Cables: Well, this is not such an advantage once you realise you have to plug in a decent keyboard /mouse/GB ethernet for a decent user experience (plus you have to buy the extra bits to do this)

Lower Power: granted, but I would contend that that this alone is not a sufficient advantage to offset the many disadvantages presented by owning a laptop.

Inbuilt UPS. Once again this may be an advantage to some users, but one that will be completely unappreciated by the type of user that merely uses their PC to browse YouTube and send/receive the occasional email.

Let's face the facts, for 95% of users (a figure I completely pulled out of my arse I assure you) a desktop is a better choice. So, let us all ask ourselves why 95% of pc sales are not actually for desktops.

It has something to do with something as superficial and puerile as laptops being "sexier" looking I assure you.

Regarding the question of space;

This is a fallacy. If you consider the average desk, you can have a desktop PC on the floor and the only desk space you need to allocate is that required for a standard keyboard and a flatscreen LCD monitor which takes takes up no more desk real estate than your average laptop. If you add the external keyboard that you need to plug into your laptop then you are taking up more deskspace than just a keyboard and a flatscreen LCD.

Let's not forget the fact that people also want powerful computers, a function any reasonable soul would leave to a desktop. Netbooks do so well because people who want a mobile computer but are sane enough to leave the heavy lifting to the desktop are buying them.

But i'm quite convinced, many people (subconciously?) also see a laptop as a smaller threat, eg that big tower thing looks much less controllable than a small brick on your desk. hah, as if.

I think you are correct. The "big hulking box" at their desk can be intimidating, but the portable laptop is viewed just like their iPod or SmartPhone (which they don't leverage either).

That being said, I prefer my laptop. Yes it costs lots of money to buy a new one every year or so ($30k+ since '01) but it doesn't matter because I can take my laptop to all my regular work areas (office, home, field offices) and plug it in to my choice of monitor/printer setups that remains standardized throughout my spaces without the risk of some fucking "cloud" being blown away by a strong breeze. I have no security concerns and it makes me look cooler. All the developers at our shop use laptops for the same reasons. Granted, they aren't very cool, but their laptops are nice.

It's like the Washington Post "if you don't get it - you don't get it". Ha.