[Alyssia]

So I'm in the market for a new one, and although I'm really excited about it...I'm not really sure where to start. I was considering an all in one desktop and tablet pair...but maybe a laptop would be better (from a portability stand point)

If anyone is game for making suggestions I'd love to hear them.
I'll be using it for school work(mostly), a little graphic art work and general surfing. I don't see online gaming as a big thing that I'll be doing...but this is going to be shared so its a possibility.

[hyjin]

there are a lot of decent laptops online.
if you want portability don't get a desktop. tablets are nice but they are limited to programs.
i like my laptop its an hp. 3 years old and i upgraded to windows 7 2 years ago.

but like i said a lot of decent laptops online. it just depends on your price range. i saw a few last night under 500 that had 4 gigs of ram and 640-500gb hard drive space.

[Serra Britt]

If you don't want it for games, laptops are fine. It's just that gaming stuff usually heats up the computer components a lot and I still haven't seen a laptop with a good way to remove heat.

Tablets are pretty limited but depending on what you need to do they can work just fine.

[Xun]

I've got an ACER Aspire One laptop and I use it for the same necessities as you do, Alyssia. However, I do a lot of gaming (Even though I currently have like... 3 mmorpgs installed) and it does require me to defrag my laptop and delete files I don't need anymore when I want to play certain games.

If I were you, I'd stick to a decent laptop with a decent price.

[Alpha]

Honestly, it all depends on what you are wanting the computer for.

Since you are going to be mainly using it for school work, graphic art work, and general surfing, a desktop wouldn't be a bad thing along with a tablet. It does limit what you can do portably however in that tablets are generally more limited in what programs they can run. The bonus to the desktop is that you can get better overall operating power for less than it would take to get the same in a laptop. The big plus to the laptop however, as you have said and others have as well, is portability.

[Rosekitten]

Well a few questions before I can really give my input on this. What price limit are you working with? I know most people have mentioned laptops or tablets but you said computer (sorry there is a difference and a price difference as well ^^;;; ). But anyway if your probably going to be sharing the computer or laptop what is the other person looking for or rather looking to get out of it?

I'd say just build a computer if your looking for a desktop ... but not everyone knows how to do such things so I won't go that route ^^;

But yes answering the question i have would help :3 Also as far as graphics I'd say go with that idea if whoever else is going to be using it for games any pc that can handle graphics (highend) should be equipped enough to support games as well video card and ram/processor wise.

[Alyssia]

Wow, this place has been moving quite a bit. Thanks for all your input guys.
@Xun, could you tell me a little more about your ACER, I'm rather interested in it.

@Rose, well I'm looking to spend no more than $800.00 for it...a little over if I'm going for the tablet/all in one combo. Yea most have recommended laptops although I started out looking at all on one desktops.

We're both students, she doesn't game...so we're both looking to do general work (word docs, some excel, powerpoint) a far amount of photoshopping, general surfing... possibly one mmo, move streaming and music streaming(all from youtube or something like it.) for here and that is all.

Personally I don't know how you build one, although I know someone that does it...I'm not sure if it would be possibility due to distance.

[Ducky]

for the photoshopping, and maybe the MMO depending on what it is, i would probably go for a desktop. You can get more power for your money, and games and some editing programs can be pretty intensive. You can also go for a bigger monitor than a laptop can offer, which is also good for photoshop etc.
Also, you are more future-proofed in a desktop. They're easily upgraded, even if you don't know much about it at all. Where as laptops.. not so much.

[Trakadon]

build your own... ITs cheaper to build a computer from scratch then it is to buy a whole one.

Though if you don't know how to build one then um... you are kinda out of luck XD

[Coda]

Originally Posted by Trakadon

build your own... ITs cheaper to build a computer from scratch then it is to buy a whole one.

Though if you don't know how to build one then um... you are kinda out of luck XD

Not anymore, actually. (And it was never true of laptops.) Mass production has brought the cost of prebuilt computers down below the cost of commodity parts. I can go to the store right now and pick up a $300 computer; I'd have problems building something with comparable stats for that price and then I'd still need to put an operating system on it. (I could get it down to $250 but it would be a pretty dinky box running Linux, definitely not good for gaming.)

[Yokuutsu]

@Ducky
My laptop has more power than any desktop that anyone I know owns. 4gigs RAM....no one owns a desktop with more than two around here.

So a laptop, depending on how you want to go, might be worth it.

Mine was under 800 dollars.

[Coda]

Yokuutsu, you haven't been looking at computers recently then. 4GB is considered the minimum recommended amount of RAM these days. 2GB is barely enough to run Windows 7. You really need at least 4 to do anything fancy.

If everyone you know has computers that are 1-3 years old, then 2GB would make sense.

And of course RAM is only one relevant metric.

[Yokuutsu]

Most computers I've seen are 2gig. Including ones with windows 7. See, by saying that, the 2gb is barely enough for windows 7 is completely wrong. I had a 2gb running 7 and it had plenty of RAM including for games I ran.

So not everyone needs 4gb. This laptop has 4gb....and I've never seen it use even 50% of it at one time.

RAM may be only one metric, but it's usually the most important. Space problems can be solved by external hard drives and the like, but not enough RAM? I don't think there is something to fix that other than crack it open and add some/replace it.

[Coda]

2GB is enough to run Windows 7. I said that. But it is the MINIMUM for 64-bit (which is what most computers run these days). It's enough to surf the Internet, check e-mail, do homework, etc. But the Windows 7 experience is MUCH more fluid with 4GB, and games dramatically benefit from it. 6GB is starting to become the recommendation.

You can update the RAM just as easily as you can update the hard drive. The factors you're forgetting are the CPU and the video card. (Though on Intel-based systems they're sometimes on the same chip.) Those CAN'T be replaced in a laptop, and on desktops it's not always guaranteed to be replaceable either.

[Yokuutsu]

A Video card can be changed out I believe and so can the CPU depending on the type of laptop.

You said 2GB is barely enough, which means my game would be too much for it by those words, but all my games ran better on my crappy laptop than this one meant for gaming. Though I dunno why. I don't think it's the video card and I know it ain't the CPU XD

But on some laptops, those can be replaced. Though it depends on how the laptop is made.

[Coda]

Not anymore. Plenty of cheaper systems have the video built into the motherboard (like laptops do) and some of them even have the CPU soldered to it instead of being plugged into a socket. Removable parts are a sign of a more expensive system. The cheap stuff is all on-board because it's cheaper to mass-produce.

I could take a guess as to the performance differences but I'd need to know the specs of your system more. I would lean towards the video card being the difference without knowing more.