When 1 Gig of RAM is Not Enough. . .

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When 1 Gig of RAM is Not Enough. . .

Do you really need a laptop? If you’re like most people, you don’t. It’s pretty tempting to buy that ultra-portable Sony VAIO TX, even at its current price tag, and the specifications aren’t too modest either when it comes to a laptop. But really – strictly for the mobile user only. . . like James Bond, for instance. But let’s face it, most of us don’t carry our computers around, let alone, need to. We just like that extra portability that comes in special with being a laptop.

Unfortunately, that’ll be the only advantage to having one versus a desktop replacement, which in five years will still be faithful to all your computing needs. Not a problem for those with gobbles of money to burn, but definitely inefficient for the rest of us who actually want a good deal. Still can’t figure out what the heck I’m talking about? See for yourself. Let’s take a Sony VAIO AR270 desktop replacement notebook. For full specifications and accessories, it will run around somewhere close to the $4500 range. At that price you’d think you’ll be getting a pretty high-end computer, right? Well, it depends on what you compare it to. That particular model being 8.4 pounds is not exactly “mobile” but nevertheless, still a notebook, and what a notebook! It has a 17” screen, with Xbrite technology, up to 400 GB of hard drive, with 4200 rpm, Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7600/ICD 2.33 GHz, 2 GB of RAM, and a NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT graphics card.

Compare that to the XPS 710 H2C from Dell, which is about $1000 more: Intel CoreTM 2 Extreme X6800 with a processor speed of 3.46 GHz, a maximum of 2 TB of hard drive, up to 4GB Dual-Channel DDR2 SDRAM, Dual 768 MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX graphics cards, and the rest we don’t care about. The best thing about a desktop is you can hook it up to a 24” LCD screen. In other words, it’s a pretty damn good computer. A dream for hardcore gamers, but also A/V enthusiasts who don’t have to worry about space being an issue. For those who couldn’t care less about performance, do yourselves a favor and buy a laptop.