Do you think that will be true if the laptop isn't moved very much?
yes. Desktop drives will always be more robust. But if you pair your laptop with an SSD with external storage it won’t be an issue. If I was buying a new system I would get an SSD that is big enough for the OS, programs and swapfile, and then keep all other data on the external.
Laptop drives are optimized for low power consumption. They do
tend to fail sooner as they are also optimized for weight. Not nearly
as sturdy.
The only laptop drive problems I’ve had are running out of space.
No problem: I just upgraded to a 500gb internal drive for about $56.
PS our laptops and/or netbooks have traveled to Africa, Central America, Indonesia, India.
My old machine, a Dell Inspiron 5150 which I used for solid modeling CAD (IronCad) is the only one that ever died (at home) after about 5 years. I copied the internal HD to a new machine and was back in business after a few hours.
I used the Inspiron for field work, including running my homemade seismograph while doing water surveys out in the woods.
The netbook is far more portable, has an 11 hour battery RUN TIME life, but not as fast and the screen is a bit small for my old eyes. Mrs BN loves it, though.
Because they are smaller drives, they tend to have to spin more. It doesn’t matter whether you are moving it from place to place, they just tend to break more often.
That said, I’ve used laptops for years and years. The only downsides I’ve had are the disk space and the small monitors.
Now that I am not on the road that much, I love my 27 in monitor.