Laptop Vs Full PC Cabinet ? Your Experience & Preference

[stonehedge]

I would like to know what sort of system you all are using. Wether your using a Full PC Cabinet or a Laptop. Please contribute by sharing your PC reliability experiences. Your contributions will also help other members in deciding which hardware to go for.

The reason for this is. I tried a a few shows with a full fledged pc, so far my experience is. EXTREMELY unreliable. Because PCs vibrate to a certain extent even when transported in an airconditioned car. I spent a huge amount building 3 different PC based systems. All 3 just froze and then wouldnt even boot just before the show. My trusty 10 year old laptop saved the day.

Now im looking at either buying a new laptop or giving it one last try at a PC cabinet based system. So id like to hear your comments. Pros and Cons.

Laptops currently have 2 main things to look at for my purpose...
1.They mostly dont support Windows XP and are tuned towards Windows 7 etc.
2.They should play full HD demo videos that are part of my presentation.

Ive heard the current breed of laptops play HD video perfectly. If youve had such experiences. Please share.

Desktop main points are...
1.Size and weight.
2.Unreliable because things can go loose and suddenly wont boot as per my experiences.

But when they work they work flawlessly and play HD videos very smoothly.