SFFS compared to a laptop

[silk186]

I'm expecting to move every 6-12months by plane and have been contemplating between building a desktop and buying a laptop when I came across this section. I've never seen these kinds of builds. I thought the small forms were only for little dinky square systems for lan parties or for a some nice dedicated media center.

I guess my question is what can I expect from a SFFS build compared to a laptop that costs 200-300 more (to accommodate for the cost of a display). I would buy a keyboard, mouse and decent 2.0 speakers for either.

The posts I'm seeing here seem to be mostly from people that are already knowledgeable/experienced in building these small form systems. Any recommendations for sites that will give me a bit of general information so that I can start looking for more specific information?

 

[Leman]

A SFF will be more powerful, but ultimately a desktop stand-in. A laptop, on the other hand (and mind you, a more powerful one), can be portable for everything. Weaker in terms of power, for sure, but if mobility is important, that's what you'd get.

If you're not planning on moving the computer around with you, day by day, a SFF and a 17" monitor could work.

 

[jimhsu]

Hm... my current systems:

Macbook Pro - $1999
Planned SFF build 4x as powerful - $1100

Granted, the macbook pro is almost two years old, but still.

 

[Skott]

Laptops are highly more easily portable but they cant be upgraded as easily or as cheaply and their life as a gaming machine isnt as long as a SFF unit IMHO due to that. If you play the newer games constantly a gaming laptop will last you about two years at best. A SFF build can be upgraded a lot easier for a lot less than buying a new expensive laptop. However if you are the type that can afford to buy a new gaming laptop every two years then that would be the ideal for a traveling gamer.

 

[weeeee]

I would say go for a laptop if you mainly want it for portability. If you are on the extreme gaming end, go for an SFF build.

 

[xkon]

yah... like everyone's saying an sff will have a longer usable lifespan than a laptop, especially as a gaming machine. you can get a fairly cheap build that will play games just fine (i can think of a few sub $1000 builds that can kick any non sli equiped laptops behinds). cheapest laptop i've been interested in was the gateway fx 8800gt laptop that was down to $1200 a few weeks ago. it's back up to $1600 but yah... that'd be the only option i'd look at. anything else is just too spendy in my eyes.
my rig:

$209 ECS S1 8800gt
$160 Seasonic m12 700
$140 sg03
$120 e6550
$140 ga-g33m-ds2r
$60 Vista premium (not installed yet i like xp)
$60 dinovo edge
$50 250gb 7200.10
$45 2gb tracers/4gb d9ftb
$30 mx-518
$25 nec 18x 3550A
$15 Logitech z-340
$14 saitek eclipse
$10 Logitech STX Communicate webcam
$9 3x 120x20mm yates
free geminII, abit airpace

$1087
$599 LVM-37w3 (might sell soon and get a 24" for $330 or so)

$1686

if i were to build something new

$95 sg03
$109/$150 XFX 8800gs/ECS S2 9600gt
$80/$95/$115 p5k-vm/p5e-vm do/p5e-vm hdmi
$60 Coolermaster 750
$50 e2180
$60 vista
$50 250gb - 320gb hdd lots of clearance deals if you search
$50 keyboard/mouse
$30 2gb Ballistix
$30 2speaker system
$30 CPU cooler
$644/$747
$150/$300 19"/24"
$794/$1047

laptops... ultraportable, or desktop replacement... sounds real nice. 6-12months i'd get an sff (usually replace computers within that time anyhow ;p)