College freshman torn between performance and mobility...

TheScarecrow97

Honorable
Apr 19, 2012
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So I've got up to 1400 dollars in graduation money to spend on a laptop to use in college that will serve as a replacement for my current gaming desktop. I'm looking at MSI's new lineup with next-gen hardware and I'm really torn between their Dominator series and there Apache series with the dominators in my price range packing 870Ms and i74800s and the Apaches gtx 860Ms and i4700s. The thing is the dominators weigh almost three pounds more than the apaches, plus I don't like the exterior design as much. I'm really torn here. Any college students out there have any advice for buying a gaming laptop for college? Would you prefer performance or style and mobility?
 

Alec Mowat

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Jan 8, 2014
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If I was in your position, I'd pick up a $800 mini ITX tower with some power, you can leave safe at your "home", have a good amount of storage and runs better, and get a cheap $400 laptop or Tablet I could bring to class for note taking.
If you get a gaming laptop, you're just going to play games on it and not do any studying.

Also; with a desktop you get more storage, it's stationary and safe, and you can make copies from your laptop to your desktop for backup.
 

Sharphawk1234

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Mar 5, 2014
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Took the words out of my mouth. Im in college too and I wish I had gone this route instead of gaming laptop.

 

TheScarecrow97

Honorable
Apr 19, 2012
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Yeah I thought about that. In fact I even had a build all picked out. But I realized that I like the idea of just being able to pick up my laptop and go over to a friend's dorm and play without having to lug a monitor and keyboard everywhere i go. Also my current laptop is on its very last legs and I'm in desperate need of a replacement.

I figure when I'm ready for a new desktop, I'll go all out and build a real nice $2000 dollar system with top-end components instead of a poor man's rig with an fx 6300 and 7850 (what i have right now)
 

Alec Mowat

Honorable
Jan 8, 2014
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You could literally pick up a MiniITX board for less than $200, put it in a $50 dollar case, reuse your CPU, Videocard, PSU, RAM and Harddrive and have decent, lightweight desktop computer for school.

I can't really recommend a gaming laptop. Even the best gaming laptop will probably be out performed by your current desktop setup. You are better off with a cheap A6 Laptop that can run a few indie games, and a decent mid-range ITX tower that's light enough to carry if you need to game.

If you get an expensive laptop, and it ends up damaged or stolen, that's all of your data, all of your money and a lot of time gone out the window.