I no longer travel for work so wondering if a laptop is necessary. Will a desktop provide more bang for the buck?

Don't want to go over $2,000.00. All I need it for is storing pictures from my Canon camera. I will need Windows Office because I'm considering online classes.

I don't always trust the folks at Best Buy. I was lucky and the young man who sold me the monitor actually talked me down from what I was leaning towards.

Thank you. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Gaming might be something I get into.

This is a perfect use case for a cheap Mac Mini.

Unfortunately, you're a couple of months too late for a deal because they've all been snapped up by people wanting to run AI stuff at home and are on backorder everywhere.

Apple seems to not even be offering the $599 model anymore. The $799 512gb model is the lowest tier available now.

They are a month away from releasing new Macs and demand has disrupted their feathering of production into new announcements.

Mr. Thunderclap McGirthy said:

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Gaming might be something I get into.

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What kind of games? Outside of that, your use case is pretty basic (unless the online classes you're considering have major software requirements) and doesn't require much of a machine, but if you're looking to run the latest and greatest games at max settings, that's another story.

Absolute said:

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I'm a fan of the large 17 inch laptop in that situation. It is the way I went. It hardly leaves my desk and big monitor, but if I want/need to take it somewhere or with me when I go out of town, I can.

I bought a decent mid level Alienware. Handles all the work I do and any gaming that is fit for an old. IIRC it was somewhere around your price point. Have been really happy with it.

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Agree the choice depends mostly on how you plan to use it. If you expect to leave it plugged in all the time, consider a desktop with a nice monitor. If you expect to leave it plugged in most of the time but want to take it with you occasionally, get a big laptop. If you travel a lot, get a smaller laptop with a monitor set up at home. If you decide to get a laptop, go to a store and pick up and feel various models for size and weight. You don't necessarily need windows, especially since Apple is killing it for form factor, cost, and performance right now.

This. Laptops are pointless and aggravating if you are going to be at your home desk 95% of the time. I HATE using a laptop, period. I have a 12 year old Alienware gaming laptop that I keep around for emergency purposes but that's it.

Also consider the fact that if you are older you are going to want more real estate on your monitor and likely a better keyboard than any laptop keyboard.

I use a desktop for my personal computer because of bigger hard drives and lots of memory for Lightroom. Also a Canon enthusiast and I have an 8T 2nd hard drive for photos and run backup software into the cloud.