Gaming laptop or gaming desktop + laptop

[IAmAndre]

Hi,

 

I've been working from home for the past few years, but I'm working for a company now since 6 months, and I'm very likely to keep working this way. I have a budget gaming desktop, but since I spend most of my time out of my house I need a laptop. Since I don't need that much power when I'm on the go, I can afford to get a cheap laptop (like a €200 chromebook-like laptop, or maybe something better for a bit more money). However, I'm considering selling my desktop and keeping my monitor and peripherals, then buy a gaming laptop. Now I'm not sure if it's a good idea.

I decided to build this PC a couple years ago because this option appeared to be way cheaper than gaming laptops, and a good investment in the long term. For instance, I could just replace my GTX 750 with a 1050 Ti and be good to go for a few more years. However, if you combine the price of gaming desktop + a descent laptop, it might not be the cheapest option. So I'd like to know if it's a good idea to buy a budget gaming laptop at around €800 (13 inch 1080p, core i3, GTX 960M, 8GB of RAM) or something at around this price for gaming and productivity.

I'd like to add the repairability factor. I've experienced two laptop failures so far, and they are a lot harder to fix than desktop.

 

Thanks

[jaeminyou]

3 minutes ago, IAmAndre said:

Hi,

 

I've been working from home for the past few years, but I'm working for a company now since 6 months, and I'm very likely to keep working this way. I have a budget gaming desktop, but since I spend most of my time out of my house I need a laptop. Since I don't need that much power when I'm on the go, I can afford to get a cheap laptop (like a €200 chromebook-like laptop, or maybe something better for a bit more money). However, I'm considering selling my desktop and keeping my monitor and peripherals, then buy a gaming laptop. Now I'm not sure if it's a good idea.

I decided to build this PC a couple years ago because this option appeared to be way cheaper than gaming laptops, and a good investment in the long term. For instance, I could just replace my GTX 750 with a 1050 Ti and be good to go for a few more years. However, if you combine the price of gaming desktop + a descent laptop, it might not be the cheapest option. So I'd like to know if it's a good idea to buy a budget gaming laptop at around €800 (13 inch 1080p, core i5, GTX 960M, 8GB of RAM) or something at around this price for gaming and productivity.

 

Thanks

Don't get a gaming laptop. A chromebook and a gaming desktop is a better option. A gaming laptop tend to have poor battery life (depending on the tasks you perform) and can be really bulky and uncomfortable for portability. If you have a PC, just replace some components and you are good to go. By doing this will save you so much and you will be able to spend the remaining budget on a workstation laptop.

[psycoUSA]

i would suggest a gaming desktop and a chrome book. i have personal experience with the chrome books and i gotta say theyre pretty solid since theyre light, quite fast honestly (there are ones that have small capacity ssd) and good for youtubing and google docs/slides kind of stuff but i dont think that they are compatable to microsoft word or powerpoint so keep that in mind. gaming laptops these days are getting better but theyre still bad, heavy, bad battery life, underpowered, big and clunky, and over all shit. so yeah gaming desktop + laptop. unless youre always on the move thats when i suggest a laptop to be honest.

[jaeminyou]

@psycoUSA Which chromebook do you use? I'm planning to get one soon after next year, so which chromebook do you recommend? 

[Princess Luna]

Gaming Desktop, it'll be cheaper and better performance.

I ain't advising Chrome Books though, you can still find a decent and cheap laptop with an i5, 4ish gb of ram and having much more storage if you go with either 240ish ssd or 1tb hdd while having the benefit of staying with an OS you're used to.

[psycoUSA]

1 minute ago, jaeminyou said:

@psycoUSA Which chromebook do you use? I'm planning to get one soon after next year, so which chromebook do you recommend? 

i used to have this

https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Chromebook-Aluminum-Quad-Core-CB3-431-C5FM/dp/B01CVOLVPA/ref=sr_1_5?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1482417886&sr=1-5&keywords=chromebooks

nothing special you could get cheaper ones. it got the job done for me

[IAmAndre]

26 minutes ago, jaeminyou said:

Don't get a gaming laptop. A chromebook and a gaming desktop is a better option. A gaming laptop tend to have poor battery life (depending on the tasks you perform) and can be really bulky and uncomfortable for portability. If you have a PC, just replace some components and you are good to go. By doing this will save you so much and you will be able to spend the remaining budget on a workstation laptop.

Interesting. So what is considered a "workstation laptop" today? Are we talking about high-end Mac-like laptops like the Dell XPS 13?

[porina]

I think it comes down to the level of performance you expect out of a gaming machine. A 960M isn't that fast and will quickly show it's age, with no real upgrade path.

[IAmAndre]

16 minutes ago, psycoUSA said:

i would suggest a gaming desktop and a chrome book. i have personal experience with the chrome books and i gotta say theyre pretty solid since theyre light, quite fast honestly (there are ones that have small capacity ssd) and good for youtubing and google docs/slides kind of stuff but i dont think that they are compatable to microsoft word or powerpoint so keep that in mind. gaming laptops these days are getting better but theyre still bad, heavy, bad battery life, underpowered, big and clunky, and over all shit. so yeah gaming desktop + laptop. unless youre always on the move thats when i suggest a laptop to be honest.

 

10 minutes ago, Princess Cadence said:

Gaming Desktop, it'll be cheaper and better performance.

I ain't advising Chrome Books though, you can still find a decent and cheap laptop with an i5, 4ish gb of ram and having much more storage if you go with either 240ish ssd or 1tb hdd while having the benefit of staying with an OS you're used to.

The problem with chromebooks is that they are very limiting. As Linux user, I could just install Linux but they might still be subject to issues, like the like of audio with the latest Intel SoC's. Since it's going to serve as a professional device, I don't want to run into this kind of issue. However, anything with a core i5 is out of my budget if I am to keep my current desktop. For now, the one I want is the Asus E200HA (Quad core Atom CPU, 4GB of RAM, 10+ hours of battery life, but crappy 768p screen with a TN panel).

[jaeminyou]

1 minute ago, IAmAndre said:

Interesting. So what is considered a "workstation laptop" today? Are we talking about high-end Mac-like laptops like the Dell XPS 13?

No, those are fairly expensive, but they perform fairly well. Laptops ranging from 600-800 USD would be a perfect option like the Lenovo Thinkpad series. If you can afford a bit more than that, the Razer blade stealth would a great option since it is a bit powerful. 

[Princess Luna]

2 minutes ago, IAmAndre said:

 

The problem with chromebooks is that they are very limiting. As Linux user, I could just install Linux but they might still be subject to issues, like the like of audio with the latest Intel SoC's. Since it's going to serve as a professional device, I don't want to run into this kind of issue. However, anything with a core i5 is out of my budget if I am to keep my current desktop. For now, the one I want is the Asus E200HA (Quad core Atom CPU, 4GB of RAM, 10+ hours of battery life, but crappy 768p screen with a TN panel).

That is a huge problem with cheap laptops indeed, you'll most likely to be stuck with a 1366x768p screen and those are awful once you go Full HD or higher, Asus does makes some nice budget laptops, i3 based ones, just stay away from anything with less than 4gb of ram, my dad made the mistake of buying a very cheap one with i3-2350M and 2gb of ddr3 1600mhz ram, and yes that amount of ram is very far from ideal, even for browsing internet using Firefox which is less resources needing than Chrome it faces small performance issues with more than 3 tabs open.

[IAmAndre]

4 minutes ago, Princess Cadence said:

That is a huge problem with cheap laptops indeed, you'll most likely to be stuck with a 1366x768p screen and those are awful once you go Full HD or higher, Asus does makes some nice budget laptops, i3 based ones, just stay away from anything with less than 4gb of ram, my dad made the mistake of buying a very cheap one with i3-2350M and 2gb of ddr3 1600mhz ram, and yes that amount of ram is very far from ideal, even for browsing internet using Firefox which is less resources needing than Chrome it faces small performance issues with more than 3 tabs open.

I know, but I think I can live with that since it costs less than most budget/mid-range smartphones, and I think 768p 11 inch screen isn't that bad, especially for a second computer. That said, it's very frustrating to have a desktop at home and not being able to use as much as you'd like.

[Dackzy]

If you go desktop + laptop, then get a used business laptop. 

Why you ask.

• Way better build quality.
• Better specs
• better keyboard
• Generally more IO
• Most likely a better screen

[Pendragon]

55 minutes ago, Dackzy said:

• Most likely a better screen

1 thing that is a bit iffy. I think for experienced users it's easy to tell which ones to avoid but there are some pretty shitty base screens. Especially with older models like the T520. 

[Dackzy]

1 minute ago, Pendragon said:

1 thing that is a bit iffy. I think for experienced users it's easy to tell which ones to avoid but there are some pretty shitty base screens. Especially with older models like the T520. 

I think it is more likely that the screen on a used business laptop is the better one, than the screen on a new 200$ laptop.

[porina]

15 minutes ago, Dackzy said:

I think it is more likely that the screen on a used business laptop is the better one, than the screen on a new 200$ laptop.

It really depends on the laptop. My current and previous work laptops (both Dell) have awful screen colours and viewing angles. Yet even my dirt cheap HP laptop I bought a while back had ok colours although I was less keen on the gloss screen. I'd also argue screens are generally getting better all the time, and half decent screens are making their way into ever lower price points.