Proposal Discussion Poll: Laptop or desktop or?

Laptop or desktop or?

  • Total voters
    99

Cmdr Andy B

Cmdr Andy B
Globusdiablo said:
Btw. Is everyone here building their own desktops?!

Is it just me (dont say it!), but I don't know how to build a desktop. I have to buy the computer I need all fitted and ready to go.

And if I look at Alienware gaming desktops, they don't look so cheap to me...

What would be the best gaming desktop for someone who doesn't build their own computers?..
Click to expand...

building a PC is far from rocket science, all the slots are colour coded and its not as if you can put anything in the wrong place.

my one piece of advice is dont skimp on the case, yea sure a £30 enclosure will do the job but you'll find you need a big box of sticking plasters when you come to fit everything as there isnt a lot of room and are a lot of sharp edges on those cheaper chassis.
 

Susimetsa

Susimetsa
I started with gaming laptops mainly because I had had a long break from gaming and was not sure that I would play that much. Also, I was living in Canada and knew that I'd have to move back to Finland when my doctorate exchange ended. Once home I realised that I always had all USB ports in use and could hardly move (didn't bother) the laptop anywhere from where it was, so it was simpler and cheaper to go for a desktop when I upgraded.

Now I have a desktop in our office room (wife still holds onto her laptop, however) and a netbook for those occasions when I want to write something away from the desk.
 
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Kroy

Kroy
For the living room, something that sits under your telly, and looks like a peice of hifi equipment may be the best way to go as suggested above by Gimi.

There are some unobtrusive boxes that sit well out there:

e.g.



or



It's big enough for large gfx cards, has good cooling, and can fit water cooling or liquid cooling if you wish. You could stick in a wireless controller of some description and have a lot of fun. Also, to sell it to your wife, stick in a TV card in the back too and use it as a HDD recorder if you don't already something that does that ;-)
 
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Globusdiablo

Globusdiablo
Kroy said:
For the living room, something that sits under your telly, and looks like a peice of hifi equipment may be the best way to go as suggested above by Gimi.

There are some unobtrusive boxes that sit well out there:

e.g.



It's big enough for large gfx cards, has good cooling, and can fit water cooling or liquid cooling if you wish. You could stick in a wireless controller of some
Click to expand...

Thanks Kroy. That thing looks snazzy!:D
 
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Globusdiablo

Globusdiablo
Dad gum it. I was hoping that this thread would make it easier for me to decide. But no.. Pros and cons on both sides.

Not being techie enough and not having a man cave, gives laptops the slight edge in my world. But I could also see this as an opportunity to gain new knowledge and jump on the techie train. Hm..
 

jabokai

jabokai
AndyB(EDB50) said:
my one piece of advice is dont skimp on the case, yea sure a £30 enclosure will do the job but you'll find you need a big box of sticking plasters when you come to fit everything as there isnt a lot of room and are a lot of sharp edges on those cheaper chassis.
Click to expand...

For someone on a budget I can personally recommend the Zalman Z3 Plus in the under £30 category - excellent value for money. 4 (reasonably quiet) fans included with the top 2 even having a hi/lo fan controller button. Obviously it isn't perfect (metal kinda thin in places, break off GPU/PCI rear slots, plastic slides for the hard drives) but for the money it's great.

Comes in black or white. :smilie:
 

KickahasTier

KickahasTier
Globusdiablo said:
Thanks for the input. Great to hear from someone actually using a pretty standard (sorry.. :)) laptop in the actual game. So a laptop with a gtx770m, or 780m should be quite capable, no?
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I've been laptopgaming for a decade, my current laptop with a GTX670M works grand, although I put more stock in it having SSD not a HD for performance gains. Cooling is not an issue with the modern wedge configuration. Although it's still best to read reviews and avoid laptops built with desktop processors and dual lsi GPUs. (If you need that power then a water cooled desktop rig is what you need)

Yes you will need to upgrade every couple of years, and yes that's expensive, but I have found my older laptops have resale value to off set maybe 1/3 of the new one.

If you don't have space for a desktop, if you need portability, and if you can afford it, laptop gaming is ideal.
 

Dirtmuncher

D
Desktop for me.
When the rift comes out I want my computer to hit 1440p with 90fps and not burn a hole in the table. Also more room for peripherals like joysticks etc.
 

Majere

Majere
Amortise

When buying anything of any value it is good practice to not only look at the initial outlay but the depreciation/amortisation.

Figure out how much use you will get out it, estimate what it would be worth at the end of that period, and then you can see what it will cost you over each time-frame.

For example - if you spend £2k on a gaming laptop :eek: and you think it will last you two years, after which it has a value of say £200. That is going to cost you £900 per year or £75 per month. So then you decide if you are willing to pay that for the benefit you get.

We do this sort of calculation on anything of value, most recent example was some play equipment for the kids. Estimate how long they would use it for, and how much you might be able to sell it at the end.
Top tip: be realistic and tend towards always going low on value at the end.
 

[VR] Mad Mike

[VR] Mad Mike
jabokai said:
For someone on a budget I can personally recommend the Zalman Z3 Plus in the under £30 category - excellent value for money. 4 (reasonably quiet) fans included with the top 2 even having a hi/lo fan controller button. Obviously it isn't perfect (metal kinda thin in places, break off GPU/PCI rear slots, plastic slides for the hard drives) but for the money it's great.

Comes in black or white. :smilie:
Click to expand...

looks like a nice case (esp in black)
 

Globusdiablo

Globusdiablo
Majere said:
When buying anything of any value it is good practice to not only look at the initial outlay but the depreciation/amortisation.

Figure out how much use you will get out it, estimate what it would be worth at the end of that period, and then you can see what it will cost you over each time-frame.

For example - if you spend £2k on a gaming laptop :eek: and you think it will last you two years, after which it has a value of say £200. That is going to cost you £900 per year or £75 per month. So then you decide if you are willing to pay that for the benefit you get.

We do this sort of calculation on anything of value, most recent example was some play equipment for the kids. Estimate how long they would use it for, and how much you might be able to sell it at the end.
Top tip: be realistic and tend towards always going low on value at the end.
Click to expand...

Thanks for input. But I'm just not as level headed as you are;) A lot of my decision making so far has come down to gut and not analysis, which has served me fine so far:)
 

OpenFly

OpenFly
My 12" HP2540p is a superb laptop, and with 8GB of RAM more than performs for my DB and development work (I quite often need to code on clients' sites and the small size was great for lugging about etc.). Unfortunately the screen is too small for my old eyes these days, and it will have to be replaced around June.

This is the only reason I need a larger laptop, and nothing at all to do with E: D.
The fact that it will have a 4GB graphics card and 16GB of RAM (I like the look of http://www.novatech.co.uk/laptop/range/novatecheliten1550.html) is purely coincidental and I'm sure the nice man from HMRC will agree it is a legitimate business tool. If he happens to come round my house and it is hooked up to the 50" LCD with E: D on screen, it was the kids fault.

Adding a TrackIR to my tax return might be a bit more tricky - any advice on how this might be used for business ;)
 

Globusdiablo

Globusdiablo
OpenFly said:
My 12" HP2540p is a superb laptop, and with 8GB of RAM more than performs for my DB and development work (I quite often need to code on clients' sites and the small size was great for lugging about etc.). Unfortunately the screen is too small for my old eyes these days, and it will have to be replaced around June.

This is the only reason I need a larger laptop, and nothing at all to do with E: D.
The fact that it will have a 4GB graphics card and 16GB of RAM (I like the look of http://www.novatech.co.uk/laptop/range/novatecheliten1550.html) is purely coincidental and I'm sure the nice man from HMRC will agree it is a legitimate business tool. If he happens to come round my house and it is hooked up to the 50" LCD with E: D on screen, it was the kids fault.

Adding a TrackIR to my tax return might be a bit more tricky - any advice on how this might be used for business ;)
Click to expand...

HA!:) Sounds like a sweet deal to me ;)

As for the TrackIR, aren't you going to get whip lash in the near future, and need a tool for rehabilitation purposes?:cool:
 
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Stormprooter

Stormprooter
X2Eliah said:
Laptop for me.

But only because I *needed* a semi-portable system (portable not as in moving every day, but portable as in something you can take with you when moving between cities/countries annually); a real desktop with screens etc. was just plain too big... So a 17" Clevo was, more or less, the best possible solution.

If you don't have a hard mobility requirement, go for a desktop.
Click to expand...

Same here. I have a Clevo too :D

Almost bought a new one the other day, but I am holding off until later this year. Scan are doing SLI/Crossfire laptops now...
http://3xs.scan.co.uk/configurator/...intel-core-i7-and-sli-nvidia-geforce-gtx-780m
 

alan

A
OpenFly said:
My 12" HP2540p is a superb laptop, and with 8GB of RAM more than performs for my DB and development work (I quite often need to code on clients' sites and the small size was great for lugging about etc.). Unfortunately the screen is too small for my old eyes these days, and it will have to be replaced around June.

This is the only reason I need a larger laptop, and nothing at all to do with E: D.
The fact that it will have a 4GB graphics card and 16GB of RAM (I like the look of http://www.novatech.co.uk/laptop/range/novatecheliten1550.html) is purely coincidental and I'm sure the nice man from HMRC will agree it is a legitimate business tool. If he happens to come round my house and it is hooked up to the 50" LCD with E: D on screen, it was the kids fault.

Adding a TrackIR to my tax return might be a bit more tricky - any advice on how this might be used for business ;)
Click to expand...

By using a trackir to enlarge your screen estate this actually works out cheaper to your business, (rather than a multi monitor setup)I'm using mine for training purposes, in a research capacity, at some point i'll hook up the Kinect as well to create depth in the screen from the viewers perspective as well.
 
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