Laptop Or Tower?

[EZBakeNShake]

I have a Lenovo Legion 5 Pro (RTX 3070 Ti, Ryzen 7 6800H, 32GB DDR5, 2 TB NVME) and it's been giving me issues. First 6 months I got it it was having major blue screens, almost constant. I sent it in for repair about a week ago as it was basically bricked. This isn't the first time I've had laptop trouble though, I've gone through 4 in the last 3 years. First was a MacBook Air 2021 and 3 days after I bought it (brand new mind you) one of the keys broke. Then I got a Dell G5, that was basically bricked after a year. Then I got an ASUS TUF Gaming laptop and that starting having graphics related BSODs, then I bought my Legion 5 Pro. That broke too, it seems I am cursed with laptops. When I receive my Legion back from Lenovo I plan to sell it for as much as I bought it for ($2k USD) and build a tower with a $2k budget for at home use, and buy a cheap travel laptop. I travel a lot, so that's why I wanted a gaming laptop primarily. Should I keep the gaming laptop or build a tower and sell it?

[venomtail]

I travel a lot as well and coming to my own personal conclusion, I cannot think of a different timeline of me not having a "main" desktop and a light laptop. I've tried carrying around bricks and it's just not worth it.

 

For reference I have a 2019 Acer swift 3. It has an APU and struggles to "games" in the normal sense but in reality it's not that bad actually because when you're on the move you never have time to sit down and play anything serious to begin with. Playing games on the go is to the point where I just take my phone with me and a controller, play GTA SA, Grid Autosports and Don't starve. Like I'm not gonna play Competitive CS2 or else when on the move. I'm not gonna sit down and be immersed in Cyperpunk for 12h in a row on a laptop.

 

I don't think many realise how much they'd not actually missing out on by not having a gaming laptop.

[EZBakeNShake]

24 minutes ago, venomtail said:

I travel a lot as well and coming to my own personal conclusion, I cannot think of a different timeline of me not having a "main" desktop and a light laptop. I've tried carrying around bricks and it's just not worth it.

 

For reference I have a 2019 Acer swift 3. It has an APU and struggles to "games" in the normal sense but in reality it's not that bad actually because when you're on the move you never have time to sit down and play anything serious to begin with. Playing games on the go is to the point where I just take my phone with me and a controller, play GTA SA, Grid Autosports and Don't starve. Like I'm not gonna play Competitive CS2 or else when on the move. I'm not gonna sit down and be immersed in Cyperpunk for 12h in a row on a laptop.

 

I don't think many realise how much they'd not actually missing out on by not having a gaming laptop.

So you think it's a good idea to have a light travel laptop and an at home desktop?

[TatamiMatt]

If you wanted a portable gaming system and a desktop, you could build the desktop and suffice without a portable gaming rig until youve saved up some and buy a portable handheld device like a switch, steamdeck etc

[venomtail]

2 minutes ago, EZBakeNShake said:

So you think it's a good idea to have a light travel laptop and an at home desktop?

As someone who travels often, yes. My configuration is a home desktop and small portable laptop to play some indie games or old AAA if I have a free afternoon or something. Because I also can't guarantee a comfortable desk, a place to put mouse and so on, I tend to carry around a controller and play controller friendly games.

[EZBakeNShake]

14 minutes ago, TatamiMatt said:

If you wanted a portable gaming system and a desktop, you could build the desktop and suffice without a portable gaming rig until youve saved up some and buy a portable handheld device like a switch, steamdeck etc

It's not that I want to game at a hotel or something, while that would be nice. I primarily want the specs on the go so I can run any demanding software I want. (e.g. premiere pro)

[EZBakeNShake]

13 minutes ago, venomtail said:

As someone who travels often, yes. My configuration is a home desktop and small portable laptop to play some indie games or old AAA if I have a free afternoon or something. Because I also can't guarantee a comfortable desk, a place to put mouse and so on, I tend to carry around a controller and play controller friendly games.

Ok. What if you had to do video editing on the go? Would you do a gaming laptop then?

[venomtail]

2 minutes ago, EZBakeNShake said:

Ok. What if you had to do video editing on the go? Would you do a gaming laptop then?

Nope. I'd just get whatever I can that will render the fastest in a small chassis and still not get a brick, even if that means a minute longer render times.

[EZBakeNShake]

19 minutes ago, venomtail said:

Nope. I'd just get whatever I can that will render the fastest in a small chassis and still not get a brick, even if that means a minute longer render times.

Rendering fast with a "cheap" laptop is not possible for me. Best I can do within my laptop budget is a Ryzen 5 5600U, 8GBs of soldered ram ( ) and 512gb SSD.