Who Needs What?
The question of whether it would be better to put together a desktop computer system or buy a notebook has no easy answer, because even notebooks could represent a full-fledged alternative for sworn desktop computer fans. The question in this context must be: “What kind of user am I?” Only by answering this can all the pros and cons of the two systems be properly weighed to find the best solution for you.
If you consider yourself a power user, a desktop computer should be an easy choice. For this user group, performance and upgradeability are of principal importance. If technical improvements are planned, these are often carried out by the users themselves, and existing hardware like hard disks and optical drives can be recycled in other machines, which reduces overall costs.
Users who employ their computer mainly for CAD/CAM/3D have a similar profile: graphics performance is of utmost importance here, and a desktop system would be the first choice, with notebooks offering virtually no alternative. Fast quad-core processors and two or more graphics cards are necessary for professional work. Moreover, professional environments demand the use of an extremely high-quality monitor or LCD display.
If a computer is used for classic office tasks, a separate graphics card is not a must: today’s on-board graphics adapters in notebooks offer sufficient performance capability for everyday business use. Another advantage for notebooks is mobility, and in comparison to desktop systems, markedly lower power consumption—only the display size could speak against purchasing a notebook. (Anyone who has to work with large Excel spreadsheets knows the value of a large screen.) If mobility is not important to you, but power consumption is a criterion, desktop systems with notebook components like the
If the new notebook needs to be able to run the newest games, a dedicated graphics card from ATI or Nvidia is essential. Specially-equipped gamer notebooks, like MSI’s Extreme Edition GX-600 Series, promise unadulterated gaming pleasure. If you often play with other gamers at LAN parties, the notebook’s low weight and high portability are clear advantages, but you should also consider that while gamer notebooks do well in terms of 3D games and overall system performance, a desktop system will still give gamers the best results.
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Most notebooks I've seen won't let you eject the CD when it's turned off except using a paperclip in that tiny hole, which is something you can do on a desktop drive anyway.
8800GTS 320 seems an unusual choice...
This is obviously a newbie article. You could easily build a far superior machine than the one specced out here.
For example I have just bought a new budget gamer machine (own build)
680i SLI mobo
single 8800GT (for now)
2 GB of dominator xr2 1066 ddr2 (who needs 4 GB if you have no intention of running vista EVER)
Q6600 2.4GHz Quad intel (soon to be oc'd to ~3.2GHz)
funky case, extra large dia fans, 3rd party cooler, etc etc etc.
(will reuse old HDD's for the mo'. I had to get this past the wife so this concession was made)
Comes in at £445 or ~ $870 US
Being conservative and adding £60 to get a 500GB HDD that still is only ~$995 US
And this system will smack the quoted one around like a dirty Biatch in games productivity etc.
As mentioned the beauty of a desktop system is upgradability. For the $1800 US you could get dual 3870x2 in quad crossfire, multiple TB's HDD's etc.
This is article is for the Sucker Chump looking for new stuff that performs worse than cream of the last crop but for a higher price cause its new (the same people who buy new cars and sell them a year later to get a newer car, talk about throwing money away), and for advertising hard to shift stock, 8800GTS 320's anyone?
To the same extent, you can get a much better suited gaming laptop for the money. A 8800m gtx would be much better than the 9500m card they're using.
"If watching movies on the go is important to you, then a DVD-ROM drive and a sizable screen are musts" - Its 2008 now, do they actually make laptops without dvd drives? Apart from the macbook air, i think every new laptop has at least got a dvd drive.
I got an Asus Z7000 laptop with an ATI X700 128 meg video card and 1.5 GB ram and Pentium-M 1.7 GHz for £160 GBP with a years warranty! It has a 15.4 WXGA screen and quadruphonic sound. It didn't have a HDD or optical drive so I installed my own hdd. Unfortunately my DVDRW drive does not fit the ultrabay connection so I use my usb to ide adapter and psu so connect a desktop pc dvdrw drive via usb and the transfer rate is fast (usb 2.0) and the drive is seen in the cmos setup at bootup so excellent!
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Chris.
BARGAIN. where did you get that deal. I'd get me one.
Hi there!
I got it on ebay.co.uk and they only post to the UK but you could check. It was at the ebay.co.uk shop spiredream trading in Oxfordshire near Oxford.
Hope you can find it as they sell many units. Search for barebone or barebones.
Chris.