University + Lack of space + Gf dilemma

franco_22

franco_22

franco_22

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15 Jul 2010
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So, I know this isn't the "Personal Advice" forum, but this is computer related so I'm hoping someone can help me,

I need a PC now, unfortunately, I can only wait until February and it seems like now is the perfect time to buy but,

I don't have room for it + I don't really game anymore but you know what it's like, you may get the itch sometime. My gf wants a laptop and she wants me to buy a laptop for me because I'm the one who mainly needs it but the problem is, I've been looking for the last week for laptops and apart from Macbooks (which I don't like) there is nothing good out there, Sony Vaio F? Heat problems + too big, HP Envy? Crappy screen, Samsung QX430? Crappy GPU, MSI/Alienware? Look like toys r us laptops, Sony Vaio Z? Too expensive.


I have a budget of ideally £850 but maybe I could stretch that a bit if it's worth it. That has to be either a Laptop or a PC+Monitor+Mouse+Keyboad+Speakers, or £1000+ if I can buy it VAT free at an airport

The worse part is, I know that laptops would be best for me, but I had a gaming rig which I sold and I know I will get ****ed off with laptops limitations, even thou it would be awesome for when I travel or for a few lectures that I would attend or for the fact that it's so tiny I can put it under the bed.


To top it all off, Sandybridge just came out, (Thank you Overclockers.co.uk, I was gonna buy a laptop and then you slap that in my face), I heard GTX 560 is going to come out soon too and basically this is like the perfect time to buy a PC.

What do I do?

(sorry for the long post)

TLDR version: PC or Laptop, and if laptop which one?



PS: I am typing this from a PINK Hi-Grade on Windows Vista, broken keyboard keys with just a tilt switch popping out, Intel Pentium, 2 gb of RAM laptop. Windows Experience Index: 1.00
 
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Hows this look? I havent included a kb, as the ones I would are out of stock, you can pick one yourself, plenty of budget left, its a nice small form factor PC, excellent case, no laptop will come close to this (without spending 3K anyway) I also included win7 as you should get it but you can prob pick it up for less than half price being a student

Iiyama ProLite E2208HDD 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black £117.43
Asus GeForce GTX 460 Direct CU TOP 768MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £113.99
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £113.99
Antec Mini-P180 Micro ATX Case - Black (No PSU) £94.97
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-00599) £83.99
Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AMD 880G (Socket AM3) microATX DDR3 Motherboard £60.67
BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W Power Supply £49.01
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000528AS) £45.95
GeIL 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz VALUE PLUS Dual Channel (GVP34GB1600C9DC) £38.39
Logitech MX518 Gaming-Grade Optical Mouse (910-000616) £25.52
Logitech X-140 2.0 Speaker System (970264-0120) £18.37
Pioneer 24x Internal S19LBK DVD Rewriter including Labelflash SATA Retail £17.99
Total: £780.26
 
Laptops will be slower, more expensive, and die sooner than a desktop. No real overclocking options either. They are generally smaller, and carrying them around is nice.

Now is a bad time to buy, sandy bridge prices will be at their peak on release. February is probably spot on.

Laptop in lectures is less viable than I expected it to be. I'm using a 10" netbook for them, and in most halls it's too large to fit on the available desk space alongside paper.

I would recommend a mini-itx desktop. Probably something in a Sugo case, though there are other options. There's a gigabyte mini-itx board coming out for sandy bridge which I expect to be excellent, and the corsair H50 will fit in some very small cases while allowing excellent cooling. So this is what I would recommend, the monitor may still be large, but the case will be a tiny box which you are welcome to store under your bed if you wish.
 
Look at Dell. I swear by their laptops. I have an Inspiron 6400 which I have now had for 3 years and am still getting 2-3 hours out of the battery (Down from 5.5). Never been a pick of bother.
 
something like this, beaut...

buildk.png
 
My recommendation for a few years in this situation is get a portable desktop that you can lug home during holidays to do your main work on and game a bit, and a super lightweight laptop/netbook to carry around with you for note taking etc. Alternatively, get a decent 15" laptop to do all your work on and take around with you and a console to game on.

Avoid the "gaming" laptops, they will break your back carrying around and have crap battery life.

Edit: I like something like a Sugo for building a competent portable desktop around.
 
95thrifles said:
Hows this look? I havent included a kb, as the ones I would are out of stock, you can pick one yourself, plenty of budget left, its a nice small form factor PC, excellent case, no laptop will come close to this (without spending 3K anyway) I also included win7 as you should get it but you can prob pick it up for less than half price being a student

Iiyama ProLite E2208HDD 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black £117.43
Asus GeForce GTX 460 Direct CU TOP 768MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £113.99
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £113.99
Antec Mini-P180 Micro ATX Case - Black (No PSU) £94.97
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-00599) £83.99
Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AMD 880G (Socket AM3) microATX DDR3 Motherboard £60.67
BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W Power Supply £49.01
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000528AS) £45.95
GeIL 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz VALUE PLUS Dual Channel (GVP34GB1600C9DC) £38.39
Logitech MX518 Gaming-Grade Optical Mouse (910-000616) £25.52
Logitech X-140 2.0 Speaker System (970264-0120) £18.37
Pioneer 24x Internal S19LBK DVD Rewriter including Labelflash SATA Retail £17.99
Total: £780.26
Click to expand...

Thanks for the help but I don't need Win 7 ^_^

JonJ678 said:
Laptops will be slower, more expensive, and die sooner than a desktop.

I would recommend a mini-itx desktop. Probably something in a Sugo case, though there are other options. There's a gigabyte mini-itx board coming out for sandy bridge which I expect to be excellent, and the corsair H50 will fit in some very small cases while allowing excellent cooling. So this is what I would recommend, the monitor may still be large, but the case will be a tiny box which you are welcome to store under your bed if you wish.
Click to expand...

@Jon - a mini ITX build is a great idea but the cases are really expensive, I'm not sure if it's worth it. I could handle a mid-tower case it's just it's a bit of an inconvenience but im sure I could manage. Ideally I want a laptop but compared to PCs right now like you said, they fall really behind.

PhillyDee said:
Look at Dell. I swear by their laptops. I have an Inspiron 6400 which I have now had for 3 years and am still getting 2-3 hours out of the battery (Down from 5.5). Never been a pick of bother.
Click to expand...

I think Dell XPS are great laptops and I heard they have the best speaker quality in laptops, unfortunately I don't like their laptops and was looking for something top of the range to type on, like the sony vaios/macbooks/hpenvys, problem is, for their specs, I think their really expensive, Sony Vaio F is my first choice at the moment but I heard they don't last very long and suffer from poor ventilation due to only 1 fan, + it's big (16.4in), HP Envy is £1000 and has a 768p screen as opposed to 900 and I just don't plain like Apple.
I guess I am being too picky :(


@danewesley - that spec is really good, I wanted to avoid the members forums, I actually had a look at a retailer in the airports to save the VAT thou but they have a poor selection. Well, their selection wasn't poor but again it was a fight between Sony Vaio F series, HP Envy, Macbooks and Sony Vaio Z at £2600 lool

sldsmkd said:
My recommendation for a few years in this situation is get a portable desktop that you can lug home during holidays to do your main work on and game a bit, and a super lightweight laptop/netbook to carry around with you for note taking etc. Alternatively, get a decent 15" laptop to do all your work on and take around with you and a console to game on.

Avoid the "gaming" laptops, they will break your back carrying around and have crap battery life.

I like those Sugo cases as well but if I'm gonna be short of space I might as well go for a mid tower since it would be cheaper :D. I know I should get a laptop thou, but, can't find any :S, been looking for a week and browsing laptop forums, I even looked in European countries! lol

Edit: I like something like a Sugo for building a competent portable desktop around.
Click to expand...

Yeah what I really wanted is a good 15in with a good keyboard, mid gpu, mid cpu,4gb of ram, any size HDD and atleast 900p. Seems hard to find at the moment unless you go for a gaming laptop, but like you mentioned, I don't want a gaming laptop because I don't play much anymore, literally a few hours a week on weekends, and like you said they have bad battery life and are bulky and heavy :)

I actually do own a PS3 and a 26in TV which is taking up the space for the computer :D lol
 
the thing you have to realise with the silerstone mitx case i specced is that it comes with a 600w psu too so take £60-£70 from the case price and its not too bad, on the other hand you can get the sg05 or a lian li mitx case and bosh a cheap psu in there if you so wish.

if i could go back now i would have a mitx build instead on having an antec 1200 sitting on my face.
 
danewesley said:
the thing you have to realise with the silerstone mitx case i specced is that it comes with a 600w psu too so take £60-£70 from the case price and its not too bad, on the other hand you can get the sg05 or a lian li mitx case and bosh a cheap psu in there if you so wish.

if i could go back now i would have a mitx build instead on having an antec 1200 sitting on my face.
Click to expand...

really u recommend a matx case that much? do u think i could drop the ssd and go for an i5 and bigger monitor?
 
I'm in a similar position, but £1000 could buy you a very decent gaming desktop AND an i3 4gig of ram laptop. (not including desktop peripherals)

that's what I'm doing, decent laptop + gaming desktop. Best of both worlds :)
 
billysielu said:
Your GF won't be your GF when you graduate - get whatever you want, kick her out to make room.
Click to expand...

Don't say that, mine graduates at the end of this year :(

Also more relevant to topic as a third year uni student myself (1 more year to go) I bought both a laptop and netbook thinking they'd be handy for uni life etc but realistically they're not. You always get looked at if you bring a laptop to lecture "hey look at that idiot looking keen with his laptop". Sounds like stereotyping but its true :P

Nothing ever feels as nice as a quick PC with a nice large screen.

Only alternative would be spend ~£750 on a PC and then go to an airport and buy a netbook if you/your gf NEED something to work on the move.
 
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