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new laptop or new desktop?

Mephs · 2003-04-23T21:23:54

I''m just wondering what peoples preferences are for developing games? I''m considering buying either a Dell Inspirion 8500 with GeForce4 Go graphics, or a new Alienware desktop with GeForce FX. I''m not sure which would be the better purchase. Considering that my last desktop PC got stolen, a laptop would have the advantage that I can almost always keep it on person. I could work on my coding almost anywhere (freeing me from being cooped up in my room 24/7). Against that option though are the facts that I wont be getting as much performance for my money, I wont have as good upgradability. For a desktop PC, I have the disadvantage that I cant always be at home to ensure we''re not broken into, I can''t carry it around with me. The advantages though are that I will get better performance, better upgradeablity. Does anyone have any advice about the better option? Both cost roughly the same, but I''m a little worried about the performance (and perhaps feature) loss of a mobile compared to a desktop, after all, the main reason I''m upgrading is to allow me to work with a bit more freedom from performance constraints of a p2 350, 256 megs RAM GeForce MX440 desktop PC. The ability to code any time, anywhere though might be worth the tradeoff, but I''m not sure. Ideally I''d have a laptop with a GeForce FX card, but I don''t think you can buy laptops with them yet :/ Any advice and/or further pros/cons would be appreciated, Cheers, Steve

General and Gameplay Programming Programming

Started by Mephs April 21, 2003 12:41 PM

21 comments, last by Mephs 20 years, 12 months ago

Anonymous

April 23, 2003 12:04 PM

I just purchased Alienware Area 51-M, 3.06Ghz with a Radeon in it, wonderful machine. The graphics are great. I program games on it. If your going to be moving around a lot, I recommend it, otherwise, by any brand of desktop, with a good video card. It is better in the long run, easier to upgrade, faster harddrives and so forth.

ArnoAtWork

138

April 23, 2003 12:33 PM

I bought a inspiron 9000 1Ghz last 2 years. God, I payed three times the price of a desktop. Never buy a laptop if you want to do game programming. I have a Geforce2 and I can't change. I can put maximum 512mo. And my HD is a 20GO. So, for this price I was able to have a monster, snif

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[edited by - arnoatwork on April 23, 2003 1:34:08 PM]

Anonymous

April 23, 2003 09:23 PM

If you do decide to get a notebook.. Alienware notebooks are over rated. You are paying a huge amount for the name and not really getting a lot out of it. You can get the same notebook from Sager (www.sagercomputer.com) in the US or Eurocom (www.eurocom.com) in Canada for like 1/2 as much (I am sure there are UK dealers as well)

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