Cost/Benefit of Laptop vs PC

McRackin

McRackin

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 27, 2008
Messages
284
I've been absent from the whole hardware scene for awhile now :eek:
...mainly due to university.

So I'm thinking about either buying a laptop, which would be useful for school as well, vs buying a PC that has obvious cost benefits.

My question is; if I am willing to buy a PC for around $1200-1300(just the tower, w/ all components & windows7), what could I expect to pay for similar performance from a laptop?

Either choice must be able to play BF3 ;D
 
This is my personal opinion, but I really dislike gaming laptops: they are by definition gigantic (because you want a big monitor) and heavy (because they are big). I think laptops should emphasize portability: being lightweight, great battery life, low heat.

So if you are primarly a gamer, you really should get a desktop as your 'main' computing interface. You'll just get a lot more performance/$. I think you are better off trying to work with a budget that allows for a cost-efficient desktop gaming PC, and a very barebones entry-level small laptop or netbook for taking notes in class or browsing the web until you have more $ to afford something better. Your $1300 budget can probably achieve this, if you have no other special needs, and you already have peripherels for a desktop, which you sort of insinuated you did.
 
In the US you can generally configure a decent gaming computer using high end components for about $800 (a little more if you want to overclock, and another $100 if you need an OS.) This won't include a SSD, but it'll be solid elsewhere (as an example, see this build I threw together earlier today, and just subtract the $230 SSD.) Then you could get a $500 laptop, which isn't great but not total barebones either, and be on your merry way. Since you're in Canada, some of those prices will be different but you shouldn't be looking at a total budget that's a lot bigger.

Alternatively, you can get an okay gaming computer for less than that. You could get a cheaper GPU, for example.

One big caveat is that Battlefield 3 hasn't be released yet, so I can't tell you any desktop or laptop WILL run it. Just that it's more likely that the above desktop will than an equivalently priced (or even higher priced) laptop will.
 
for $1,300 you can grab one of those Asus G73 laptops, it will fulfill all your requirements and then some.

I've been there, done that with the gaming laptop thing, it's a great experience and the mobility is wonderful. I wouldn't trade it for anything, but now that I don't need the mobility of the laptop anymore, I'm choosing to go with the desktop. It all depends on your needs at the time. You can make do with a cheapo laptop if you MUST have one for class, and just throw the majority of your money into a desktop, you can prolly buy a $500 laptop for class and grab a $800 desktop and have both.

Guess we need more information here.
 
Short Version: Get a $1000 Desktop and a $200 Netbook

Long Version:

I used to only have a desktop. Powerful gaming rig, great and fun. Then I went to college. I ended up never touching my desktop because I was rarely home. I gamed more on my laptop then on my desktop...if you don't think you'll be away from home when playing games a lot, this won't be the case. So I sold my desktop and got a gaming laptop. I couldn't run things as well as before but it's been nice to have. Even now being so old, I play games on it every month or two when I'm not at home and want to game a little. However, two years after getting my gaming laptop...it just wasn't cutting it at all. So I built a PC again. I missed it more than I expected I would and laptops can be a pain when it comes to drivers and not simply using the computer with its factory OS(came with Win XP, had to go to Vista then 7).

Thinking back on it however, most of the time I was on my laptop for school purposes....the extra weight, size(15.4"), power, heat, lower battery life, etc wasn't really needed. It was more annoying than it was good to have. I would have been better off with a cheap netbook(don't want to mess up a $1k+ laptop) for school purposes and a desktop for gaming to begin with. Sure I would have missed out on playing games a handful of times, but the amount I used my laptop for school would have made up for it.

So you have to make a choice:
Either deal with a more powerful gaming laptop that'll be more annoying to deal with for school, be less powerful and not last as many years.
Or get a cheap laptop for word processing/browsing and a gaming desktop for when it's time to play.
 
Fail said:
for $1,300 you can grab one of those Asus G73 laptops, it will fulfill all your requirements and then some.

I've been there, done that with the gaming laptop thing, it's a great experience and the mobility is wonderful. I wouldn't trade it for anything, but now that I don't need the mobility of the laptop anymore, I'm choosing to go with the desktop. It all depends on your needs at the time. You can make do with a cheapo laptop if you MUST have one for class, and just throw the majority of your money into a desktop, you can prolly buy a $500 laptop for class and grab a $800 desktop and have both.

Guess we need more information here.
Click to expand...

This. If you don't need a lot of mobility the desktop wins hands down. I've found gaming laptops to be a pain in the butt. They are more prone to fail due to heat. Also if they break after warranty fixing them may be a major issue depending on the problem. Unlike a desktop where you crack open the case and replace the defective part. I've had a Dell and a Gateway gaming laptop both last less than a couple years. Heat eventually spelled their much to early demise.

If you need a laptop go with the other suggestions. You can find office application capable laptops pretty cheap if you shop around and build a gaming desktop for gaming.

go here for laptop info. The forums are very helpful.
http://www.notebookreview.com/
 
I'd echo the sentiments above. Going in to college a few years back, I spent around $1300 on a solid Thinkpad with switchable graphics. It's fulfilled most of my needs, but there have definitely been a number of times when a desktop would have been much nicer. Not just for gaming, either - writing research papers, programming, and even math homework are a lot smoother with more screen real estate.

Since I came to college, I'd say 95% of the time I use my laptop, it's at my desk, and 95% of the time I use it elsewhere is school work, for which a basic machine with a text editor and a browser would have sufficed.

If I had it all to do again, I'd have spent $900 on upgrading + shipping my desktop (now rather aged) and $400 on a high quality netbook or an ultraportable.

One caveat: I don't use the laptop in class. For me, the whole point of taking notes is physically writing them.

Tarrosion
 
I like a laptop in class if they had powerpoints or other files to be looked at. Yeah you could print it out, but it's such a waste of paper and you end up with a ton. A netbook is perfect for taking notes in class. I've done it on my 15.4" many times, but it's so huge and you have less privacy too.

If you wanted, a powerful 13" could serve well to take notes and bring to study groups or for some gaming. The IGPs even are powerful enough to play WoW these days.
 
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