I prefer a laptop in all cases, because it means I am not chained to a desk. Sometimes I want to write some code at the bar, relax on the couch while I play a game, or watch netflix from bed... None of those use-cases are fulfilled by a desktop.

I could not have said it better.

Anybody serious about power and portability: As for price, relatively good gaming laptops (therefore probably good in general for game development and other high demand uses) can be had sometimes for around $1200 USA if somebody shops, maybe waits, or is at the right place and the right time. This last winter I saw laptops in that range with 2.8 Ghz or better multi-core CPUs and dedicated graphics cards able to handle even high demand AAA game titles. They are NOT really heavy because you only carry them maybe from the car to indoors or to the next classroom.

Added to this, an area that Swiftcoder touched - you can watch movies or TV, listen to internet radio, do game development or course assignments in most places, and usually by using no cost WIFI in public or school places. More and more places are having broadband WIFI, so there is no reason not to have a laptop if you can afford one.

On size/weight, I agree that a lot of gamer/desktop-replacement machines are much too large and heavy to be portable, battery life suffers too much, and often they get too hot to be used anywhere other than a proper desk or table. My W530 is a 15.6" 16x9 screen, around 1.25" thick, and around 6lbs with the larger-capacity battery -- its really at the outer limits of what I consider portable, and I would have preferred, if possible, to have the same machine in a 14" and slightly slimmer package. I would have gladly paid a few hundred more for that. Alas, no smaller Thinkpad met the specs, and other vendors might have been close, but then I'd have to give up the dock or other thinkpad features that I like. You can say you won't mind carrying a huge laptop around, but it will affect how much you get out of it -- a portable machine isn't so portable if its inconvenient or burdensome to take with you, even if its possible.

People that have those massive, 17" (or 19" !!!) 12lb Sagers with 3 hard disks in RAID, and 154Whr batteries that buy them 94 minutes of run-time aren't moving them around a whole lot. Sure, from their desk to the lan-party on the weekends -- or maybe from their work-desk to a graphics conference a couple times a year, but not back and forth to work or school every day, or to the coffee shop, or even to the patio or couch, probably. I really can't imagine owning a laptop 17" or larger. To each his own, I guess, but I think I'd end up feeling like I had bought a lie.

Another note on resolution with respect to screen size -- I've got 1080p at 15.6", and its actually a pretty darn comfortable balance of screen area to resolution. 1080p at 13.3" begins to border on the limits of practical comfort. I think 1080p at 14" would be an ideal balance of size, resolution, and bulk of the machine itself. Retina-style super-high-resolution displays are really nice to look at, and for many apps (even writing code), the sharper detail is great and helps readability of text even -- but with pixels so small, 3200x1800 on a ~15" screen isn't the same deal as 3200x1800 on a larger 24"-32" display -- the former increases sharpness, but doesn't give you more usable working area in the way that the latter does. Also, full-screen apps like games aren't going to run at those native resolutions, and that means halving them for the best picture -- 1600x900 in this example. That might not be where you want to play your games. Most retina-style displays until now have been these fairly odd-ball resolutions, but real 4K (quadHD) 3840x2160 panels are just now finding there way into laptops, which is nice because half resolution is 1080p.

http://www.sagernotebook.com/

http://www.alienware.com/

http://www.msi.com/product/workstation/

Okay now you surf those sites and built the system. You then have a good idea about the price. I have used an Alienware m17x r2(old system with i7 m620 cpu, 5970 ati 1 gig ram card, 6 gigs of ram and two hard disks) system for like 5 years now and it works very well with most stuff.

I still like my desktop(a no name home built) better as you get a better hardware profile for the cash, Also working long time on a laptop is not good for the shoulders and the back.

Perhaps consider saving your money. For show, in work, we're given top spec mac airs or pros depending on how much we travel or the role, but I don't know many pro developers who spend their own personal cash on anything like this (unless actually testing the limits of the graphics, then you'll need appropriate hardware of course).

Buying a high end machine and having it get smashed on a plane, nicked at an expo or ruining by pouring coffee over it is rubbish. Being able to replace a cheap unit trivially without getting upset is better.

Mostly guys I know use a cheap OTS windows option, a 350 euro samsung will run a modern compiler / IDE no problem. Editing text and basic graphics doesn't take much performance. This never gets shown on lifehacker or anything where people are making money advertising sales.

The only thing I'd pay the extra for if going to be spending huge stints late at night is a backlit keyboard, that helps for when someone is asleep next to you but you're going to keep on coding through the night.

If you've been given a spec for your course, at least meet that (as cheaply as possible).

For show, in work, we're given top spec mac airs or pros depending on how much we travel or the role, but I don't know many pro developers who spend their own personal cash on anything like this (unless actually testing the limits of the graphics, then you'll need appropriate hardware of course).

Most places I've seen are the other way round. For example, my current employer provides a 3-year out-of-date MacBook or comparable Lenovo, and many engineers (myself included) shell out for high-end personal laptops, because we like to do our own projects on decent hardware.

People with laptops plugged into the wall at a couple cafes that I frequent is a common site. Often 1/3 - 1/2 are sitting with a laptop, most with chargers plugged. My part of the country (Michigan) is very laptop friendly like that, for example, McDonald's typically having electrical outlets plenty for all the mobile device users.

I would urge into buying a slightly higher class notebook, totaly not the luxury one. I have extremly pleasant experience with Toshiba Sattelite series. They have no timed "expiry components" and put as much into quality as possible for a price (my feelings). They do not exhibit heat and do not consume power just like that.

They are not over averagely portable, but have serious battery and charger. In my case, porting very smooth is not that important, in this case I would rather reccomend apple or tablet setup (keyboard +mouse). But a serious Toshiba Sattelite can simply become a working station, without listening to a power plant when you turn it on.

Initially, all I had a good laptop. Today, I have both, a rather outdated Toshiba Satellite laptop and a great self built desktop.

It served me pretty well, but today I spend 8~16h a day using a computer, the desktop allows me a more comfortable experience. You can also buy a monitor, all the peripherals, and plug your notebook on a desk when at home, but I ended up getting a desktop to plug that monitor in.

If there is a single decision I made that I don't regret, it was actually having a good desktop computer. Always need my laptop to do is basically edit code and compile.

I never needed that much power on-the-go and mounting the desktop allowed me to get much, much, better hardware for my limited budget...

I have extremely pleasant experience with Toshiba Satellite series.

I also have a Toshiba Satellite, little less than 5yo now, still working perfectly (except the battery that lasts around 15 min).

@edit: I meant 5 yo, not 7...

only to discover they are better served with a pen and paper during class

Ah yes, the olden days of writing code on real paper. When the only autocomplete and debugger was your brain. Good times.

Ah yes, the olden days of writing code on real paper. When the only autocomplete and debugger was your brain. Good times.

To be fair, the only university course where I would have been asked to write code during lectures relevant to that lecture was the introductory CS 101 course, which I passed out entirely (along with CS 102) on account of a few years spent here on GDNet...

Taking a laptop to class is mostly an excuse to ignore the professor, and dick around on social media.