Laptop VS Desktop

[Raduque]

But that's a totally different scenario. "Traveling" isn't the same as walking around a college campus, where you probably aren't more than 20 minutes away from "perfect" computing/gaming back at your dorm room. And even if you live with your parents and have to "commute" to school, it's not the same as going on business trips where you're away from home for days or weeks at a time and unless you're lucky, probably not staying in places with much else to do with your downtime.

I don't travel for work, I go home for various holidays and birthdays, 3-5 times a year. I'm at my dad's house for 4-6 days at a time. I'd rather just bring my PC with me than try to maintain two dekstops at a two locations 500+ miles apart.

 

[v-600]

If you're looking at gaming laptops you kind of have to balance cost, power and portability - moreso than with desktops.

I have a 17" asus gaming laptop. While its portable its heavy. Just an extra thing to consider. OR you could pay more and get a lighter smaller gaming rig.

Personally I would get something like a gaming desktop and a cheapo chromebook/ipad/surface for note taking.

 

[Mike64]

I don't travel for work, I go home for various holidays and birthdays, 3-5 times a year. I'm at my dad's house for 4-6 days at a time. I'd rather just bring my PC with me than try to maintain two dekstops at a two locations 500+ miles apart.

Boy, you are one hardcore gamer. I think I could manage to go that amount of time without even Web access, let alone anything else I use computers for. I certainly wouldn't base a rest-of-the-year computer-buying decision on it...

 

[Kenmitch]

Am now long past the classroom, but were I to do it all over now, I would have a good desktop and a tablet for note taking, etc. in class.

This....Or possibly a chrome book if it gets the portable needs done.

 

[Raduque]

Boy, you are one hardcore gamer. I think I could manage to go that amount of time without even Web access, let alone anything else I use computers for. I certainly wouldn't base a rest-of-the-year computer-buying decision on it...

Have to do something to keep busy. I'm basically on vacation when I visit, but my dad works and goes to school.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Have to do something to keep busy.

How about reading? A Kindle or something.

 

[Raduque]

How about reading? A Kindle or something.

I burn through books so fast, I do it sparingly. It would get very expensive.

 

[Mike64]

I burn through books so fast, I do it sparingly. It would get very expensive.

Yeah, I read very fast myself, but I have to say, I was very pleasantly surprised at much money the Kindle has saved me since I got it (or any ebook reader would, though my local libraries do happen to have a shitload of Kindle-formatted books which makes the overall process of downloading and managing them that much easier.) Even if it hadn't been a gift, it would have paid for itself literally quite a few times over in the barely two years I've owned it, even at heavily discounted book prices, thanks to the NY and Brooklyn library systems' seriously huge and "deep" ebook collections. I'm also enough of a history & literature "geek" to be interested in a lot of the old, public domain stuff that's available, both on Amazon and elsewhere. And then there are always the longer "academically-oriented" Wikipedia articles and other informational material I frequently download in PDF format, intending to read when I get big enough chunks of time to pay enough attention to make them worth the effort, but all too rarely actually get to...

 

[Banzaiya]

Thank you all for the very helpful advice and recommendations

 

[Banzaiya]

But that's a totally different scenario. "Traveling" isn't the same as walking around a college campus, where you probably aren't more than 20 minutes away from "perfect" computing/gaming back at your dorm room. And even if you live with your parents and have to "commute" to school, it's not the same as going on business trips where you're away from home for days or weeks at a time and unless you're lucky, probably not staying in places with much else to do with your downtime.

You speaketh the truth my friend

 

[Mike64]

I was very pleasantly surprised ... the Kindle

Just to clarify - I'm in no way recommending the Kindle as a general-purpose tablet. In fact, quite the contrary.

As an ereader I'm happy with it, and and I like having the functionality that isn't necessarily available in a strictly-ereader (even the firm-/software ecosystem isn't awful, for that limited purpose.) But as a tablet per se, it pretty much sucks. The hardware isn't bad (not "great", but not awful), but from a general-purposes perspective, being locked into Amazon's modified-Android-ecosystem truly sucks out loud.

At one time, the price difference between Kindles and regular Android tablets with similar hardware might've been big enough to warrant buying a Kindle intending to root it immediately, but I'm pretty sure that's no longer the case. And even if you affirmatively want the Kindle e-reading environment, there's a plain-vanilla-Android app for it now.

 

[Blue_Max]

I'm leaning in this direction now... the Silverstone Milo - desktop power in something portable with a handle. Its thinness will allow me to tuck it away against the wall, under the desk, etc. where small cubes pretty much have to stay up top or risk getting kicked around. 14.5" x 14.5" x <4" and a very sturdy handle. Of all the cases with handles, it's my new favorite for being significantly smaller than the Azza.

The Azza case has one major benefit though... anyone seeing you carrying it will assume "tool box" instead of "cool computer"... there is a benefit to being inconspicuous.

 

[DietDrThunder]

I'm leaning in this direction now... the Silverstone Milo - desktop power in something portable with a handle. Its thinness will allow me to tuck it away against the wall, under the desk, etc. where small cubes pretty much have to stay up top or risk getting kicked around. 14.5" x 14.5" x <4" and a very sturdy handle. Of all the cases with handles, it's my new favorite for being significantly smaller than the Azza.

The Azza case has one major benefit though... anyone seeing you carrying it will assume "tool box" instead of "cool computer"... there is a benefit to being inconspicuous.

Put wheels on it and a retractable handle and people will think you are dragging around a suite case.

 

[Ranulf]

I don't travel for work, I go home for various holidays and birthdays, 3-5 times a year. I'm at my dad's house for 4-6 days at a time. I'd rather just bring my PC with me than try to maintain two dekstops at a two locations 500+ miles apart.

To each their own but I long ago decided to buy cheaper more basic laptops and run some older games on them when traveling. Really the only game I would be playing much while on the road would be WoW in the last 8-10 years and even that ran tolerably on intel graphics the few times I bothered.

There are some nice entry level laptops these days though for gaming. Dell has that inspiron with an i5 or i7 and a 960m for $700-800.

 

[Sureclire]

As a student, I would want a laptop so i could be more portable and do the coffee shop thing or whatever. As a gamer, I'd want a desktop. I guess the compromise would be a solid gaming laptop?

 

[Blue_Max]

As a student, I would want a laptop so i could be more portable and do the coffee shop thing or whatever. As a gamer, I'd want a desktop. I guess the compromise would be a solid gaming laptop?

You DON'T want to lug around a >10-pound laptop all day. Plus, gaming will gulp down battery power too fast to enjoy in the hipster coffee shop.

You also don't want to lug around $2000 worth of equipment all day, every day, just to see it get damaged or stolen.

You'll have to compromise somewhere. Either performance, weight, price, durability, battery life, etc.


I, personally, went the route of a 15-pound portable workstation. Battery life is practically nil and weighs a ton... BUT, I only need to take it from home to office once a week and it's just a quick zip to the car either way. I bring it to my desk and plug it in. I'd use a small desktop if it weren't for the extra cable-plugging I'd have to do every day, and storing a laptop in a locker is easy too. (Doesn't hurt this thing has a gorgeous IPS display and I got it super-cheap on an off-lease deal!)

Your needs are different. I'd aim for something smaller and lighter, but with the best integrated graphics you can get... an Intel "Iris" variant, or the AMD 8800 chip. Light, decent battery life, barely acceptable gaming on the go, but not a disaster if it gets dropped or stolen.

 

[sm625]

It is so much cheaper to build a gaming pc that is roughly equivalent to a $1200 gaming notebook. So much cheaper in fact that you can build a proper gaming desktop and still buy a standard notebook. Just buy an off lease $300 workstation, a $150 SSD, and a GTX970 and you have the same amount of power as a $1500 gaming notebook. And it will be quieter.

 

[Blue_Max]

Some of those Dell Optiplex units are *really* small and should still be able to house a low-profile GTX 750TI.

That combo for ~$300 would still require a $1000 laptop to match.

There are also some GREAT deals to be had on the Alienware Alpha (on the left under controller) which is a little better than laptops costing 2-3x more, very portable and a great value when on sale!