Build or Buy?

[HonestlyGentle]

Hello there yall. I'm new here so I have no idea if this is the right place to be posting this or not and if I am, please tell me where I can go. I'm trying to figure out if I want to build a fairly cheap pc, get a gaming laptop, or just simply get and external GPU for a normal laptop. I'm a student so I need a laptop to do my work but I would like something that can simply get me to 60 fps on my games with out costing me more than my degree will. Any and all help would be amazing and I apologize again if this isn't the right place to be posting this. 

[Himommies]

BIAS

[shadowbyte]

What I'd personally do is pick up a Razer Blade Stealth and Razer Core w/ a decent GPU such as a 1070. 

Of course, with that solution, cost is definitely an issue.

 

Do you take your laptop everywhere with you? Is battery life super important, or will you do most work at home?

[Guest]

Don't worry, school tuition is the most expensive thing you will ever face. Not even with a pair of Titan X Pascal

 

Build a good gaming PC and with money leftover get a cheap laptop

[HonestlyGentle]

1 minute ago, shadowbyte said:

What I'd personally do is pick up a Razer Blade Stealth and Razer Core w/ a decent GPU such as a 1070. 

Of course, with that solution, cost is definitely an issue.

 

Do you take your laptop everywhere with you? Is battery life super important, or will you do most work at home?

Yes I take it with me. Gaming at home, but studying on the go. I usually always have it plugged in so battery life is kinda meh

[shadowbyte]

Just now, HonestlyGentle said:

Yes I take it with me. Gaming at home, but studying on the go. I usually always have it plugged in so battery life is kinda meh

What I'd do is build a dank gaming PC and then get a cheap laptop, something like a Chromebook or used MacBook Air (usually around 350 if you look around a bit) for on the go stuff.

[maartendc]

3 minutes ago, HonestlyGentle said:

Hello there yall. I'm new here so I have no idea if this is the right place to be posting this or not and if I am, please tell me where I can go. I'm trying to figure out if I want to build a fairly cheap pc, get a gaming laptop, or just simply get and external GPU for a normal laptop. I'm a student so I need a laptop to do my work but I would like something that can simply get me to 60 fps on my games with out costing me more than my degree will. Any and all help would be amazing and I apologize again if this isn't the right place to be posting this. 

Hello, welcome!

 

Well, it kind of depends.

 

If you don't have a laptop yet, and you don't want a desktop, you could get a compatible laptop and build yourself (or buy) an external GPU. The laptop will need Thunderbolt 2.0 or 3.0 ports though. And consider that an external GPU build can easily cost $300 without the GPU, so if you put something like a GTX 1060 in there, it will cost around $500 at least, on top of the cost of a laptop with Thunderbolt. Also consider that you lose about 30% performance with an eGPU versus putting that same GPU in a desktop PC.

 

A gaming laptop is an option, but gaming laptops tend to be pretty expensive as well. If you need a powerful laptop for your school work, it might be worth getting a gaming laptop. If you don't have a monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc. yet, this might end up being cheaper than getting a laptop + gaming desktop.

 

If your needs for the laptop are not too demanding, you could just get a cheaper laptop (in the $600 range), and get a gaming PC desktop on top of that. You can build a decent gaming PC for around $650 I would say, that can handle 1080p 60fps.

 

Hope this helps!

[HonestlyGentle]

1 minute ago, maartendc said:

Hello, welcome!

 

Well, it kind of depends.

 

If you don't have a laptop yet, and you don't want a desktop, you could get a compatible laptop and build yourself (or buy) an external GPU. The laptop will need Thunderbolt 2.0 or 3.0 ports though. And consider that an external GPU build can easily cost $300 without the GPU, so if you put something like a GTX 1060 in there, it will cost around $500 at least, on top of the cost of a laptop with Thunderbolt. Also consider that you lose about 30% performance with an eGPU versus putting that same GPU in a desktop PC.

 

A gaming laptop is an option, but gaming laptops tend to be pretty expensive as well. If you need a powerful laptop for your school work, it might be worth getting a gaming laptop. If you don't have a monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc. yet, this might end up being cheaper than getting a laptop + gaming desktop.

 

If your needs for the laptop are not too demanding, you could just get a cheaper laptop (in the $600 range), and get a gaming PC desktop on top of that. You can build a decent gaming PC for around $650 I would say, that can handle 1080p 60fps.

 

Hope this helps!

This really does help, thank you! Now the hard part of trying to build the pc itself,

[maartendc]

1 minute ago, HonestlyGentle said:

This really does help, thank you! Now the hard part of trying to build the pc itself,

Glad to help.

 

Building a PC is really not that hard, and a lot easier than it used to be. It is nothing more than plugging a few cables together and screwing a few screws into a case.

 

There are tons of good tutorial videos on Youtube that can help you out. Good luck!

[Howitz]

build, i made the mistake of bying a laptop three years ago and today i just booted up my brand new first custom built desktop, NO REGRETS

[Daniel644]

24 minutes ago, deXxterlab97 said:

Don't worry, school tuition is the most expensive thing you will ever face. Not even with a pair of Titan X Pascal

 

Build a good gaming PC and with money leftover get a cheap laptop

NO, paying a Mortgage is the most expensive thing you will ever face.

 

And to the OP, BUILD, for the money you spend on an external GPU enclosure you can buy a cheap laptop to use for school work and for the cost of a gaming laptop (especially a Pascal based one) you can build a FAR more powerful desktop PC and still have the cost of the 1070 you would have put in the external dock and then some saved.

 

Only reason not to build is if you don't have a place to keep a Desktop PC.

[maartendc]

15 hours ago, Daniel644 said:

And to the OP, BUILD, for the money you spend on an external GPU enclosure you can buy a cheap laptop to use for school work and for the cost of a gaming laptop (especially a Pascal based one) you can build a FAR more powerful desktop PC and still have the cost of the 1070 you would have put in the external dock and then some saved.

 

Only reason not to build is if you don't have a place to keep a Desktop PC.

 

Money wise, a desktop + cheap laptop is indeed the best option.

 

However, I have a laptop with an eGPU setup, and I must say it works really well. For people who don't want / need a full blown gaming machine in their house, this is a great solution. Personally, I did not want a gaming rig in my house, so it works that I can just use my laptop and plug in the eGPU. But financially, it is definitely not the smartest option.