Desktop vs Laptops new

There are more questions I want to ask, through the statistics while comparing laptops and desktop power and reliability,
1. Comparing my 5 year old Desktop (assembled) with my friend's laptop, in these 5 years my desktop has had no problem and just up-gradation worth 60$, where as his laptop (DELL Studio XPS) purchased in march 2010, has got problems (1. motherboard blow off, 2. Bluetooth failed), its not only with him, but many laptop users, my dad's HP (Touch pad failed), does this mean laptops are delicate? as they use it while travelling, in rough places.
2. Reliability - if we compare laptops and desktops with same specs ( like same cpu, memory, hdd, gpu), which one will have a longer life?
3. Cooling - Its true that cooling is a major issue in laptops, but does cooling affect the performance?

this question is a bit hard to answer as when you assemble your own desktop you can choose the parts and can use separate parts that are reliable, whereas in a laptop you are at the mercy of the quality of laptop produced by the vendor. As you say the xps has problems but my 13 year old thinkpad still runs fine and i took that all around asia last year as well.

Desktops are generally more reliable than laptops as they are usually cooled better. There are many exceptions to this statement but without more information it's hard to say. Also laptops are more difficult to repair as they use more propitiatory parts.

So does that mean a laptop may have more life than a desktop.

Ankur said:

So does that mean a laptop may have more life than a desktop.

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No, I'm pretty sure that the desktop have more life than the laptop.

Just adding my $0.02....

In my personal experience desktops have been more reliable than laptops.

In my first laptop the optical drive failed, and my hdd and battery got fried on my current one (still works though).

On the desktop side I've had 1 burn up after 6 years (psu failed) and my current one has had nothing fail going on 2 years....knock on wood

Any component, of any computer system can fail, desktop and laptop alike. There is a very strong correlation between temperatures and failure, with hotter components not lasting as long, however very, very often it isn't heat directly that will kill a components, it is time (we are talking, lots, and lots and lots of hours use/years of age), time which is reduced by heat, or, more often than not, thanks to the user mistreating the computer, accidentally or purposefully.

Laptops are generally hotter than desktops, and accidents generally hurt laptops more; you kick your desktop by accident, you might dent your case, but all will be fine, you drop your laptop, something will probably break.

Joe2005 said:

In my first laptop the optical drive failed, and my hdd and battery got fried on my current one (still works though).

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which laptop did u have

Aastii said:

Any component, of any computer system can fail, desktop and laptop alike. There is a very strong correlation between temperatures and failure, with hotter components not lasting as long, however very, very often it isn't heat directly that will kill a components, it is time (we are talking, lots, and lots and lots of hours use/years of age), time which is reduced by heat, or, more often than not, thanks to the user mistreating the computer, accidentally or purposefully.

Laptops are generally hotter than desktops, and accidents generally hurt laptops more; you kick your desktop by accident, you might dent your case, but all will be fine, you drop your laptop, something will probably break.

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What if I play for like 3 hours of continuous gunner games on my (new) laptop, yes it will have hotter temperatures, but will my keys of the keyboard break apart, as in my desktop, due to racing games my front direction key is almost like half now. Will the constant pressing of keys put pressure on keyboard and then affect the internal Hardware?

Ankur said:

which laptop did u have

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Oh geez....some hp presario back when dvd's were new (was my first dvd player too).

Ankur said:

What if I play for like 3 hours of continuous gunner games on my (new) laptop, yes it will have hotter temperatures, but will my keys of the keyboard break apart, as in my desktop, due to racing games my front direction key is almost like half now. Will the constant pressing of keys put pressure on keyboard and then affect the internal Hardware?

Click to expand...

Let me get this straight...You broke you're keyboard? I've never actually heard of that (apart from physical abuse)
Anywho, laptops are pretty tough and standard keyboard use shouldn't cause any harm to it. And if you think it'll be a problem just snag a usb keyboard.

Statistically, laptops have a much higher hardware failure rate than desktops. So yes, the desktop is more likely to live longer, especially if it's a quality homebuilt rig.

USB keyboard? hmm, sounds good to me, that isn't common on laptops though, the problem with my new laptop will be that it has chiclet keyboard (easy to repair)


so would it make it more delicate
than the tough desktop keyboard