From 2000 through 2009, my laptops were my desktops (my job required it through 2006), as I never had a desktop until a month after Windows 7 was released. They were Dell Latitudes, I can't remember the first model number, but the 2nd was a C640, perhaps the one that made the Latitude brand (and Dell) famous. I used that laptop for 6 years. Then I got a D610.
The C640 & D610 had plenty of ports, so at home I had a monitor, mouse & keyboard for both. Got them for free. There was an office building that was being cleaned out near work, behind it was a dumpster full of PC's & related accessories. I grabbed 4 monitors, 4 keyboards & 4 mice & 2 printers (and cabling for the monitors). Had I been driving my truck, I'd have had several PC's for free. I called a friend who was in need of a PC, he took his truck & loaded up, ended up with 3 working PC's, 1 for he & his wife, and 1 each for his kids.
Anyway, I went home, cleaned up my newly found treasures, and had 2 nice makeshift PC's, along with printers for both. The only thing that I didn't like about the printers were they were of the ribbon type, not a inkjet or laserjet. They worked similar to the mobile printers on the route trucks that the company that I worked for had. But still, at that time, a printer was a printer. I got all of the ribbons that I needed from work.
Thinking about this thread, I'm going to get a monitor, keyboard & mouse for my T42 ThinkPad. I could see it a lot better, and I wouldn't have to reach around so far to type on it. Newegg often runs deals on monitors, or I could check out the local Hospice store, they have tons of older PC's & accessories. But I want a flat screen, not one of those bulky CRT ones (like the ones I mentioned above).
Good laptops make decent desktops, one just has to be creative, and use the available ports to their advantage. BTW, what happened to all of those ports on newer laptops? My MSI FX603 only has a HDMI output port, not the assortment that the older Dells, and my ThinkPad does. And where's the docking stations? There were nice to have, too.
Cat