Gaming laptop, Macbook Air or PC + tablet/Chromebook? | Hacker News Reader

Gaming laptop, Macbook Air or PC + tablet/Chromebook?

1 pointcombataran2 comments

My laptop just died on me, about to start a new term next month, MechE. I feel that the MBA would be more suitable(thin, light, long battery life), however I cannot ignore my desire to game(which I do regularly). If I choose the Macbook, I'd have to give up gaming for good(afaik Macs aren't spececd for gaming). The tablet(Nexus 7/iPad mini) would be paired with a BT keyboard, Chromebook would be the HP Chromebook 11.

My university's tech lab only house super old workstations(i3, 2GB RAM). I only check WolframAlpha and review past year questions on my laptop in the library while doing psets with paper and pen, also Matlab and Solidworks.

And then there's the price factor. The MBA would obviously be the most expensive choice($100 over my budget), and the price difference could be put to better use.

Here are the specs:

Macbook Air 13" i5 8GB 256GB SSD

"Great" config desktop from logicalincrements.com + Nexus 7/iPad Mini/HP Chromebook 11

Lenovo Y510P 15.6” FHD / i7-4700 / 8GB / 1TB /GT750M SLi 2GB DDR5

Asus N56JR 15.6” FHD / i7-4700 / 12GB / 1TB / GTX760M 2GB DDR5

Which would be a better choice?

I'm currently at uni for CS so our needs might be slightly different, but I'll run through my current set-up as I am also in the process of retiring my main laptop for a desktop/tablet/netbook.

I'll just say if you're looking at purchasing a gaming/multipurpose desktop, you're better off building your own IMO. I've never enjoyed gaming on a laptop (but that's just me), and you can build a monster gaming computer for < $1000 and assembly is really easy. Also, when particular parts start getting old/failing you can just swap them out instead of purchasing an entirely new system. Check out /r/buildapc, those guys live to optimize each others builds and offer a ton of help. I'm currently going through the process of gathering all the parts for a custom desktop to be ready to go before term starts and it has been a really fun process.

I currently own the 1st gen Nexus 7 and am overall very happy with it. It is my main means of digesting information such as e-mail/news and can easily be paired with a BT keyboard and stand to take notes on. I've also used it to read textbooks on and it is great for that! There are also excellent ssh programs which I use to get into the school network and my home system (once it's up and running). All that being said I don't generally use my Nexus for school work, but if I had to I don't think it would be a problem at all.

I also have an HP Mini 110 (I think) running Linux. It has a 10 inch screen and is my main 'on the go' laptop. I've used this to take notes in class as well as program in coffee shops or the library, ect. It is my first choice over the Nexus for school mostly because of the screen real estate over the nexus (all 10 inches of it :D), but that is mostly just for coding purposes.

So I guess my vote would be to go for the desktop/tablet/laptop combo, especially if you're looking at doing some gaming. Then you have power at home and something light weight to lug around with you on campus and will certainly fit any WolframAlpha/Matlab needs you might have.

Hope this helps!

I've been thinking the same, but I'd settle with a Nexus 10 instead. Chromebooks aren't big where I'm from, and it's really hard to get good support for them. My friend had the same netbook as you, well truthfully I'm not impressed. Also my budget simply does not allow a netbook AND tablet, so I'll just have to settle for either one. Thanks for reply, helped cut down my choices down to the MBA or the pc tablet combo.

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