Reassessing my whole outlook on portable gaming and notebooks

Over the years, I have been one of those "hard core" hardware upgraders. I am a gamer at heart and love PC games. Right now I own a desktop PC for basic web tasks and general storage, a desktop PC for gaming, a notebook for portability around the house (Vostro 1500), and an Eee 1000h for ultimate portability on a daily basis.

I recently picked up a Gateway P-7811 FX notebook to replace my Vostro. Did I need it? No. Did I want it? Yes.

That being said, I am thoroughly impressed with the progress made over the last several years with regards to gaming performance on an affordable notebook.

In an effort to simplify my computing, I am considering replacing my gaming desktop with a notebook. I realize I upgrade my gaming desktop CPU and GPU about once every 12-18 months for a good $500-$800. I realize that I can sell my existing notebook with a cost difference for a newer one for about the same price.

I think that notebook gaming has finally arrived at a competitive price point that is easy to swallow every 12-18 months similar to cost and performance boost of a desktop upgrade.

That being said, as pathetic as it may sound, I am probably going to go from having four PC's to two. My Gateway and my Eee. The only downside I see is that my PC for basic tasks acts as my home file server as well. Not sure how to handle that one, but perhaps having NAS makes more sense now.

I dunno, just some thoughts.

 

its not price savy to switch laptops every 12 months man, spending ~1200 US for a laptop when you could just spend ~400 upgrading a gpu every year.

If you really need a mobile gaming station, invest in a real gaming laptop priced above 2k which will last you a good 3 years.

 

And honestly, its really not necessary to upgrade hardware so frequently because with the gaming industry nowadays, they're porting console games onto PC. All the great titles, gears of war 2, the new prince of persia, etc etc, will run great on mediocre gaming hardware because they're gear to run well on the xbox360/ps3.

I think I'll be able to play on this laptop for a good 2 more years, or as long as games are still made for the xbox 360/ps3!

 

Well at least you can divide your stuff and lifestyle between computers.

I'm mostly on the road, rarely back home, so I can't really do with a desktop. I've been using the "family" desktop for years before I started working abroad and now I'm pleased to have a computer that I can really call my own.

The downside is that besides my work, which goes ever so smoothy on my Macbook Pro, I still love to game. And with the titles coming this fall alone, well GTA IV, Fallout 3 and others, I'd love to have a computer that could handle them.

Somehow I fear my Macbook Pro with its 8600m is not going to cut it.

That's why I'm in the market for a new computer. The thing is, I don't want to carry 2 laptops with me, I really just want ONE.

But then there's my dilemma: I really don't want to give up on OS X because it caters for my job beautifully and way better than a PC could ever do, and still I want a powerful gaming graphics card to run my games.

I really don't want to choose between my work and gaming. But I figure, at the end of the day, I'll just have to.

If Apple doesn't come up with something at least double the performance (gaming-wise) of the current Macbook Pro, I don't know.... I'll have a hard time choosing a gaming laptop.

Alienware has all these issues, Sagers/Clevos are just plain awful looking, Voodoo is so hyped up on 13" computers they can't even deliver on a said date, Falcon-NW is just Clevos, basically what I'm looking at right now is the OCZ Whitebook. Which is kinda funny because I know NOTHING about what computers OCZ make, or even the rep on the forums selling them.

Hard hard choices I'll have to make.

 

htwingnut nice to see the "Dark Side" is sucking you in?

You definitely are working with a strategy so let ask and suggest.

I understand your 12-18 month cycle, to WileyCoyote thoughts. If you can do as you stated great or just extend 24 month? Whatever seems doable.

Your concern on file server? NAS (Network-attached storage) yea sounds good. Unless you need the cash can't you keep your current desktop for that purpose? Sell the GPU and maybe CPU? I only see HDD as being important in that role? Or sell desktop and buy very cheap system only important component being HDD?

But consider now the fundamental change you are making? I don't see you having lots of media files on the Eee? Am I wrong? If I am ignore. But if I am correct I would ask how many Office files from Eee and how much space would it take? Could you not just share files on over a network with the Gateway being the primary?

If space is an issue (on Gateway) external HDD? Band width would be fine for your needs I would think?

I think NAS would be fine but unless you feel Gateway is not good for storage (you have too much Data)? Option external HDD? I do not see Eee producing Data of substantial amounts?

Gateway takes role of 3 of your systems and the Eee is puny data wise.

 

I don't think apple is going to put anything higher (performance wise) than a 9700m XX. Unless they make the MBP thicker? Oh and Clevos arent THAT bad...

 

More I think about it, my basic work PC is a Shuttle box, and probably wouldn't get much $$$ for it anyhow. It's an Athlon64 4800+ X2, 8600 GT video, 2GB RAM, XP Pro 32bit, 250GB WD, and 500GB Seagate. The bulk of my storage consuming most space are (like most people) personal digital photos, home videos, ripped DVD's (reduced in file size greatly), MP3's, iPod videos, and of course game patches and mods. I'll most likely keep this box and continue to use as a file server and for basic PC tasks.

I also like to download and store all my Steam games on this PC for a quick install on another PC if needed, instead of taking the several hours to redownload, I can do a network transfer and install in 30 minutes.

My gaming desktop is nice, but I am realizing that installing multiple game copies on a couple machines can be taxing and annoying, especially with saved games.

Even though I don't tote my laptop around a lot, I definitely like the fact that I can use it in various locations in the home, and even for the half dozen times a year or so I take it out the door with me for LAN gaming, business trip, or vacation - is worth the slight hit in performance.

The one thing I will miss is the very fast DVD ripping or creation capabilities of my 3GHz Core 2 Duo. But that's only an occasional need.

 

eh hem yes clevos do look bad.

i kinda liked the np5796's looks until i looked at the dimensions.

freaking hell 1 inch to 1.9!!



oh, and resellers that are going to or are selling the ocz whitebook are
Dark SMiley Systems
Killernotebooks
Cyberpower
and a couple more

 

Its really the 7811FX that brings hardcore gaming to an affordable price for laptops. Personally I prefer laptops since Im never really home and when I am its near bed time and or the wife has some honey-do list for me. Either way you coould keep the 7811FX and netbook and be fine, since youll have all the mobility you will need. My complete setup consists of a 12in tablet and a 17in and I can do my hardcore multitasking or gaming on the 17in and it I need to head to a class or a work meeting I have the 12in for those tasks.

As for replacement its never going to be penny wise to get a gaming laptop since you cant upgrade the GPU and compared to a desktop half its price it wont game as long. Now with mobile GPUs performing like the previous gen desktop (8800 = 9800m) you can easily get high end gaming for 2 years with a X800mGTS or better card. For people like me having a desktop is a waste and more or less a test in how long can you keep that gaming desktop collecting dust before you realize you never use it. Thats why Im strictly a laptop user.

 

I'm still waiting for MXM platforms to gain more prevalence, and for 3rd-party manufacturers to start making cards for them.
That will turn the notebook gaming industry into something like the desktop world - where you can upgrade your GPU every 12-24 months without having to wholesale start over on a new system.

 

I've gone portable over the last 4 years..and will never go back to a desktop.

I was never happy just upgrading the GPU, I would start looking at a new mother board or faster GPU..arrggh!

The Clevos are awesome..but, with the cheaper GW you can drop in a T9300 or greater. This works great with video encoding! I still hang on to fast external USB burners..so I haven't quite cut the old cord until laptop drives get faster.

 

Yes, upgrading a desktop is somewhat frustrating too because frequently your CPU upgrade path is limited, especially if you invested in a decent chip upfront, and need the newer socket or chipset, therefore a new motherboard, to accommodate the new CPU. A $200 project turns into a $500 one.

If I turn over a laptop every 18 months, I should be able to recover half of original price.

As far as MXM, I had hope for that in the past, but it just seems like a losing proposition. It's too proprietary, too expensive, and very few upgrade options to make it realistic. Again, probably just as cheap to eBay my existing laptop, recover those costs and apply it to a new one.