Laptop vs Desktop for University

[Cometviking]

Hey guys!

 

In about a year or so I'll embark on the incredible and exciting journey that is college life following a programming course or something along the lines of computer engineering or hardware engineering. It, like many other college experiences, is going to be filled with lots of drinking, studying, and getting lost in the college campus for the first year or so because your sense of navigation is the same as that of a goldfish.

 

Because it's something rather important, I've started thinking about this problem of "Laptop vs Desktop" ever since I started highschool (talk about thinking ahead!) but I still haven't reached a proper answer. I wouldn't call myself an hardcore gamer, seeing as I only really play games like League of Legends, GTA V, City Skylines, and Battlefield 3/BC2. I might expand my game library in the future. But I also want something fit for college. A desktop packs the "punch" to play all those games but lacks mobility (I plan on not staying in the dorms during the weekends), and a laptop is mobile and can pack the necessary "punch", but I don't want to go too overbudget. I've already watched Linus' video about this subject but I still haven't made up my mind!

 

 

So, I request the assistance of the wonderful community of the LTT forums to finally put an end to this situation. (my budget is around 1000€)

[tarfeef101]

Personally, I don't use my laptop much if at all. I greatly prefer working on my desktop when I do my work as well. If you plan on doing a lot of groupwork NOT at your place, and/or taking notes with a PC in class, I'd say you probably want a laptop and maybe a monitor and keyboard/mouse for home. 

 

Otherwise get a crappy laptop, and build a desktop with most of the money.

[dizmo]

Laptop all the way. When you have group projects, and everyone else is working on theirs etc you don't want to be sitting there twiddling your thumbs, waiting to work on it when you get home.

 

I get the game debate. You will, undoubtedly, lose performance when gaming. This is a good chunk of your life now, and is prepping you for perhaps the rest of your life. You can lose out on gaming for a while to accomplish that. It should be your lowest priority.

 

Welcome to the forum!

[R3ep3r]

You should go with an ASUS ROG laptop since you want to use it for games. But it is not as good as a desktop version. And it depends if you are renting a room with some 'unknown' room-mates the laptop is the best. If not and you are all alone, go for a PC(it has less mobility than the laptop tho, but more powerful with the games)

[Armadillito]

If you need a laptop for use in lectures etc then that had better not be a gaming laptop. If you could get by with one, a largish Chromebook might be your best bet. I would then build a $650-$800 mATX PC with the rest of the money, that way it won't take up too much space and shouldn't be too hard to relocate, if necessary.

 

I would stress, though, as others have said, education should be your priority and you should make sure you are properly equipped to learn before you buy a gaming computer. Good luck!

[manikyath]

the problem about gaming-capable laptops is that they are often really impractical for the classroom.

 

they're usually too big (for classroom purpoe, 15 inch is godmode, most of the gaming stuff is 17 or worse), they're either stupidly heavy, stupidly noisy, or move that much air that the person two seats in front of you feels the draft.

 

if you have the means to, i'd recommend the setup i went for in my college adventure:

- i had a beefy desktop, "the workhorse" at home, with a really good uplink

- i had a shitty laptop that was #goodenough to take with me

- word processing, lightweight stuff, etc. was done on the samsung shitbook proski early 2012 edition

- more heavy workloads, and things that needed to run for an extended amount of time were offloaded to the desktop, usually via teamviewer, because that software runs trough any connection you can squeeze it. when the school wifi was too potato to watch a stream during lunch, i'd remote into my rig at home to watch at glorious 16 colors 240p squeezed trough teamviewer, but GODDANGIT I WAS WATCHING MY LIVESTREAM

[BuckGup]

Get an ultra light laptop that lasts all day then a powerful rig at home

[waterjug]

i found this helpful. it's more or less what he said:

 

2 minutes ago, CUDA_Cores said:

Get a good desktop for all your productivity and gaming. Then get a cheap Chromebook for all your schoolwork.

 

[Guest]

Don't get a gaming laptop.

Get a cheap laptop, or chromebook (chromebook listed because they're really cheap. Maybe put a different OS on it) and then do a desktop.

[waterjug]

just stay away from 2 words: mac. book.

[dizmo]

5 minutes ago, wii8cookies said:

just stay away from 2 words: mac. book.

They're not that bad

[The Sloth]

1 minute ago, wii8cookies said:

just stay away from 2 words: mac. book.

well it depends on what he does, i have a MacBook pro 15 inch retina 2013 750m model for work and a desktop at home, i got it as a gift but it will last him with something like an engineering long as you put windows on it. I personally wouldn't suggest a MacBook as a main computer but as a side computer. i would suggest an old Thinkpad as a school computer long as he has an old Nvidia gpu for graphic accelerated task and a desktop for home, i used that setup when i got my engineering degree. 

[cbc02009]

I vote laptop. I personally can't get work done with even the slightest distraction around, so going to the library is the only way for me to get anything accomplished. Desktop doesn't travel to the library very well.

 

Most of the games you listed will run just fine on a 1050, and there are quite a few good laptop options with those or even the more powerful 1060. Just remember, your primary focus at school is work, not play, and your computer choice should probably reflect those priorities

 

I personally went with the new XPS 15 because I feel like it's a very good compromise between the two extremes, but I also commute from home, so I have a pretty powerful gaming rig at home too.

[waterjug]

2 hours ago, dizmo said:

They're not that bad

i mean they're not bad, but for the price and the specs, you should stay away

[dizmo]

30 minutes ago, wii8cookies said:

i mean they're not bad, but for the price and the specs, you should stay away

Spec aren't necessarily everything, especially when it comes to laptops.

For example, the i5 gets significantly better battery life than the i7.

Macs tend to be better for video editing.

Granted, for what he's taking a Windows machine is likely smarter, and I don't think he can fit a Mac into his budget anyway.

But the reasons you gave against the Mac aren't really valid.

[waterjug]

37 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Spec aren't necessarily everything, especially when it comes to laptops.

For example, the i5 gets significantly better battery life than the i7.

Macs tend to be better for video editing.

Granted, for what he's taking a Windows machine is likely smarter, and I don't think he can fit a Mac into his budget anyway.

But the reasons you gave against the Mac aren't really valid.

that's what I mainly meant, macbooks are just more expensive 

[Pendragon]

literally just ask yourself, how often would you be home/dorm and will have access to your desktop. If it's high, desktop all the way. If not, god no. never go desktop. 

[Mark77]

If I were going back to school in engineering or computer science, this is what I would do.  I'd buy a refurb Dell Latitude E7470/E7480 (or even a E7450/E7440 if I was a bit short on money).  And a pair of external LCDs, good quality ones, 1080p or 4K IPS.  Pick up an E-dock off of eBay for $20 or so.  Wire it all up. 

 

Basically the ability to dock and undock means that you have access to all your 'desktop' things easily.  While the laptop is portable, so you can just pick it up off the dock and go.  Very easy. 

 

If you need a desktop for whatever reason, you'll have the 2 LCDs already, so you just hook up to them and change the input. 

 

A chromebook isn't going to do you much good for engineering/programming courses.  And quite frankly, college is so expensive these days that if you're wasting your spare time gaming (instead of socializing, or taking more classes/doing your own projects), you really should ask yourself if such is a productive use of your time. 

[Cometviking]

Thanks for your input guys, really appreciate it!

 

I think I'll stick with a good quality laptop, maybe with some extra peripherals, besides a mouse and some headphones, like another screen or two like Mark suggested.

 

Again, thank you everyone!