upgrading

[Tank-Ace]

I'm thinking about upgrading my machine. I currently have an Inspiron 1545 laptop, and it seems like its gone about as far as its gonna go.

Works fine for just surfing the web and stuff, but it just can't handle gaming graphics, can't really do much in the way of editing or stuff like that. And frankly, my current machine is getting kinda beat up.



Any laptops out there that I could get that can both handle a bit of gaming, say AH halfway up to full graphics, and not break the bank? And preferably, one that can have the graphics card upgraded, so I can squeeze a bit more life out of it later if I want to.


Or am I gonna want to be looking into a desktop computer?

[Spikes]

You will get twice as much for half the price with a desktop.

[deadstikmac]

I have been doing a lot of current market research for new systems both tower and laptops. It all depends on what your overall goal is: Max FPS, Portability, Budget.

On Max Frames per Second - desktop wins and ranges in cost depending on monitor upgrade is avg 1,500 bucks to the elite machines for end all gaming 7,500 bucks +

On Portability - laptop wins (I have seen some LAN computer builds, but that is a custom case build done by me and friends for LAN Parties. Hardly never in the consumer market will you see full size components in a portable case.) and ranges in cost depending on size of viewable screen, blueray player, motherboard upgradable, chipset ect avg 1,500 bucks (I stole mine off newegg for 700 bucks I7 with OC) up to 7,000 bucks +

On Budget - For a budget build the Desk Top wins. You can take 2,000 bucks and get close to a 5,000 machine using some old components like the case and not usually the PSU, HD, Monitor and sometimes RAM & PCI Devices depending on "age of the existing machine". If say, you wanted to be in the 1,000 - 1,500 range you can still come out on top going desktop over laptop in terms of raw processing power per dollar spent. Then factor in upgradable future and the laptop is wiped out of the picture compared to a desktop.

References for your enjoyment. Be sure to look at each part in detail, then google the product and see what a place like http://www.tomshardware.com/ says about it and make an informed buying decision.

Notebooks - http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/category/notebook/
(These are all 3D ready Laptops, bad too the bone I7 chips ect... Not your run of the mill average laptop)

Desktops - http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/landingpages/intel/i7/?gclid=CJ35itzsmrICFQKf7QodskAA2Q


Here are some examples for a 700-800 dollor budget build. All prices listed Lowest to Highest (In fairness too notebooks there are a ton on the market for 700-800 bucks but not in terms of raw processing power)

Corsair Case - http://www.compusa.com/applications/Category/guidedSearch.asp?CatId=32&sel=Mfr%3BMfr_1499

1155 Socket Motherboard - http://www.compusa.com/applications/Category/guidedSearch.asp?CatId=13&sel=Detail%3B31_174_68338_68338

1155 Processor - http://www.compusa.com/applications/category/guidedSearch.asp?CatId=22&sel=Detail%3B112_174_68338_68338

RAM - http://www.compusa.com/applications/Category/guidedSearch.asp?CatId=10&sel=Detail%3B30_170_12739_12739

The rest of the system would be easily put together and you would hit your goal of 700-800 bucks.

Example of two crazy black budget systems (be sure to click on details and see the triple monitors ect... These are total systems) - http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/cart/showcart.aspx?url=%2fsystem%2fFang_III_-_Black_Mamba&ref=add


Hope this helps.

[The Fugitive]

You will get twice as much for half the price with a desktop.

WHat ^^^^ he said.

Selino is complaining about getting black dots and stuff on his $1200 laptop, and my $1200 desktop runs with just about everything turned up/on.

The choice is yours.

[Tank-Ace]

Alright, looks like its gonna be a desktop.


Thanks

[Butcher]

I had a gaming laptop - one step under an alienware - I paid $3000 for something that handled Aces High on max graphics for about 6 months - 3 years later I couldn't run it at 20fps with absolutely no graphics on.

Desktop I have now I paid $2500 for, includes 30 inch monitor with all the trimmings. (Paid another $500 for TM Warthog $350 - CH pro Pedals for $50 and Track ir 5 $100)
I went under budget with my first build - ended up upgrading my video card to 580 GTX which was the second best video card at the time just to boost.
PC is still 6 months old, still running AH on full graphics, as well as just about every other game.

I mainly use it for work, but after my gaming laptop went down hill quick as it did, I won't ever recommend it because one thing you simply cannot upgrade a laptop - secondly you odn't want too - what you can upgrade is minimal, vs a desktop.