The Age Old Question: Laptop or Desktop For University

I will be doing a Chemical engineering degree and I will want to play some of the latest games as well but I do not know whether to pick a powerful laptop or a desktop and a small laptop if needed. The only problem is that I am not living at home (I will live in Halls) and home is over an hour away and I don't think that having a desktop makes sense to take back and forth which I also do not want to do due to their sheer weight and I think that it is stupid to have two devices that basically do the same thing (desktop and laptop) as I know myself and I know that one would take space and be used and one would get neglected. I found a gaming laptop that was 15" and I don't know whether or not that size of laptop is portable or if it will be heavy and hard to carry in a bag. I also do not know the life expectancy of a laptop if it is used for gaming, if they die in roughly 3 years then I will certainly not pick a laptop.

I apologise for making this post lengthy but please can someone help me pick?

You are going to university to read Chemical Engineering, not play computer games.

Fifteen inches is pretty much bang on average for a full-sized laptop. You'll occasionally find seventeen-inch desktop-replacement machines, but those are a whole nother price bracket.

Also laptops and desktops don't necessarily do the same thing. My laptop is good-spec and I use it for my work and some gaming. My desktop isn't as good, spec-wise, but it has a much larger display and i've fitted it with a much larger hard drive, making it ideal for watching films and television programmes on. In addition to this, I have a tablet for some other casual gaming, a cheap netbook to work on when I'm out, a well-specced phone which also has access to my work (so I can write or make notes if something occurs to me while I'm out and away from all my other hardware), as well as a handful of other old devices which I use for single, specific purposes.

Also a laptop will last much longer than three years if you look after it. My last one lasted five years, and was (and still is) fully working when I retired it (which I did because I needed higher spec for what I was doing).

I would go for laptop - it is easier to transport so you can take it home, to uni or the library, it takes up less space so you have more room in your luggage and in your own room and in most cases, cheaper and easier to run.

Would you spend a lot of time gaming?

Yeah I know about the playing games but I am just mentioning it because I will most likely play game as it is a part of my study plan which I used in sixth form (I got A* A* A) I know work will be harder in university but I have already talked to my university tutor and he says that the rough study plan I have made is good enough to get me a first if I stick to it.

Laptops and desktops do the same things just if one has better specifications for a task it will obviously do it better but that doesn't dismiss the other option or deem it completely useless and different.

In this case what do you recommend then?

I'd recommend you get an n-1 top-of-the-line laptop.

By this, I mean the highest end of the previous generation of devices. This way you're saving money (some of them will sell for as little as half of their original prices) and still getting a device with good enough build quality that you won't need to worry about it getting damaged in the line of duty, and with a high enough spec that it'll still stand up well in four or five years.

I buy pretty much exclusively n-1, and thus generally pay around half price for my devices, and they're usually in service for four to five years, after which I retire them in still-fully working condition.

I will be doing a Chemical engineering degree and I will want to play some of the latest games as well but I do not know whether to pick a powerful laptop or a desktop and a small laptop if needed. The only problem is that I am not living at home (I will live in Halls) and home is over an hour away and I don't think that having a desktop makes sense to take back and forth which I also do not want to do due to their sheer weight and I think that it is stupid to have two devices that basically do the same thing (desktop and laptop) as I know myself and I know that one would take space and be used and one would get neglected. I found a gaming laptop that was 15" and I don't know whether or not that size of laptop is portable or if it will be heavy and hard to carry in a bag. I also do not know the life expectancy of a laptop if it is used for gaming, if they die in roughly 3 years then I will certainly not pick a laptop.

I apologise for making this post lengthy but please can someone help me pick?

Yeah that is the type of laptop I had planned to buy already and I just came here before I took the plunge.
Thanks so much for the help I really appreciate it

A desktop isn't really practical if you're going to be regularly going back and forth between university. If you're getting a laptop then obviously you're paying a significant price premium for the portability factor, but you don't seem to have much choice unfortunately. I think people exaggerate portability issues with laptops. I've got a 17" 3kg laptop and okay, it's not exactly light, but I can't say I have any huge issues carrying it around with me and I've got a rucksack with a 17" compartment so I can take it around quite easily. I would suggest that you're careful with your choice of laptop though because, particularly if it's performance you're after, value for money is a lot harder with laptops than desktops.

I'd also recommend you buy yourself a monitor, if you're going with a laptop. I've got a 24' monitor to use alongside my laptop, and it makes writing essays so much easier because you can put up a couple of pages side by side on the monitor (for papers you're referencing from) whilst writing on the laptop screen. It's an absolute godsend, and a decent monitor need only set you back £100 or so. Pretty hand for sticking a movie on too.

I'd also recommend you buy yourself a monitor, if you're going with a laptop. I've got a 24' monitor to use alongside my laptop, and it makes writing essays so much easier because you can put up a couple of pages side by side on the monitor (for papers you're referencing from) whilst writing on the laptop screen. It's an absolute godsend, and a decent monitor need only set you back £100 or so. Pretty hand for sticking a movie on too.