Cheap Desktop Computers vs Cheap Laptops

Are Cheap Desktop Computers Passe?

For may people in times past, a laptop computer was too expensive to consider unless it was mandated by their business needs. Today, if you read the newspaper ads, it is rare to see many cheap desktops computers other than the AMD driven models. It appears to me anyway, AMD models outnumber desktop computer models.

I personally prefer a desktop computer over a laptop computer, though I have both. Until my wife's desktop computer crashed, and I turned my laptop over to her, my laptop was hardly used and generally only when we were traveling. With smartphones, and netbooks, the need for a laptop soley for traveling has has diminished.

For quite some time, I have been wanting to build a desktop computer utilizing one of the Intel I5 or I7 processors. After doing my due diligence, I found it would not be a cheap desktop computer. By the time I included a pair of sizable hard drives and a decent graphics card, the case and power supply plus a DVD burner, the cost was approaching $1000. I could go to Gateway, Dell or HP and get one of their models, generally for less money.

When you get down to brass tacks and honestly evaluate my needs versus my wants, my needs can be satisfied by the Pentium 4 3.0gig desktop. When you look at what I want then my "need for speed" demands the top of the line. What will I do? I honestly don't know but I have really been thinking about the new iPad2 from Apple. My IBM heritage (I spent 40 years working for them.) really causes me to hold back here. After all, Apple is one of the prime competitors. Another thing that bothers me is that I would have to pay about $25 for a WI-Fi connection when I already have a very high speed internet connection. The jury is still out on what I will do but it won't be in the near future.