this with some fact.

[R31Nismoid]

A laptop component doesn't really need to be "stronger". It's just the casing that it's put into that needs to be designed well.

You could drop a laptop and it works fine afterwards, I could also drop my tower and it be perfectly fine.

HOWEVER - Thing is the tower weights more (PSU, HDD's, frame, fans) so likelyhood of more damage is higher - I think that is the keypoint to remember.

he claims that laptops are made of a lower quality components to a PC almost always.

I disagree with your mate big time here however.

Cheap manufacturer Laptops AND PC's, BOTH have generally crap quality parts. So Lappie/PC there is no difference in that respect.

They also tend to fill their machines with utter crap and useless add-ons, software and similar which slows down the O/S considerably.

The joy of a DIY PC is you can use much higher quality components, and also ones that are higher spec/performance for the same cost as a generic laptop.

You really can't "build" your own laptop, you have to but ready made.

If you intend to be mobile, then clearly this option is not for you

Just because a part is of better quality, doesn't magically mean it is stronger. There is a big distinction here.

I would say almost all computer parts are the same strength (ram vs ram, HDD vs HDD).

The 'quality' distinction comes in terms of hours/life.

A reputable stick of ram from say Corsair/OCZ is more likely to last longer in terms of use (and they carry a decent warranty to back there up)…

Where generic parts both PC & laptop, are more failure prone overall.

A bit longer winded than i intended when i started typing, but gives you a good idea.

For the record I've had 3 laptops & 3 PC's (all generic), and two more PC's I've built myself - they have all lasted almost as long as each other... The ones i've built myself have lasted longer (not much though)

Only noteable difference is the two PC's i built myself, perform signifigantly better for the $$ spent.

[Kinkstaah]

+1 for what Nismo put up there.

The only real difference is performance of the computer. This may be what your friend was referring to in 'lower quality spec' and it is pretty much true.

This only really holds true at the very high end of things, essentially only for high end brand new games with all the pretty things turned on. Your top of the line PC will always beat the top of the line Laptop, due to .. well, size, heat, etc. The actual laptop case is rather limiting.

HOWEVER, if you aren't using your PC/laptop for hardcore gaming, you won't notice any difference between the two. It's like a car that is stupidly quick from 100-200kmh, but the same 0-100.. when you only drive at legal speeds.

[DivHunter]

There's only one reason to get a laptop over a tower/desktop PC - mobility, not even size matters anymore with ITX.

Everything else it's cheaper for the same or better in a standard system.

In terms of the 'quality' build quality etc eh pretty much the same but performance it's never laptop. The best performing laptops have cut down versions of the not quite top of the line PC gear and eat their batteries.

Edited July 15, 2010 by DivHunter

[bozodos]

yeah when you use say a Dell XPS or Alienware laptop with a RAID and SLI video cards, which has a max battery life of 47 minutes and weighs 10kg with bag and accessories, you start to wonder what's the point of it!

[R31Nismoid]

HOWEVER, if you aren't using your PC/laptop for hardcore gaming, you won't notice any difference between the two. It's like a car that is stupidly quick from 100-200kmh, but the same 0-100.. when you only drive at legal speeds.

mmm don't kinda agree with that part of what you said

Better RAM, CPU and HDD quality (RPM, performance) can actually make a PC feel quite snappy as opposed to cheaper/generic stuff.

As with added features like RAID and so on that cheaper/generic mobo's often do not include... unlocking/overclocking and so on are also other area's generic style PC's don't allow you to engage in.

And totally agree Jacob with the m-ITX and so on. You can have a gaming machine almost now that weighs the same as a laptop - only issue is you need a screen

[DivHunter]

mmm don't kinda agree with that part of what you said

Better RAM, CPU and HDD quality (RPM, performance) can actually make a PC feel quite snappy as opposed to cheaper/generic stuff.

As with added features like RAID and so on that cheaper/generic mobo's often do not include... unlocking/overclocking and so on are also other area's generic style PC's don't allow you to engage in.

And totally agree Jacob with the m-ITX and so on. You can have a gaming machine almost now that weighs the same as a laptop - only issue is you need a screen

Who wants a 1200x800 / 1366x768 POS screen anyway? The Q08 is looking pretty sweet, able to fit a full size graphics card in an ITX case.

I am considering getting a second hand XPS M1710 or similar because you can get them cheap and they shit on a netbook but there is only a couple of laptops I'd consider as a primary system and they are inevitably well over $3000 when spec'd to my liking.

[bozodos]

they don't have the battery life, portability or size of a netbook either.

I found that when we briefly had a netbook it was brilliant for doing stuff like network diagnostics, wireless testing, data logging, auditing etc.

[FrangaR33]

I've built computers and worked on them now for 12 years and i've come across some brilliant laptops in my time but they cost an arm and leg. For even a reasonably powerful well put together laptop your normally looking at $1500+, my girlfriend has one of the more powerful Toshiba models and its great plays new games on high settings without much noticeable lag. But for $1500 I could build myself an absolutely epic desktop with a good 24' screen which is a lot more reliable than most laptops. I like the ability to cannibalise old parts for the next computer I build, I cant do that with Laptops, my current case, hard drive is on the 3rd Motherboard/CPU/RAM/GPU combo. If something goes wrong with a Laptop other than the usual HDD or RAM your more or less up shit creek unless you want to fork out massive amounts of cash. Also because they are in such small packages they often have many problems, 3 of the medium spec Compaq laptops I have worked on have had issues with buggered GPU's and there is no recourse once its out of warranty its a case of throw it away and buy a new one. If that happens in my desktop I just test the Video card in my testbed computer and if its buggered go get another one and not have to buy a whole new computer.

To the OP your friend is probably right about the lower end laptops being built with inferior components, I have had more hardware issues with laptops over the years than I ever had from desktops and I am not including those that ultimately occur from the usual laptop wear and tear i.e being dropped etc.

[bozodos]

compaq's suck balls though.

I just sold a bunch of 5 year old Dell D505's, they were still going strong apart from a few dead hard disks (Hitachi Deathstar FTL) and batteries. TBQH the older laptops seem to run better than old desktops, especially at the lower end of the scale.

[FrangaR33]

compaq's suck balls though.

I just sold a bunch of 5 year old Dell D505's, they were still going strong apart from a few dead hard disks (Hitachi Deathstar FTL) and batteries. TBQH the older laptops seem to run better than old desktops, especially at the lower end of the scale.

It really depends if its home made/made at the local computer shop they usually last but the old desktops were shit especially the mass market ones, my gf's old laptop she gave to her mum which she got about 6 years ago is still going strong despite being dropped and being used by people who are practically computer illiterate. It seems these days everything is made to a budget even more than before, or more likely people just accept rubbish products and go out and buy a replacement as opposed to complaining.

I remember working on Acer, Gateway, Dell desktops and they are built with tin openers. Especially dell I remember working on one and wanted to install a new graphics card only to find out it doesnt support non dell parts..grrrrr

[bozodos]

must have been a fairly old one, as we have non standard video cards in our GX 745's and onwards (except for ones spec'd in stupid form factor casings, which need low profile cards lol)

I've seen laptops as old as IBM R30's (Pentium 3 lol) come through our workbench still working reletively fine.

About half of the 5-6 year old ACER desktops I'm selling either have hard drives die, capacitors burn out, or heatsink mounts fall off, with the chipset heatsink falling off inside the case. If it's not that, the CPU fan stops working, the overtemp function dosen't work and voila, fried processor!

[FrangaR33]

must have been a fairly old one, as we have non standard video cards in our GX 745's and onwards (except for ones spec'd in stupid form factor casings, which need low profile cards lol)

I've seen laptops as old as IBM R30's (Pentium 3 lol) come through our workbench still working reletively fine.

About half of the 5-6 year old ACER desktops I'm selling either have hard drives die, capacitors burn out, or heatsink mounts fall off, with the chipset heatsink falling off inside the case. If it's not that, the CPU fan stops working, the overtemp function dosen't work and voila, fried processor!

It was quite some time ago now, probably 6 or 7 years ago..man i've been doing this stuff for a long time.

Fried processor my favourite, always fun cleaning off burnt on thermal paste. I think it all comes down to component and build quality about 2 years ago my newphew finally got rid of the Compaq 486 that we gave him about 10 years ago, after we had it for 8 years and we bought it second hand. Nowadays people expect things to fail, then they just buy a new one.

My sister much to my horror went and bought a new dell laptop a little over 18 months ago and its been nothing but grief ever since GPU issues, faulty screen, buggered HDD all fixed under warranty and now its out of warranty shes having a teary it doesnt work and they want $700 to repair it. It only cost my parents $1200. The ironic thing is she still has the desktop that I built for her (that is superior to the laptop I might add) sitting there collecting dust. Some women I swear it has to be all stylish and shit as opposed to what actually works.

[R31Nismoid]

Who wants a 1200x800 / 1366x768 POS screen anyway? The Q08 is looking pretty sweet, able to fit a full size graphics card in an ITX case.

Ah you are watching reasonably closely as I have

Cannot beat a SFF case with 6x HDD bays and m-ITX... Although i cannot find any m-ITX board that will do RAID5, that is my only issue at this stage (ICH10R)

That said I've not looked yet so there might be a mobo that will fit the bill now as there certainly wasn't 3-4 months ago now.

[gregor]

If its not going to be moved and you don't have high end demands I'd go for the desktop. Only because if a laptop is out of warranty as someone else has said if something goes wrong with the hardware its usually not cost effective to repair - even if you are a techie and are doing the labour yourself. Most things are on board and due to the tight spaces you're pretty much stuck with manufacturer sourced spares. It's also a lot easier for someone with a bit of technical knowledge to pull apart and fix a PC, with a laptop if you dont know what you're doing there is a higher chance of stuffing up (breaking plastic trims, missing or using the wrong screws in the wrong spot etc..).

With prices the way they are though I'd go for a laptop with a 3 year warranty, you can get something that will keep most people happy for about 1k with the warranty if you look around. Even if you only move it around occaisionally its handy to have.

[DivHunter]

Ah you are watching reasonably closely as I have

Cannot beat a SFF case with 6x HDD bays and m-ITX... Although i cannot find any m-ITX board that will do RAID5, that is my only issue at this stage (ICH10R)

That said I've not looked yet so there might be a mobo that will fit the bill now as there certainly wasn't 3-4 months ago now.

Why do you need RAID5?

[R31Nismoid]

Wanna build me a little home server for all my media files

JBOD is a pain in the ass having to search with WMC IMO, plus i like some sort of redundancy to be going on

[DivHunter]

ZFS, unRAID or WHS no hardware RAID needed really. WHS can do replicated copies onto diferent physical disks inside it's storage pool.

The Zotac H55 has 6 sata ports so that would work.

Edited July 16, 2010 by DivHunter

[R31Nismoid]

I'm not really a fan of software... I will be using WHS for simplicity (and the fact i CBFd doing a linux box lol)

I will start another thread as i have several questions/ideas

[MSTRshenanigans]

Nismoid gave me the answers I figured.

For the others he made no definition he said all laptops have shit components. Doesn't give me much faith in his ability to make decent PCs.