Laptop or Desktop for $3500?

Straight to the point, I have $3500 and I LAN a lot... but I also need great gaming performance.

Choices:
A.) Performance- Area-51 Desktop
B.) Portability- M15x Laptop

I'll be in college this fall and I've always thought about getting a gaming laptop for once instead of a desktop. Will a fully decked-out m15x (using external monitor/speakers) be able to compete easily against a decked-out AW desktop?

Whether I get the laptop or desktop, I'll be using a 19inch external monitor, whichever route I go. Should I get the m15x and pretend it is a desktop or will it not perform like one?

When I'm off to class, I can just unplug the m15x from the speakers/monitor and it will be a good class laptop right?

If I go with the desktop, I will probably just get a crappy laptop for classes. And I'll have to lug the damn thing to Lan parties.

Tough decision, any and all help is very much appreciated, thank you.

~B

 

Speaking as a Law School Grad not to long ago, I would say that a laptop is the best bet for school. Nothing beats having your laptop in class with you for notes and internet surfing during those boring classes... You can take the laptop home with you when you are on break from school.

There are many upsides to having a lappy, and the m15x has the least amount of downsides as it is the most powerful 15 inch notebook ever created.

 

if you are comparing a fully decked out aw desktop to a fully decked out m15x then the m15x will lose. since you lan party alot and you will need a laptop for school i will go with the m15x. i will be using the m15x for school and ill probably carry it to other places to play games. the m15x is already as powerful as most desktops today.

when you are off to class just use the integrated video card to save battery. when you are gaming switch back to the dedicated. its almost like a desktop and laptop in 1

 

I would get a laptop.

 

Alright here is my idea, get a desktop and a laptop.

Go to cyberpowerpc.com or ibuypower.com and spec out a desktop for around $2,000. You will be able to get a very good processor, 4GB ram, SLi 8800GTX or 9800GX2 for around that price.

Then go to HP and buy the 14" notebook that they offer with a 8400GS 128MB which should run you about $800 / $900 depending on the deals.

That way you are under your budget and have both

 

Not a bad idea Stone. I would have to say if its between a laptop and desktop for college go laptop. Its going to get very annoying to have to leave your work when you go home etc.. i mean it will be in your room all the time and i dont know about you but i wouldn't trust a 3500 desktop in my doom room alone even if it is locked.

Personal choice but if your looking for the best of both worlds do what Stone said.

 

Go to Cyberpower or Ibuypower as Stone suggested and configure a desktop for around $2000. Then go to gateway and get the P-171S FX Edition which has a good proc. and an 8800GTS that will play most games decently. It lists for $1599 but you can get them to drop the price buy $100-$200 without much trouble and you can have the best of both worlds.

 

@Frag - I suggested the 14" HP or 13" Dell XPS M1330 because they are very easy to carry around with between classes and they get good battery life. My opinion would be to get the M1330 with the 9 cell battery so that you can have a notebook that is very easy to carry around/take notes on.

 

Very true but he did say he lans alot. The Gateway is reasonably portable and would most certainly be better than hauling his desktop to the lans.

 

It's up to you - personally I wouldn't bother with a desktop PC if I had to carry it to LAN parties because it's just inconvenient.

The m15X will do a great job for both your requirements and if you have the time, wait for the m17x which *should* be an even better gaming machine - that if you can trust Alienware with it not having overheating and other problems like the m15x did initially.

 

I was in the same situation as you 1 month ago and my thinking is that if you want decent gaming performance, I would get a desktop for my gaming needs and another laptop for LAN. However I see that you are on a budget so I would get a decent desktop as suggested in the forum and another light cheap laptop for school.

I personally think the M15X is a great computer for school and such but the 15inch screen is too small in my opinion and for LAN I prefer at least 17inch.

As for me, I got a voodoo for home which I can keep upgrading to get the ultimate in gaming performance and for LAN, I am waiting for the M17X or M1730 to get Decent gaming experience at LANs as well.

Ofcourse I am also a student and I have a MBP for that so get 3 computers!!??

But no, in your case, I would say either desktop +laptop or just M15X.

 

I told you, if I get the m15x then I would always be using an external monitor when I use it for gaming. It's easy to bring my 19 inch flat panel.

So with that said, is the m15x + 19inch external monitora good gaming rig? Or will a desktop destroy it?

~B

 

A desktop at that price range will destroy it, so do what people told you to do...get a decent gaming laptop (the gateway fx has the second best laptop gfx card) and build a decent gaming desktop.

 

A desktop will be twice as fast easily for around $2000. I'd recommend following my idea.

 

true!
built a laptop with quad core - 8800 gtx (SLI if you want) 4 gb ram ---> cost around 2 grands and the rest of your budget, you can buy a medium laptop gaming like the cheap m15x with 8700gt or a m1530/ asus-1g ....

 

You mean you built a desktop with quad core .

 

i would get the laptop all the way, but im bias towards laptops.

 

Yea hehe the desktop idea is tempting for the performance... but having a fully decked out m15x should run every game out there perfectly fine right?
At least for a couple years...

Man a laptop would be nice... I still don't know.

 

Hmm it depends on the resolution too and apologies for missing out the 19inch monitor part.

Thing is if you are going to LAN, then 15 inch is quite small, imagine a LAN party with everyone with gaming laptops and desktops and u come with a tiny 15 inch laptop, it is just not immersing enough. If you are going to take the 19inch monitor WITH you then its not that portable anymore.

If 3500 is the max, you can always build a smaller micro ATX gaming machine which would still perform much better than the laptop PLUS you can upgrade gpus etc in the future should u wish.

Then have like a thinner lighter laptop for school etc.

the M15X wont fulfil either role properly as it would be quite heavy 3kg for a 15inch laptop and not heavy ENOUGH for a proper gaming machine.

Desktop + laptop is the way forward.

 

well, i reccommend BUILDING your own gaming desktop rig for about 1500 bucks... you can get a really nice setup in a micro tower so it's easy to move around. then get an EEE PC for class. those are pretty cheap, like 250-399 depending on the model (if you're a cs1.6 player you can even do that on this thing). you can do all of your school work on it (besides photo editting and whatever if you're an art major), web surfing, instant messaging, and it's very, very portable (claims 3-5 hour battery life on their 4 cell battery). this way you won't spend more than 2 grand total since you said you have a monitor.

i have a single laptop but its a 17 inch notebook, and while i'm not some weird kid who believes 9 pounds is too heavy to lug around, i find that it isn't very mobile as a notebook. it has 1.5 hours of battery life, so i would need to be plugged into a power source to really use it on the go. however it is VERY portable. i can pack it up and move it with the same ease as any notebook. since i move my notebook around a lot between peoples houses, my home, school, and over the summer i travel a lot to my beach place along with traveling for grappling, the 17 inch notebook is very valuable to me. as for school an EEE pc is very useful because it's cheap and easily replacable. since it's so small, you can put it in your backback and not one of those ginormous laptop backpacks.

i dunno, thats my two cents. desktop replacements will eventually wipe out personal desktops, but as for mobility, a desktop replacement isn't that mobile just yet.

 

I guess it also depends on what you expect from the 'mobility' aspect. If mobility is taking it to class every day, library etc and lugging it around constantly, 17inch laptops are just way too heavy considering that you have other text books, water bottles etc to carry on top of that. 13 inch is the sweet spot for people who arelooking for a set up like this.

If mobility is 'occasionally' taking it to class but mostly at home and only to LANS then 17inch gaming laptops are the way forward like the M17X or M1730. These are heavy yes but it is mobile enough to carry around if you NEED it to be.

There is something genuinely attractive about being able to take a beast of a computer like the 'expected' M17X and M1730 around to different places, open it up and start gaming hard core with a good screen and powerful GPU.

With a desktop you just dont have that aspect...

On the other hand, with a desktop, you can always enjoy cutting edge stuff providing ofcourse you have the funds to replace gpus etc.

New games come out crippling older stuff all the time like Farcry 2 is coming out soon presumeably wont be any nicer on the machine than crysis!