Do people really need laptops?

[Shintsu2]

I've noticed that lots of people buy laptops all the time, through various places and what have you. I go to college and when I look at what people do with their laptops I can generally summarize it as this:

-Get on Facebook, look at picture albums, make comments
-Check ESPN for latest sports news/scores
-Look at things you can't afford to buy (whatever your particular interests are)
-Watch videos instead of taking notes
-Reading blogs

Rarely do I actually see people in college taking notes on their class, they are always doing something else. I was given a laptop as a gift a year or two ago that's decent, but I have honestly used it maybe a dozen times. I just don't see the need to use it, because I summarize that all I'd do with it would be check email, look at forums - stuff I can do at home on my much faster desktop computer with a larger screen and better keyboard. I have an iPhone for checking email when I'm on the go and anything that strikes me as direly important I just get on the web with it to look.

I see other people cling to their laptops like they couldn't go without them but I feel like laptops are pretty much useless to me unless they can play games (and then they're expensive). That would be the only way I'd carry a laptop around everywhere. I don't ever see anyone typing papers on them and personally I wouldn't because their keyboards suck compared to a standard home keyboard. Never watch movies on them, I don't see myself as so entertainment starved that I need to watch a movie in between classes. I wouldn't take notes on them as my professors all draw stuff and then I'd have to keep paper notes for the drawings - I prefer to just write all the notes out. Some people seem like they take them to help them do professional stuff like compose music, create videos, etc but I again feel like there are too many distractions to do stuff like that on a laptop. To me, I find laptops to be basically useless unless they're able to play games and even then I dunno how much I'd actually use one to do that.

Anyways that's just what I think about laptops - my laptop has sat in its bag for almost 9 months now completely unused. I can understand people using a laptop in replacement of a desktop PC - one of those big kind that isn't super portable - but in supplement to my desktop, I almost never feel like using my laptop.

What is your view/opinion on laptops? Couldn't live without yours? Think they're useless? Think they fill a special place? I'm just curious what other people do with their laptops that they think makes them need it so much, I just can't find any use for mine and I feel that sure as I sell it I'll find a use for it.

 

[NeutralDrow]

I can't lay in bed playing games with a desktop.

 

[The Rockerfly]

You are over generalising the laptop community, most people with PC's also go on those sorts of sites
I have one and it's useful for work, taking round my house, taking notes in class and is generally more practical then a desktop

 

[GundamSentinel]

I take my laptop with me every day. Need it for programming and modelling or just plain writing reports (and yes, watching youtube and playing games during class). The university I attend has a horrid lack of computers. I really need to bring my own.

 

[MercenaryCanary]

I can't lay in bed playing games with a desktop.

Actually, you can.
I did this once.
And apparently some Koreans did this as well.

 

[notyouraveragejoe]

I need my laptop and my netbook. I use my netbook to take notes quicker (since when I try to speed handwrite I really really can't be read) and do quick side-searches on anything I don't understand.

My laptop on the other hand is mainly for personal enjoyment. It allows me to be connected in a mobile way which I like. I feel that after being so used to laptops I'd feel a little trapped by a restrictive desktop.

 

[Cornish]

I like to think of the laptop as the new mobile phone; a object people will cling to and blindly defend to be something positive. It keeps the majority occupied with 'something'.

I have one though, but I use it to take notes, take over my desktop at home if I need to get to my files or what-ever and since I do a computer related study. Could I go without? Sure. I don't take it with me every day and certainly leave it if I don't need it.

They're not useless in my opinion, there's use for them. Though the majority of users I see with them don't need them for any productive reasons.

I can't lay in bed playing games with a desktop.

Link the desktop to your TV if it has VGA (There's a work around if it doesn't, if I recall right) and play games in bed... assuming your TV is near the bed... of course.

 

[Calobi]

Laptops are useful in that you don't need to wait to get home to use your desktop. Sure, they're smaller and generally less powerful, but I can do work on the shuttles between campuses, I can work in the library then carry it to a place nearby to grab food and continue working on the same machine. The reason laptops are useful is that they can be carried around and used basically wherever.

 

[Azaradel]

I quite like my laptop, though I'd rather have a desktop PC for gaming (though I can't afford one at the moment)

Being able to sit wherever the hell I want while writing/faffing about on the internet is a big plus... that and watching Star Trek in bed *rolls eyes*

 

[BlindMessiah94]

snip

I use my laptop constantly. It goes with me almost everywhere, as I write a lot, and love to go out to a coffee shop (not Starbucks) and write.
I also use it for doing tech at a theater, and it works great.
I also bring along a midi controller and compose music randomly at coffee shops too.
I also use it to gig when I play live music.

So in short, Yes, people really do need laptops.
Also, they are a heck of a lot easier to transport around than a clunky desktop computer.
Especially when you move as much as I do - 12 times in the last 6 years.

 

[Chardan]

I can use my laptop for ROM's and Emulators as it isn't much of a powerhouse but Its pretty much the only thing I use now. I got it two years ago for my birthday and I didn't really want it. After all, we had a computer, why should I bother with a £400 (at the time) waste of space. Now however, its all I use for music, and the internet. I play games on it, but the highest it can run without any hitches is N64 graphics. Still, I'm rocking my way through Rayman 2 at the moment, and my nostalgia glands are in overdrive. And...I don't have to delete my history all the time....

 

[Undo]

I got some workstation monsters at home and at work.

So no, I hardly use my laptop. I do want something light to carry around though, to transfer and check photos I've taken. Maybe write the odd mail and read some papers. Can't wait to bin my heavyweight laptop and get my hands on an iPad. Low performance, but perfect fit for my needs.

 

[MissGinaKid]

I use a laptop as my computer beacuse I need to keep my school work and my sewing machine on my dest and i don't need a big computer to give me even less space. I used to use this for gaming but the old girl ain't what she used to be. Once i get my own house and have enough space to put things i will probobly get a real computer. For now this is just fine.

 

[Angry Caterpillar]

I travel between my parents a lot, and since the consoles can't fit handily into my backpack, I need my laptop to get my gaming done. Beyond that there's homework, and desktops are harder to drag along on vacations.

 

[Meggiepants]

I use my laptop for almost everything.

It's my desktop that gathers dust. It only gets turned on when I buy new CDs and need to rip them to itunes.

 

[Bat Vader]

Laptops are really nice for when you need to have a computer down at school but there isn't enough space for desktop.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Got mine a few weeks ago, use it all the time.

 

[Small Waves]

I used to hate laptops, but now I prefer them. If the plug rattles or gets shifted a little, it could unplug, but with a laptop it won't automatically shut off. There's no reason to use the G4 downstairs since my laptop is capable of the same shit because the specs are almost identical.