New Desktop or Laptop?

[Bonesdad]

It's time to do a little updating...

My wife's computer (a home built with 1GB RAM, Athlon 2500+, GF4 TI4200 on an ABIT NF7-M) is starting to tire. I will have some $$ in the next 3 months or so to either upgrade what she has now or buy a new lappy (which would be useful when we travel to watch movies, stay in touch with family etc). I could easily use the laptop as a desktop just by plugging in a standard keyboard/mouse and monitor when we are at home.

Wife's needs are not great, but I might like to do a little gaming occasionally on it...nothing stressful, CS etc.

The other option I have is to give her the guts of my comp (A64 3200+ w/ 2MB and a 7600GT) and build a brand new C2D for myself. That means no convenient laptop.

My questions:

1. HP laptops still pretty well thought of? Don't want to put out for a lenovo or anything here, but I definitely want an upgrade for her. I bought my daughter an HP for Xmas and it seems to be serving her very well.

2. If I upgrade my comp, what are some of the best motherboards for around $100-$125? I'll OC a little, but no fancy stuff, just bumping FSB etc.

Thanks in advance and bring on the opinions...

 

[zig3695]

i must say, after not having a laptop for my entire life and finally getting one about 6 months ago- i dont know how or why i did without one. the convenience is just grand.

plus, pretty much any new laptop is plenty powerful for any regular task. imo desktops anymore are really for games and htpc's.

if you get a laptop and plan on using it as a desktop as well, it would be wise to spend $250 on a good desktop LCD screen that stays on the desk all the time and can plug into the laptop when needed. desktop screens are much much better then most laptop screens still. otherwise, the only real thing your losing is PCI slots, but virtually everything as a usb alternative nowadays...

 

[Ruptga]

Originally posted by: zig3695
i must say, after not having a laptop for my entire life and finally getting one about 6 months ago- i dont know how or why i did without one. the convenience is just grand.

plus, pretty much any new laptop is plenty powerful for any regular task. imo desktops anymore are really for games and htpc's.

if you get a laptop and plan on using it as a desktop as well, it would be wise to spend $250 on a good desktop LCD screen that stays on the desk all the time and can plug into the laptop when needed. desktop screens are much much better then most laptop screens still. otherwise, the only real thing your losing is PCI slots, but virtually everything as a usb alternative nowadays...

Zig pretty much nailed it. Get a laptop with 2GB memory (well, get the minimum then upgrade yourself so you're not price gouged) and basically anything but GMA 950 for graphics and you should be fine. I don't have any idea how demanding CS is, but as long as you're willing to run at low resolutions and/or details you can probably make it run with any dedicated graphics currently on the market. Just do yourself a favor and don't settle for some tiny HDD unless you've got an external that you plan to use, you'll fill 100G faster than you'd think.

This doesn't have the new G80 stuff, but it should give you a decent reference point graphics-wise
http://www.notebookcheck.net/N...o-FX-1500M.2134.0.html

 

[Bonesdad]

Thanks for the replies...I pretty much figured my best bet would be to go for the laptop.

Again, I ask, how about an HP laptop? HP vs Dell? 15.4 or 17" screen? WXGA or WSXGA screen?

 

[Megatomic]

I'm with you guys, laptops are awesome. I migrated to a laptop from a dual core PC and I am very happy I did so. I went with an HP DV6000T and I love it. It does everything my desktop used to do and is even good for casual gaming.

Specs to my specific laptop are in my sig. Well, it used to be.... What happened to the AT rig feature?

 

[Ruptga]

Originally posted by: Bonesdad
Thanks for the replies...I pretty much figured my best bet would be to go for the laptop.

Again, I ask, how about an HP laptop? HP vs Dell? 15.4 or 17" screen? WXGA or WSXGA screen?

HP is pretty good from what I hear, though I have a Dell myself. Dell is good if you're cheap, but I'm not impressed with their build quality. keys sometimes fall off, and one of them has already broken a plastic tab underneath, though the key does still attach.. for now. Also the screen isn't good at all, it seems to have gotten dimmer over the year I've had it, and viewing angles aren't good either. I have an e1505, the 15", and I really like the size, it's small enough to carry around, but big enough to watch a movie with some friends. The speakers are plenty loud, unless there's a lot of background noise (ie in a busy dorm's lobby with a TV and about ten people), then you're basically SOL unless you have external speakers. Overall, I like it pretty well, the main thing about it is I wish I had discrete graphics, but cheap build quality is a close second to that. My screen is 1280x800, which works well for DVDs (720p is 1280x720), and and games (1024x768 is close enough to 1:1 for me). If you're used to a higher resolution, I don't really recommend downsizing to 1280x800, the screen will probably feel cramped and it'll bug you.

"I could easily use the laptop as a desktop just by plugging in a standard keyboard/mouse and monitor when we are at home."

I can't tell you how well I'll like it, since I haven't bought my monitor yet, but that's my plan too :thumbsup: