The Problems of Using Portables

One of the ever-present design consequences of laptop computers is compromise. For every element that you add to a laptop, there is another element that suffers as a result. For example, adding a larger screen lessens a laptop's portability. A brighter screen results in shorter battery endurance. Adding more internal drives or device bays means the system will have to be larger as well.

Because of these compromises, laptops are not perfect systems. While providing many benefits, they do have a few shortcomings.

More Expensive

There is, as they say, no free lunch. The extra versatility of the notebook computer comes at a pricein this case, a literal one (refer to Table 1.12). When desktop and notebook systems with similar performance and features are compared, the desktop is significantly less expensive. And even if you try to configure the systems equally, usually the desktop will have a performance advantage in several areas. The one price advantage of a notebook is that in many cases the purchase of a single notebook will avoid the need to purchase two desktops.

Table 1.12. Price Comparison: Desktop Versus Notebook

Feature	Desktop	Notebook
System	Dell Dimension 8400	Dell Inspiron 9300
Processor	Pentium 4 630, 3.0GHz/800MHz	Pentium M 760, 2.0GHz/533MHz
Memory	1GB	1GB
Hard drive	80GB	80GB
Display	20-inch 1680x1050 LCD	17-inch 1440x900 LCD
Video accelerator	256MB nVidia GeForce 6800	256MB nVidia GeForce 6800
Optical drives	16x DVD+/-RW, dual layer	8x DVD+/-RW, dual layer
Price	$2,185	$2,628
Difference (%)		20% higher

Although I tried to configure these systems as equally as possible, there are a few differences worth noting. First is that although the processor speeds seem radically different, they are actually very close in overall performance. This is because the higher clock speed Pentium 4 trades efficiency over the lower clock speed Pentium M. The 2GHz Pentium M actually performs very similarly to the 3GHz Pentium 4. The desktop system does have the advantage of a larger 20-inch display with 36% greater resolution, however the laptop display is usually much closer to the user so the overall object size will be similar. The main difference here isn't the size as much as the 36% greater resolution, which results in a Windows desktop with 36% greater real estate. Finally, the optical drive on the laptop suffers in comparison to the desktop. The DVD-burning speeds in both single and dual-layer modes will be about half as fast, which is perhaps the biggest single difference. The problem is that the very slim laptop optical drives simply aren't available at the same speeds as the fastest desktop optical drives. For any serious optical disc burning on a laptop, I always recommend connecting an external USB optical drive.

As you can see with this type of comparison, you get less performance for more money with a laptop/notebook system, which is a factor that must be considered.

Increased Risk of Loss

It is highly unlikely that some unfortunate person has lost a desktop computer because he or she simply left it on a train. But, that same regrettable mishap occurs every day in the laptop world. The simple fact is that because notebook computers are frequently taken out into the rough-and-tumble real world, they often fall victim to many more calamities than do the desktops in the well-sheltered office.

Perhaps the biggest risk for notebooks is physical damage caused by drops. Rare is the case where a desktop simply falls off a table, but it is all too common for someone to walk by a table and trip over a carelessly placed phone line, sending a poor notebook flying to the floor on the other side of the room. Other careless people have been known to leave notebooks on the roofs of their cars and then drive off. The real world is populated with laptop carrying cases whose shoulder straps never seem to break unless the user is walking on concrete. And what about liquid damage? Spilling a cup of coffee on a desktop keyboard means that a $50 component needs to be replaced. The same mishap on a laptop keyboard can lead to much greater damage.

In addition to notebooks being damaged, we must also consider their unfortunate tendency to disappear. Desktop theft is, of course, a serious problem, but it pales in comparison to notebook theft. Because notebooks are so easy to carry and so profitable in terms of price per pound, these devices are a frequent target for thieves. Often the monetary value of a notebook's hardware, however, is much less valuable than the information contained on its hard drive. Notebooks may be stolen not by thieves but by industrial spies.

Smaller Screens and Keyboards

Compared to models of only a few years ago, today's notebooks have sizable screens and comfortable keyboards. In comparison with desktops, however, these features tend to lose some of their brilliance. Although notebooks may have screens that measure 15 and even 16 inches, it is not uncommon to see desktop monitors in the 19- and 21-inch range. In the same way, most notebooks have the same 19mm key pitch as on desktop keyboards, but desktops offer much more space to provide such niceties as true numeric keypads and a handy inverted-T cursor key set.

Slower System Speed

Because of advances in system design, it has become harder to make a simple comparison of the performance of desktops with that of notebooks. A few years ago, you could get a fair estimate of system speed by examining the processor clock speed, the amount and type of memory, the size of the processor's memory caches, and the type of hard drive used. Now we need to examine all these areas plus two additional factors: the type of video accelerator used and the amount of video memory. Because most of today's most popular computer tasks require frequent screen updates, the speed of the video system is vitally important. This is particularly true in entertainment-related tasks such as DVD videos and electronic gaming.

Although the power of notebooks has increased substantially over time, there is still a slight lag in power between the average desktop and notebook. Most of the problem is due to the extra time needed by component manufacturers to design power-saving versions of the high-speed components used in desktops. For example, the low-power mobile version of a 2.4MHz processor will appear 612 months after the power-guzzling desktop version.

To avoid this delay, some notebook manufacturers in the past year or two have opted to sacrifice battery endurance to increase performance. They have begun incorporating desktop processor chips inside their systems. But, even in these cases, the slower speed of the surrounding components results in a system that is measurably slower than a top-of-the-line desktop.

If leading-edge performance is absolutely critical for your applicationor if you need the fastest possible game-playing machine in order to master a certain online game tournamenta high-end desktop is still your best choice.

Upgrades Are More Difficult

If you have ever looked inside a laptop, you will wonder how the manufacturer was ever able to cram so many components into such a small space. Indeed, the miniaturization employed on an average notebook makes it very difficult to upgrade them to any substantial degree.