College: Laptop vs Desktop?

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grogthegreat

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Mods, if this in the wrong place, please move it!

Hi,
Like many new people to these forums, I am also planning on college next year and am looking for some advice. My main question is what is better; a great laptop, or a el cheapo laptop and a completely amazing desktop? I will be doing heavy gaming on games like FEAR, BF2 and whatever comes down the line in the next four years. I want to play it all on maxed out or close to maxed out settings. I have heard it depends what college you are going to, what you are majoring etc, so if it matters I will be going to a Aerospace science major (they teach me to fly!) at a medium sized school in Florida. I have put some thought into this before starting a new thread so I have already made a small pro con list. What I need is your opinion on what I might have forgotten that tips my decision one way or another!

To give you an idea of the two systems I was considering, here they are:

The Laptop
Sager 5720 v
Pentium M 760 2.0 GHz
7800 GTX
1 GB of ram
60GB 7200RPM HD

The Computer
AMD 4800+ overclocked
7800 GTX
2 GB ram
80 GB HD
Liquid cooling
19" LCD display

Laptop Pros
Portable
Better screen

Computer Pros
Just plain faster
Upgradeable

I do realize that the computer is also more "future proof" but I didn't put that as a Pro because that would basically be repeating the first two pros. When you post your opinion please back it up with why. Also it would be useful if you state if you are currently in or just out of college and what is common there. Just how useful is the laptop? Do people bring them to class? Thank you in advance!
Grog
 
so your saying you want a laptop and a desktop but just diffrent performance ranges...wow ok well whats your budget? also if you want to play evrye game maxed out 7900 GTX SUPERCLOCK!!!

Also what mobo would you be looking at for the desktop??
 
I would just get a normal priced laptop like something around 600-750 dollars and a gaming rig that is arounf 1300$ like mine is gonna be.

it would be very helpful if you gcould give us some budgets.
 
The Computer
AMD 4800+ overclocked
7800 GTX
2 GB ram
80 GB HD
Liquid cooling
19" LCD display

ehh no, Defintely take the liquid cooling out, put in a bigger hdd, and a 7900GTX.

So are you saying you want both the super laptop and better computer?
 
Sorry if I made my first post a little confusing. I wondering is I should get a kick *^% laptop for college or a really cheap laptop and build an even better desktop. Due to everyone on this and another forum, I decided to go with an elcheapo laptop and build a great gaming computer. I will do some reasearch and ask about the laptop latter. Right now I am more conserned about the desktop. I have about a $2000 limit for the desktop. The reason I didn't think about a larger HD was because I don't think I will end up needing that much extra space. How much better is the 7900 GTX and is it worth the extra money? If it just a few extra FPS then it isn't worth it to me. I need advice on a mobo. It obviously needs to have a 939 slot but other than that I am not sure what to look for. I would like to start overclocking so it would have to let me OC. I was considering water cooling for that reason. I was planning on making most of it myself and would only need to buy a pump and CPU block. The rest my dad and I already have, such a good heatercore. For the CPU, I was strongly considering dual core becuse as time goes on, more and more games will support dual core. Three years from now a single core might not be enough and I won't have any extra money to upgrade during college. As for ram, how much of a difference is 1GB vs two in games and will it be more important later on? Is there anything eles that I am forgetting?
Thanks in advance,
Grog
 
grogthegreat said:
Due to everyone on this and another forum, I decided to go with an elcheapo laptop and build a great gaming computer.

Even if you are not thinking about what laptop to get, and are just concentrating on the desktop pc right now, there is one other thing to consider.
Consider getting a good PocketPc instead of the laptop. With all of the small folding keyboards and wifi capabilities they have now, you get portable notetaking, email, and organizer, but in a much smaller package. Plus, it doubles as an mp3/media player. For the kind of day to day drag of college, it is more practical. Much better to have something you can shove in your pocket.

The reason I mention it now is because if you are budgeting towards your pc, depending on what you choose, you might find that a getting something small might change what you can afford for the pc. ;)
 
Shinju said:
Even if you are not thinking about what laptop to get, and are just concentrating on the desktop pc right now, there is one other thing to consider.
Consider getting a good PocketPc instead of the laptop. With all of the small folding keyboards and wifi capabilities they have now, you get portable notetaking, email, and organizer, but in a much smaller package. Plus, it doubles as an mp3/media player. For the kind of day to day drag of college, it is more practical. Much better to have something you can shove in your pocket.

The reason I mention it now is because if you are budgeting towards your pc, depending on what you choose, you might find that a getting something small might change what you can afford for the pc. ;)

I completely agree, with alot of the HP models, you can add up to 2 gigs of space via an SD/MMC card. those things are great for finding wifi spots as well.

there a real life saver and help so much more then keeping everything on paper, just make sure fif you do go that route, that you keep in mind that a replacement battery is usually going to be through the manufacturer.
 
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