Why do many people regret buying a laptop instead of a desktop?

Many people intend to upgrade their PCs, but the allure of a slim, portable laptop entices them to buy one. However, they quickly realize that their shiny new laptop is not ideal, and here's why.

Thermal Throttling is the real issue

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Many people have pondered the age-old dilemma: Laptop or PC? Which should you choose, a laptop you can carry around with you or a system that sits on your desk?

While laptops may seem appealing with their slim design, portability, and theoretical specifications, their actual performance tends to suffer due to thermal throttling. The root cause of this problem is the design of laptops. Since they are designed to be portable and compact, airflow is compromised and there is no room for heat to be dissipated from the internal components to the surrounding environment.

To counteract this, manufacturers limit the amount of power the graphics card or processor can use, which reduces performance but protects the hardware from damage. On the other hand, the PC has more room for airflow and efficient cooling, meaning it can run at full capacity.

So a laptop buyer who thinks it's a powerful machine based on the specs will be faced with inconsistent performance, especially when gaming or doing heavy workloads. Even the MacBook M2 Air, which has impressive performance in the short term, can become sluggish compared to a 5-year-old desktop over time. When you run software development tools or train machine learning models on the laptop, it heats up so quickly that you can't use it on your lap or use the keyboard.

Limited performance for the price

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Another reason many people prefer PCs over laptops is that they're significantly cheaper for similar performance. You can shop online to build a PC with a Ryzen 5-7500F processor for less than $500 total. Even adding a good graphics card like an Nvidia RTX 4060 only costs an additional $300. However, you'll have to spend more to get a laptop with similar performance.

Also, you have to be careful when choosing the laptop's specifications before buying, as there is no room for change once you have decided, as laptops are very difficult to upgrade. If you are lucky, you can change the RAM and SSD of the machine because they are not soldered to the motherboard. However, the processor and graphics card cannot be upgraded.

However, upgrading your PC is easier and more cost-effective. Not only can you upgrade the RAM and SSD, but you can also upgrade the graphics card and processor. This reduces the cost of PC ownership significantly over time, because you don't have to sell the entire PC; you can just buy the parts and plug them in.

Impact on productivity

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Using a laptop often hinders productivity, and there are a number of reasons why. First, thermal throttling can significantly reduce performance, leading to unpredictable slowdowns and disrupted workflows. On the other hand, a well-cooled PC allows you to run it at maximum performance instead of throttling it for short periods of time.

Secondly, with laptops, you tend to use it while lying down on the bed or on the couch, which causes bad posture and fatigue. With PCs, however, you have to create a setup, which is great because not only do you sit in a better posture, but once everything is in place, you don't have to bother with connecting and disconnecting cables. Just sit back and start working without any added hassle.

Ultimately, laptop screens are too small for extended work sessions, where you spend a lot of time sitting in front of your computer and risk eye strain. The solution is to set up a desk with an external monitor and keyboard. However, if you're going to spend the extra money on an external monitor and a long list of peripherals, why not just buy a PC in the first place?

David Pac

Update 27 December 2024