SFF PC or Laptop? - Help Please

[Plumbers Crack 4,062]

Now we've lost the study at home and the end of XP support is pushing us to change OS we have two options - shrink the PC size or get a laptop

The reason for considering a small form factor PC is me and Mrs P don't know if we can get used to using a laptop keyboardfor long periods as we both do work at home

I had considered somthing like this

http://www.dabs.com/products/acer-veriton-l4620g---usff---core-i3-3220---4gb---500gb---win7-pro-64-bit-9C3M.html?refs=459690000&src=2

This and similar at our local store

http://www.johnlewis.com/sony-vaio-fit-15e-laptop-intel-pentium-4gb-ram-500gb-15-6-touch-screen-black/p1163285

We mainly do office stuff and interwebz surfing on it

Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated

[Diddums 4,346]

Why even bother with a lap top? Do you need mobility? If so, you can plug in whatever keyboard and mouse you're comfy with and hook it up to your screen. This however is clumsy and you need a huge desk, plus you'll have wires all over the place.

That acer looks lovely. The i3 3220 is the chip I built Kyla's pc around, also with 4 gigglebytes. It's a lovely little machine and does everything she needs. She uses it for studying, browsing, all the usual stuff and it's great. The only thing I'll be adding at some point is an SSD, as that really does make a difference.

I've actually been contemplating starting up a little business on the side, building systems for people but I'm still a long way from that.

If however you'd like me to put some prices and lists together let me know. I've built so many systems over the last few months it'd be a shame to not help friends and family out.

Have you got the peripherals? The most important thing for you guys will be a nice if 24" monitor, perhaps even two if you're working on it. With 4k screens dropping in price now is the perfect time to grab some 1080p panels, you can pick up a £600 for a quarter of that.

If you do some considerable typing, you'll want a nice keyboard too. I recently got a Vengeance K60 mechanical board and it's so lovely to type on. It's just one of those things you go without for years thinking it's overrated but when you get it it all makes sense.

[Plumbers Crack 4,062]

Thanks for that Dave

 

I got a decent screen, KB&M thats why I thought of the SFF unit as it could sit beside the monitor on the small bureau desk we have

 

However, I work from home 2 days a week so when we recently changed the dining room table and chairs we got a nice, solid 6' x 3' table (I work a lot with A1 drawings) so I have enough space to work and also have a laptop beside me for input which would be useful

 

In honesty, I'm leaning towards the laptop atm so we'll have a try of some of the keyboards on them

 

Decisions, decisions !!

[JsinOwl 644]

Before I got a laptop with a number pad, I'd use a regular keyboard and lay it right on top of the laptop keyboard. Clunky, but it works. As a side note, I've actually come to prefer typing on low form factor laptop style keyboards.