Are you considering a laptop (notebook)?  The many options make it decision confusing.  Let me see if I can help.

Primarily of course, a notebook is meant to be portable.  It's also very small.  And today, you can get a lot of computing power in a little box.  It doesn't hurt either than the prices have come down and are now very close to in-line with similar desktop power.  Make your decision wisely though because the only real benefit to a laptop is its portability.

Easy to break.  The screen is very fragile on a notebook.  A bad drop or poor packing and you could find yourself with an unusable screen.  Replacement cost is $250-$500, which is nearly the whole cost of the notebook!  Typically if you break the screen, you consider it a total loss.  Most retailers offer a "drop warranty" for about 25% premium of the price.  If you do ever break the screen, you can get a new one.  There is usually a deductible, so be aware of that.  With 25% premium, it's hard to say if it's worth the gamble.  That's up to you.  Now consider the sticker price of a notebook is really 25% more, maybe it's not the better value anymore.

More likely data loss.  The internal hard disk of a notebook is fragile.  A bad drop can damage the drive, in half the cases, resulting in total data loss.  Depending on your warranty, this may be covered, but your data is not.  Make sure to backup regularly.  A well-build desktop seldom will have a hard disk "crash" and even when they do, most of the time it does not result in total loss.

Easy to steal.  Remember, it's small and portable, and it can have legs.  Another good reason to backup regularly.

Battery.  Just like in every other rechargeable device, the battery will weaken with time.  Three years is typical for the lifetime.  New batteries cost $80-$200.  You can still run on a/c power even if the battery is old, but now your portable computer isn't portable anymore.

Screen size.  The screen is attached to the notebook, so you'll always have that size.  Desktop screens are now 19", 22", 24" and are actually reasonably priced!

Performance.  The parts in a notebook are designed specifically for low-power use.  This is always at the cost of performance.  Though new notebooks are pretty speedy, they are always slower than their desktop "equivalent."  CD/DVD writing is notably slower.

Upgrades and repairs.  The only interchangeable parts in a notebook are the hard drive and the RAM.  You may upgrade or replace these in the future, but the CPU and other internal parts are always the same.  Not only can you not upgrade these, but if any fail after your warranty, you will likely have to replace the entire unit.

Capacity.  Typical hard drive size in notebooks is 80-160GB, with 320GB maximum now (at a premium of course).  Desktops also start at 80GB, but step to 250, 500 and even 1TB!

Lifespan.  The expected useful life of a notebook is 3 years.

With all of this information, now you can see a bigger picture.  Clearly a desktop is "better" than a notebook in every way except for the actual portable nature of the notebook.  Weigh these factors when making your decision.  Also weigh them when considering a low-end or high-end notebook.  Considering the notebook could break easily and will likely "wear out" in 3 years, perhaps look to buy a lower-end model, skip the drop warranty, but buy a new one every 2 years.

I hope this has been helpful.

Rick