Portable Desktop Setup.

[seejayseewhy]

I hate laptops and am wondering what you guys think of  portable desktop setups.  I want something that I can customize and upgrade but I am on a pretty low budget. I want to be able to use Solidworks and game occasionally.

 

Conclusion:

Should I give in and buy A laptop?

Are they easily transported? 

Are they at all practical for tasking to school? 

 

Thanks so much!

Callum

[manikyath]

2 minutes ago, seejayseewhy said:

Are they at all practical for tasking to school? 

no.. just no..

 

the only reason you'd get a portable desktop setup, is if you have to move spaces semi-regularly (for example teens who go between mom/dad house in a divorced family situation)

[seejayseewhy]

1 minute ago, manikyath said:

no.. just no..

 

the only reason you'd get a portable desktop setup, is if you have to move spaces semi-regularly (for example teens who go between mom/dad house in a divorced family situation)

How much of a bother is it? I wouldn't be moving it more than once or twice a week.

[manikyath]

Just now, seejayseewhy said:

How much of a bother is it? I wouldn't be moving it more than once or twice a week.

too much bother.

[seejayseewhy]

Just now, manikyath said:

too much bother.

Can I have any elaboration? I don't have any experience with it.

[GeoSquigg]

On 2/15/2019 at 11:01 AM, seejayseewhy said:

I hate laptops and am wondering what you guys think of  portable desktop setups.  I want something that I can customize and upgrade but I am on a pretty low budget. I want to be able to use Solidworks and game occasionally.

 

Conclusion:

Should I give in and buy A laptop?

Are they easily transported? 

Are they at all practical for tasking to school? 

 

Thanks so much!

Callum

In short, buy a laptop

 

the problem with building a portable desktop is carrying the peripherals too.

 

"pretty low budget," Smaller builds cost as much, if not more than an equally powerful ATX system. For whatever reason, ITX costs a ton of money

 

When i first started working here, we used solidworks on thinkpad E580s with i5s and 16g of ram. We do offhighway and military transmissions, so you'll be fine modeling whatever the school will need you to. These can be had for less than $500 new and throw in an 8g ram stick for less than $75

 

Next best to not getting a laptop and keeping it semi portable would be a smaller all in one computer that runs windows OS

 

 

On 2/15/2019 at 11:07 AM, seejayseewhy said:

How much of a bother is it? I wouldn't be moving it more than once or twice a week.

Set up doesn't take much effort or time, its the repetitiveness that become the pain. With a laptop, open, power on, go. Maybe plug it in too

[seejayseewhy]

1 minute ago, GeoSquigg said:

In short, buy a laptop

 

the problem with building a portable desktop is carrying the peripherals too.

 

"pretty low budget," Smaller builds cost as much, if not more than an equally powerful ATX system. For whatever reason, ITX costs a ton of money

 

When i first started working here, we used solidworks on thinkpad E580s with i5s and 16g of ram. We do offhighway and military transmissions, so you'll be fine modeling whatever the school will need you to. These can be had for less than $500 new and throw in an 8g ram stick for less than $75

 

Next best to not getting a laptop and keeping it semi portable would be a smaller all in one computer that runs windows OS

 

Great! Thank you for the info!

[Juniiii]

On 2/15/2019 at 11:10 AM, seejayseewhy said:

Can I have any elaboration? I don't have any experience with it.

I have plenty of experience, I have a bad addiction and need to take it everywhere I go, relatives, friends, vacations, even night outs at hotels. A micro atx or mini it’s case is a good choice for these, if it is a cube it’s even better, buy yourself a 18 inch monitor and one of those nice fancy cloth bags from Walmart, throw your keyboard and mouse and pc and monitor, and you’re set to go anywhere with only one heavy bag.

 

On 2/15/2019 at 11:13 AM, seejayseewhy said:

Great! Thank you for the info!

Btw being in a tight budget like this is a horrible idea.

[seejayseewhy]

Just now, Juniiii said:

Btw being in a tight budget like this is a horrible idea.

Yeah... Maybe i just need to wait a little while and save up. Thanks!

[kdawwgg1221]

13 minutes ago, manikyath said:

no.. just no..

 

the only reason you'd get a portable desktop setup, is if you have to move spaces semi-regularly (for example teens who go between mom/dad house in a divorced family situation)

This directly correlates to my situation. I just built a new desktop and it is a pretty big pain to have to move it back and forth from my moms and dads. I move the computer at least once a week. Save yourself the trouble and go in on a decent laptop. @seejayseewhy

 

Edited February 15, 2019 by kdawwgg1221
Forgot to tag user

[Bananasplit_00]

its super impractical for school work unless you just build a shitty laptop basically, for LANs a portable setup is great but not when you need to move around between classes and other places

[manikyath]

1 minute ago, kdawwgg1221 said:

at least once a week

at least once a week is too much to bother. maybe makes more sense if it's every other week or so.

[kdawwgg1221]

1 minute ago, manikyath said:

at least once a week is too much to bother. maybe makes more sense if it's every other week or so.

 that is why I suggest a laptop. I enjoy my desktop as well but it seems he is looking for true convenience

[Imbellis]

16 minutes ago, GeoSquigg said:

"pretty low budget," Smaller builds cost as much, if not more than an equally powerful ATX system. For whatever reason, ITX costs a ton of money.

 

In general, ITX is not much more expensive (In some cases it can actually be cheaper) than ATX. The only parts that are often more expensive are the PSU and often Case (PSUS have to have a higher wattage-density and for case, there is a smaller market, so premium cases are more often made - leaving the low-end basically non-existent).

 

I wouldn't recommend lugging around a SFF PC to school. It's just a pain to have in addition to books and papers and you need to have peripherals and power to connect to if you plan to use the PC (which is something you don't need to worry about with a laptop).

[Giganthrax]

Lugging your monitor, keyboard, mouse, and PC case everywhere is a nightmare. Just get a laptop, laptops are awesome. 

[Fasauceome]

12 hours ago, GeoSquigg said:

For whatever reason, ITX costs a ton of money

Motherboard optimization, R&D costs make for a generally more expensive board as well as a requirement for higher quality components. Spec for spec, an ITX PC will always cost more than its ATX counterpart.

[NineEyeRon]

15 minutes ago, fasauceome said:

Motherboard optimization, R&D costs make for a generally more expensive board as well as a requirement for higher quality components. Spec for spec, an ITX PC will always cost more than its ATX counterpart.

I disagree, I built an ITX system and the only difference was about 20% on the motherboard cost, I think I recall the ATX MoBo being about £20 less than my ITX one at £104.

 

It only costs more if your looking to build in a case that is small enough to carry around like luggage and you need an SFX PSU, which again add a increase cost for equivalent components.

 

So maybe a $600 PC becomes a $700 PC for true SFF but you save $500 by not having to buy two PCs.

 

Thanks to ATX like ITX cases which take ATX PSUs, ITX now doesn't mean massive cost increase. True SFF still does increase cost however but its worth the extra for the return.

 

Now I can carry my Fractal Nano S case around if needed, if I take a backpack for wires and peripherals. The only issue is monitor carrying, which you can get bags or covers for. Some LAN carry bags even have space for peripherals! https://en.roccat.org/Accessories/Tusko 

[Fasauceome]

6 minutes ago, NineEyeRon said:

I disagree, I built an ITX system and the only difference was about 20% on the motherboard cost, I think I recall the ATX MoBo being about £20 less than my ITX one at £104.

well it depends on more factors, for instance what motherboards? An ITX motherboard with good features is going to be much more expensive than an ATX motherboard with good features, while an ITX board with basic features will cost more along the lines of a good ATX board. 

ITX AM4 motherboards for instance are pretty pricey, the cheapest is an A320 board at $100 and I'd never recommend A320 for a good PC. Another $15 or so up for a B350, and a few more bucks for a B450. On the other hand, an equally good ATX will run you about $75.

ITX is a form factor of compromise, so it's not perfect but it is fun.

[NineEyeRon]

Just now, fasauceome said:

well it depends on more factors, for instance what motherboards?

This is true, going for the 1080p 144Hz non overclock build I didnt see that much difference. It would be another case, as you pointed out @fasauceome, if the person is building a higher spec rig.

 

But LAN rigs just need to be 1080p 144Hz and 4k gaming isnt worth it right  

 

1080p is KING!

[Fasauceome]

Just now, NineEyeRon said:

But LAN rigs just need to be 1080p 144Hz and 4k gaming isnt worth it right

I agree, but

how does that relate to ITX board pricing? Unless you mean to say that 144Hz corresponds to ITX and 4K corresponds to ATX, and pricing follows suit, but I'm not exactly sure if that's quite right.

[Mooshi]

As someone with a laptop and itx build, the mini rig in practice isn't all that portable. Sure the case is a compact cube, but monitors take up space as does a decent keyboard.

 

You can't just casually take a desktop + extras on a bus or a plane like you can a laptop - that's just a fact.

[NineEyeRon]

16 minutes ago, fasauceome said:

I agree, but

how does that relate to ITX board pricing? Unless you mean to say that 144Hz corresponds to ITX and 4K corresponds to ATX, and pricing follows suit, but I'm not exactly sure if that's quite right.

I don't think I explained it well, I was talking about high end MoBos of either form factor and agreeing with your explanation that a high end ATX MoBo will be less expensive for the features vs a high end ITX MoBo. With the line of thinking that a basic 1080p gaming rig can get away with a lower end system such as mine but 4K will require a certain level of features across a system.

[GeoSquigg]

On 2/15/2019 at 11:28 PM, campy said:

>e series

gross

tell your boss to buy you a T series 

We have towers now .. i7 7700k's with quadros lol .. HP z240? I believe 

[LukeLinusFanFic]

What's so bad about laptops? The performance can be adequate enough.

 

If you just hate dealing with laptop keyboards and mousepads, connect it to a screen and work like that. Getting a small computer and moving it around with all the peripherals is beyond me. Not even for twice a week. Not worth