I'd advice a pc, but f you gonna split $500 for a laptop and a pc, it's not alot. Then better getting a (second hand) laptop for $200-300.
Still again $700 for a pc is still not much, if you want to do some good serious graphic design, a pc that will last, you easily go in the 1500+ range (good card and cpu) .
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If laptop is recommended, I'll buy only laptop.
If PC is recommend I'll buy both. Laptop is mostly for writing stuff, so it doesn't have to be an expensive beast :)
As I said, I am also willing to pay more :)
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Best if you define your graphic design work on what you do, need etc, and what games you expect to play at what settings.
Personally i'd get a good (coffee lake) cpu atleast, and atleast a 1070 (TI) whatever it might cost you and a $200-300 tablet/laptop.
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I'd like to play recently released games on settings that will reach the potential of these games. It doesn't need to be ultrasuperhigh but also if a new gaming machine will barely run The Witcher 3 on high settings, maybe it's better to soend a little more :)
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I think, from what OP's said, a $200 Chromebook would be fine for that job. So he/she can easily go for both. I don't know if it is on sale in Poland though. Even $100 second hand old laptop with a lightweight Linux should be fine.
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Yes but a good pc with what he wants will cost a bit more.
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That's true.
I have an old Dell 8300 XPS case with a little upgrade. More RAM and SSD and a GTX 1060. Should be around $800 in total. It's enough for graphic design, also good enough for most of the modern games. But if his job requries to work with bigger files than mine, he'll need a better CPU at least.
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Based on what you need, I'd say a custom desktop for work/gaming and then a tablet (win10+keyboard maybe, 3in1) for responding to emails/word mobile and hdmi/audio. Tablet like this should be around 250-300 at most, so you'll get more than 500 for PC, which could be OK if you didn't need peripherals.
Maybe,
Ryzen5 2400g + box cooler + gigabyte B450 aorus M + 8 gb ddr4 (add +8 later) + 240gb ssd + 1tb hdd + evga b3 550w 80+... some nice case, maybe corsair carbide spec-04 if you like that sort of thing... and you have space to fit a gpu and make that 650-750 usd.
And a 250 win10 3in1 tablet = 1000 usd.
Add something small for a keyboard, mouse, maybe cheaper wacom if you need it... and all you need is a monitor.
Total could be fit under $1300 for sure.
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Current laptop is still alive, so I could buy a tablet a bit later if needed. By the way, thanks for a recommendation, I didn't think of tablet and it seems like a perfect solution!
Any recommendations regarding the tablet? I'm kinda noob in these things :')
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I myself am using Lenovo MIIX310, an older model (there's a new replacement, but Asus and Acer and HP have their own editions too) that I got like... 2.5 or 3 years ago... and works perfectly. Only downside is it only has 32GB emmc inside, but accepts a SD card and so far didn't have any issues upgrading win10 twice a year.
I don't keep any big apps on it though, has onenote, word mobile and such... using edge so I don't have to install chrome... docs are not taking too much space and anything I don't use in 30+ days gets "onedrive only" and needs to be downloaded if needed, but that's fine... it has atom cpu, but I run minecraft and even goblin and coins and other games on it so it's not way too weak. Using it daily (teacher) so it being 1kg only is a huge plus compared to a standard laptop, has mini hdmi out that I use for a projector at school... has audio out... anyway, my point is, this tiny things might not have a real ssd or whatnot, but can be very useful for certain type of activity.
And I think 64gb models are prevalent nowadays anyway.
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I mostly use google docs anyway, so it doesn't take a lot of space :) Thanks for the advice, I'll certainly take it under consideration!
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Well, in that case, a small/lightweight 2in1 or 3in1 tablet (where you can remove the keyboard or put it in a certain position) would be perfect. It's very easy to carry it around and they'll do the work you need. Then you'd have at least €700+ left for desktop, maybe add a bit more than you planned for a solid monitor/peripherals and you're done (check my original reply for a cheap suggestion for desktop - which is very easy to upgrade later when you have money for better cpu, more ram and so on).
(If the money ends up being tight - you can even get it without a gpu and buy that in 6 months - cpu already has a built in gpu that's kind of comparable to nvidia 1030... so you'd be able to run 2D games, most indie titles, maybe CSGO and such... Can't really say... but it's a temporary option if you can't buy a good gpu right now.)
And since you said maybe you wouldn't need to buy a tablet right now... I'd say go for that desktop + 1660(ti) + 1 monitor now, then later you can a) add additional 8gb of ram, b) add a 2nd monitor for increased productivity, c) potentially replace the cpu with 6-10+ core version of Ryzen7, d) add more storage space, e) all of above with enough time/money...
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Yup, go with this recommendation. A tablet sounds like more of what you'd need than an actual laptop if you're going to also have a desktop. You can get a relatively cheap tablet that's still going to be able to do anything you'd need it for and be able to spend a little more on a desktop that will do what you want, as opposed to maybe having to sacrifice some performance on a desktop in order to afford a laptop that isn't a potato.
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Though I'd never recommend one for business use, if you just need to write on a laptop you might want to get a Chromebook or something similar to fill that role. Light, cheap, limited. And then get a proper PC for gaming and solid work. I love having a desktop, and don't know how I could manage without one; never did like the necessary compromises of laptops, and I like a proper keyboard and mouse.
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I feel you, I cannot live withou m+k although I can't say that those that I own are "proper" :P
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How does a GTX 1060 sound? If that is enough performance for you, you can actually get a decent gaming notebook for your budget. I did a quick search and found the ASUS TUF Gaming FX504GM-E4326T. It has an excellent 6-core CPU (i7-8750H), the GTX 1060, even a 256GB SSD and acceptable weight of 2.3kg. 8GB RAM is probably a little low. So with this or a similar notebook you should probably spend a few extra bucks and get at least 16GB.
I am not saying this is the perfect notebook for you. Just wanted to use it as an example that gaming notebooks with that budget are certainly possible (which surprised me, actually). The CPU should be more than sufficient for work, the GPU will help there as well. The GPU is not the fastest anymore. But it will at least allow you mid-high details in 1080p. I am afraid if you want a better GPU you will probably have to go above your budget.
I actually bought a gaming notebook for work (yes, you read that correctly! xD ) 2 weeks ago. The Razer Blade 15 Pro. Excellent device! Powerful, yet small and rather light weight. Also the best touchpad I've ever seen on a notebook (aside from MacBooks). Really nice. I would recommend it, but the price is pretty high (2500€). I would not pay that much for a notebook myself, but since the company paid it... ;)
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Thanks for a recommendation! I know almost nothing about hardware/software so I cannot express my opinion :') I will rely on advices from a helpful users like you, gather information and pick something that will fit my needs the most :) I guess I'll eventually go with PC + tablet. It sounds reasonable and I didn't think about such a solution. Thank you for the time you've spent searching for this notebook! I bookmark it just in case :)
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Oh, I absolutely agree with what the others said. I would always prefer a good desktop PC over a notebook, unless I really, really, need the mobility. With a PC you always get more performance for your money. If you can do everything you need with the tablet, then that seems like the perfect solution. :)
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Since when is "PC" the opposite of "laptop"?
Semantics aside, since you clarified that just need the laptop to write stuff, I guess a desktop plus a cheap laptop or tablet could give you a better perf/price ratio (although I wouldn't really write on a tablet myself...). Maintaining 2 devices is more hassle that maintaining only one, though (installing, updating, synchronizing stuff), so personally I rather go for the powerful laptop. But it's easy to end up in the 2000-2500€ range with this. Like this or something there
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I mostly use google docs so synching isn't a problem :) Thanks for you recommendations, I've bookmarkes them :)
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When you buy a Laptop then with MXM slot and Desktop CPU (those things you can change) and with 4 ram slots
=ca 3000€
and a good pc
=ca 750€
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I'll probably go PC + tablet since it seems reasonable :)
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Well, you don't need a desktop CPU in a notebook anyway. There are decent CPUs like the 8750H, which has almost the same performance as a 8700 (ok, not quite, but it's close).
I tried to make a configuration with a 8700 and a RTX2060 and used really cheap components that I wouldn't normally buy. Like really cheap SSD, Tower and PSU. Even without Windows, additional fans, a monitor or any peripheral devices it was around 1000€. I get a very similar gaming notebook starting at 1600€. Accounting for the fact that the notebook GPU might be clocked lower than the desktop variant and he CPU is a little slower anyway, let's say we need to pay 2000€ for about the same performance in a notebook. That's more like a 1:2 ratio. Still, a desktop PC will always give better performance among other things, no doubt about that.
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It's ~7 years old. A few months ago (maybe a year) it had a period of bluescreening in series. It came from nowhere and disappeared the same way. Additionally one more thing happens more often lately: when I'll leave it in sleep mode I cannot switch it on again without hard reset. That's why I am afraid it can die any second.
The other minus is that I cannot upgrade graphic card drivers. Every update ends up im switching off graphic card completely and laptop is going crazy :P
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lol retards with their gaming laptops. i just tie my desktop setup around me that's wired to a dynamo bicycle that powers it for as long as i drive. no need for your shitty edgy underpowered laptops
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First of all I would estimate, how much data would need to be synchronized between the laptop and desktop, and how likely I am to do/setup this in an orderly manner. In my case the answer is obvious to me, and even though I do 90%+ of my work at home, for the last 10 years I'm sticking with laptops.
I can think of only a few things worse, than having an unexpected meeting next morning, and spending all night trying to make sure, that I have transferred to my laptop all the stuff, that potentially may be useful/necessary during that meeting.
Also, 4000 PLN is close to 1000€, not $1000, in terms of laptop prices. The prices in US are very much lower, than in Europe. If you want to buy it locally, you probably currently have just $700 or so in US prices.
P.S. Then, ofc, I could purchase a desktop exclusively for gaming, but there are so many excellent few years old games, that my laptop still can handle, that I'll rather spend my money on them, not on constantly upgrading my desktop to play the few newest, that need the newest best GPUs and so on.
Also, in my case, I'm not looking to buy a "gaming" laptop. I prefer to pay for a decent GPU and CPU, than for expensive display and keyboard. Accessories for gaming I buy separately and just plug in.
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i have a pc 15 years old but i play via GeForceNow cloud gaming streaming service , all games run at 60fps ultra graphic (included latest as metro exodus) and yes RTX (raytracing) is supported too,is also possible to choose all graphics options in the same way that is possible with local hardware pc gaming,i don't have any lag and for play games single player not competitive is very good,soon google will launch google stadia too and xbox Xcloud (but this sux because is based on 30fps and low graphic xbox hw) , but for now i prefer GeforceNow because it enable me to use my STEAM games library,this service is good also because not need to buy hardisk (so save money,unlimited space) , not need to upgrade hardware (so save money) and not need to do pc\console maintenance (remove dust from dissy\reapply thermal paste etc),top of that because the game download in the nvidia server and not in my pc the download is more faster than my normal connection for example if my connection is 50mbps max download but nvidia server can download at 300mbps so i can download at 300mbps that is save me a lot of time.
So because of this my experience i advice you that cloud gaming streaming exist too,so at today if people can be happy with this is not need to buy any hardware for play,just use cloud gaming streaming services is enough.
Then ok if you not have good internet,or if you want to play competitive\multiplayer games or you want MAX visual quality so ok go for hardware... but if not i think in long terms cloud gaming streaming services for save money and for not be bored about buy and manage more things is a lot better,for me i'm very happy because i not play games multiplayer\vs\competitive (for example as counter strike or pubg or fortnite etc.) i play games same as an hat in time,farcry5,metro exodus,sekiro so this service is perfect for me because also if my hardware is old i can play better than my friend that pay 300€ or more for buy new hardware.
Also in last years we see especially GPU always change more memory (1GB-2GB-4GB-6GB-8GBand so on...) and this always make gpu expensive 900$ become old gpu... so also if you now buy a high gpu 8GB then if next 1 or 2 year when new consoles is out they have 16-24GB then your pc gpu become old\obsolete and unusfeul for new games and you must to buy other money and pay new hardware , all this with cloud gaming streaming services is avoid and save money because is just company upgrade the server and memory is a lot on it.
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Is there a way to join the beta access and notnwait for too long?
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i'm just a gamer and i not have many info about this , but i can tell you i subscribe on 8 Gen 2018 via https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/products/geforce-now/mac-pc/waitlist/ 17 gen 2018 at 22 e 30 cet time i receive email activation and until now can use it (free for now) , i don't know if you can do it now or if sub is close , but i think soon google launch google stadia and xbox launch xcloud too so nvidia will not wait so much long too... little months to wait E3 coming.
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Yep. Tried googling it and it takes some time to be able to get in the beta. I think it will take some time for me to access other game streaming services since I live in Asia. I held off buying a new PC so I'm eager to try out these services. Thanks!
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🤣🤣🤣🤣
Ok, not actually true, but I loved that answer anyway. 😀
And yes, a proper gaming PC is superior in every possible way outside of basic portability. It will save you money in the long run in terms of being able to upgrade components and keep some parts between builds, like the case (buy a good case - you'll be happy you did) and power supply. You can also save a little cash by going AMD on the processor, and they (finally) leapfrogged Intel (who will punch back any day now, I'm sure) for best overall gaming processors, especially for the money. Now that the Threadripper 2 is out, you can pick up an earlier generation 1950X for a song, and it's only about 6%-7% less performant than its newer cousin (and they overclock well, so you can easily push it up to the same overall speed as a stock 2950X). That's 16 cores of badass for a reasonable price.
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"Gaming laptop" is an oxymoron. Due to how current batteries work, you either have something that is relatively portable but runs out of juice in a few hours once you turn on the dedicated graphics chip and engage the full CPU clock speed (the average seems to be 3-4 hours nowadays), or something that almost comes close to desktop performance, albeit at the small cost of weighing 4+ kg either with its battery or because you have to lug around a 1+ kg power brick to keep it running. Meaning, its portability equals the length of the cable and the placement of the nearest wall socket.
Not to mention that they still cost at least +25% compared to a desktop with a monitor.
If you are frequently on the move, then buy one of these, but be prepared for a heavy backpack all the time. Builds back muscle or leads to severe back pain, depending on your posture.
If you want something portable and you want to game, then buy a proper desktop for gaming and get a lightweight low-power laptop for everything else.
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5kg is what a student would wear though :D
Also, you contradict yourself a fair bit here. OP's obviously not going to go to a park and just play DOOM there or something. The point is to have a single device that'll do what otherwise you need two devices to do. He needs portability for light work (which won't need the dedicated graphics) and he needs the specs for gaming (which will be done somewhere else, since he said he's also fine with a PC and laptop combination).
All you're actually saying right now is that he would just have the option to game for a couple of hours at a time anywhere he wanted to. If you want a decent laptop with a PC at that budget, then you'll most likely get a mid-tier business laptop regardless, which are known for being relatively heavy (only around 20% lighter than a high-end gaming laptop).
Gaming laptops are a legit choice for people. It's just that a PC won't overheat, it's more customizable, it's a cheaper option if you don't care for portability and throttling will be less of an issue in general. Not to mention that gaming laptops aren't known for their long lifespans.
But right now all the cons you've mentioned will be there regardless of the choice and you've also just completely ignored what was said.
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Right, personally, I'd say get a beefy PC for your main work. It'll work better overall for the price too since it won't throttle, it won't overheat and it won't be dependent on a battery.
For laptops, I'd buy a used one from a dedicated, certified store that sells refurbished machines. You can get a very decent mid-range laptop for around 250€ if you're willing to bargain hunt. I bought a 250€ Dell business laptop that was refurbished around 3-4 years ago and it works well to this day. You're in Poland, so perhaps you can lower that 250€ to around 200€ thanks to the local market being relatively flexible, unlike the "new" market for PCs and laptops.
You can get a good PC for 750€. 1.5 years ago I managed to do that, at least with a Ryzen 1400, GTX 1060 6GB, 8GB 3200MHz RAM setup. By now, you'll be able to get better stuff most likely. Well, definitely better stuff for the GPU, but hopefully also as for your CPU.
Your laptop will be under light loads, so you won't have to worry about much. Just make sure that you have 8GB+ of RAM since sometimes they'll try and swindle people with 4GB, low end laptops. Always go for refurbished though, I'd say. Used laptops can have too many problems attached to them that you might not even find out until months after buying it.
If you have more questions, feel free to ping me. Though, I'm pretty sure there are better options out there for advice :D
Also, don't listen to the elitists that say gaming laptops don't exist. Fact is they do. Unless those RTX 2080 laptops vanished into thin air thanks to a neckbeard Thanos snapping them out of existence. Just that they're not a good option for what you've described.
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Does the weight and size of the laptop matter to you? If a lighter laptop is of any benefit, having a separate laptop and desktop would help.
Another thing, AMD's new Ryzen generation is around the corner (rumoured to be announced at Computex at the end of this month), and it might be worth waiting for this. AMD's new GPUs will arrive in Q3.
Also, when you're talking about playing games with good quality settings, I'm assuming you're talking 1080p. Right? Also, what kind of refresh frame rate are you looking for? Is 60 FPS enough? Would 30 FPS high quality in The Witcher be enough?
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ideally I'd like something that won't be completely outdated in 6 months
That pretty much knocks out a laptop for gaming. I throw a new GPU in my system every couple of years and, then overclock it when that's not enough. I've gotten 4+ years out of my last two before having to do a new build. Even my current build I reused the HDs and GPU from the old build.
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I advise you check second hand market for PC.
My curent Rig Cost around Half of this budget but build from second hand part and running all curent games at Max detail 1080P 60FPS
https://pcpartpicker.com/b/JzNQzy
Some benches:
https://www.3dmark.com/3dm/34765230?
https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/14327455
https://www.passmark.com/baselines/V9/display.php?id=115921826389
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havent seen a gaming laptop that either was as loud as a plane engine, or as slowed down that makes you wonder why bother putting all those components in it.
get a gaming PC, if you want a laptop, get one that is small, thing and quiet.
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+1 for the Chromebook idea.
For the PC: the CPU, GPU, and monitor can all be as expensive as you are willing to go. $800 for all of that is going to be difficult, I feel. Some advice overall: You can use PC Part Picker (https://pcpartpicker.com/) to build your own system, then buy the parts when they are on sale (you can wait till a big sale and just buy all the parts then, since your current laptop still works), which would be cheaper than buying a pre-built PC. Should your current machine die suddenly, a Chromebook would be a quick fix, at least until you get your PC running. I'd recommend checking out a deals site (like slickdeals.net -- unsure what the equivalent is in Poland) for sales. You can buy Windows 7 Pro for pretty cheap on online marketplaces like eBay.
CD Projekt Red's website recommends (for Witcher 3):
Processor: Intel CPU Core i7 3770 3,4 GHz, AMD CPU AMD FX-8350 4 GHz
Graphics: Nvidia GPU GeForce GTX 770 or AMD GPU Radeon R9 290
RAM: 6GB
Disk space: 40 GB
Discussion: AMD will be cheaper than Intel, though in my experience building with AMD has always given me problems. That may just be my experience though, I'm sure others have built with AMD CPU's fine. I tend to like Nvidia GPU's better than AMD's, since I've never had an Nvidia GPU die on me (whereas my AMD GPU did die even after gentle use -- I had gotten one of the best brands too).
RAM: I recommend at least 8 GB -- on a single stick, since then you can just buy another stick and double your RAM later. Getting RAM at a place where it's easy to return is better, in case it disagrees with your CPU, motherboard, etc. (Spoken from experience)
Disk: You'll want something big enough to fit 10 GB for Windows 7, 40 GB for Witcher, and X GB for whatever else you want. I prefer WD drives, as several Seagates have died on me (however, I know that others have the opposite true, where their Seagates last and their WD's die). Whatever you get, just make sure the reviews are good for it -- be sure to use a tool like Fakespot.com to check the authenticity of reviews from Amazon (I've been duped so many times before I learned Fakespot could root out the fake reviews). Well, that is my PC-making journey!
You may want to spend more and buy a pre-built PC depending on how much time you and energy you're willing to spend building your own PC. It certainly teaches you about PC's, which could be a marketable skill later!
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Na samego PC musiałbyś przeznaczyć z 5000 zł nie licząc monitora, ale dzięki takiemu wydatkowi masz komputer który nastepne 5 lat będzie służyć bez problemów. Od razu powiem, że trzeba szukać najlepiej procesorów AMD, bo są o połowe tańsze od Pentiuma na tym samym poziomie i lepiej sprawdzają się w robieniu grafiki i projektowaniu bi przy okazji więcej zostaje na kartę graficzną.
Granie na laptopie odpada, bo raz że się grzeją dwa ze ekranik mały i nie da Ci tego co stacjonarny PC z dobrym monitorem.
A laptop do takich rzeczy jak napisałeś to wystarczy jakikolwiek nawet jakiś z lombardu za 1000 zł.
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I have both but my laptop has a bit better processor. I also got my laptop for work (despite the fact that I already had a rather powerful PC) and while it wasn't really graphic design, it was primarily video editing which is close enough I guess.
Before I had this laptop, I considered that it is impossible for a laptop to beat PC even if they have roughly the same specs. It's not really the case since my current laptop easily rivals and even outperforms my PC in some game.
The one that I've got is Lenovo Legion Y720 but my first choice was in fact the Acer Predator Helios 300 which I would've got instead if only Amazon would would've allowed me to...
Suffice to say, I am very happy with my purchase, even now, over a year and a half later as I am able to use it as a remote computer for both my work and gaming.
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Buy a pc, then repair your old laptop. If you are just gonna e-mail etc. It shouldn't be problem.
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I need to buy a new machine before current laptop will die. The problem is I'm not sure what should I buy. I certainly need a laptop for work, something that I could take with me anywhere. On the other hand PC is superior in every other way, as far as I know. My question is, what would you recommend for somebody like me:
The budget isn't set yet. Not sure what are the prices outside Poland. So far I have 4,000 PLN which is ~$1000 but I'm willing to spend more if it'll be worth it. Obviously I don't want pointlessly overpowered beast that gives nothing but numbers on paper or the difference isn't adequate to the price.
Any advice will be appreciated :)
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