Gaming PC vs Gaming Laptop

[UscTheGamer]

Hello everyone,
I came here to get some helpful advice about a decision that's been driving me crazy for the past 3 months. For Christmas as a gift we are constructing a gaming laptop maxed out for around $2500-$3000; but I'm afraid 5-10 years down the road a game may come out that my laptop will no longer handle, this is my worst fear and I know Gaming PCs you can replace things anytime. The only problem that comes to mind when thinking PC is:
-I live at my fathers house and we do not own internet which would make it hard to play games
-can't bring it to my mothers house cause of size
-size makes it hard to use during class cause it's a rig
Those are the things that come to mind. I just need some advice on what I should possibly do and what will be best. Thanks everyone!

 

[HeyyScott]

Obviously a gaming PC would be the actual best choice for gaming but considering your situtation :/ I think it's better to grab a laptop. Then in the future when you have the money and you're in a better situation, then grab yourself a gaming rig.

 

[UscTheGamer]

Obviously a gaming PC would be the actual best choice for gaming but considering your situtation :/ I think it's better to grab a laptop. Then in the future when you have the money and you're in a better situation, then grab yourself a gaming rig.

I see what you mean, we are upgrading it with max hardware that will run games without a problem but I want the portability just really nervous about a game coming along and not being able to play it due to my specs.

 

[skit75]

You could have both for that budget to be quite honest. Why not spend $1500-$1600 on a PC gaming rig and get a nice laptop with an i5 CPU & 8GB RAM for about another $1,000?

 

[HeyyScott]

You could have both for that budget to be quite honest. Why not spend $1500-$1600 on a PC gaming rig and get a nice laptop with an i5 CPU & 8GB RAM for about another $1,000?

I think that's a waste of money considering OP's situation. He lives with his father and they don't have internet. So the pc is going to be sitting and rotting either in his mom's house or his dad's. If it's sitting at his dad's, no internet = mostly no games. At his mom's = not able to play as much.

 

[UscTheGamer]

You could have both for that budget to be quite honest. Why not spend $1500-$1600 on a PC gaming rig and get a nice laptop with an i5 CPU & 8GB RAM for about another $1,000?

I think that's a waste of money considering OP's situation. He lives with his father and they don't have internet. So the pc is going to be sitting and rotting either in his mom's house or his dad's. If it's sitting at his dad's, no internet = mostly no games. At his mom's = not able to play as much.

I know eventually I will get internet at my dads but at the moment we don't. My mom will be moving here soon very far away. I was wondering if I got a gaming rig would I be able to use wireless internet without using a Ethernet cord? I'm leaning to the laptop but just want a better understand what is the best option.

 

[HeyyScott]

Yes, you can use wifi for PC. I personally don't like to on my PC, since it takes away full potential internet strength.

 

[skit75]

So, the best mobile GPU's available right now are the 680M from nvidia and the 7970m from Radeon.....

At the current rate, that mobile GPU will be about useless in 3-4 years tops. You cannot future proof against gaming, not even in desktop PC. My rig being an example, built in May 2008 for roughly $1500 & change except my GPU was a GTX 260 at the time. Two years ago I need an upgraded GPU(not because the 260 was failing.... it couldn't keep up anymore is all).

Now, my GTX 560Ti is also getting long in the tooth but the core system remains very relevant. This winter I will upgrade my GPU again.... not because my GTX 560Ti is failing, there just isn't enough horsies under the hood for the games coming out right now.

Spending $3000 on a laptop sounds like the bigger waste of money to me.

 

[UscTheGamer]

So, the best mobile GPU's available right now are the 680M from nvidia and the 7970m from Radeon.....

At the current rate, that mobile GPU will be about useless in 3-4 years tops. You cannot future proof against gaming, not even in desktop PC. My rig being an example, built in May 2008 for roughly $1500 & change except my GPU was a GTX 260 at the time. Two years ago I need an upgraded GPU(not because the 260 was failing.... it couldn't keep up anymore is all).

Now, my GTX 560Ti is also getting long in the tooth but the core system remains very relevant. This winter I will upgrade my GPU again.... not because my GTX 560Ti is failing, there just isn't enough horsies under the hood for the games coming out right now.

Spending $3000 on a laptop sounds like the bigger waste of money to me.

The way your putting it makes it seem like I should just buy the new console instead

 

[UscTheGamer]

So I've been looking and might just go with a gaming pc. I would rather build my own, can anyone find me a pc case that is relatively small not 10x bigger than a xbox but relatively close?

 

[skit75]

Choose your GPU first. If you are set on a gaming rig, you will blow a gasket if you can't fit a beast GPU in there because of the physical size limitation of your case.

 

[crookedmouth]

Many of the small cases force you to use a mini or Micro atx. Though not the size of an Xbox check out the Cooler Master HAF XB. Seems good as a portable/testbench full atx too.

 

[UscTheGamer]

Could any of you guys post a link of the best parts for gaming out there for a rig so I know what size to look for?

 

[markiz]

Considering your situation, I would get a laptop.

3 years from now, you will not be running games on high, but even on medium, new games look pretty awesome. And of course, you don't really have to run on 1080P.

Desktop will always be more powerful and it can easily be upgraded though.
You could also for example buy 2 monitors, one at your fathers, one at your mothers.
Here is an example of a small desktop that could be transported:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4570S 2.9GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H87N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($114.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Kingston Blu 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($77.98 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($99.99 @ Microcenter)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ Microcenter)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card ($195.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Silverstone SG06BB-450-USB3.0 (Black) Mini ITX Desktop Case w/450W Power Supply ($145.00 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Lite-On DS-8A9SH-01 DVD/CD Writer ($24.98 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Acer H236HLbid 60Hz 23.0" Monitor ($144.00 @ Newegg)
Total: $1062.90
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-11-15 05:21 EST-0500)

If main purpose is gaming, you can drop the SSD and get a better GPU/CPU.
And you have enough money leftover to get a very nice portable laptop/hybrid (yoga or something).

But of course, it's still not mobile. You can not game in your room, or in the bathroom or such

Here is a list of some gaming laptops:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Notebookcheck-s-Top-10-Gaming-Notebooks.98628.0.html

Notebookcheck is THE place to read reviews and get informed on laptops/tablets. Very professional and they use hard numbers and put subjective observations to minimum.