Hello, I’m currently(about to be) a junior in high school. I’m starting to look at PCs for college and am torn between getting either a ultrabook AND building a gaming PC or simply buying a gaming laptop. My budget is around $2000 give or take.
I’ve been eyeing the MSI gt72 dominator(214) for a while and I love nearly everything about it but the size and weight. I’ve also been eyeing the 13" Asus zenbook and dell xps 13 for their portability and battery life.
I have a few concerns with either option(ultrabook + pc vs gaming laptop). First, I’ll be attending college to study engineering(probably aerospace). I’m afraid that if I get an ultrabook, I might have to run CAD on it at some point and that it won’t be able to handle CAD. Second, although I watch pc build videos regularly, I have zero personal experience with building PCs. Finally, as I’ve mentioned previously, the size, weight, and iffy battery life of a gaming laptop might pose a problem. I’m a big guy so I don’t doubt that I’d be able to handle such a large computer but I’m not entirely sure I’d like to…
Anyway, I’m in no real rush and I have plenty of time to consider my options. All replies are greatly appreciated. Especially from current or former engineering students
Thanks to all in advance!
P.S. To whomever may be wondering, I do not game all that much but I figure I’ll need “gaming level specs” or better to run cad; especially during my later years in college. Also, whenever I do game, I tend to play games along the lines of Gta 5 and Assassin’s Creed.
Let me say from experience that lugging around a gaming laptop isn’t fun. They’re bulky and can be hard to fit into backpacks, and of course the battery life is unimpressive so you have to bring the power cord too (and gaming laptops’ power adapters are often massive). I switched to carrying a 13" Chromebook for classes and it’s much better.
Building a PC isn’t difficult if you follow good directions (I’ve looked around inside them and they’re not that complicated, though I’ve yet to build one myself).
Regarding needing to run resource-intensive programs on an ultrabook:
You can install a Remote Desktop program (such as Chrome Remote Desktop, if you use Google Chrome) on your desktop and access it from the ultrabook, assuming the desktop is on and not sleeping. There will be a slight input lag but that won’t be a problem for anything that takes more than a second or two.
I figured a 15.6" laptop wouldn’t be bad but the specs that I need/want only come in a 17.3" model… I’m thinking 17.3" might be a little too clunky, especially being 2" thick and all.
So far, I think I’m leaning towards the desktop+ultrabook route; mostly for the desktop’s more cost effective nature. I’ll probably change my mind a couple of times before I pull the trigger so PLEASE keep the opinions coming. Try to persuade me;)
17.3" is very clunky. That’s my gaming laptop, and it barely fits into my backpack. A friend of mine went with a thinner 17.3" (workstation laptop) and it didn’t fit in his slightly-smaller pack.
And yeah, utrabook+desktop is a better choice for cost effectiveness. This gaming laptop (Toshiba Qosmio: i7-4700MQ, 16GB RAM, GTX 770M, 1TB 5400RPM HDD) ran me $1350. The desktop equivalent (GTX 770M ~= GTX 650) on PC Part Picker (just throwing together a random list) would be about $1000, and that’s without trying to cut prices down at all.
Then a $350 netbook would make the same total price (so a high-end Chromebook, which works just fine), or with your budget you could go for something fancier. Continuing to use my example, I’d almost certainly be happier with the above combination (using Remote Desktop or Secure Shell if I need to do something on the desktop while I’m in class).
I’m awfully late in adding to this discussion, but have you thought about where you’re going for college? If you’re staying in-state and won’t be living in the dorms, then by all means - build a gaming PC and get that ultrabook or whatever. The desktop should definitely have enough power to run whatever programs are required for engineering courses, and you could use the ultrabook to take with you to class to take notes. A custom-build PC would also give you the option to upgrade your specs when the need arises - a lot can change in two years, and the PC you build now might not even be able to play next year’s games (it happens).
But if you’re planning on moving out-of-state for college, definitely rethink that gaming PC. You could bring the PC with you to college and leave it in your dorm, but could you imagine the stress it would cause you? Every winter/summer vacation, you’d have to lug that giant desktop back and forth from home to the dorms, and it would be very easy to break something during travel. If you decide not to bring it to college, then it will just stay in your room collecting dust. You’d be left with that cheap notebook you bought that can only take notes and won’t be able to handle any engineering CAD programs.
If you’re moving out-of-state, then I’d recommend a 15-16 inch laptop at the very most. 17-inch laptops are very bulky, and their battery life is horrible. Everyone at college loves to hog the outlets, and the last thing you need is your laptop dying on you. 15-inch laptops won’t be able to run games at great settings, but most of them are good enough that they can handle CAD programs and PC games at moderate settings.
