Before actually committing myself to building a computer I had to think long and hard about whether I actually needed a desktop machine, or whether I would be better off with a laptop.

As well a spot of web-design and development, we don't use our computer(s) for much more than e-mailing, surfing the web, and occasionally my working from home. However we plan to be moving to the Caribbean soon, so anything we buy now will have to be usable over there (where they have US style 110 volt electricity).

With this in mind, my immediate thought was that we should just get a couple of lap tops. The only likely change to our usage habits being that the computer would be used to administrate our business. Once we move out we purchase some replacement chargers/power adaptors.

However we also have quite an extensive music collection, so without buying a Hi-Fi, by relying on laptops it would mean that it would be very likely that we would need to get more memory before too long. This would be going against one of my main criteria that the new machine be as future-proof as possible.

The only downside to a desktop is the portability issue. However there will be a certain amount of our possessions that we will have to ship out separately, so there is no reason why a desktop computer could not be included in that shipment. The be compatible with the electricity supply, it will be possible to purchase a new power supply unit (PSU) once we arrive at out new home.