Are laptops now cheaper than desktops?

[TPMB12]

Simple question but it seems to me to be the case. I've seen loads of laptops with decent spec at up to £500 but not many desktops. BTW I'm including monitor, keyboard and mouse in the price. It used to be a lot more to get a laptop I think but my memory could be fooling me.

[Biggsy]

I expect the popularity of laptops is rapidly declining as increasing numbers of people (including me) use tablets and smartphones instead (which of course don't provide all the functionality but do provide so much portability that many users don't mind sacrificing a proper keyboard and big screen and big operating system).

Now, does that put the price of laptops down or up?  Hmmm?  Could be up because of lack of economy of scale.  Could be down out of desperation to win back users.

[pcolbeck]

In the early days of desktop computing, components were larger and it was expensive to miniaturise everything so that a laptop would not be as large as a desktop - portable Compaq, anyone? I think it is now simply down to economies of scale as the component size issue has made great headway and laptops are sold by the bucketful.

I used to lug one of those all over the country.

[matthew]

I suspect most corporate bodies are providing their professional staff with laptops now rather than desktops due to the flexibility to hot desk / work from multiple sites including home. At my place of work desktops are only provided if you are working on specialist and computing intensive software such as 3D CAD models or big GIS Datasets.

This will be driving the economies of scale so that desktops are at the higher end of the market and laptops are more normal for general use. The big advantage of the corporate setting is the provission of docking stations so that you can still have a proper monitor and keyboard to go with your mobility.

[Ben T]

I've had a laptop at the last 3 companies I've worked at.

[mrcharly-YHT]

Short answer; no

Long answer; it depends on what you mean by 'decent spec'.

A £500 laptop is usually a compromise machine.

[T42]

A £500 laptop is usually a compromise machine.

That would still be valid if you knocked the price out.

I like a nice beeg machine with lots of room for air to circulate and space for expansion, not to mention a 24" monitor.  I haven't got a laptop, I have a floor-standing tower.

[ian]

All the companies I know issue laptops now. Portability wins out, staff can work from anywhere and be properly effective units. Plus any machine is decent enough spec for what most mothership drones are expected to do. The office has docking stations and bigger screens.

[TPMB12]

Home use is why we're looking for a desktop. A laptop with decent spec for home use (office applications, internet, email, etc) and work use too is not that expensive. I bought a how envy for £349 a year or so ago. It has AMD A10 processor, 8gb RAM and 1 TB hard drive. It's no i5 but I reckon it's decent spec.

Cue this year and desktop hunting. Best I've seen is i3 with 4gb and 2tb hard drive for £500 with wired keyboard, mouse and monitor. Not exactly the same spec level as the A10 laptop from what I've seen of processor test data.

£150 more for less performance! Desktops seem a rip off now. Perhaps a docking station with monitor, mouse and keyboard is better. Only using it on a small table in a narrow space so probably no room for a docking station.

[Ham]

Not certain what the current situation is, but the spec on paper can be very deceiving.

The prime difference is that laptops have low power versions of similar sounding chips which - surprise surprise - don't perform as well in the real world. Add to that graphics which again are heavily compromised in laptops and, although the manufacturers have been careful to make it sound good, side by side you get better bangs for bucks from a desktop. Fortunately, one of the big bottlenecks of a laptop - disc access times - has gone if you go for SSD. If you don't then disc access is again another laptop downer.

Which is all fine and dandy, but as most people only use their computers as browsers and word processors, in the real world a laptop gives you better value if you are one of those users.

The applications which would show up a laptop include: Graphics applications (photoshop etc), 3-D, Gaming, Database/large spreadsheet, Virtualisation

[T42]

The other annoying thing about laptops is that all the memory slots are usually full when you get them, so that if you want to expand RAM you can't just add another module, you have to buy the lot. You're then left with a spare set of cards nobody wants because that's what they got in their laptop too.  If you can spec your desk/floortop box you can tell the wallah how to set up your RAM.

(What's the contracted term for RAM cards these days?  I haven't bought a new beastie for yonks and I've forgotten.)

[Afasoas]

Consumer grade laptops are the work of stan.

Business grade laptops are still near four digits by the time you get to a decent specification. They generally sport a non-bendy chassis, better keyboards, more upgradeability and are easier to disassemble/reassemble - you can do it with just a screwdriver.

And non-Intel hardware is always going to be cheaper. The highest clock latest generation Intel Pentium's are now powerful enough for most people.
I've been burned with AMD hardware before - I'm not going there again.

[TPMB12]

At work my laptop never leaves its desk apart from the few times it's needed in another office. It's slow, especially with the larger spreadsheets. When I first got switched from desktop to laptop at work I thought it a good idea. Now I don't. However it is a 5 year old beast that really is close to obsolete. Pentium E450 processor running at 1.65 GHz. 8 GB of RAM though. Still it goes into "not responding" on pretty much all the Excel spreadsheets I work on except the truly basic. It is slow accessing server files, external hard drives and tbh the hard drive doesn't give up its contents much quicker.

On the other hand I have a nice, AMD A10 processor, 8 GB ram, USB 3.0 sockets everywhere (bought b4 USB-C came out). It's not bad when working on the same spreadsheets from the same external hard drive. The other difference is I'm working on Libre office at home saving into MS formats. Not sure if that's significant. Is Libre office or MS office better in terms of performance on low spec machines?

So does anyone know a good deal for a desktop costing up to £500 with monitor, keyboard and mouse? Could possibly find mouse and keyboard elsewhere but definitely needs monitor in that price. Any recommendations?

[Afasoas]

This would be my minimum recommended spec - includes a Dell business grade monitor, half decent mouse and keyboard.
Doesn't include an operating system.

Also includes a 120GB SSD for the operating system/applications and a 1TB mechanical hard disk drive for storage.

If you are happy using LibreOffice, then you might be happy using Ubuntu/Mint etc. as your operating system. Otherwise, one would have to add a Windows License to the cost.

If you can work a screw driver, lego and mechano, building a PC should come quite easily. I'll have a hunt around at lunch time for some pre-build examples.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor  (£83.94 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Thermaltake - CLP0600 45.4 CFM CPU Cooler  (£17.50 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - GA-H110M-S2H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  (£47.39 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws 4 series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  (£59.30 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Kingston - SSDNow UV400 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (£49.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate - Constellation ES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£31.99 @ Aria PC)
Case: BitFenix - Nova ATX Mid Tower Case  (£25.80 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: be quiet! - System Power 8 400W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply  (£32.79 @ Amazon UK)
Monitor: Dell - SE2216H 21.5" 1920x1080 60Hz Monitor  (£106.04 @ PC World Business)
Keyboard: Logitech - K120 - UK Layout Wired Standard Keyboard  (£11.96 @ Amazon UK)
Mouse: Logitech - B100 Wired Optical Mouse  (£8.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £475.69
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-10-11 09:38 BST+0100

[Afasoas]

Cheapest option from ebuyer with an i3, 8GB RAM, SSD and Windows 10 Home.

https://www.ebuyer.com/783649-zoostorm-delta-light-desktop-pc-7290-0237
£100 change towards a monitor/keyboard/mouse

There is an attractive looking refurbished HP Elite workstation with 1 year warranty:
https://www.ebuyer.com/749209-refurbished-hp-elite-8200-sff-desktop-rf-hp-8200-i5-4-120ssd

You can probably get cheaper from ebay sans warranty.