Going to college: Laptop or ITX case?

[Spork829]

Hi everyone, so I'm in a bit of a predicament at the moment. I ship off to college in about two months, and right now all I've got is my massive full-ATX tower (specs are in my signature). My laptop I used for all of high school is 7 years old and borderline non-functional. I need something I can lug around easily because I'm only an hour away from home, meaning I will be driving back and forth often. Soooo, before I go I need to figure out what I want to get. I will need strong CPU performance because I'll be running Reaper and other fairly intensive music/audio software, and I want to still have a dedicated GPU for at least light gaming.

 

• Option 1: Switch out my current case, motherboard and probably PSU and cooler, stuff everything into an ITX case that I can take home when I need to, then get a Chromebook or some other super-cheap laptop for just notes and stuff.
• Option 2: Sell the whole rig and buy a good all around laptop (looking at XPS, Gram, Thinkpad, Zenbook, Xiaomi Mi, etc, would love recommendations if you have any) that I will use for everything and bring back and forth. Probably (definitely) sacrificing performance so I don't have to deal with a desktop at all. 

 

What do you guys think is the best course of action here? I really can't decide what I should do. Thanks so much!

[Daniel Z.]

A newer XPS 15 with a 1650 shouldn't be too much slower than your PC. X1 Extreme is great too. I would personally get a laptop, it's just more convenient.

[wasab]

Just leave your gaming rig behind and get a laptop. As a student myself, I am gonna tell you that you do NOT want a desktop. 

 

Don't cheap out on laptop either. You want at least an 8th gen Intel i5 or an AMD 2500u ryzen mobile processor. 

 

Keep the form factor at 15.6 where it is the sweet spot for size, battery life, and performance. Don't bother going for those ultrabooks or beefy gaming laptop. The former barely has enough drive space and performance unless you spend a fortune and the latter is a pain in the ass to drag around, not to mention the shitty battery life, unless of course, you spend a fortune to get those fancy razor blade or something with an nvidia maxQ. 

 

Always get a laptop with a 128-256 gb SSD and a 1tb secondary drive. 

 

You can skip the descrete graphics if you aren't a gamer. If you are, don't get anything higher than a Nvidia gtx 1050 unless you get the cash to spend on one of those max Q gpus. 

 

Make sure the battery life is rated at least 8 hours or more. 

 

Purchase an Amazon basics laptop sleeves to stuff your laptop into so they fit nice, cozy, and safely in your backpack. 

 

Get a USB wireless mouse for your laptop as well. 

 

I find these above items are college students daily essentials, aside from notebooks and writing utensils of course. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Spork829]

5 minutes ago, Daniel Z. said:

A newer XPS 15 with a 1650 shouldn't be too much slower than your PC. X1 Extreme is great too. I would personally get a laptop, it's just more convenient.

I'm tending to agree, the problem is just budget. I won't be able to afford too much more than the amount I'd get from selling the desktop, meaning my cap will probably be around $1200. Finding something with a GPU and 16GB of RAM that's also thin and light at that price point doesn't seem to be so easy.

[wasab]

1 minute ago, Spork829 said:

I'm tending to agree, the problem is just budget. I won't be able to afford too much more than the amount I'd get from selling the desktop, meaning my cap will probably be around $1200. Finding something with a GPU and 16GB of RAM that's also thin and light at that price point doesn't seem to be so easy.

$1,200 USD?

[Spork829]

3 minutes ago, wasab said:

Just leave your gaming rig behind and get a laptop. As a student myself, I am gonna tell you that you do NOT want a desktop. 

 

Don't cheap out on laptop either. You want at least an 8th gen Intel i5 or an AMD 2500u ryzen mobile processor. 

 

Keep the form factor at 15.6 where it is the sweet spot for size, battery life, and performance. Don't bother going for those ultrabooks or beefy gaming laptop. The former barely has enough drive space and performance unless you spend a fortune and the latter is a pain in the ass to drag around, not to mention the shitty battery life, unless of course, you spend a fortune to get those fancy razor blade or something with an nvidia maxQ. 

 

Always get a laptop with a 128-256 gb SSD and a 1tb secondary drive. 

 

Make sure the battery life is at least 8 hours or more. 

 

Purchase an Amazon basics laptop sleeves to stuff your laptop into so they fit nice, cozy, and safely in your backpack. 

 

Get a USB wireless mouse for your laptop as well. 

 

I find these above items are college students daily essentials, aside from notebooks and writing utensils of course. 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you! I think you're probably right. I would love a thin and light ultrabook for the sake of portability, but I like you said I can't get great specs on that unless I want to take out a loan. Do you have any specific recommendations?

[Spork829]

1 minute ago, wasab said:

$1,200 USD?

Yes. That's an estimate, might be able to get a little higher. But especially with the possibility of theft, I kinda don't want to haha

[Daniel Z.]

Just now, Spork829 said:

Thank you! I think you're probably right. I would love a thin and light ultrabook for the sake of portability, but I like you said I can't get great specs on that unless I want to take out a loan. Do you have any specific recommendations?

Basically anything with a battery 75wh or more and with a 4 core CPU. Dells website has a 6 core i7 XPS 15 with 8 gigs of ram and a 97wh battery and 1050 Ti for 1279.

[wasab]

16 minutes ago, Spork829 said:

Yes. That's an estimate, might be able to get a little higher. But especially with the possibility of theft, I kinda don't want to haha

https://www.amazon.com/Dell-Inspiron-7567-Laptop-i5-7300HQ/dp/B07793DRK9?SubscriptionId=AKIAIPHVZTVH6LZ5BFZA&tag=hawk-future-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B07793DRK9&ascsubtag=pcg-3866780315414206284-20

 

this one is good enough. 74whr battery, 256 gig ssd. You still lack a one tb hdd. I suggest spend another $50 for a 1tb external storage 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Portable-External-Drive-STGX1000400/dp/B07CRG7BBH

 

Dell G3 is great too

 

https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/cty/pdp/spd/g-series-15-3579-laptop?prg=1&VEN1=12839518-8957516-%2Blaptopmag-custom-tracking&AID=8957516&cjevent=43b92fe485c311e980a501d00a24060c&dgc=CJ&DGSeg=DHS&cid=198375&lid=45846&acd=12309198375458460&VEN3=813804952772928215

[Spork829]

8 minutes ago, wasab said:

https://www.amazon.com/Dell-Inspiron-7567-Laptop-i5-7300HQ/dp/B07793DRK9?SubscriptionId=AKIAIPHVZTVH6LZ5BFZA&tag=hawk-future-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B07793DRK9&ascsubtag=pcg-3866780315414206284-20

 

this one is good enough. 74whr battery, 256 gig ssd. You still lack a one tb hdd. I suggest spend another $50 for a 1tb external storage 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Portable-External-Drive-STGX1000400/dp/B07CRG7BBH

 

Dell G3 is great too

 

https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/cty/pdp/spd/g-series-15-3579-laptop?prg=1&VEN1=12839518-8957516-%2Blaptopmag-custom-tracking&AID=8957516&cjevent=43b92fe485c311e980a501d00a24060c&dgc=CJ&DGSeg=DHS&cid=198375&lid=45846&acd=12309198375458460&VEN3=813804952772928215

Those both look pretty solid. I really don't like the "gamer" look that a lot of these have, but I might not mind the G3.

[Quadriplegic]

Bit late to the party myself, but laptop for sure. 

You can't take ITX system with you to the lectures, can you?

[Spork829]

1 minute ago, Quadriplegic said:

Bit late to the party myself, but laptop for sure. 

You can't take ITX system with you to the lectures, can you?

Haha no, I would get a super cheap laptop, probably a Chromebook, as well in that case. But I'm definitely leaning towards a laptop as the better option now, just need to find the perfect one.

[Spotty]

20 minutes ago, Spork829 said:

won't be able to afford too much more than the amount I'd get from selling the desktop, meaning my cap will probably be around $1200.

How much are you expecting to get from the sale of the PC? Is that $1200 figure based on selling the system with the i7 4790k + GTX 1060 in your signature?

Quote

Main System: i7-4790K (Stock) w/ Cryorig H5 | EVGA GTX 1060 6GB | ASRock Z97 Extreme4 | 16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 | 240GB Sandisk Ultra II, 1TB WD Blue HDD | EVGA 650 P2 | Corsair Vengeance C70

Unfortunately I don't think that system is worth $1200. You could build a comparable system brand new with warranty for about $700.

Just something to keep in mind when considering your budget for the laptop.

 

As with the others above, I would agree a laptop would be far more practical than an ITX system. More portable and practical to take with you to lectures/library/wherever. Fits in to a backpack, fairly light, and easy to carry around all day.

[Spork829]

1 minute ago, Spotty said:

Unfortunately I don't think that system is worth $1200. You could build a comparable system brand new with warranty for about $700.

Just something to keep in mind when considering your budget for the laptop.

Absolutely. $1200 is a rough estimate of the total, since I'm predicting I'll have somewhere around $500 extra on top of what I get for the desktop.

[genexis_x]

I would also vote for laptop. Desktop+laptop combo requires some budget (I don't like Chromebooks)

 

Need a fixed budget though

[Spork829]

Just now, GeneXiS_X said:

I would also vote for laptop. Desktop+laptop combo requires some budget (I don't like Chromebooks)

 

Need a fixed budget though

I'd say $1200 max is a good estimate, but unfortunately I just don't know exactly how much I will have.

[Malibrew]

MSI GS75 Stealth 9SG (479).  Most powerful thin and light in the world.  Regardless of what you're doing, this laptop has you covered.  Professional, Powerful and Portable.  I currently hold the world record benchmarks on the CPU and perform in the top 5% of all RTX 2080 Max Q GPU's.  MSI definitely has their stuff together this year!

[Ardu]

8 minutes ago, Malibrew said:

MSI GS75 Stealth 9SG (479).  Most powerful thin and light in the world.  Regardless of what you're doing, this laptop has you covered.  Professional, Powerful and Portable.  I currently hold the world record benchmarks on the CPU and perform in the top 5% of all RTX 2080 Max Q GPU's.  MSI definitely has their stuff together this year!

The 1060 version of this is like $1900, how is this remotely close to his budget?

[genexis_x]

10 minutes ago, Ardu said:

The 1060 version of this is like $1900, how is this remotely close to his budget?

He's posting this everywhere

[Ardu]

1 minute ago, GeneXiS_X said:

He's posting this everywhere

Oh I see

 

[Malibrew]

Everyone going to college has access to financial aid giving them the opportunity for 4-8 years to have access to the best technology and education available and interest free at a minimum.  I'd suggest coming up with a way to get past the $1200 limitation to break a minimum of $1800 to get into RTX cards.  Ardu was correct that my model is not in your price range.  However, MSI has various models with the 8th gen core i7-8750 currently on sale in both 15.6" and 17.3" models.  Sorry for any confusion, I apparently did scroll past your pricing comment  

[Malibrew]

5 minutes ago, GeneXiS_X said:

He's posting this everywhere

Where exactly is everywhere?  Lol...

[genexis_x]

2 minutes ago, Malibrew said:

Where exactly is everywhere?  Lol...

https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/1069020-need-help-picking-a-powerful-laptop-for-college/?tab=comments#comment-12614310

https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/1067888-gamingworking-laptop-suggestion/?tab=comments#comment-12607251

6 hours ago, Spork829 said:

I'd say $1200 max is a good estimate, but unfortunately I just don't know exactly how much I will have.

If you're looking for laptop: any preference on weight and battery life?

[seagate_surfer]

I guess this one suits you well because of its price point and the value they offer to consumers, I would get one of these easily! especially when they put it on sale and lower the $ 800 to approximately $700: 

• https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C94J15N/ref=ord_cart_shr?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A17MC6HOH9AVE6

Also, this other one is high quality/value balanced but it is Huawei and if you do not feel comfortable with what is happening with the brand at this time, I think that this other one from HP is a good option:

• https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HMMZ4V2/ref=psdc_13896615011_t3_B07GHN91NS

[Spork829]

8 hours ago, seagate_surfer said:

I guess this one suits you well because of its price point and the value they offer to consumers, I would get one of these easily! especially when they put it on sale and lower the $ 800 to approximately $700: 

• https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C94J15N/ref=ord_cart_shr?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A17MC6HOH9AVE6

Also, this other one is high quality/value balanced but it is Huawei and if you do not feel comfortable with what is happening with the brand at this time, I think that this other one from HP is a good option:

• https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HMMZ4V2/ref=psdc_13896615011_t3_B07GHN91NS

Oooh I haven't seen that HP before, thank you! The MSI is a good deal, but I just don't think I could get past the look. And yes, I'm seriously considering a Matebook, but worried that Microsoft might stop them from getting Windows updates given the situation. The Xiaomi Mi Notebook seems like a good alternative as well, but it looks like I'll have to buy it straight from China.