Depends on the area your Mahal has to give.
Also think of power (both power supply problems and the leccy they use)
Desktops are far easier for a local repair shop to fix.
But laptops as you know are far easier to hide away and lock up.
Laptops are more fragile and you really need someone to check over the laptop. As repairs can be very expensive as the parts are in general harder to fit and more expensive to purchase.
For my Family i prefer laptops but i have checked them all out before handing them over.