Got $3500, laptop or pc?

[donggun222]

Hello, im a student and I would like either a pc or  laptop to handle daily school work and some light gaming. My budget is 3500$. PC seems to be the cheaper choice but im not sure whether to sacrifice portability for cheaper price. Any suggestions?

[xDanielxOossiex]

What games would you like to play on it?

[Slottr]

With 3500 you can get both a good pc and a decent laptop 

[dobo2001]

1 minute ago, donggun222 said:

Hello, im a student and I would like either a pc or  laptop to handle daily school work and some light gaming. My budget is 3500$. PC seems to be the cheaper choice but im not sure whether to sacrifice portability for cheaper price. Any suggestions?

First off, no matter which way you go, you do not need to spend $3500 for light gaming and school work. If you need something that you can carry around to your classes, laptop is the obvious choice. Do you need to bring it places? If you wanted to you could build a $2500 PC, which is great, and have $1000 leftover for a nice laptop. I think this would be the best way to go as you're not getting much more performance past the $2500 range in either desktop or laptop.

[ProjectBox153]

Where are you located? What is the main workload (current games, etc.)? 

[iRileyx]

If youre only doing schoolwork and light gaming you wont even need 3500 for a good enough build, with that budget you could get a desktop + laptop capable of both  

[Moress]

You could easily get a great gaming pc and Laptop capable of day to day tasks withing 2000-2500

[Shiv78]

XPS 13 and a 1K gaming build. Pocket the $1500 for something else or a new laptop after 2 years.

Something like this will destroy anything at 1080p60, and do very well at 1440p60 or 1080p144

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/3NYbpb
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/3NYbpb/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($220.98 @ Newegg) 
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($24.88 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($153.74 @ OutletPC) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory  ($92.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: ADATA Premier SP550 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($60.99 @ Newegg) 
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 8GB SC GAMING Video Card  ($399.99 @ B&H) 
Case: NZXT S340 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($66.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($44.89 @ OutletPC) 
Total: $1065.45
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-12-02 19:58 EST-0500

[SeanAngelo]

8 minutes ago, donggun222 said:

Hello, im a student and I would like either a pc or  laptop to handle daily school work and some light gaming. My budget is 3500$. PC seems to be the cheaper choice but im not sure whether to sacrifice portability for cheaper price. Any suggestions?

you can build a decent gaming PC for 1.5k

get a laptop for 1.5k and spend the leftover on something else...

[donggun222]

My friends recommended several games because im quite new to this but im more concerned about something that can handle just about anything and runs smoothly for 1-2 years. And although my budget is 3500 it is always better if i spend less

[Moress]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($303.77 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($29.99 @ B&H)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H110M-A Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($53.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($50.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX300 750GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($169.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Windforce OC Video Card  ($384.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case  ($58.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CXM 550W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit  ($89.49 @ Amazon)
Other: HP Spectre X2 ($429.99)
Total: $1637.06
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-12-02 20:02 EST-0500

This will do anything you want. The laptop I suggested is one a friend of mine owns. He uses it for daily use and said its nice. The desktop will destroy 1080p now and into the future. All for just under $1700 including windows

[Shiv78]

3 minutes ago, donggun222 said:

My friends recommended several games because im quite new to this but im more concerned about something that can handle just about anything and runs smoothly for 1-2 years. And although my budget is 3500 it is always better if i spend less

The 1K build I posted will, as I said, destroy any title at 1080p 60Hz. It will last at least 3-4 years if you continue at 1080p

[donggun222]

thanks for the suggestions. Im just saying 1-2 years because i have a laptop with an i7 16gb ram gtx 860m etc and it still started to slow down in a while therefore i wanted some high end specs to prevent this from happening

[ProjectBox153]

6 minutes ago, donggun222 said:

thanks for the suggestions. Im just saying 1-2 years because i have a laptop with an i7 16gb ram gtx 860m etc and it still started to slow down in a while therefore i wanted some high end specs to prevent this from happening

Not really related, but why do computers like this slow down for people? I'm still rocking Core 2 Duo's and they get pounded every day, but are still fast, even with DDR2 sometimes. I don't understand it.

[imreloadin]

39 minutes ago, donggun222 said:

Hello, im a student and I would like either a pc or  laptop to handle daily school work and some light gaming. My budget is 3500$. PC seems to be the cheaper choice but im not sure whether to sacrifice portability for cheaper price. Any suggestions?

The man wanted a $3,500 build, I'm giving him a $3,500 build!

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/bVQBGf

 

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/bVQBGf
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/bVQBGf/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-6900K 3.2GHz 8-Core Processor  ($1049.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler  ($87.75 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus X99-A II ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard  ($239.53 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($158.94 @ Amazon)
Storage: Hitachi Deskstar NAS 4TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 1080 8GB STRIX Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($649.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 1080 8GB STRIX Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($649.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Luxe ATX Full Tower Case  ($148.70 @ Jet)
Power Supply: Corsair 850W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($144.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit  ($129.95 @ Amazon)
Total: $3489.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-12-02 20:29 EST-0500

[Qwweb]

25 minutes ago, donggun222 said:

thanks for the suggestions. Im just saying 1-2 years because i have a laptop with an i7 16gb ram gtx 860m etc and it still started to slow down in a while therefore i wanted some high end specs to prevent this from happening

As a college student writing this on a 5+ year old laptop with much worse specs (i7 2 core 4 thread CPU, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, and an NVS 4200M), I can say that your laptop will be fine for at least 3-5 more years as long as you treat it well (maybe reinstall windows and get rid of any unnecessary programs, even buying a new battery [if you can replace it]). Save as much as you can to cover tuition and living expenses if you are going to college... everything is so expensive (tears)... 

[Velvet Revolver]

no one has mentioned what i am about to mention. you see my idea will be the first and the best suggestion ever.

you could have both a desktop and a laptop.

Oh wait thats been mentioned 22.5 times already.

[Moress]

5 hours ago, donggun222 said:

thanks for the suggestions. Im just saying 1-2 years because i have a laptop with an i7 16gb ram gtx 860m etc and it still started to slow down in a while therefore i wanted some high end specs to prevent this from happening

Id say build the desktop then completely wipe the Laptop. See if that helps it run as fast as you want it to doing day to day tasks, since youll have a desktop for harder tasks. If it doesn't then just pick up a new netbook or I5 laptop. If its just running a browser, youtube and MS office even a 5 year old I7 would (should) be fine.

[donggun222]

i just reinstalled windows 10 today and it seemed like windows search was causing my disk to run 100% i disabled it and now the computer is running fast.......Has anyone else have problems with their disk on windows 10?

[Shiv78]

11 hours ago, donggun222 said:

Has anyone else have problems with their disk on windows 10?

Yeah my laptop gets 100% disk usage at idle I really don't get it