Which Is Better For Health, A Laptop Or A Desktop?

Which Is Better For Health, A Laptop Or A Desktop?
Which Is Better For Health, A Laptop Or A Desktop?

Laptops and desktops are two different orientations for the same machines. While it seems like they're one and the same, these two orientations are quite massively different, both of them having their respective pros and cons.

These machines almost seem like they are trying to solve each others' problems. While desktops offer slightly better performance, more immersive experience, modular design and way greater upgradability, laptops sacrifice these things for portability.

Factors Other Than Health

Since this is a tech blog and not really a health blog, I will first cover the technical stuff and then get to health stuff.

A desktop has no limitations on the power consumption of its components, unlike a laptop, since a laptop runs on a battery, there is limited juice that it can provide to components, this results in slightly worse performance. You could always use a laptop while plugged in though, but that would subtract a little from the portability of it, wouldn't it?

Secondly, with a desktop, you can choose every single peripheral for it. Whereas, with a laptop you are kind of bound to use a certain keyboard, a certain display, and a certain set of speakers. With a desktop, you have the power to pick the monitor size, quality, specs and even curvature in some cases, you can attach whichever keyboard, mouse and speakers you want, it's all up to you.

Thirdly, a desktop offers way better upgradability, not only in terms of peripherals, but internal components as well. To upgrade a laptop you have to buy a new one, there are some laptops with which you could upgrade the storage and/or memory though, but they are few. This makes desktops very repairable and long lasting.

Laptops can not be undermined though, portability is important for a lot of people, that is why we have laptops in the first place. Also, two of the above mentioned things don't matter that much in this day and age, as you could attach all those peripherals to a laptop too and use it while its plugged in. This would make it both powerful and immersive, and it would still be portable when you need it to be. But, it would still lack in upgradability. Also, it goes without saying that it is going to be the more expensive experience of the two.

Anyway, let's now talk about what is mentioned in the title of this post.

Laptop vs Desktop | In Terms Of Health

*For obvious competitive reasons, we are going to ignore the fact that external monitors and keyboards can be attached to laptops.*

A laptop has a lot of negative effects when it comes to your health.

Firstly, the screen of a laptop is not at an ideal height for the eyes, the ideal height for a screen is at the normal eye level or about 17 degrees above it. A laptop screen is never placed at that height, because that just makes the keyboard and the trackpad practically unusable. You could fix that issue to some extent by using an angled stand for your laptop, but yeah, that again is an accessory that reduces from the portability of it, and it won't still be like a monitor with an adjustable height.

Laptop Stands

Tukzer Lap Desk with Built-in Mouse Pad and Phone Holder

Rs.1,071

Callas Ventilated Height Adjustable Laptop Cooling Pad/Laptop Stand

Rs.799

Dyazo Laptop Stand/Laptop Holder

Rs.777

BIGXEN™ Laptop Stand for Bed and Sofa, Desk Portable Adjustable Laptop Table Stand Up/Sitting with Mouse Pad

Rs.1,554


Secondly, laptops have very small keyboards attached to them, and you also can't adjust the position of a laptop keyboard as per your comfortability, same goes for the trackpad. In long terms of usage, this turns out to be very uncomfortable and unhealthy for your wrists. An external mouse is a great solution for this problem, it is way healthier and more comfortable than a trackpad, with that, it also complies well with the portability factor of a laptop. A wireless mouse can easily fit in your laptop bag.

Thirdly, using a laptop for long periods of time has negative effects on your posture and neck position, some positions spare the back, but the neck still suffers. It might seem like that a laptop is more comfortable to use, that is because you could use it in a number of different and weird position that you feel like using it in. But the truth is that almost all of those positions are bad, some make you round your back and some have you bending your neck forward.

Now, of course, the solution to all of these problems is to attach external peripherals, and if you can afford it then yeah, I totally recommend doing it. That way, you could have a fixed workplace and your pc can still be portable when you need it to be. Having a fixed workplace would also add a little to your productivity.

Desktops, on the hand, don't have any of these problems. So, unless you actually need your computer to be portable, I mean, you would literally die if it isn't portable, desktops are the way to go.

Conclusion

Desktops are obviously better than laptops in every way but portability. So, I don't really have to say it for your to realize that you should only get a laptop if you really can't have a fixed workplace, like, your work is travel related or something.

If you have to work on a computer for extensive periods of time then one thing I'd suggest is to get a table with adjustable height, that way, you would be able to sometimes work while standing up. It might not seem like that it would make too much of a difference, but it would really make your working session a lot healthier and less tiring, not to mention, keep you more active.

Be it a laptop or a desktop, both have the same negative effects when you use them for too long, so, don't forget to take a break, and take care!

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