Laptop, Desktop, or both? Help!

[KaneFinger]

Hey y'all. 

 

So I'm in my fifth, heading to 6th year of university. I've had the same laptop since 10th grade in high school. Needless to say it's about time for me to upgrade. Now being a college student and really loving to game, these last couple years have relegated me to my Xbox. I miss my steam and being able to play games like I want. 

I've been eyeballing the Dell Inspiron 15 7000 Gaming for $949. Getting the Dell warranty program, which can't be beat IMO, would put me just over my budget by about $50. Hurts but doable. 

 

I guess my question is this, would it be better for me to get a Chromebook for ~$200 for classes, note taking and homework and then build/buy a tower and buy a monitor. I've got a really good keyboard and mouse already. 

If going the build route, how do I go about that? I've never done one, have no idea what I'm doing really, but I know I'd like SSD drive for sure. 

I've got a budget of $1000 - $1200 all said and done. 

 

Appreciate the help! 

[doomsriker]

You could get a laptop with thunderbolt 3 and use a razor core at home. Just a thought. 

[The Sloth]

both 

 

[Mince]

3 minutes ago, nerdslayer1 said:

both 

 

Dang, beat me to it, I was going to link that.

[The Sloth]

this is a solid 60 fps 1080p ultra setup https://pcpartpicker.com/list/HQVgpb use rest of the money for a used  ebay Thinkpad i7 3rd gen if you want windows or a Chromebook. 

[The Sloth]

2 minutes ago, Mince said:

Dang, beat me to it, I was going to link that.

that's what I did when i want to uni, I had a Thinkpad and a desktop at dorm. 

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, nerdslayer1 said:

that's what I did when i want to uni, I had a Thinkpad and a desktop at dorm. 

Psu and mobo for future crossfire

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($299.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Motherboard: ASRock H170A-X1 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($76.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Team Elite Plus 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($89.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Sandisk SSD PLUS 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($43.74 @ B&H) 
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($49.33 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon RX 480 8GB Red Devil Video Card  ($219.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Rosewill Galaxy-02 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($29.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($56.30 @ Newegg) 
Monitor: AOC G2260VWQ6 21.5" 1920x1080 75Hz Monitor  ($109.99 @ Best Buy) 
Total: $976.30
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-02-07 01:42 EST-0500

[Dogsparky]

15 minutes ago, nerdslayer1 said:

both 

 

not that i am knowledgeable or anything but i do second this, i was debating on a gaming laptop purely for gaming purposes but i went a acer route that had a graphics card in it and saved about 1000 dollars on it and it fits my need perfectly for playing starcraft 2 and doom, not at ultra but it still looks good  

[WkdPaul]

Thread was moved to the New Build and Planning section

[KaneFinger]

What about laptops you'd recommend along with a tower build? Like I said, a total budget of 1000-1200 USD