The Differences Between Laptops and Desktops

Laptops have become much more popular in recent years, and have progressed so much that students, businessmen and many other are now using them as their one and only computer. There are several reasons for this: they're more portable than in years past, they take up less power than desktop computers, and they're much quieter. Unfortunately there's also a few downsides to laptops, namely the fact that they're normally slower than desktops, have less graphics card options, and their processing power isn't quite so...well, powerful. As laptop technology progresses, however, a lot of these differences won't even be that noticeable to the everyday user.

In general, laptops cost more than desktop computers, but this once cold hard fact may soon be changing. The prices for both laptops and desktops have been falling constantly, with the price of laptops falling even faster. For this reason, in recent years more laptops have been sold in the US than desktop computers.

Desktops and laptops are very similar in design, each containing the same basic hardware and operating systems (usually either Windows or Mac.) The main difference between the two computer types is found in the way such components are put together. Laptops, because of their small size and portability, obviously need more compact components. Desktop computers have everything housed in a (usually) large CPU tower: a motherboard, a hard drive or two, audio/video cards and other necessary hardware elements gathered together. Components like the keyboard and mouse connect to the computer itself via wires or infrared wireless technology. Most CPU towers have a lot of extra space for more cards, cables and cooling fans.