Aside from portability, power consumption tends to be a drawback with desktop computers. The difference may not be a factor for most people, but it sounds like

Aside from portability, power consumption tends to be a drawback with desktop computers. The difference may not be a factor for most people, but it sounds like it would be an factor for the author. Given the author's mention of the environmental impact of producing computers, it is also worth asking what it amounts to for desktops. While the longevity of the machine will help, the additional materials and replacement components (to achieve that longevity) will have an additional impact. The question is how much, since I doubt that it scales linearly with mass.