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Let's get this straight, laptops vs desktops

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Razer blade stealth has this nifty unit you connect via USB. External GPU and RAM upgrade, it basically makes the ultrabook on par with a gaming desktop (or so the company claims)

Yes, but it still requires you to buy an ultrabook which can't be used for gaming except when connected to something that essentially makes it a desktop, and you still have to buy a graphics card and the dock. At which point you may as well just buy a desktop and a cheap laptop

Reply 61

DBR247

I hook my Macbook Pro up to an external display, keyboard and mouse. An awesome combination of convenience and portability. The Mac functions flawlessly when used like this as well. I definitely agree with you in terms of power, the architecture of mobile CPU's and other laptop components are optimised for portability not power.

Reply 62

Another

Original post by TajwarC

But I'm assuming this only works with that particular ultrabook. Also 12.5" screen. Just lol, any actual gamer/designer/etc will know that's a joke, why compromise your experience for the sake of having a detachable ultrabook with less performance? It's basically a desktop with a fancy and small monitor imo. Thanks for letting me know though, but I don't believe that this supports OP's argument

I use a 13.5 inch laptop. No issues with gaming, can confirm. I don't think OP has mentioned anything to do with designing. I would have considered this machine for Uni in the day then having a workstation when I'm home (let's be real, I can't afford two devices) but the battery life is terrible.

Reply 63

TajwarC

Original post by xylas

Well you can sorry to have to update you.

I can't be bothered answering the same thing again and again, see above responses especially Acsel's post. Short answer, laptop can do everything desktop can with absolute advantage of portability. What you have said is not an advantage of a desktop.

Desktops have better performance, full stop! Anyone who knows anything about computers knows this. But like I said, if you want portability then buy a laptop, and yeah it's not like performance is 100% compromised but you will get better with a desktop (and at less cost too)

Reply 64

username612415

Original post by xylas

First link.
https://www.msi.com/Laptop/GT80S-6QF-TITAN-SLI-29TH-ANNIVERSARY-EDITION.html#hero-overview

Fine, perhaps nowadays they can't get 100% the same performance but it's closer now then ever before. I made this thread because I see this as a realistic scenario in the near future. So if you assume laptops can match the best desktop performance then the real differences in the form factors become apparent and it becomes a much more interesting choice.

Thanks for the link. However my point still stands- dual 980s in a laptop are not capable of approaching the performance of Quad Titan Xs. For example the Titan laptop scores 5258 in Fire Strike Ultra, while a desktop with 3 Titan X's doubles that score, never mind a fourth.

Reply 65

Lawliettt

Original post by 999tigger

Not true.

Money, upgradebaility and repairs are three reasons.

Can you not do all those things with a laptop? I certainly can lol.

And aren't laptops generally cheaper? Even if they weren't, OPs scenario said you had infinite money lol

I'm just saying in my opinion, OPs question only has one answer (hence why it's pointless).

If he asked which do people prefer without any added variables then there'd be more room for debate.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 66

999tigger

It can only manage 1080p, weights 4.5kg and has a battery life of 2.5hrs.
Looks to be just under 4k. For that sort of money you could buy a nice laptop and build a massive desktop.

Reply 67

username612415

Original post by 999tigger

It can only manage 1080p, weights 4.5kg and has a battery life of 2.5hrs.
Looks to be just under 4k. For that sort of money you could buy a nice laptop and build a massive desktop.

To be fair it's probably powerful enough to do some degree of 4K gaming depending on how MSI implemented desktop GPUs (which I can't be bothered wasting my paltry megabyte allowance checking), they just decided to stick in a 1080p display for some reason.

Reply 68

Memz95

If u need a laptop for office, facebook , youtube, general web browsing, a laptop would probably be a more suitable convenient option, maybe even a chromebook/tablet with an external drive would suffice. However, if you do any sort of compiling, 3d rendering, scientific modelling, data mining, video encoding, a laptop is not an option, these are things you probably wont be doing on the go anyway :biggrin:

Hardware wise a desktop will always win, period. Some laptops have ram soldered in (you might argue ramdisk, but the speed doesnt compare to real ram), some only have 1 internal sata port, some have more, others also have m.2 ssd slots, however it is ultimately more limiting than a desktop. Yeah you can get multiple external usb drives, an external gpu (razer core), all the ramdisks in the world, but then the cpu will limit you :smile:

Imagine a laptop hooked up to all those things on ur desk, it loses its portability which is its only advantage :biggrin:

Everyone has different computing needs, I dont see a point in this debate

I have an S7 edge which meets my basic computing needs on the go most of the time. A cheap laptop with an intel celeron processor (I dunno which one) 3gb ddr3 ram, 120gb ssd which I use for car diagnostics/coding and the odd library session.

At home I have an itx build, not the smallest itx build but its still quite small :biggrin:

. i7 4770k, 16gb ram, Asus vi rampage itx motherboard 4 x 2tb hard drives, 512gb m.2 ssd, Gtx 980.
This I use for my more "intensive" computing needs :smile:

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 69

999tigger

You could ofc link it up to external monitors, but then ofc you have created a desktop and need to spend more money.

Reply 70

AstroNandos

Original post by xylas

Fine, set amount of money £10,000. Don't deny that some people spend that much on computers.

People spend that much on both desktops and laptops but they're definitely in a very small minority

Reply 71

AstroNandos

Original post by TajwarC

Quick question, have for frames for CS dropped recently by any chance?

I feel like mine have tbh, but I'm not sure if cs has reset my video settings tho

Reply 72

donutellme

Original post by xylas

No you're out of touch. Look at the new model.

Anyway, my point is that the best possible laptop would have similar performance to a desktop. I have already said how this would be possible with external devices etc.

The best possible laptop is very vague.

If you still want it portable, then no.

Due to the simple problem of space and power, desktops will always be more powerful. There's just more space for bigger and more powerful components.

Reply 73

999tigger

Original post by donutellme

He's given a link to the £3900 MSI Titan . Here is a review
http://www.kitguru.net/laptops/leo-waldock/msi-gt80s-6qf-titan-sli-gtx980s-review/

Everyone on this page agrees, he just cant see it becayse he cant accept reality.

Reply 74

donutellme

Original post by 999tigger

For less money you can make something better.

He's said no cost limit. So what do you think you can get if you spend £4000 WITHOUT the battery and size constraints?

Reply 75

999tigger

Original post by donutellme

For less money you can make something better.

He's said no cost limit. So what do you think you can get if you spend £4000 WITHOUT the battery and size constraints?

he did, but then he went down to £10,000 and then he started offering the £4,000 laptop up. He forget to mention it weighs 9.9lbs and runs for 2.5hrs.

I dont know what I could get for £4k, am sure soemthing nice and fast. the are some new chips coming out this year I think 10 cores and 20 threads?

If I wanted to spend that much id just look round and see what was good and take it from there. I tend to think high end graphics cards depreciate quite quickly. O get bored of carrying a laptop round plus theft and breakage concerns. They have their place though. If you dont game and dont want power, then they are fine.

Reply 76

username612415

Original post by 999tigger

I dont know what I could get for £4k, am sure soemthing nice and fast. the are some new chips coming out this year I think 10 cores and 20 threads?

Intel already produce Xeon chips with up to 18 cores for workstation/server use, but yeah, they're planning to introduce a 10 core Core i7 for consumer use at some point this year too.

For £4,000 you could probably get an i7 from the current selection, a couple of top end GPUs to SLI/Crossfire, whatever combination of other components you wanted, a 4K monitor and maybe even a VR headset.

Reply 77

Subspace

If they had the same performance, desktops.

Laptops will start to heat up and rack up the fan noise very quickly if they had the same performance as a desktop, plus they would be a lot heavier, and would have battery life smaller than 2 hours (*cough* "gaming" laptops, still don't believe people fall for that marketing prefix). That goes against the idea of a 'portable' machine.

Might as well get a desktop in that case (plus if we assumed money was finite, then a desktop will always). outclass a laptop in performance

Posted from TSR Mobile

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 78

TajwarC

Thank you! Not to mention the max data rate that can be transferred with thunderbolt compared with PCI and the fact that the processor is built in meaning many GPU's will be bottlenecked

Reply 79

mackemforever

Original post by PaulACP

yeah, only reason to get a desktop is if you're making it powerful as **** for graphics work, gaming etc.

Or if you don't need to use your computer on the move.

Or if you have a tablet on which you can do all of your mobile computing.

Or if you want something reasonably priced but that still performs well.

Or if you want something you can hook up to your TV to run as a home theatre system.

Or if you want something which will allow you to run any kind of in-home streaming system.

And so on...