A New PC: Mobility or Upgradability? Created 18 years ago2006-05-16 18:32:35 UTC by TawnosPrime

In the next two months or so (after the new AMD chipset is released), I am finally going to be getting my own computer. However, I'm having a hard time choosing between a laptop (HP Pavilion dv8000; the AMD model is perferred, assuming the new chipset has the dual-core Turion AND is given a 256MB vid card) so that I've got an all-purpose machine that i can use anywhere, or getting my hands dirty and building my own desktop, so that I can upgrade as the need arises.

So, I throw my mental problem upon the TWHL GD masses to near some (un)experienced and (un)enlightened (covering my bases here ) opinions of the community. Please help me solve my problem and answer the (PC) age old question:

Which is Better: Mobility or Upgradability?

I think starting with a desktop is a good idea, cheaper and it lasts longer. As in, doesn't break that easy. Though you should think about what you NEED and what you WANT in your computer.
I would never buy a lappy for gaming purposes, cause you'll get better and more for your money on desktop hardware. Though i must admit i couldn't live without my lappy for long, and that I use my lappy far more than i use my stationary computer. Cause Ive gone away from playing computer games and such to gone over to doing some software development stuff. If you're going for a laptop: For gods sake, remember to get a good guaranty deal. Cause the odds of breaking stuff like sockets and stuff is alot higher than on a desktop. Don't spent LOADS of money on a laptop that will last for a year. Rather find a good design on it, something in your taste. If keyboard layout is important for you on a lappy, make sure you notice it. I know alot of laptops are really annoying cause they have that one button thats totally misplaced on the keyboard.

At least thats my experience.
So find out what you want or need.

Cash isn't the issue. That HP Pavilion I mentioned, the Intel model has a 2.13GHz Coure Duo CPU, a 100GB 7200RPM hard drive, 256MB video card, 2GB of DDR2 ram and a 17" widescreen display or around $2200 american. I could build a similar desktop (w/ a few upgrades) for the same price. The laptop would last me a year or two, as it's Vista compatible and afterwords will be used for P2P and other download ammenities so I don't have to worry about the main $7000 uber machine i have future plans to build.

The size of a graphic card doesn't matter much, its usually the speed that really matters. So saying 256MB video card doesn't really say much about the GPU. Always been a bit curious about the SLI thing, if you really are as loaded as you say you are, maybe look into that?

And of course the price is an issue. If it wasn't an issue you might as well buy both a lappy and a desktop.

If you're gonna go vista early, then you should probably start thinking about DDR3.
Dunno if thats on the marked yet though, haven't really payed much attention to it.

Ok Howdy, I'll address the issues in order of appearance.

1)the card in the Intel model is a GeForce Go 7400 (128MB dedicated/128MB shared, however with 2GB of ram and experts saying the jump from 1 to 2 isn't the great, not an issue)

2)I'm not going to build a multi card system. To my knowledge (so plz limit the dumbass comments), SLi (nVidea) and Crossfire (ATI) allow two seperate video cards to render a single monitor, dividing the workload in half. As that would only be in the $7000 uber system and the custom build would get a low end 512MB (one of the aforementioned upgrades), not an issue. Do note for anyone else, that each setup requires a mobo that supports it. Not all mboards support multicard setups, regardless or PCI-E slot numbers

3)Lastly, I've looked at AMD's 3 year outlook for new tech and DDR3 wouldn't be available 'til 2008. And although Quad-core processors will be out some time next year, there has to be a limit to how long u wait, given the rate of advance it the industy.

I'm not n00b. I have done some research into this issue. Please...all I'm looking for is a simple answer of one or the other and maybe a LITTLE reasoning behind your choice. I don't mean to restrict this so much, but I had expected this to be a lil bit simpiler.

I didnt read the other threads, but I recommend building your own PC. Its easy, and you save ALOT! Laptops are hard to work with (if at all) and to upgrade core components. This is just my opinion, though

I meant calling me a dumbass. It relating to some inacurate help i gave in a thread. I got chewed out a lil.

Damn, your getting ripped off if you buy that stationary for 2200.....

www.cyberpowersystem.com

There, I got my 3.0ghz intel dual core, Geforce 7800 GTX, sound blaster audigy, 2gb ram, and 19'' moniter for under 2,000

They have AMD's there too,

If you need to have a laptop, get one, but you're going to be paying more for the same specs and won't be able to upgrade (much of) it. We can't tell whether you really do need one or not...

also, please, get the warranty from the manufacturer, you cannot fix any parts of it yourself and they'll screw you if you arent covered

I havent bought one since I got my 9300 last year, but it still seems that the centrino chipset is much better for mobility than anything AMD have created. Even though this pc is a desktop replacement its still portable in my extra large backpack, the main point is the high-cap battery can run it playing a film for around 2 1/2 hours. If you travel/use trains a lot I find my laptop essential, I dont really see the point in 'desktop replacements' that arent convenient enough to move between more than the rooms in your house, you might as well get a much higher specced desktop system or build one yourself.

I have a desktop ANd a laptop. That's the way to go. I have my uber and upgradeable PC in my room, and then I have my slower, but still nice, laptop for when I need to travel. setting up a network with a crossover cable to synchronize data costs all of bout $0.50

Yeah, that's obviously the best if you can wrangle it.

If you want to be able to use the laptop as essentially a second monitor then http://synergy2.sourceforge.net/ is absolutely bloody amazing

Ok...I had and uber post planned here, but I didn't save it and it took to long to write so it got trash apon clickin' 'post' for some reason . So here's the condenced version.

Grim - The desktop is a Micro ATX formfactor w/ a PhysX card, low end 512MB vid card, 20.1" widescreen display and a 150GB 10k RPM harddrive (also take 180 of this price as they are items that will go on the laptop as assessories)

Nickel - Can't afford both.

Jobabob - No, it won't be a second display.

Anyway, what help I've really been lokkin' for has been avoided, so i hate to do this, but, I'm asking fo a limited reply again. Given these points:

-The two systems have identical specs, meaning that they are equal in power)
-The laptop gets good battery life
-Upgrading in the near future is a minor concern (as in 12-16 months or this years E3 line-up)

which would u choose: Mobility or Upgradability? Plz...plz just limit your response to one of these two words. Think of this as a poll. I don't mean to be demanding, but that's really all I'm lokkin' for, not the reasoning behind your decision. Thank you.

the latter of the two

Upgradeability. Because you'll never find a laptop that can DO stuff that has a good battery life.

Depends on your situation.

Id say desktop computer because you can upload your work to a fileserver and access that from home anyway.

Well thats only if work is the only place you would take a laptop... see it depends on the situation.

I disagree nickelplate, my current lappy is about 7 months old and it can still do pretty well with some graphically intensive games (forgetting oblivion and its 10fps) without killing itself battery wise, with my high cap and low cap i've managed to fill a 3 hour train journey playing everything from master of orion 2 to halflife 2 (moo22hl2)