Are gaming laptops worth it for university

[Dylan-L_0927]

Going to university, my siblings and I get a $1200 budget to buy a laptop. On the other hand, I've been considering buying a cheaper laptop for roughly $600 and building a PC.

Here's what I have specced out,

r5 3500x

msi b450 tomahawk

rx580

550w psu

500Gb ssd

16Gb 3000MHz 
(I have my own peripherals)

 

Should I just buy a gaming laptop instead? Considering I can probably get a better specs on a laptop than if I split the budget.

[Mling]

You are screwed if it gets broken/stolen.

[RAM555789]

No way your going to be able to build that PC for $600 unless you find some really nice used deals. I would only go the gaming PC + laptop route IF you can actually find a built out system maybe without the GPU for $400 and you should be able to get a decent used GPU for $200 or less. Honestly when I was at college I found myself rarely brining laptops to classes. Any classes that required me to need to use a PC like technical writing classes, math(which is pretty much all online, text books were not required), ect. all had PCs. You'll really appreciate the flexibility of notebooks and hand written notes unless you have some kind of disability that makes that not possible. If your comminuting to college that would be another case where you are gonna want a laptop, but beyond that like living on campus I found I could get by on a chromebook just fine if I wanted to get out of my dorm room to cram or get some kind of work done. Microsoft apps are all accessible online. 

 

TLDR: Chromebooks are like sub $200 are are a good option if you can access everything online.

[TetraSky]

Gaming laptops usually have horrendous battery life and are massive/heavy (every gram matter when your school books are heavy enough as it is)

They aren't a great choice for students, unless you literally only keep it in your room and never bring it to a lecture or something like that.

 

A better choice for students, if everything needed for your course can be done "online", is a regular quad core chromebook. They are fast(if it's an x86 quad core CPU... Avoid dual cores and low end ARM CPUs from yesteryear that are still being sold for some insane reason... Look for reviews and CPU benchmarks), cheap, thin, lightweight and typically have actual super long battery life while using it (like 6 to 10+ hours, not idle, but working on it). With the web version of Office 365 (that's often given out for free to students as part of your schooling to begin with... Unless that's not a thing where you live?) or Google Docs, you can pretty much do all you need to do in class.

 

If I were you, I'd take the Desktop PC + the laptop (be it a chromebook or a thin&light windows laptop that fits that budget... maybe used?).

[Darth Wilhelm]

2 hours ago, Dylan-L_0927 said:

Going to university, my siblings and I get a $1200 budget to buy a laptop. On the other hand, I've been considering buying a cheaper laptop for roughly $600 and building a PC.

Here's what I have specced out,

r5 3500x

msi b450 tomahawk

rx580

550w psu

500Gb ssd

16Gb 3000MHz 
(I have my own peripherals)

 

Should I just buy a gaming laptop instead? Considering I can probably get a better specs on a laptop than if I split the budget.

I'm gonna say no. I would go with the opposite extreme, I think you should get a Chromebook.

 

Granted I don't know what you're doing at Uni, if you're using CAD or Solidworks, you will need more computing muscle. But if you aren't a Chromebook should do just fine.

 

A $300 chromebook would allow for a $900 PC which could move you up a GPU tier.

[NineEyeRon]

Chrome book for university.

[m.a.d.m.a.x]

What are you going to study?

 

I am close to finishing my mechanical engineering master's degree and a Chromebook would have been a really bad choice. 

 

My laptop that mainly brought me trough uni was a dual graphics Lenovo Y510p which was considered a gaming laptop back then. Had it for 7 years without any problem. The first 4 years it was used very heavily (after that time I bought a desktop). 

Now I bought an ASUS G14 because I wanted to have something smaller. Battery life is great, temps. are great (when lowering the CPU speed) even when gaming, it's small and light. 

 

When using CAx, programming, rendering etc. buy a good laptop. 

[LAwLz]

It sounds like you might be very immature. Think of it from your parents point of view. 

They are giving you 1200 dollars as a budget to buy something necessary for your education. Your respons to this is to buy something cheap and then buy yourself a (presumably) PC to play games on. Honestly, if my kid did that I'd have them return the desktop and give all but the money for the laptop back. 

Thst money is for buying things to use at uni, not a gaming desktop to have at home. Also, the budget is the maximum amount to spend. If you find a laptop for 900 dollars then go for that. 

 

Don't be reckless and ungrateful with the money just because it's your parents and not your own. 

 

 

Also, as the others have said, it depends on what yo are going to study. For some performance and Win32 compatibility is necessary. For others battery life is necessary. A stylus is great if you're going to be doing math on your laptop. 

[A51UK]

If you're going to do a computing or engineering or graphics you need a game laptop or and a high-end PC. I would get both. I did computing but if I did not have end laptop it would be a pain as you have to work with software that need high performance. Chromebook would be no good at all unless I'm doing something like History or English that does not use any high performance software. 

 

What degree you are doing? 

 

Just note, you cannot rely on computer labs, as there can get very busy or cannot the software on them that you need, but sometimes you have to use them for some software that you cannot get. So getting a high-end laptop or computer that can run the software make your life easily but a hell of lot. Specials computer labs for like for computer students only that software that you need but cannot getting in any other computer  in the university (e.g. Visual Studio) get very busy and run out of space all the time. So have your own system helps a lot. 

  

[Dylan-L_0927]

1 hour ago, LAwLz said:

It sounds like you might be very immature. Think of it from your parents point of view. 

They are giving you 1200 dollars as a budget to buy something necessary for your education. Your respons to this is to buy something cheap and then buy yourself a (presumably) PC to play games on. Honestly, if my kid did that I'd have them return the desktop and give all but the money for the laptop back. 

Thst money is for buying things to use at uni, not a gaming desktop to have at home. Also, the budget is the maximum amount to spend. If you find a laptop for 900 dollars then go for that. 

 

Don't be reckless and ungrateful with the money just because it's your parents and not your own. 

 

 

Also, as the others have said, it depends on what yo are going to study. For some performance and Win32 compatibility is necessary. For others battery life is necessary. A stylus is great if you're going to be doing math on your laptop. 

Thanks for the response, perhaps your right about choosing laptops to help save a buck. But I'd like to play some games with friends from time to time. I'll consider your suggestion.

[Dylan-L_0927]

I should probably add I'm considering studying computer engineering or sound engineering, and with the latter I'm not sure if it'd require much power

[m.a.d.m.a.x]

When studying computer engineering, I would definitely consider a more powerful laptop. 

Regarding sound engineering....I have no experiences with that but I can imagine there are also task that are using more computing power. 

 

I think with a new gaming laptop, you won't have problems with esport titles or even recent AAA ones. As time goes past, you will have to lower your settings with new titles. 

I would consider something with a 1660ti or even a 2060 to be somewhat "futureproof". But that depents on the offers in your country. In Austria where I live for example, laptops are way more expensive than in the US. My new one is more than 700€ cheaper in the US.

 

 

 

[LAwLz]

42 minutes ago, Dylan-L_0927 said:

Thanks for the response, perhaps your right about choosing laptops to help save a buck. But I'd like to play some games with friends from time to time. I'll consider your suggestion.

Sorry for calling you immature and thanks for saying thanks.

I just want you to consider it from the POV of your parents as well. 

 

 

39 minutes ago, Dylan-L_0927 said:

I should probably add I'm considering studying computer engineering or sound engineering, and with the latter I'm not sure if it'd require much power

In that case then I think it's pretty safe to say that Chromebooks are not really an option. You will most likely want something that can run Win32 programs.

I am not really sure what performance level you need to study computer engineering or sound engineering these days. I studied networking and data communications and I was fine with a core 2 duo and 4GB of RAM because the school provided us with virtual servers in their datacenter for the heavy tasks, and my laptop was more than enough for SSH:ing into network equipment or note taking. It was a pain in the ass to do math on it though (hence why I recommend a laptop with a pen in case you are going to do lots of math. Either that or regular pen and paper).

 

If you look at the curriculum you might be able to see which programs you are going to be using. From there you might be able to figure out what performance you need.

My best advice to you is:

1) You often don't need that much performance for uni classes. Note taking can be done on a potato PC, when you're first starting out with programs you usually only have very light workloads ,and if you're going to run really heavy applications then the school might provide you with computers for it (a lot of times they can't design a course to require really powerful PCs).

2) Battery life and portability are important. Lugging around a big and heavy laptop all the time gets annoying very quickly. You preferably want it light, silent, with a good battery life and a screen that's nice to look at.

3) If you're going to do lots of math, then get a PC with stylus support. Doing math with a mouse and keyboard sucks. Pen and paper works really well too, but I find it to be easier to be organized if it's on a computer. That varies from person to person though. Whatever you do, don't expect to do math with keyboard and mouse though.

4) Show some consideration to your parents. They are giving you this money to try and help you with your studies, not so that you can play games with your friends. You got that money so that you can buy a laptop for uni. That is the number 1 priority. Don't skimp on the laptop just because you want to play games with your buddies. That is very disrespectful to your parents. 

[FRD]

I think a gaming PC and gaming laptop are in this case not comparable actually. Yes, sure a gaming PC is nicer, but you would need the portability of a laptop. Unless you don't bring your laptop to school and do all your work at home/in your dorm.
I personally have a HP Omen laptop and gladly it's not that heavy and it's pretty thin, so fine to carry around and still packs a punch. However, looking at a gaming laptop I would get one with good battery life and not the best specs you could get. Factor in things too like screen size, weight, battery life, etc. Perhaps an option for you is even a Ryzen APU laptop, the newer ones seem to be pretty good and you can handle mid-range/e-sport 1080p gaming on it as well. Unless you want to get an expensive gaming laptop with RTX, 144hz screen, etc.

[Heliian]

So, what does your course curriculum dictate as necessary or recommended.  Don't buy anything until you know what you need for the actual courses you are taking and what you want to do.  If you are doing your own sound then you'll probably need a couple thousand in hardware and then software, which is also pricey.  

Contrary to popular belief, you don't need an rtx3090 to do CAD work.  Check the requirements on your needed software, don't go minimum though, aim slightly above that. 

 

[Dylan-L_0927]

1 hour ago, LAwLz said:

Sorry for calling you immature and thanks for saying thanks.

I just want you to consider it from the POV of your parents as well. 

 

 

In that case then I think it's pretty safe to say that Chromebooks are not really an option. You will most likely want something that can run Win32 programs.

I am not really sure what performance level you need to study computer engineering or sound engineering these days. I studied networking and data communications and I was fine with a core 2 duo and 4GB of RAM because the school provided us with virtual servers in their datacenter for the heavy tasks, and my laptop was more than enough for SSH:ing into network equipment or note taking. It was a pain in the ass to do math on it though (hence why I recommend a laptop with a pen in case you are going to do lots of math. Either that or regular pen and paper).

 

If you look at the curriculum you might be able to see which programs you are going to be using. From there you might be able to figure out what performance you need.

My best advice to you is:

1) You often don't need that much performance for uni classes. Note taking can be done on a potato PC, when you're first starting out with programs you usually only have very light workloads ,and if you're going to run really heavy applications then the school might provide you with computers for it (a lot of times they can't design a course to require really powerful PCs).

2) Battery life and portability are important. Lugging around a big and heavy laptop all the time gets annoying very quickly. You preferably want it light, silent, with a good battery life and a screen that's nice to look at.

3) If you're going to do lots of math, then get a PC with stylus support. Doing math with a mouse and keyboard sucks. Pen and paper works really well too, but I find it to be easier to be organized if it's on a computer. That varies from person to person though. Whatever you do, don't expect to do math with keyboard and mouse though.

4) Show some consideration to your parents. They are giving you this money to try and help you with your studies, not so that you can play games with your friends. You got that money so that you can buy a laptop for uni. That is the number 1 priority. Don't skimp on the laptop just because you want to play games with your buddies. That is very disrespectful to your parents. 

I do have an old dell around, a core 2 duo e8400 system with 4GB ddr2 and no graphics card. Im pretty sure the psu is 255w. Do you think i could stick something like a gtx750ti or  a gt710 if needed? it could give me a pretty ok gaming experience since i only want to play valorant, minecraft and osu. this way should let me spend less on a new laptop and also have a "gaming" pc system

[m.a.d.m.a.x]

  

1 hour ago, LAwLz said:

4) Show some consideration to your parents. They are giving you this money to try and help you with your studies, not so that you can play games with your friends. You got that money so that you can buy a laptop for uni. That is the number 1 priority. Don't skimp on the laptop just because you want to play games with your buddies. That is very disrespectful to your parents. 

I think it's a bit harsh, to always mention beeing disrespectful to his parents. 

Just be transparent to your parents. Ask them what they think about it. 

Thinking, uni life is waking up, going to class, preparing for the upcoming classes, learning and then going to sleep and repeat seems to be a bit utopian. 

I'd rather have a kid that plays games with its friends (!in its free time!) than a kid, destroying its liver, doing drugs, getting depressed etc. Especially in the current situation. 

I am not allowed to go to uni for 4 months now. I can't see my friends because of social distancing and the current lockdown. I am in an empty dorm, 200km from home. I am pretty thankful, that there is the possibility to talk to your friends via discord and play games with them occasionally. 

 

I'd take a good spec'd Laptop. With a budget of 800 to 1200$, there are plenty of options. Check your curriculum and think about your personal preferences. Differeneciate on what you need and what you would like to have. Maybe present a selection of models to your parents and ask them what they think. Take your time and do not make quick decisions. 

In my opinion, a budget PC and a cheap laptop won't make you happy in the long run and upgrading an ancient PC won't give you a good gaming experience at all. 

[Blade of Grass]

From my experience studying computer science I would highly recommend a good laptop, but not a gaming laptop. Everyone I know who bought a gaming laptop hated their life because they’re heavy and have generally terrible battery life, which can really be annoying if you have any long days and don’t have access to outlets. 
 

Something thin and light with good performance (XPS, X1 Carbon, MacBook Pro, etc) is likely ideal. Likely you can offload a bunch of heavier work to a school server anyway via SSH. 
Only a few of my courses have required high performance, but they all gave us access to special computing resources to do them (ex: my big data course let us use the schools data science computing cluster, the graphics course let’s students use a special lab with a bunch of high-end PCs with high-end GPUs). I know similar things exist for engineering students if you need certain software that’s resource intensive, like simulations, CAD, etc.