Age old question: Laptop or desktop for general purpose?

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smb3

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Okay, so this is an age old question. Been maining with laptops these past few years and particularly interested in building a ryzen (at least hexacore) pc and at the same time also been interested in Manjaro OS. This desire coupled with my current laptop breaking is enough of a sign, so I need help from pro builders and bargain hunters.

So the main way I'll use said laptop/desktop:

* Programming - Main use case
* Video Editing - Planning on making a udemy course
* Gaming, Mining - Only if I can score a decent graphics card. Don't care about gaming at 4k, probably 1080p at best. Mining is something I'll only do for fun, don't intend to profit at all.

My observations:
Problem that I've been having seems to be pricing and I feel that I just have bad timing. It seems like Zen2 parts are expensive because they're recently released? I don't need the latest specs tbh. Actually, I prefer a value for money build tbh since you get interesting builds. So this leaves the best bang for buck at Zen+ architectures? Similar situation with graphics cards it seems. Ideally want NVidia, but the newest ones also seem to be recently released?

A new laptop is a last resort, and i've been seeing some decent 2nd hand ones show up. But they're i-series laptops, will get my main needs done but won't scratch that itch I've been having for Ryzen.

I think that what I need help with is a good base to build a desktop. It's been about 10 years since I last did this :crying:. Already have monitor, keyboard, mouse. Probably want to use an M2 SSD, but I think I have a spare SSD lying around. Definitely have enough HDD storage.

In terms of pricing, should I just wait for Black Friday or end of the year? While my current laptop is broken, it's not urgent since I can still roll with my work one for the time being, so time is on my side.

So advice and hopefully a starter build to work off? **EDIT: Budget at 10k**
 
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I feel like the only reason a laptop is an option is because you happen to have used one for so long. Judging by your post, you want a Ryzen desktop. You should get a Ryzen desktop.

You should probably list your budget so people can help you with the build.
 
This budget with or without screen?
Desktop will be cheaper for specs and you can replace parts as needed, laptop is basically throw away if CPU, mobo or GPU dies.
Recently both my R9 280X have died within a year of each other, around 6 years use, rest of the system doing well though, so R3k replacement for both and can game anything at max on 1080p. On a laptop if have to have replaced the entire thing, that would be a good 20k+.
 
Depends on whether you need to hide it under the bed or not......
 
smb3 said:
Budget at 10k. Can go a bit over this.
Click to expand...

Ok that's doable without ssd&hdd.

The problem is I can't find a budget b450 mb or case with semi decent airflow in stock...

The mb listed below is out of stock as is the Fractal Design FD-CA-FOCUS-GY-W case,
745621

Also wait for black friday, also check amazon & newegg for the cpu at that time.
 
Definitely wait the week for Black Friday, you could probably even go just a bit better in spec, aiding in longevity.
And desktop of course, you will get the most bang for your buck there.
 
ponder said:
Ok that's doable without ssd&hdd.

The problem is I can't find a budget b450 mb or case with semi decent airflow in stock...

The mb listed below is out of stock as is the Fractal Design FD-CA-FOCUS-GY-W case,
View attachment 745621

Also wait for black friday, also check amazon & newegg for the cpu at that time.
Click to expand...

hmmm, this is something I can work with! Thanks man!!
 
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