Mac laptop or desktop?

[traveldancer]

Any of you Mac people have an opinion on buying a laptop or desk top as my new computer? I'm replacing my old eMac with a new Mac something. My boyfriend says i'll get more computer for my money buying the desk top. it will easily move around the house and i don't think i'll take it to class.

[JeanneLF]

I think your boyfriend is probably right about the more computer for the money part, so if you find that the desktop suits your needs (such as, you're sure you don't want to take it to class), I'd go for that. I, on the other hand, am addicted to my little MacBook (I live in a tiny space and one of its advantages is that it's small), and although I don't take it out of the house very often, every time I do I'm glad to have that option.

[Queenie]

I loooooove my Macbook. I work on it at home (well, everywhere!) and I use it in class. I like it sooo much better than CD's or iPod for class. So easy!

[CalgaryBibi]

He's definitely right, but if money wasn't an issue, I'd choose a laptop over a desktop in a heartbeat. It's more versatile. For instance, you can take it with you if you travel. However, it is true that you typically get more RAM, hard drive space, etc. in a desktop for the same money.

[steffib]

I would rather take the mobility of my Powerbook, and trade in a bit of computing power. I love that I can move it around the house easily (we have wireless) and travel with it. If you do not have a laptop right now, you may not realize how attached you will very quickly get to that feature, it is addictive ;-) An additional benefit that has not been mentioned before: We don't have a TV in the bedroom, so one of our Powerbooks is also sometimes used as a portable DVD player around the house.

[indigostars]

What are your computing needs? The more bang for your buck is appealing, but if you aren't needing the heavy duty computer stuff and have other requirements, it doesn't make much sense.

I have both. The laptop's mobility is a great feature. If you want to work in bed or another room or if you travel, it's a great thing to have. I wasn't into taking my laptop out when I first got it, but I must admit being able to work some place other than home is a very nice feature. My desktop I love for the screen size, but you can hook up a monitor and keyboard to a laptop.

[traveldancer]

The computing power of the laptop will probably be fine. I am used to our 2004 eMac that won't play most you-tubes well as well as being slow for other stuff. I will use it for my music---once i learn GarageBand i will play w/ that a little, edit my Dvds , no heavy graphics(don't know how) and of course spend wayyyyy too much time on Facebook, Bhuz and BD websites. thanks for all your imput.

[tahiradancer]

Unless you are doing high powered graphics of video editing where you need TONS of space plus multiple programs at once, a laptop should be fine. The only other thing is double check the stability of each model. I believe they have gotten some of the glitches worked out on the Air, but I know it had some problems in the past.

{{{HUGS}}}

[Hala Jamal]

I have a 2002 Mirror Door G4 with 2 external hard drives for all my pictures, movies and music. SHe's getting old and I'll need to upgrade by the end of the year. I too am considering a laptop (probably a powerbook vs a macbook since I still do some graphic work).
Desktops are great because you can upgrade them and therefore put off buying a new one much longer (hence my 8 year old machine that still runs great!).
Laptops are so handy, though. Last summer at Hadia's pro course in Lunenburg, Anya and I filmed the Saturday Gala, made a DVD that night on her macbook and burned copies for everyone to take home through Sunday's classes. Couldn't have done that with a laptop. It saved us having to get everyone's mailing address and spend money on postage afterwards. Everyone loved the instant gratification!
When I get a laptop, I'll still be able to hook it up to my desktop flatscreen and external hard drives but I'll have the conveniences others described above. Just gotta save up some money!

[pepiacebo]

I love my 1998 G3 PowerBook Series (Wallstreet II) laptop from Apple, which I bought refurbished.

And it's still running after all these years. I just put in a new (fourth) hard drive as a precautionary measure (every 3 years). Still has 320MB of RAM -- including the extra 256MB chip that I put in shortly after I bought it. I've upgraded the OS to 10.3.9 using Other World Computing's XPostFacto 4.0. I have extra hard drive partitions for MacOS 9.2.2, MacOS 8.6 for ProTools and other old software, and MacOS 8.1 for Tech Tool Pro. This laptop has lasted

I'd say go laptop!

One other recommendation:

I highly recommend the $300 AppleCare warranty. A month before my laptop's three year AppleCare warranty expired, I called Apple with a list of suspected issues. They sent me a prepaid shipping box via UPS, send UPS to pick the box back up, and, in three days, returned my laptop with a new sound card, new PCMCIA card cage (slots), new battery, and new logic board. The logic board alone would have cost me $900. The battery would have been another $200. Love it.