If you don't need a computer designed for the road, why not grab all the power you can?

You'll find more variety among desktop designs, from to slim all-in-ones such as the iMac or the to spooky ET-inspired gaming rigs like the . With laptops, your choices are limited to slight variations on the conventional clamshell: compact (netbooks), ultrathin (the MacBook Air and competitors), and the traditional notebook with an optical drive.

A desktop is a lot easier to repair or . If something goes wrong, you can quickly use Google (okay, Bing also) to search for the solution, and then pop open the desktop case and investigate. Busted Blu-ray drive? Swap it out. Need a bigger hard drive? Add a second disk to an open bay. Coffee-damaged keyboard? Buy a new one. A , in contrast, often means shipping your computer to a service center.