You would be surprised just how many people search for this query each month, and to cut a long story short the answer is ‘yes’ a laptop is a PC. Whilst terminology can sometimes be confusing, laptops are also often referred to as ‘notebooks’. A laptop is effectively a personal computer for mobile use. If a laptop is not capable of replacing your desktop computer then it should not be marketed as a laptop.
Laptops have moved on a lot!
Initially portable computers were highly specialized systems for niche purposes, set up to run specific applications for business and the military. It has only really been since the late nineties that laptops began to use similar components and software to desktop computers, and as a result were able to do all of the things that desktop computers could do at the time. A good laptop now should be able to do absolutely everything that your desktop can do, whether that is play movies, listen to music, or surf the Internet.
The only real difference between the two is that you tend to get more for your money when buying a desktop, although that gap has decreased to the point where the price difference is hardly noticeable over the past few years. If you have found this article whilst considering a switch from your desktop to your first ever laptop computer then the first thing that you need to do before searching is to set yourself a maximum budget and then stick with it.
The more you are willing to spend the better the machine that you can buy, but only if you know what you are looking for! That is precisely why we established this site, to help potential laptop owners obtain the best possible system for the budget. All laptops pretty much do the same thing unless you have very advanced or specialized requirements, but prices can vary significantly.
For a general computer user who likes to surf the net, use a word processor, listen to their collection of music, download and watch movies, and play games, and that is almost every computer user on the planet, you should simply look to buy the best multimedia laptop that you can find for your money. The perfect multimedia laptop is great for every purpose, whether that is for entertainment, business, or networking.
The Toshiba Satellite P775D-S7230 17.3-Inch LED Laptop, one of our highly recommended machines!
To the right of this article you will see a number of links to other pages on this site, at the top of that right column you will see links to our educated and informed selections of the laptops which we consider to be the best – we have compiled selections of current laptops to suit any budget. Beneath our selection of the best multimedia laptops you will find links to articles which display the current top rated laptops on the market as chosen by the consumer! For example, Top Rated Laptops Under $700.
So, how much should you spend? We would recommend a budget of at least $500, but ideally somewhere between $600 – $700 if you want your laptop to perform well for several years. A $400 laptop may work perfectly now but will probably begin to slow down long before any $600 laptop if you choose one of our recommended systems. If you are shopping at that end of the market then take a look at our favorite laptops in the under $600 price bracket and the under $700 price bracket.
