I've had 3 desktops since 2005 and this used Lenovo is going thru some "surgeries" to keep it up to snuff...I have a good tech who keeps it going for me. I do simple computing and finding I'm doing less and less since Covid took so so much of me on a computer....I've had it with covid and just want to go back to things I need: Grocery Order Companies for various purchases Email Bank Info General Info I considered a laptop yrs ago and never went there. Is now the time I'm wondering. I w ould continue to use it on my desk and not different places around the house.... I'm still using Windows 7 and it's good for me needs...I'll have to learn a new version and I have dreads, t his ole gal wants everything to be easy in her life. Thoughts for me folks...Desktop again or laptop? Thanks... I don't have a printer, no need for one, thank goodness. Been there long time ago.
I've built my own desktops, and was a late adopter of laptops when my employer offered discounts on laptops to the staff. -Laptops are portable -The monitor travels with them -They provide their own battery backup should power go out The only apparent advantage to desktops is if you do your own repairs & upgrades, but I believe that the hardware on modern laptops is more accessible than it used to be (and the performance these days is just as good.) Other than self-repair, I can see zero reason to get a desktop. You might want to get a wireless keyboard/mouse combo so you are not all hunched over that tiny keyboard with its affixed monitor at an uncomfortably low position. The wireless keyboard will allow you to type a comfortable distance away from the machine; of course, you can always use your larger monitor on it (I do.)
I used to think I wouldn't want a laptop, but then I was thinking of something I would use on my lap, and my anatomy doesn't work that way, or at least hasn't since laptops were invented. Besides, laptops used to be way more expensive than desktops. That's not so much the case anymore. I have a MacBook Pro, a Lenovo Ideapad laptop, a Mac Mini, and another Windows desktop. Oh, I have perhaps another dozen working computers in the house, but they haven't been booted up in a long time. I mostly use the Mac Mini desktop, but I use the MacBook Pro a couple of days a week, which I take with me when I'm traveling. When I use the MacBook Pro, I usually use it on a desk or a table, but it's not always the same one. The nice thing is that I can easily move it upstairs if I want to work up there for a while, from one office to another, or I can take it to the restaurant with me. Sometimes, in the summer, I'll use it on an old desk in the backyard. When I'm facilitating SMART Recovery meetings, I'll take it with me to the meeting room in the library after preparing my notes on it. When I'm using it at my desk, it's every bit as easy to use as my desktop, or it could be if I were to hook it up to a larger monitor. At this point, if I could have only one Mac, I'd probably opt for the MacBook Pro because it's more versatile. It will hold a charge for about sixteen hours, so I don't even have to bring a charger with me most of the time. The Ideapad will only hold a charge for a few hours, however. Since I'm no longer used to using a Windows machine, pretty much the only time that I use the Lenovo Ideapad is during SMART Recovery meetings. For whatever reason, the Lenovo does a more dependable job of connecting to Zoom, so I use that computer for our Zoom connections. Other than that, I've used it a few other times just to get used to it a little bit. It's not a bad machine, the only problem being that it uses a Windows OS. The Windows desktop, I rarely use. It's not a bad machine, but again, it's a Windows machine. Perhaps because I don't use it often; whenever I try to use it, it has forgotten all of my passwords, so that's annoying. I just bought another mini-computer, this one with Ubuntu Linux, but I haven't set it up. If it works fine, I'll probably use it in conjunction with my Mac Mini. Currently, I have two monitors connected to my Mac Mini. Instead, I'll connect one of those monitors to the Linux machine. I'll have to find room on the desk for an extra keyboard, though. If that proves problematic, I might set it up somewhere else in the house. Back to the question of a laptop, you would likely find that you'll be using it at your desk, but you can move it around as you please, so you might use it at the table or somewhere else around the house. The versatility is nice.
I also still on Win 7 and it does all that I need with the added bonus that it does NOT want to update automatically or load a bunch of stuff that I dont need or want. The win 7 laptop is getting a little persnickety and I have a keyboard plugged in to it because the original has some dead keys that have already been replaced once, I have a newer laptop ready on standby but it is set up on Linux for I want nothing to do with the newer Windoze system.
I have an HP windows 8.1 laptop I use as a desktop.....it's always plugged in. The screen size is just right and gives a sharp and bright image. I also bought a refurbished desktop with Windows 10. It was only about $150. I use it mostly for spending $$ as opposed to the laptop because it still gets security updates but the laptop doesn't.
It seems to me that you are going to have to learn some new version of an operating system, regardless of whether you get a desktop or a laptop, @Joy Martin, if you are going to have a new (or newer) machine. We have had people here complaining about trying to learn the newer versions of Windows, even when they are familiar with older versions, plus windows always has so many updates. I would not change having my iPad for any other device, just because I like simple and not complicated, and it all works easily to do whatever I need. However, for using a regular computer, it seems like people are finding that a Chromebook is the easiest to learn of the new operating systems, and it keeps itself updated and has virus protection already built in and updated, since everything is online with a Chromebook. I believe that all of the newer computers use apps now, so regardless of what you choose, there will be the learning experience of using an app for things as well as just using a website. With a chromebook laptop, you can get a much better machine for a lot less cost, since it does not have to have all of that internal storage that most computers have, and they can have really large screens if you want. The Chromebook that I have has a 17.3 inch screen, and I like it when I am watching a video or something where I want a larger screen. It is heavy to carry around, but if you are going to leave it sitting on your desk, then carrying it is not an issue. Here is information about how a chromebook works, and there are a lot of good comparison videos on youtube for you to learn which computer might work best for you, Joy. Good luck with your search !
T hanks all, portable is not a thing for me. I have no need to carry a computer anywhere, and t his desktop may still last some time, and I'll mentonn the lap top thought to my computer wizard who helps me ....and it's wild how so many own so many machines.....my life in general is less is best and pretty simple, but that's me. A gf has so many machines around her apt. Again thanks.
I think the choice for devices is a matter of a person’s needs, @Joy Martin . For many years, all I had was some old computer, which eventually gave up the ghost, and then I often lost all of the pictures and other information which was important to me; but it worked for what I did with a computer at the time. My whole life changed when my daughter gave me my first iPad, and I could do so many different things with it, and because of cloud storage, I never had to worry about losing pictures or important information, even if something happened to the device itself. I hate complicated things, and the simpler, the better for me, so the iPad is what works best for my simple needs. I have a 13” iPad with an external keyboard, which looks just about like having a laptop, and it basically lives on my desk, even though i can carry it around should I want to do that. Because most of my reading is online now, and I do a LOT of reading, I also use a small tablet for that. Between those two devices, it takes care of just about everything I want to do online. I have the Chromebook, which I got on a closeout sale (really cheap !) but neither of us use it very often, because Bobby also does everything with his iPad and external keyboard. It is good that your old computer will work for a while longer, and hopefully, you will find a replacement that you like in time to save all of your important information and get it copied to the new computer. You have time to browse and read online and decide which device will work best for you.
Oh for sure a person's needs and Wants. I THINK I would have enjoyed the picture taking feature but I had many years of picture taking with my cameras and enjoyed the photos so much and my albums...now I'm inn the process of getting rid of albums, no one wants th em when I 'm gone. I gave my grandkids some of my photo memories but they don't want more of my memories...they are mine not theirs... What will happen with all the photos in the devices that are stored....disappear somehow.
I think I have mentioned this before. I use a desktop at home almost exclusively. I also have a laptop and a few Kindles. I tried to get a new laptop last year but I couldn't find what I wanted locally, so I tried online. They won't ship most laptops here because of the batteries I think, so I settled for a large Kindle that is easy to use and will do most of what I want in a laptop but not all. Desktops are useful to me as most of my "computer stuff" is done at home at a desk. I originally got a laptop to take on planes and trains (especially) to write or watch movies (DVDs) in places where there is no connectivity. Desktops are much harder to steal, whereas a laptop can be stolen almost accidentally. Otherwise, I don't see much difference. I use a printer quite often and have two of them next to my desktop.
I had a windows 7 desk top for hubby and me and my server told me it would not mesh with their upgrades. It just stopped working! So, I went to Walmart and got the cheapest laptop they had. It was a chromebook. I use it here, for email, craigslist, youtube... I don't bank on it. I like laptops because I can use them at the kitchen table. A friend builds computers so I had him duct tape a desk top together for hubby. He has glaucoma and I had gotten him the biggest screen I could find for it.
Joy, you say that portable is not a thing for you, but don't knock it till you try it! When I was ill it was nice to be able to have my laptop while bedridden. I don't move my laptop very often but it's nice to know that I can. Hope you can find something you're happy with; learning a new operating system will be frustrating for a while but you can do it.
I think Chromebooks only works while connected to the net, so if you lose connectivity, the Chromebook is worthless. They are cheap and fast as I understand it. My daughter and son-in-law love theirs.
The new chromebooks can do a lot of things without being online, but most of the things that Joy said she does are things you would have to be online to do, regardless of what kind of device you have. So, no matter how much she spends on a new computer, she needs to be online to use it for the things that she does. That being the case, having a computer with the easiest operating system to learn seems to me like it would be the best thing for her to buy. No matter what she gets, the operating system is going to be different than her Windows 7 is, and the newer Windows OS is why a lot of seniors stopped using Windows and went to a simpler machine. The difference with a chromebook is that everything is stored in the cloud, and not on the device itself, making it faster and cheaper than a computer that has to store everything in the computer itself. You do have to get a Gmail account, but that is a simple thing for her to do while she still has her old computer.
I had a Chromebook once. I gave it away to my sister-in-law. I couldn't figure the stupid thing out. Half the time, I couldn't even log in because it wouldn't let me use the same password more than two or three times, and it wouldn't work anymore. I took it with me to our timeshare because I only needed to log into the forum and to my job site. I bought my MacBook Pro in Virginia because I could not log into the Chromebook most of the time. I was able to figure out how to program for DOS. I ran a 4-line BBS in DOS, Windows, and OS/2, but the Chromebook brought me to my knees.