Advice. What brand desktop?
I would buy a laptop instead of a desk top. We have 4 laptops here @ home and have had good luck with Dell (get the Latitude) and Compaq Presario. I have also had good luck with Toshiba's. I use a laptop on my tool truck. They are
velcro'd to my desk and take lots of bumps and jars. they also have to operate in the cold of Iowa winters and they have to be able to stay cool at 100 degrees in the summer. I get 3-4 years out of my work laptops. Batteries are a common thing if you leave them plugged into house current constantly. The cheaper the computer the cheaper the components are inside. I have had a couple hard drives fail in the last 15 years, but I replaced them myself with bigger/better drives and had no more problems.
toolmanmike