Desktop Replacement Laptop

luxiconn · May 8, 2021

So 2021 was supposed to be the year I do a new build (on a 5 year refresh cycle) but with the state of the GPU market it doesn't really make sense to do that right now and it doesn't look like it's going to get better in 2021. Unfortunately no one has told my desktop this and it's starting to have some issues. Trying to think of a solution in case my desktop does give up the ghost before the GPU market settles down I started looking at laptops as a potential upgrade path that could last me 3-5 years with proper care and peripherals (external GPU, upgradable RAM and SSD).

I'm hoping that someone could give me some suggestions or let me know know if this is a pipe dream.

Some considerations

Portability isn't a huge concern as it will spend 95% of it's life on my desk
Price is between 2500-3000 USD
Windows 10 Pro would come with the laptop (On top of gaming I do a lot of programming where virtualization (i.e. Docker) is a must)
32 GB of RAM to support said virtualization
I'm wanting to target 1440p 144Hz without RT (will be purchasing 1440p 144Hz monitor(s) this year along with this purchase)
I don't have a preference on Intel vs AMD for CPU (my i7-6700K isn't currently a bottleneck as far as I can tell)

Chris Pratt · May 8, 2021

Just get a prebuilt. If you're mostly not going to use it as a laptop, anyways, you'll get far more bang for your buck with a prebuilt desktop. Even if you want to go mobile, you can get a Chromebook for all it matters and use something like Steam Link to play on the laptop from your desktop PC.

Also, Pro isn't necessary for Docker anymore, since it now uses WSL2. You only needed Pro because of Docker's previous dependency on Hyper-V.

Intergalacticbits · May 9, 2021

Yeah what he said. I saw on a video recently that the prebuilt companies have plenty of graphics cards because they apparently order parts far in advance.

I can't remember who made that video but they were saying stuff like the prices at this time are reasonable for prebuilts.

Even if you hate prebuilt systems.

You could still just get a nice prebuilt system for way less then the budget you said just to hold you over for now.

HP, DELL or one of the gaming prebuilt companies.

Say around $1800.00 US and then do something different later when things come back to normal.