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What can $1000 buy?

toughtrasher

toughtrasher

Senior member
Hi everyone,

I'm just wondering (because I may be getting a $1k comp soon), what can $1000 buy in terms of PC hardware?

I'm mainly looking to buy a laptop (for portability) and I want it strong enough to be able to play games.

What games will I be able to play on it? How long will it last?

Thanks everyone!
 
I'm not well versed in "gaming laptops", but I will say this, $1000 will buy you a decent desktop gaming rig, which would far outclass a $1000 gaming laptop.

Are you absolutely sure that you need the portability? Gaming laptops tend to be DTRs (desktop replacements), that are large, heavy, have poor battery life, and overheat / wear out quickly.

Unless you absolutely need portability, I would stick with a desktop.
 
I agree with Larry. Unless you really need to be moving around, desktops will give you far more performance for the money.
 
A $1000 desktop can easily max out any game out in the market at 1080p res. That is, of course, if you already have the OS, software, and peripherals.
 
If you have interest in gaming, forget about it on a $1,000 laptop. If you buy a desktop, see the following warning:

The cost of a computer doesn't tell you how well it will play games.

Seen it too many times. Someone thinks that because they paid considerable money for a PC, that it will own any game. They don't pay attention to the parts inside and ALWAYS end up with a crappy GPU, the most important part of a gaming rig. Pay attention to the damn GPU inside and for the very sake of god himself, don't buy a pc with an AMD cpu if you have any interest in gaming.
 
moonbogg said:
If you have interest in gaming, forget about it on a $1,000 laptop. If you buy a desktop, see the following warning:

The cost of a computer doesn't tell you how well it will play games.

Seen it too many times. Someone thinks that because they paid considerable money for a PC, that it will own any game. They don't pay attention to the parts inside and ALWAYS end up with a crappy GPU, the most important part of a gaming rig.
Click to expand...

Oh god... It makes me shiver ._.
 
As long as the CPU doesn't bottleneck the GPU, it doesn't matter too much on whether you pick Intel or AMD. The Phenom ii x4 CPUs aren't too shabby.
 
I wouldn't buy a laptop for gaming. They overheat, do not have as much power and are harder to upgrade.
 
I can agree with everyone that says they'd pay for a gaming desktop over a gaming laptop, but I'm going into college soon and I need to be able to bring this computer around. I only have around $1k so I want to have the best of both worlds.

Obviously, if I didn't need the portability, I'd totally invest in a custom desktop but that's not the case.

I will look into it if I have any other options other than just a laptop - perhaps getting both a laptop and desktop or making some more money. on that note, what's the minimum I can spend on a desktop that will suffice for current games?

But for now, can anyone answer my qusetion? 🙂
 
Speaking of Dell Outlet, I hate how everything I want is out of stock. They put a sale for PCs that aren't even in their inventory, AM I MISSING SOMETHING? :<
 
toughtrasher said:
I can agree with everyone that says they'd pay for a gaming desktop over a gaming laptop, but I'm going into college soon and I need to be able to bring this computer around. I only have around $1k so I want to have the best of both worlds.

Obviously, if I didn't need the portability, I'd totally invest in a custom desktop but that's not the case.

I will look into it if I have any other options other than just a laptop - perhaps getting both a laptop and desktop or making some more money. on that note, what's the minimum I can spend on a desktop that will suffice for current games?

But for now, can anyone answer my qusetion? 🙂
Click to expand...
I agree with the fact that a gaming desktop is better than a laptop. But if you plan on moderate gaming during college, a laptop can't be beat. Get a computer that best fits your needs and environment and ignore the naysayers.
 
Don't listen to all the people in this thread going on and on about needing a desktop for gaming. I'm STILL gaming on my 5 year old laptop. If you NEED a laptop and you want to game, then get it. It works EXTREMELY well. Obviously when you come to a tech forum realize, lots of people here can't game on anything else other than maximum settings and the best hardware (which means a desktop).

I'd look at Avadirect.com for some ideas on what $1000 can get you. use the Quick Ship Notebook section as that usually has the best prices. There are some other sites as well.
 
tential said:
Don't listen to all the people in this thread going on and on about needing a desktop for gaming. I'm STILL gaming on my 5 year old laptop. If you NEED a laptop and you want to game, then get it. It works EXTREMELY well. Obviously when you come to a tech forum realize, lots of people here can't game on anything else other than maximum settings and the best hardware (which means a desktop).

I'd look at Avadirect.com for some ideas on what $1000 can get you. use the Quick Ship Notebook section as that usually has the best prices. There are some other sites as well.
Click to expand...

Whoa, we're just trying to get him the best bang for his buck. If OP's just gonna stay in one spot all day, there's no reason for him to buy a laptop...

PS: I'm currently running on a 2 year old laptop, and it doesn't work "EXTREMELY well". I guess it's because it doesn't have a dedicated GPU (Intel HD 4000), but still... :colbert:
 
RayTheKing said:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834231136
Although, there may be some better deals at Dell Outlet...

Nearly the same performance as a MSI laptop I found on newegg, but 400 dollars cheaper. Gotta love refurbs :>
Click to expand...

What games can this play? I see it has 3 GB of video memory, that seems like a lot. Sorry, I'm a newbie when it comes to PC hardware.

As for everyone saying I need a desktop, well yeah I know for my buck it's what I should be getting. But I won't be staying in one spot all day, I plan on bringing a reliable laptop around in college
 
toughtrasher said:
What games can this play? I see it has 3 GB of video memory, that seems like a lot. Sorry, I'm a newbie when it comes to PC hardware.

As for everyone saying I need a desktop, well yeah I know for my buck it's what I should be getting. But I won't be staying in one spot all day, I plan on bringing a reliable laptop around in college
Click to expand...


Why not just buy a cheaper/used/refurbished laptop for the portability and then build a desktop for your gaming needs. Not like you need a uber powered machine to do most of your schoolwork anyways. Anything the laptop can't handle you could always do once your back to your desktop.

Most likely skimming $300 off your budget and using the rest will still get you a better gaming experience in the end.

Here's a example bundle that is inexpensive and most likely would exceed the abilities of most laptops in the $1000 range. I'm sure many more bundles can be found for a little more or less if you decided to go that route.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboB...=Combo.1353153
 
tential said:
Don't listen to all the people in this thread going on and on about needing a desktop for gaming. I'm STILL gaming on my 5 year old laptop. If you NEED a laptop and you want to game, then get it. It works EXTREMELY well. Obviously when you come to a tech forum realize, lots of people here can't game on anything else other than maximum settings and the best hardware (which means a desktop).

I'd look at Avadirect.com for some ideas on what $1000 can get you. use the Quick Ship Notebook section as that usually has the best prices. There are some other sites as well.
Click to expand...

What games are you playing? No 5 year old laptop is going to play Crysis 3 "EXTREMELY well".
 
toughtrasher said:
What games can this play? I see it has 3 GB of video memory, that seems like a lot. Sorry, I'm a newbie when it comes to PC hardware.

As for everyone saying I need a desktop, well yeah I know for my buck it's what I should be getting. But I won't be staying in one spot all day, I plan on bringing a reliable laptop around in college
Click to expand...

Take a look at the GTX 675MX results in this review. The GTX 670MX is going to be slightly slower than that. The upshot is that you'll be able to play recent games well assuming you don't mind lowering the resolution and/or detail levels a bit.
 
OP, do you want a laptop because you need to take something to class? Because a gaming laptop is barely portable, and battery life is generally poor.

Do you want a laptop due to limited space in a dorm? You can build smaller (mini-ITX) gaming desktops that take very little space.
 
Personally I would rather have the sort of rig I could build for $900 at my dorm/apt. whatever, and buy a tablet or something with the other 100 for taking to class and about. This would also allow you to not only run games at 1080p and high settings but have a rig capable of running stuff like max and photoshop halfway decently, which can come in handy.
 
Agent11 said:
I would rather have the sort of rig I could build for $900 at my dorm/apt. whatever, and buy a tablet or something with the other 100 for taking to class and about. This would also allow you to not only run games at 1080p and high settings but have a rig capable of running stuff like max and photoshop halfway decently, which can come in handy. __________________
Click to expand...
Exactly what my grandson did when he went off to college. I think he built a mini itx gaming machine for the dorm for around 600.00 (up to you how much of a gaming computer you want...it can always be upgraded later). Uses laptop for classes, portability etc.

The Wife
 
Consider a gaming desktop for $760 and the new Nexus 7 for $240. Or maybe a bigger tablet...
 
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