A new gaming rig, or a laptop?

Remove all ads!

Ok, so I'm at a point where I need a new computer...but I can't decide if I should get a new laptop, or build my own rig.

Right now, I have
Dell Inspiron 5150
Intel P4 @3.06GHz
1GB of RAM
nVidia Go5200 (lame)
100GB HDD

I used to swear by Dell's laptops...but now, my outlook on Dell has gone way down. While my current laptop has been very reliable, I'm just not so sure about Dell's current lineup.

I haven't had time lately to keep up with the current lineup of laptops from all the vendors...so any help would be appreciated.
While I love having a laptop, I'd like to have something that's more upgradeable as well...so I might end up building my own gaming rig. But I've lived without an actual rig of my own for the past 3+ years, so I don't *really* need it.

I did some basic price searching and product comparisons, and for roughly the same price...I found a Dell laptop, and 'built' a custom rig off of newegg.

The rig I built:
ABIT AW8D
Intel Core 2 Duo E6700
Corsair DDR2 800 (XMS2) 2GB
ATI A-I-W X1900 (Don't try and talk me out of my AIW card. )
2x Seagate 250GB in Raid 0
Plextor 16x cd/dvd Burner
Antec NeoHE 500W PSU
19” Samsung LCD Monitor
And a few other small goodies...like a case, laser mouse, and a keyboard.

The Dell E1505 laptop I built:
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7200 (2.00GHz, 4MB L2 Cache, 667MHz FSB)
2GB DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHZ
256MB ATI MOBILITY™ RADEON® X1400 HyperMemory
160GB 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive
8X CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer
Integrated Sound Blaster® Audigy™ HD
And a few extras, like an extra battery…

With everything said and done, both systems will cost just under $2000...but I still can't decide whether I want a faster rig or the portability of a laptop.

 

Get a new graphics card and a cheap laptop.

Portability is wonderful, but not when your very expensive laptop breaks. And your current system is able to run most games of the moment (except NWN2), so you might want to wait on the upgrade.

Especially if you're going to go with an AIW graphics card. For a media rig, maybe. For a gaming rig... please.

At least wait for ATI coming up with something new and powerful.

 

Kitrax,
that thing you're going to replace I just upgraded to this year. Looking at your system I don't quite see the point in upgrading. What about getting yourself a new graphics card instead?

If you insist anyway, follow Taza's advice. Get a cheap laptop, and have your gaming rig in a tower for good upgradability.

I have my tower for six years now, with a second motherboard and a second CPU, an Athlon XP 3600+ and since april iirc a GF 6600 GT. Performance is sufficient so far. I recently traded my old 17" CRT for a 19" Samsung LCD though. I take it slow.

 

Ok, there are 2 clues that I guessed you guys missed...my current (and only) computer is a Dell laptop.

So I guess I could buy a nice, new video card...I just don't know where the hell I'm going to attach it.

I don't have the kind of money for a full on, hardcore gaming rig *and* a 'cheap' laptop. And I want an AIW card because the X1900 is still a very nice card, and yet packs in multi-media features. I'm not looking for the ultimate $1200 nVidia 8800 SLi set up. I just need something that can run M$ Vista (when I eventually decide to upgrade), NWN2, a few yet-to-be-released games, record TV and FM, and generally be a *hell* of a lot faster then my Go5200.

So yeah...

[ December 13, 2006, 08:40: Message edited by: Kitrax ]

 

Another thing is that laptop GFX cards have stripped features and offer little Direct Draw acceleration. On the other hand, consoles aren't really so cheap anymore. Guess you'll have to make a difficult choice.

 

I'd go for the desktop gaming rig. I've kinda found that laptops don't really make the best gaming rigs, and you probably won't be able to buy a laptop that is too much more powerful than what you have currently. The best (reasonably priced) graphics card from nVidia is probably the Go 7400, this is essentially a slightly more powerful version than the 7300. Which kinda puts it 2 generations above the 5200 in you're current set up. Likewise ATI's mobility 1400 is comparable to a souped up 1300 core which would put it 2 generations ahead of you're current rig. (you could go for a Go 7800, but they tend to only ship in insanely overpriced beasts with ferari or lamborgini logo's on them - well down here at least). This still wouldn't compare to a desktop costing 1/2 the price though.
BTW - I'm guessing (based on their desktop equivalents) that the ATI 1400 and the nVidia 7400 are comparable - I might be way off, as there's not exactly comparable bechmarks for different chipsets.

As for upgrading you're graphics card - I think they're usually always onboard with laptops. I am yet to see a BenQ with an unscrewable panel over the graphics card and if other manufacturers are the same, then, even if they are seperate, they would still be damn hard to change without screwing everything up (not to mention voiding the warranty)

For the recording of TV bit, I think a desktop solution would be better suited for this because, with a laptop you would be restricted to a USB TV tuner. These are awesome in terms of portability and coolness factor, but tend to have (generally) poorer picture quality and reliability than the PCI variety. They also tend to take up several oh-so precious USB ports and cost a bit more than the PCI sort.

You already have the portability of a (pretty damn decent) laptop, so I would recommend a desktop. Just imho though.

 

Get the rig and a cheap laptop...best of both worlds...

You know...the desktop rig I got is identical to yours except for the CPU (6600) and graphics card (X1300...saving up for the 8800 GTX! )

So no...I think you will be fine...just get one of those 8800 GTX's!

 

So you want me you spend several hundreds of dollars on a 8800, plus the money for a power supply for it, *and* some sort of a PCIe to USB adapter?!?!

For the last time people! I can't upgrade the video card in my LAPTOP!

"Pretty damn decent" huh? It's over 3 years old...and to me it feels a bit slow. But I've been thinking that maybe a tower would be a better solution. If I clear off all the crap and protection software, and use it for everything *but* the internet, I figue it's performance could hold me over on the portability side of things for a little while.

The main problem I have with a rig, is that I *love* to go overboard. It always starts small, and ends up costing a lot. With me, after a few months of having the rig, it would be a nearly silent, overclocked, water cooled, modded, and custom painted wallet-draining monster.

 

So you have the chance to (a) buy a decent upgradeable tower with a decent graphics card and a decent CPU at the mid-performance level, (b) improve your character by resisting the temptation to spend more than you have and (c) use your existing laptop as the recommended 'cheap notebook'.
The point 'I don't have money for both' is sort of moot. You don't need to spend money on the comp you already have.

Don't buy the most expensive stuff, the value loss will be sickening. Don't buy the cheapest stuff either - it'll too soon fall behind in performance.

 

I've had pretty bad experiences with "gaming" laptops, on the whole. On top of laughable battery life, the heat generated by my current one proves a constant issue and I'm forever needing to hang the damn thing out the window to stop it shutting down. I'd say you'll unerringly get more for your money opting for a desktop rig--gaming on a laptop is never going to be great, and obviously you get less for your money on portable components.

 

Yeah, what SimDing0 said - a laptop is never going to offer the same performance of a desktop and as such don't make the greatest gaming rigs. As such they tend to be used for other non-gpu intensive activities. Other than the gpu you have plenty of ram a huge (for a laptop) HDD and a pretty fast cpu. Imho a good desktop would complement the laptop nicely.

 

Kit, when I sold computers, I was asked this question 5 times a day. My response was always the same: "Do you really need the portability?" If you anwered, "no" then get the better performance; if you answered "yes" then you will have to purchase a notebook (unless space is an issue).

Unless you are like my wife, who likes to lay in bed, watch tv, talk on her cell, and browse the internet at the same time. Some people...

 

Well...as of right now, I have a programming class...which you don't really learn anything unless you have a computer in front of you. As school progresses, I will only get more classes that a laptop will come in handy.

Replace 'bed' with 'couch' and you've got my wife.

I've basically come to the decision that I need a gamming rig, and I'll use my current laptop for school and for my wife. If I clear out all the .iso files, encrypted drives, widgets, games, "must have" software, and pretty much everything except for my ISP and protection software, I think the laptop may still have some useable speed left in it.

Also, after taking a look at the video card chart at Tom's Hardware (the one BTA loves to link to), I think that the AIW card I've been wanting for so long wouldn't be worth it. So that leaves me without a TV/FM tuner. So far, I've been looking at cards that offer ATI's Theater 550 chip, but then I caught wind of ATI's new Theater 650 chip... As of right now, I don't know what path I should take for my TV/FM tuner needs. All I do know is that it *has* to be PCI Express 1x in interface.

 

Bingo.

All the motherboards I've been looking at only offer 1 regular PCI slot. One of the mobos I was really thinking about offered 2 PCI slots, but one of them will get blocked unless the videocard has a very low profile HSF, and is *not* SLI.

I'm already giving up on a snazzy Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi card for the mobo's onboard audio to save a PCI slot. Plus, I'm going to need a free PCI slot in a quarter or two. In my upcomming advanced AC devices class, they're going to be giving us a some PCI card that's used to program Basic Stamp 1/2 and other PICs...along with some other crap.

 

Hell...Intel's new south bridge chip (the ICH8R) only allows one IDE/EIDE connection...which is fine if you only have two drives.

I'm still surprised to see FDD connections on the new mobos. It's only a matter of time until the good ol' PATA connecters disappear for good as well.