PC or Laptop (Gaming)

[Kinuubi]

Like the title says I want to choose between building a PC or buying a gaming laptop. Now before the "of course PC" comments come in I want to state that my room is pretty small and not that good ventilation, since it was "converted" from a storage room to a bedroom. I was considering the new Razer Blade Pro, but would a PC be better? I don't have that much room for a tower and a monitor, but I can make some with a lot of cramming? Just wanted some opinons. Laptop or PC for now?

[ADZ_123_!"£]

You could build a MATX or MITX pc which would be very small or you can have the tower on the floor.

[pwn_intended]

it all comes down to budget. did you have one in mind?

[Dzzope]

Mitx.. Better performance, similar space and MUCH more comfortable to use..

 

Only reason to go lappy is if you need the portability.

 

 

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[Kinuubi]

Another thing about my room is that it gets dusty very easily. I can only put the case on the floor and it might get too dusty to run properly without constant cleaning. My budget max really is about the Blade Pro lol.

[CatzRuleZWorld]

A desktop would probably be easier to clean dust out of than a laptop...

[Kinuubi]

A desktop would probably be easier to clean dust out of than a laptop...

The laptop would be on a desk though. Rather on the floor where most of the dust gathers. I can always open up the laptop and clean it as well as the desktop. It's just the case will be on the floor gather a lot more dust.

[CatzRuleZWorld]

The laptop would be on a desk though. Rather on the floor where most of the dust gathers. I can always open up the laptop and clean it as well as the desktop. It's just the case will be on the floor gather a lot more dust.

I don't know if dust is really going to be much of a problem though. What if you vacuum or sweep your floor with the pc off every week or something? Desktop hardware is just so much faster and more versatile than mobile stuff.

[Guest]

Sounds a bit like you're making reasons to get the laptop.

 

Honestly, if you really can't fit the desktop in your room then get one. It's worth noting though that laptops in my experience have more troubles with hot rooms and poor ventilation than even the tiniest of desktop builds. There's just not a lot of room for heat to dissipate in a chassis thats often less than an inch thick these days.

 

That said, the Razer Blade is a wonderful notebook and as a fan of laptops myself, I say if you want it get it. While you lose upgradability from a desktop notebooks certainly have their advantages. Like movies in bed, easy transportation to LAN parties, and gaming while traveling.

[Kinuubi]

I don't know if dust is really going to be much of a problem though. What if you vacuum or sweep your floor with the pc off every week or something? Desktop hardware is just so much faster and more versatile than mobile stuff.

I could do that. Don't know why I didn't think of it lol. My home gets really dusty for some reason. The dust that accumulates is ridiculous.

 

Sounds a bit like you're making reasons to get the laptop.

 

Honestly, if you really can't fit the desktop in your room then get one. It's worth noting though that laptops in my experience have more troubles with hot rooms and poor ventilation than even the tiniest of desktop builds. There's just not a lot of room for heat to dissipate in a chassis thats often less than an inch thick these days.

 

That said, the Razer Blade is a wonderful notebook and as a fan of laptops myself, I say if you want it get it. While you lose upgradability from a desktop notebooks certainly have their advantages. Like movies in bed, easy transportation to LAN parties, and gaming while traveling.

It does sound like it lol, but I actually wanted a PC, but the space is an issue and I have no problems with a gaming laptop. I don't really game while traveling. A small case would be good as well. It's just each has their pros and cons and are pretty equal to me in my situation.

[kingkickolas]

What are y'all talking about? You can get a well-ventilated, cool, powerful, upgradeable laptop!

Obviously not as much as a desktop, but you may be surprised at how close it can come.

 

You may want to take a look at some Clevo re-sellers. (XoticPC is a re-seller that has a lot--or maybe all?--of the Clevo/Sager models on their site, if you want to take a look.) There are some tier 1 manufacturers that also make very well-built laptops, but I'll let other people suggest them, as I'm not as well informed about them.

@D2ultima (sorry to volunteer you) knows more about the Clevo models that can fit desktop CPUs (like a 4690 or even 4790k) and keep them well cooled. Battery life is not great and I'm sure it's pretty bulky, but you can travel with it to LANs or to bed or what-have-you.

 

Another great option (that I'm going to be using for my desktop replacement) is the Eurocom M5 Pro (NoteBookReview.com), based on the Clevo PS650SE.

You get a quad-core processor, up to 980m for gaming, and fully upgradeable RAM, storage (with tons of options, and even PCIe m.2 slots), even the Wi-Fi and the panel.

The build quality is excellent, and it stays cool even under load. And the battery life on it is even a few hours (3-4 or more).

If those specs are what you're looking for, then you don't need a desktop, you can be perfectly well served with a laptop--and you gain portability!

But again, it's not as upgradeable as a desktop, but it's pretty damn close.

 

And if your budget is a Razer Blade Pro, you can configure yourself a pretty sweet Clevo!

 

That said, the Razer Blade is a wonderful notebook and as a fan of laptops myself, I say if you want it get it. While you lose upgradability from a desktop notebooks certainly have their advantages. Like movies in bed, easy transportation to LAN parties, and gaming while traveling.

 

And can we please stop saying that the Razer Blade is a well-built machine? 

 

 

 

Edit: Sorry, should have included a review of the M5 Pro. Added it.

[Kinuubi]

 

What are y'all talking about? You can get a well-ventilated, cool, powerful, upgradeable laptop!

Obviously not as much as a desktop, but you may be surprised at how close it can come.

 

You may want to take a look at some Clevo re-sellers. (XoticPC is a re-seller that has a lot--or maybe all?--of the Clevo/Sager models on their site, if you want to take a look.) There are some tier 1 manufacturers that also make very well-built laptops, but I'll let other people suggest them, as I'm not as well informed about them.

@D2ultima (sorry to volunteer you) knows more about the Clevo models that can fit desktop CPUs (like a 4690 or even 4790k) and keep them well cooled. Battery life is not great and I'm sure it's pretty bulky, but you can travel with it to LANs or to bed or what-have-you.

 

Another great option (that I'm going to be using for my desktop replacement) is the Eurocom M5 Pro (NoteBookReview.com), based on the Clevo PS650SE.

You get a quad-core processor, up to 980m for gaming, and fully upgradeable RAM, storage (with tons of options, and even PCIe m.2 slots), even the Wi-Fi and the panel.

The build quality is excellent, and it stays cool even under load. And the battery life on it is even a few hours (3-4 or more).

If those specs are what you're looking for, then you don't need a desktop, you can be perfectly well served with a laptop--and you gain portability!

But again, it's not as upgradeable as a desktop, but it's pretty damn close.

 

And if your budget is a Razer Blade Pro, you can configure yourself a pretty sweet Clevo!

 

 

And can we please stop saying that the Razer Blade is a well-built machine? 

 

 

 

Edit: Sorry, should have included a review of the M5 Pro. Added it.

 

Looks good. I'll have to look more into it later. Thanks. What's wrong with the Blade?

[kingkickolas]

Looks good. I'll have to look more into it later. Thanks. What's wrong with the Blade?

Better to read the posts from the links I embedded, but essentially its build quality is not as premium as they say (it just looks like that), it overheats and thermal-throttles, and the size/internal layout of the notebook cannot handle the gear they put in it.

But again, I'm just paraphrasing those posts from my understanding.

[Kinuubi]

Better to read the posts from the links I embedded, but essentially its build quality is not as premium as they say (it just looks like that), it overheats and thermal-throttles, and the size/internal layout of the notebook cannot handle the gear they put in it.

But again, I'm just paraphrasing those posts.

Ah ok. I had a similar issue with a Sony Vaio "gaming" laptop. It heats up so quickly and the fan was crazy loud. I guess I'll have to look into the Blade more in depth.

[D2ultima]

@D2ultima (sorry to volunteer you) 

 

Another great option (that I'm going to be using for my desktop replacement) is the Eurocom M5 Pro (NoteBookReview.com), based on the Clevo PS650SE.

You get a quad-core processor, up to 980m for gaming, and fully upgradeable RAM, storage (with tons of options, and even PCIe m.2 slots), even the Wi-Fi and the panel.

 

 

If those specs are what you're looking for, then you don't need a desktop, you can be perfectly well served with a laptop--and you gain portability!

But again, it's not as upgradeable as a desktop, but it's pretty damn close.

I don't mind.

 

The Eurocom model is a bit expensive, but the P650Sx models are pretty good for the thin machines. A little correction though; since the CPU and GPU are soldered in the P6xxSx models, the letter after the S denotes the GPU. P6xxSA = 965M, P6xxSE = 970M and P6xxSG = 980M. The middle number is 15" or 17" (P670SG is a 17" model with a 980M, for example) and the third number which is usually a 0 simply denotes the finish of the machine. There's brushed aluminum and sandblasted finishes, but I'm not sure if people sell the sandblasted ones too much.

 

The P7xxZM models are the ones with upgradeable CPU and GPU. The P1xxSM-A models are end of life though you can buy a couple of them still, I think. There's even a couple "new" variants; the P750GM-Z and the P770ZM-G, which use Gsync. I'd suggest the P770ZM-G over the P750GM-Z as the latter MUST be using a 4K panel, and even with a 980M I wouldn't consider 4K "great".

 

Ah ok. I had a similar issue with a Sony Vaio "gaming" laptop. It heats up so quickly and the fan was crazy loud. I guess I'll have to look into the Blade more in depth.

The blade (and every single laptop in its thickness; the Aorus X7, Aorus X5 (which just released, mind), the Gigabyte P34W, Gigabyte P35x, Gigabyte P37x, MSI GS60, MSI GS70, etc) have the problem where their CPUs are way way too hot. They overheat easily with any half-demanding CPU-intensive game, and they ALL are quite loud under such load. Even the GPUs are prone to throttle in the P34 and Aorus X7 (not sure about X5 yet). NORMALLY the GPUs they're using (970Ms, 965M SLI in the Aorus X5) would be much weaker, like an 860M or a 960M. Previously the Razer Blade used 560M and 660M and 765M GPUs, which were quite weak all things considered, because of the heat. They could not put anything stronger in there, because of the heat, even if many games don't push the CPU into a throttle-ish temperature so they mostly get away with that. The 900M series however is so incredibly cool (and strong) that they could put cards as strong as the 970M in those machines mostly without problem (the P34 and the Aorus X7 can throttle 970Ms however). But it doesn't fix the CPU issues, and to achieve such small sizes they cut out I/O ports like HDD slots etc.

 

In other words, they put hardware into a chassis not designed for it. A lot of people take it and use it below the specs where it starts failing however (CS:GO, League of Legends, etc) and then call the machines fine. GTA V lately has been so CPU demanding and GPU demanding that a lot of users' laptops have started overheating when playing it.

 

It's why I push for the P6xxSx series for people who want a fairly thin model. It does its cooling job well, and it's a fairly small machine, and it has a good amount of storage options and such. It's not that I'm a Clevo fanboy, but rather that no matter how I look at things, they have the best lineup. If MSI somehow killed the HQ CPUs' power limitations in their GT72 and GT80, then I would rank them top tier right alongside the P770ZM and P37xSM-A etc. But they didn't, so I cannot. As far as I can see it, everybody else wants you to pay more to get inferior products. The only thing is that Clevo doesn't have a superthin line like MSI, Gigabyte and Razer do. I WOULD say that MSI has the best out of the superthin models, but I am loathe to recommend those thin machines unless someone absolutely wants them, for reasons I already explained.

[vembutech]

Laptops CPUs, HDD and the like lack the physical specs from a hardware perspective to even compete with a desktop. The laptop parts cannot even take the power that desktops can put out. It's really a no brainer. In order to game on your laptop, you will have to take out the battery and play it with the power cord plugged in. Otherwise, the battery will get fried/overheat, etc. And if you game with just the battery, you will not get nearly the performance.

[Kinuubi]

Thank you for everyone's feedback. I decided to just save up for a PC. I rearranged my room and made space for a tower. Thank you everyone!