Replacing Your Desktop Computer

The separation between work and home life continues to blur, especially for successful entrepreneurs. Being able to work outside of the office can boost your productivity, but it can also test your sanity. For example, keeping your e-mail synced and searchable for later retrieval between an office desktop and home laptop can be a serious pain, as can making sure all your applications and files from the office are accessible at home. Sure, you can use cloud computing solutions, docking stations and other work-a-rounds to deal with these problems, but there’s an even easier way: a desktop replacement laptop.

A desktop replacement laptop is just that. It’s a portable computer that’s powerful enough to handle all of your business computing needs, but ready to step away from the desk whenever you are.

So what qualifies as a desktop replacement laptop? The easiest way to figure this out is to look at your standard desktop and match up its technical specifications. Obviously, these specs will change as time goes on. By today’s standards, you’ll want a minimum of 2GHz in processor speed, around 2GB of memory, a minimum of 150GB of storage, and an 802.11b/g/n wireless card. When it comes to screen size, this may vary depending on what type of work you’ll be doing on your computer. Most experts recommend 15 inches as a minimum, and 17 inches or more as preferable, especially if you regularly use graphics or spreadsheet software that requires a bigger viewing area. The rest of the features will vary depending on your needs.

If you’re a regular video chatter at work, you’ll want a built-in Webcam. If you burn a lot of media or find that no hard drive is ever big enough to hold all your projects, you’ll want a writeable DVD optical drive or even Blu-Ray drive. If you deal with numbers a lot, many desktop replacements offer a keypad. Another consideration is the number of ports. Users who typically have a lot of gadgets plugged in to the desktop (not including keyboard and mouse) will want to make sure that the laptop offers ample ports, such as a USB port, a media card reader, an ExpressCard slot, Firewire or others.

The advantages of having one of these super-charged laptops is that you can take your computer with you wherever you need to, from home to office to a client meeting, without ever having to worry about having access to your files or applications. Using one computer all the time also eliminates the worry of compatibility compared to bouncing among multiple computers. And of course, when you turn your computer on, your e-mail will be exactly as you last remember it—except that, as a busy business owner, you’ll probably have a few new messages in your inbox.

There are some other considerations you should keep in mind when making the decision to buy a desktop replacement laptop. For starters, be aware that you’ll pay a bit more for the power of portability. Desktop replacement laptops come with a bigger price tag than other portable computers and comparable stationary desktops. You’ll also find that the additional power and storage means more weight. Desktop replacement laptops usually weigh more than 6 pounds, which can make lugging one around a consideration if you travel a lot. And a laptop screen of 17 inches or more, while glorious to look at, will also add bulk and weight. But if having access to all your data at all times without the hassles of syncing two computers is worth the cost, this could be a tradeoff worth making.