Laptop vs desktop.

So now that i can get a desktop cpu and gpu in a laptop whats the real benefit of the desktop? Im new to both some input will be greatly appreciated as im in between either buying gaming desktop or laptop. The laptop has been on my mind mainly because my wife grips whem i play ps3 amd xbox so thought i would game on the go but hate the fact that laptops cant be upgraded until i heard about clevo with desktop cpu gpu and can change them out in 5 to 8 years if i get i7-6700k with gtx 980. Hope inposted this in the right place thanks.

 

I think that would work well for your uses. The 980 is currently the only card that can fit in laptops for now, but yeah its basically a full desktop.

 

How long do you think this would last me im going to use it for school also and do not understand if there is a life span on laptops like cellphones crapping out after 2 years.

 

Also whats Pascal. Is this a gpu thats better then 980 thats getting released?

 

It's the rumored next generation GPUs from Nvidia, expected to be released sometime next year.

 

Desktops have better price/performance ratio. And have more customizability and better upgradability.

 

This right here. Most laptops cannot be upgraded, but then there's Clevo laptops that can be upgraded pretty easily. Even though Clevo laptops can be upgraded pretty easily, it's still a bit easier to upgrade desktops. Desktops are a lot cheaper and more powerful than laptops, and have better cooling than laptops.

You should only get a laptop if you need the portability, otherwise always get a desktop.

As for your concerns about longevity, there are people out there who have had Clevo laptops last for more than 10 years:

 

I don't know what exactly do you mean by "on the go" but i would like to highlight here that even with a laptop, you will need to keep it plugged in for gaming. The battery life on the gaming laptops is very poor (2-3 hours) even on general stuff.
So a gaming laptop gives you portability and not mobility.

 

As far as I see it, the only practical use of a gaming laptop would be if you go to LAN parties often (lugging around my ~30lbs desktop is a pita!) or if you have some space constraint that means you can't use a desktop (maybe you live in a small studio apartment?).

Otherwise, the price, customization, and other nice things (large displays, sound systems, ports, thermals, etc) mean that desktops will almost always be the more practical of the two options.

 

Like o said my main reason is gaming at like the library while doing homework cuz wife will want me to be cleaning or some crap not gaming for even an hour a day will be dramma or ammo for future dramma so ill pay more for performance i think.... maybe do desktop at 100% and also a laptop at 50% to just play low games.... but with the new gpu im hoping the laptop will be worth it.

 

What a nubbin with that overpriced, underpowered, throttling POS Razer.

 

If im understanding this correctly as long as i dont mind paying more and keeping plugged in while gamming and dont mind using a fan to keep cool and get an upgradable laptop it should be fine? With the new pascal being better then 980...

 

For me it is about portability inside the house. Not being restricted to a fixed space in a room.

By "Fan" do you mean a cooler? If yes then it is not mandatory. The cooling on most gaming laptops these days is sufficient.
Also you do not need GTX980 laptop to play most of the current games in 1080P. 980m laptop is sufficient. But if you can wait till pascal, you will probably get something better and cheaper than GTX980 laptop.

 

Laptop coolers are useless. No need for one. At times it helps to prop the back end up a bit to improve airflow, but a laptop cooler rarely improves cooling. Even laptops that boast gaming on battery, I wouldn't do it, because performance is gimped by a large amount, and gaming time on battery is short, and draining the battery so quickly will reduce its lifespan if you do it too frequently. Obviously if you're playing some sprite based game like Hotline Miami or Faster Than Light it's no issue. But if you're playing the latest AAA 3D game title like Battlefield or CoD or Assassin's Creed, the game experience will be less than optimal.

 

I suggest to take Alienware + eGPU. CPU and GPU power in laptops are pretty good today, but if you want playing games with ultra max quality and max fps eGPU should help. Alienware is upgradeable and have large "used" market to look for cheap upgrade/repair components.

But if you're ok playing at the same place every time - desktop is the best choice.

 

Woah woah woah...careful.
The AW machine you're recommending with an eGPU isn't upgradable. It's soldered rubbish. The eGPU bread box is upgradable, but if the machine itself breaks it's game over.

OP.. Get a Eurocom X9. Upgradable and worth the money.

 

Well.. with desktop increasingly cheaper and laptops increasingly more expensive.

One could wonder what the hell is going on.

But laptops are easy to transport. So there's that.

 

Desktop parts also have lifetime warranties.

Desktop parts also have overclocking protection, mobile parts you're screwed.

Desktop parts have features unlocked, mobile parts you have to pay a premium for them.

Screens for Desktop are far far far superior than laptop. Even regular IPS desktop display is MUCH nicer than the IPS used by Asus/Clevo laptops.
- When it comes to electronics using LCD displays, laptops are at the very bottom of the heap. Worst than desktop, disgraceful compared to phones/tablets, just terrible.

There are so many reasons to buy a Desktop over laptop. The only reason to buy laptop IMO is if you need to be portable and I do use my laptop everywhere. Otherwise, I see no reason to get a laptop over desktop.

 

Don't forget.

You can fit a laptop almost anywhere. So it's not always about being mobile, but flexible too.

I used to play on my bed at night when my parents went to bed lol. Lets just say the mouse handling was horrible, but it did the job.

 

Om, sorry. I can't even imagine that last gen's Alienware are soldered garbage - just noticed. Seems like Clevo is the only way for now...

 

The upgradable AW's we loved are gone now.

 

Yeah i think i will see hpw laptops are in feb-ish hope pascal is in one by then. Like i said gaming in one location isnt going to work. It is lame they dont warranty laptop parts .... thats the only real downside iv read here 1080p is fine im not needing crazy nice just want to get the best now sobit lasts 8 years.

 

It's a huge issue and problem. The mobile parts are overpriced since they are just low power version of desktop parts now. But the warranty is pitiful, considering the costs. A 980M for not even desktop 970 is 3x price of a desktop 980, but with only 1 year warranty?

 

Well i was going to get tje desktop cpu and gpu not tje mobile one so i dont see an issue other then warranty but if its made right the one year will make sure i dont get the one bad one and thats all i need. I will wait amd see how the pascal stands up to the desktop 980

 

Also the 980m is 75% as efficient as the desktop 980.

 

Reminds me of seeing my friends play FPS games with a trackpad.

I generally recommend desktop for price/performance reasons, and upgradeability. That said, portability can be nice, and you'll generally want a laptop regardless. So, that said:

- Get a gaming laptop (Sager, Clevo, etc.) if you plan to legitimately play high-end games on the go often.
- Get a desktop and a laptop that's somewhat better than your general laptop at graphics, but doesn't attempt to compete with a desktop, if you only plan to game on the go occasionally. Lower graphics being acceptable for those times. That's the route I've taken.
- Get a desktop and a non-gaming laptop if you don't expect to play games on the road much, or if you are OK being limited to older games/low graphics.
- Also get a gaming laptop if you'll regularly be moving between different cities and want to be able to game while doing so (traveling consultant, for example).

It sounds like you are in one of the first two categories. And there's nothing wrong with the first one. Just make sure you're getting a gaming laptop because you're really going to use the mobility of it for games, not just because it sounds like a cool idea.

 

...or if you already need a decent laptop for work or school, in which case selecting one with quad core CPU and 980m or 970m graphics card may fit within your budget or just slightly more than what you were already planning to spend.

 

Just noticed the "8 years" part, and had to quote it... because you really shouldn't expect that. Maybe if you get one with an upgradeable MXM 3.0b GPU. But even then, you're quite likely to be running into CPU power limitations before the 8 years is up, and not being able to upgrade the CPU enough to stay ahead of your needs.

I did manage to keep one laptop (the Inspiron in my sig) going for 7 years for LANs (2007 - 2014). When I got it, the 8600M GT was the third-most-powerful nVIDIA card, after the 7950 GTX and 8700M GT (the 8800M GT didn't come out for another four months or so). By the time I was trying to play 2012 and 2013 games such as Crusader Kings II and Europa Universalis IV on it, it was barely up to the task, and technically below the minimum specifications. True, it would have had a bit more breathing room if it had 8700M SLI cards, but that was top dollar at the time. And, without the ability to upgrade to an MXM 3.0b card, I also couldn't run DX11 at all.

As for the CPU, you may get one generation of upgrades. And you may or may not have the cooling to handle OCs. But even supposing you do upgrade to the most powerful CPU you can - a Core 2 Extreme X9000, the best upgrade available for a 2007 laptop, is not that powerful by 2015's standards, even with a modest overclock. It's perfectly fine for general use, but it can't really compete with a quad-core i5 for CPU-heavy games.

Point being, while it may physically last 8 years and make for a great NBR-browsing machine at the end of that time, you shouldn't try to future-proof it so it can play then-current games that long into the future. MXM 3.0b will help, as will a nice (preferably socket-based) quad-core CPU, but even then your odds are thin, and will require at least one not-inexpensive GPU upgrade. Plan for it lasting 4 years max as a gaming machine, and consider anything above that a bonus.

 

Well i planned on getting one that has desktop cpu so i can upgrade and mxm or desktop gpu i understand that after 4 ish years it will be hard to expect it to compete with 2020 gaming without upgrades.

 

Yep, this is the truth right here. 4 years for of gaming for a laptop GPU would be really good, and the most important thing in terms of futureproofing in regards to Clevo laptops is the fact that a lot of them have MXM which does futureproof them which is a great thing. Spending $500-800 4-6 years down the line is a lot more attractive than spending $2000-4000 4-6 years down the line.

 

Wouldn't you need to do that on a desktop computer also anyway...

 

Worst case scenario is that you replace both the CPU and GPU in a desktop for an upgrade. That's probably $400-$800 right there, depending on what you get. Maybe have to buy a new motherboard as well, so that's an extra $75-$150. Still a lot less than buying a whole gaming computer.

 

Even the Alienware`s that were once competitive against other brands...

 

Why wouldnt i just replace them in the laptop.... they have upgradable ones for this purpose.

 

True, but generally they're relatively expensive upfront.

It's your choice really.

 

And aftermarket. 1080M upgrade for me no doubt be around $900 just for the GPU.

 

Laptops have come along way, Laptops are really-Mobile-Miniaturized desktops, gaming laptops typically are a premium cost and builds vary.

Desktops are a good choice for a stationary PC system, if you have patience and the skill(not really that difficult) you can can build a desktop, I have built several and they worked very well, sold instantly and did not lose an arm and a shirt after much use,,lol.

Basics of Desktop:
Computer Case with Power(Higher Power the better-does not have to cost an arm and a leg), plenty of fans and water cooling system
Motherboard-High End one-ASUS,MSI,Gigabyte ,ect-SLI and Crossfire capable.
CPU Intel or AMD -overclockable or not-many Good Choices
GPU Card Nvidia or AMD based-many good here-overclockable or not
Hard Drives-SSD Boot Raid(SSD prices are going down)or Native M.2/NVMe PCIe RAID-very very fast..
Backup Drive- Macrum Reflect backup software Free is excellent
Bluray or DVD Player
DDR Ram-overclockable or not(always dual channel)
Monitor(suit to taste--Large or Larger)
KeyBoard
Mouse (gaming or Highest DPI mouse with many Hats)
Operating System , M$ or Linux

Its your choice gaming laptop(can be custom built or already built) or DYI Custom Built Desktop or buy one Custom Built

Laptops are portable and can be transported very easy, Desktops are Stationary and not easily transported.


Cheers
3fees

 

Worst case scenario is CPU and GPU? Not since the old days... Best case scenario is a new motherboard, CPU, and GPU but if you're planning on going past Haswell, you need a new motherboard, CPU, GPU, and RAM too.

The bottom line is there is planned obsolence either way, it's just that a laptop is portable... But seeing some of the power of the SFF cubes... Really they're quite portable and unless you have an SLI laptop, the only real benefit is that the laptop doesn't make you have to find a TV or monitor to hook it up to but let's be real... For me to go from Devils Canyon to Skylake would mean that I'd have to replace the motherboard, the CPU, I would save my 780 Ti - the performance isn't leaps and bounds better for me to spend another 900 on a video card, I'd end up replacing my hard drives with NVMe drives, my 32GB of DDR3 would have to be replaced with 32GB of DDR4...

Lets face it. The reality is the only reason to have a laptop is portability. When it comes to upgrading and everything, its a dead end either way.

 

If you were talking to me, then yes, you would. However, I'm saying it's awesome that Clevos DO have MXM and other replaceable parts and allow you to upgrade a few years down the line if you want to. Most other laptops? Forget about it, it ain't happening.

 

Right up to the point where someone invents a new magical port and updates MXM to 4.0

 

Eh I almost got a Fragbox from Falcon NW to replace my aging Sager...but I keep bouncing back and forth between Titan X and whatever Pascal has next year. I'll probably end up holding off for Pascal and get another Sager. lol

 

modularity

 

who in the right mind would buy a 17 inch blade?

 

FTFY

 

you know I went to the microsoft store at the San Francisco westfield mall (I live there) it's actually a nice piece of kit, not bad. Very overpriced but not bad.

 

It does look nice and is a solid piece of hardware but they chose form over function, period. Make it thin as possible and shove as much hardware as possible, and throw in a gimmicky touchpad so they can charge $1000 more than other similarly equipped laptops. I just find it odd that they put the 970m in the 14" and 960m in the 17".

 

It's definitely aesthetically pleasing. But compromise-city getting there.

 

Welcome to the world of: OSX.

Did I sum it up correctly?

 

Laptops give you one thing, and one thing only - portability. For every other conceivable metric, desktops win.

I don't think that's entirely accurate. You're using the example of a complete shift in products, a time where the CPU socket, chipset and RAM actually changed at the same time. That doesn't happen often for desktops.

The 100% modular nature of the desktop means that you only need to replace parts that are no longer working properly, or outdated.

Can't really replace your laptop's chassis, motherboard. Display panel can, but you have a very limited choice. Keyboard? Nope. Built-in trackpad? Not really. Want more USB ports? Sorry. Want the new USB3.1 ports? Sucks to be you, buy a new laptop.

While there is obsolescence (planned or otherwise) in both systems, upgrading a desktop is far easier, more economical, and produces better performance results than a laptop. Not to mention that certain components (monitor, keyboard, case, PSU, storage, optical drives) can stay with you for YEARS.

The single biggest problem with laptops (beyond the size/heat that negatively impacts performance) is the lack of standardization. Sure, RAM, storage and wifi cards are all standard, but everything else about them means they're all a one-off purchase. Things would've been a lot different in the laptop world if they had been built as standard form factors, where you can pick and chose your chassis, motherboard, and other components like a desktop.

Advancements in technology have allowed us to build a laptop (Cevo P870DM/775) that houses a desktop CPU + GPU, so the performance is theoretically on par with a desktop housing the same components. But we're still facing the problem that these laptops cost a MASSIVE amount of money relative to their equally-specced desktop counterparts, and they are still mostly non-modular, with limited support for some of the modular parts (most notably the GPU).

Currently, if you're upgrading from Haswell or prior to Skylake, the best case scenario is only a motherboard + CPU (don't need to change RAM, as Skylake supports DDR3, and you only need to upgrade your GPU if it's quite old). Worst case scenario is MB, CPU, GPU, RAM.

This is so true. I had a Clevo P770DM-G, and while it was nice, I built my current desktop for around $400 less than what that Clevo cost, and that includes a very nice Dell UltraSharp U2515H that just blows the 17" display on the Clevo out of the water.