Laptop computers recently surpassed the sale of desktop computers and there are many reasons for this.   Today a laptop is comparably priced with that of a desktop computer and monitor for similar performance, you can take the computer with you and they do not require a dedicated space in your house.  There is also no big mess of wires connecting everything together, you can use your computer where you want in your house when a wireless network is setup, and laptops have all the power most people need for under $1000.  However, there are some limitations and problems with laptops compared to desktops.  These limitations can be overcome with a few simple solutions.

Most laptops come with a hard drive that spins at 5400RPM.  This was common in most desktops 5+ years ago.  All desktops come with at least a 7200RPM hard drive today.  This makes the computer much faster

when loading programs, booting up, or retrieving any kind of information from the hard drive.  You can often upgrade your hard drive to the faster 7200RPM hard drive when ordering or after you own it.  This will help to give your laptop performance similar to most desktops.  

The screen on many laptops can also be smaller than many are used to on traditional desktops. A laptop with a 15” or 17” screen is a common solution for many.   

A 17” laptop screen is bigger than the traditional 17” monitor that many are used to, but a laptop with a 17” screen is often very large and cumbersome if you are going to be taking the computer with you on a regular basis.  If you are going to only use it at one spot in your house and take it only with you on vacation or to a vacation home, it is a great solution.   If you want a full size or larger monitor you can hook one up to your laptop and use that for your monitor instead of you laptop display.  Every laptop has a VGA port to plug in an external monitor.   Many people don’t realize this, but a 2nd monitor can be attached to your laptop to give you even more desktop space.  Instead of simply displaying what you see on your laptop screen, you can extend your desktop to the 2nd monitor so you could have a webpage open on one display and a word processor open on the other display.  This is simply done by  right clicking on your “Desktop” and going to “Properties” then selecting the “Settings” tab.  When you have a 2nd monitor connected it will be listed as a 2nd monitor.  You then click on the check box for “Extend my Widows Desktop on to this monitor”.  For those that like to multitask this is a very powerful tool that you simply do not have with most desktops without a 2nd video card.
 
Many people complain about the keyboard and mouse on the laptop.   I have heard from a few people personally that have complained about a lot of pain in their right hand after using the laptop a lot.  Sometimes it is the height of the laptop, but more importantly is may also be using the touchpad with your hand turned in.   This puts more strain on your wrist, and your wrist and forearm become very sore and numb.  This happened to me as I started using my laptop more frequently.  This can be solved by using an external mouse; either wired or wireless.   The wireless mouse is my preference as there are no wires involved to get in your way or make a mess.   A full size keyboard can also be attached wired or wirelessly to make typing as easy as a desktop.  If you are worried about connecting too many wires to your laptop every time, you can purchase a USB Hub that will allow you to hook everything up to your laptop with one cable.  You can also make sure to buy a laptop that has an interface to connect directly to a docking station which will connect everything at once and allow your laptop to function as a desktop with the large monitor, full Size Keyboard, external mouse and printer.
With these few things a laptop gives more versatility than a desktop and provides a better solution over a desktop computer for most people without any of the traditional laptop drawbacks.  A laptop also typically uses only 25Watts to 50Watts of power compared to 100Watts to 200Watts of power for a desktop computer and monitor.