<p>So next year I'll hopefully be attending Georgia Tech, majoring in either Computer Science or Computer Engineering. Students there are required to own a laptop, but I am reluctant to leave my current gaming desktop setup(i7 watercooled with overclocked gtx 650 running three monitors plus ssd and 16gb ram). My question is whether I should purchase a relatively portable gaming laptop like the MSI gs70 stealth Amazon.com:</a> MSI Computer Corp. GS70 2OD-002US 17.3-Inch Laptop: Computers & Accessories and carry it to all of my classes or whether I should purchase an Ultrabook just for classes that will be easy to carry in addition to building a compact gaming desktop. All of this would be done within approximately a $2000 budget. Macs are out of the question.</p>
<p>On the gaming laptop side, the gs70 is the lightest and thinnest thing you can get for its performance, and will consolidate all of my work into one location. Plus, it will likely be cheaper than an Ultrabook and a gaming pc together. Furthermore, a gaming pc will be much easier to bring to LAN parties across campus. Lastly, a gaming laptop simply looks cooler than any Ultrabook, and few people would see my desktop so its appearance is insignificant.</p>
<p>On the other hand, an Ultrabook will be easier to carry to classes, and a dedicated gaming pc will vastly outperform a gaming laptop for the money. Furthermore, If I manage to build an extremely compact rig, I may still be able to haul it to a LAN party somewhere without too much effort. While a gaming laptop looks cooler, Ultrabooks often look more professional, and if I had a smaller laptop, I could save myself from looking too nerdy with a dedicated laptop bag instead of a more stylish Jansport or something. </p>
<p>Recommendations and information from current gamer students at GT will definitely be helpful here in regards to their own setups, dorm space, enforcement of the laptop requirements/policy, school laptop discounts, carrying a 5.7 pound laptop to class, and things like the prevalence of gaming and gaming culture in a college society so dominated by work, yet so saturated with geeks haha.</p>
<p>Any help or advice here is appreciated as I am truly at a loss.</p>
<p>P.S. I hope nobody was offended with "nerdy" or "geeks". Realize that I am one of you all and would be honored to go to GT. Also - "technology-oriented males" just didn't have the same ring to it as geeks :P</p>
<p>“Technology-oriented males” as a substitute for “geeks”? We females can be geeks too! :)</p>
<p>Anyway, what level of gaming do you expect to have time for in college? With your major and university, you might find your free time for gaming somewhat limited.
You will probably be spending a decent amount of time with your laptop for school work/programming, so it would be good to have something portable with a long battery life. Since you already have the gaming desktop, it seems like it would also be somewhat redundant to get a gaming laptop, ignoring the portability issue; the few geeks know with desktops at college don’t seem to have a problem with it. Also, a 17" laptop with college-sized desks is not fun. Trust me. I never bring my laptop to class any more - just my tablet or netbook.</p>
<p>Are there any particular ultrabooks that you’re looking at? I would recommend something with a high pixel density, especially since it sounds like you’ve got the budget for it. Personally, I have become quite partial to Thinkpads lately. They’re solid, nearly indestructible workhorses. Can’t speak to the newest line-up yet, (the new *40 series) but they’re not even out yet.</p>
<p>In regards to having time to game: Yeah I’ve heard the amount of work at Tech is crazy. I sort of intended to play just whenever I get a chance, maybe like a few hours a week if I’m really into a game at the time? I really sort of enjoy having a beast of a system just for bragging rights haha. That aside, I would still be playing all the heavy hitters; I prefer the action and graphics of games like Battlefield and Crysis to Minecraft. Also, I couldn’t take my desktop with me because A) It’s too big, and B) I share it with my younger brother, so it would have to stay. Because of this, I would need an Ultrabook and a separate desktop.</p>
<p>You bring up a good point with fitting a large laptop onto a school desk… I never thought about that. An Ultrabook makes so much more sense practically, but I just don’t know if I could handle parting with the power of a desktop. And yes, I was already looking into some of the hi-res displays on the new Ultrabooks. Although I haven’t researched much about Thinkpads, the Ativ book 9+ and the ideapad yoga 2 have caught my eye to say the least. The price just doesn’t leave much room for an adequate gaming system within my budget.</p>
<p>I’d definitely get the lightest possible notebook that still has some decent specs. Remember you will be lugging around several pounds of books in addition to the laptop. The gaming laptop would be serious overkill for typical college classroom use.</p>
<p>Another thing to bear in mind is battery life. Gaming laptops tend to sacrifice it for higher performance. Which means on a day with 3 classes your laptop might not make it through the third one. Go for something that can run all day, unless Tech has outlets at every seat.</p>
<p>Do you think that even the gaming laptop I’m looking at will be difficult to carry around? This will be my first laptop so I don’t know exactly what I would be getting myself into. It is the thinnest and lightest in its class, almost as thin as a Macbook Pro, just 17" and with gaming specs. It’s even thinner than the Razer Blade Pro if you’ve heard of it.</p>
<p>If you aren’t going to have the desktop with you, that does change things somewhat…</p>
<p>I don’t think you have to go with the thinnest and lightest laptop available. You’ll be paying for cramming it into a small case instead of getting higher specs for your money. I definitely wouldn’t go above a 15" laptop, and you might even prefer 13-14" with an external monitor.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s worth investing in a beast of a gaming laptop, though, when you’re going to get little chance to use it. You could aim for a compromise, though. You can get some machines with good specs for <$2,000 that will still be quite portable and would let you run some decent games (maybe not Crysis at full HD at 120 fps or something like that, but enjoyable).</p>