Laptops, though convenient, are vastly inferior to desktops in all aspects except their size.

Contrary to what their name suggests, laptops should not be used on the lap for health and safety reasons, such as the potential for burns. This leads into the first concern I have with laptops: heat generation. In pursuit of the next thinnest laptop and pleasing form factors, companies are sacrificing cooling capability with smaller fans and packing components tighter. When these machines are put under moderately heavy loads, heat is trapped within the interior which can reach scorching levels. It shouldn’t be any surprise that extreme temperatures damage electronics, especially heat.

Which is almost funny, if it wasn’t harmful to the battery. The source of power that the entire laptop runs off of while it is functioning as a laptop. Running the laptop at high temperatures under load will decrease the battery’s ability to hold charge and capacity, a decay that can show significant effects in a few years in the form of a 10-20% decrease in run time on a full charge. Some manufacturers recommend removing the battery to prevent heat damage…that’s right.

Another reason laptops are horrible developments is that they create extensive waste. There is no upgrading a laptop. You get what you buy, and you’re stuck with it until you buy a newer one a few years later. Then you bin your old model and forget about it. With desktops, you can upgrade components individually, like the monitor, CPU, GPU, and disk drives. You can easily troubleshoot components by swapping in different parts. With a laptop, you’re out of luck. If something fails you will rarely know which. Replace the entire thing.

Finally, laptops cost more than desktops of equal performing parts. However, laptops will almost never be run at capacity due to battery constraints (a computer rated for 10 hours of use might die after 1 hour of video editing or gaming) and heating problems.

If at all possible, invest in a good desktop computer or build your own. It will last far longer than any laptop and will feel like your own after you upgrade its parts. I regret spending so much money on my laptop when it is blown away by a desktop that costs about half as much as it and doesn’t burn my hands when I play a game or run heavy programs. My system is 6 years old and healthy.