Help picking between gaming laptop or desktop for college

[Waltman]

Hey guys I will be attending college this fall and will be majoring in computer science and information systems and I like to play LoL and Gw2 and I can't decide if getting a desktop and a cheap laptop or Chrome book is better since it will allow me to have something to take to class and to game on or if buying a gamino laptop is better even though it would have lower performance my budget is around 1500 though around 1000 is better I have looked into newegg for purchasing the items so if you guys could help that would be great also my main concern is being able to play gw2 on high graphics smoothly

 

[Rhezner]

you should invest in a decent 400 - 500$ laptop and ill make you a build for 500 - 600 on pcpartpicker that will easily play GW2, Do you need an OS?

 

[Waltman]

Yes windows 8.1 but I want to later get windows 10

 

[Rhezner]

PCPartPicker part list: http/pcpartpicker.com/p/7CvmZL
Price breakdown by merchant: http/pcpartpicker.com/p/7CvmZL/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor ($64.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($64.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($48.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial BX100 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($84.99 @ Adorama)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($46.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB WINDFORCE Video Card ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts Green 380W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($27.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $488.71
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-07-07 13:39 EDT-0400

get this if you want fast loading times and boot times. It will play GW2 really well


PCPartPicker part list: http/pcpartpicker.com/p/HfCtFT
Price breakdown by merchant: http/pcpartpicker.com/p/HfCtFT/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i3-4160 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor ($108.95 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($64.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($48.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($46.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 280 3GB Double Dissipation Video Card ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Rosewill Capstone 550W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $509.79
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-07-07 13:40 EDT-0400

get this if you want more gaming performance. It will consume more power and wont boot or launch applications as smoothly.

And get the first one without the sd if you need an OS unless you want to go up to 600$ for this one.

 

[Rhezner]

also see if you can get your OS for free from the college or someone at the college.

 

[jaguarskx]

Chromebooks run Chrome OS not Windows OS. You will not be able to play games like LoL and GW2 because they are not browser based games. They need to be installed on a laptop with Windows OS.

I would say it is best to buy / build a desktop for around $1,000 and get a laptop for around $500. A $1,000 desktop will be more powerful than a $1,500 gaming laptop. For a laptop you can consider the following two laptops which sells for less than $500.

Toshiba Satellite S55t-B5152 - $449 (currently on sale) - It has a 1080p touchscreen and it relies on the Intel HD 5500 graphic core. It is good enough to play LoL at 1080p with very high graphics with 38+ FPS most of the time. (see link below to Youtube video). Of course you can lower the resolution and or lower graphic settings for better performance. The 1080p screen means you can view a lot of info on the screen at a single time which can come in very handy when you want to type papers, do research and do coding away from your desktop. Or if you do a lot of multitasking with many different programs / windows open.

http/www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/Toshiba-Satellite-S55t-B5152-Signature-Edition-Laptop/productID.314413400

https/www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlEsCGta-1A



Acer Laptop Aspire E5-573G-59C3 - $470 (currently on sale) - It has a nVidia 940m graphics chip which is much better than the Intel HD 5500 if you want to play games away from your desktop. However, it only has a 1366x768 resolution screen. It is good enough to play games and the 940m will handle a lot of game pretty well at that resolution. However, for doing school work you may find that the low resolution screen limits the amount of information you can see on the screen at once and will make multitasking a bit more cumbersome.


http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834315016&cm_re=acer_940m-_-34-315-016-_-Product



Below is Guild Wars 2 being played on a Surface Pro 2 at 1080p and it has the Intel HD 4400 graphics core which is probably about 15% - 20% less powerful than the Intel HD 5500. It is a short video though. I am guessing software is being used to record the video. If so, then expect actual performance to be a little higher because the CPU is play the game and recording at the same time. The same can be said about the above link to the LoL video.

https/www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXhAuWLMwZ8

 

[Waltman]

Ok I'll check these out more thanks for the help