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So, getting older and having less time to spend on gaming and keeping up with PC hardware in general.
I have a general idea on where I'd like to end up, but I'd like to get there in a way that makes sense and where I'll be happy with what I end up with.
Right now I have a desktop that I think will last another 2 or 3 years for what I use it for, mostly only have time to play Guild Wars 2 with any regularity. Lack of time has kept me from keeping up with other possible game options. However I am also getting more interested in tinkering with programming and maybe some Arduino/Raspberry Pi projects for a hobby.
So I am hoping I will get some suggestions and personal anecdotes from people who've tried things out and why they did or did not like the way they turned out.
What I'd like to end up with basically is a work area with a desktop w/ 3 monitors and a laptop with docking station that could theoretically use 1-2 of the monitors the desktop uses if it was desired. So I could have a 2-3 monitor setup on either the desktop or laptop without needing to have 5-6 monitors. Maybe there's a way to do this makes more sense I am unaware of, but I was thinking 1 or 2 of the monitors could have dual inputs and be able to switch from the desktop to the laptop docking station to move monitors.
There might even be ways to make the laptop and desktop integrate more that I am not aware of. At work our machines are so locked down due regulations that I haven't been able to see them use the stuff in any cool ways for ideas.
Overall I need to come up with some basic idea on what I need for each item and what the general price range will be. Those areas being Laptop, Docking station, Desktop, Monitors, mounting arms, and other peripherals. Also what order it makes the most sense to buy them in. Right now I think the desktop would be last. Laptop would likely be first, though it really needs to "fit" me. Monitors depends on how large of an investment I am going to need to make to get what I want/need. I realize a lot of it is subjective, but it's just too many factors to consider and I have almost no experience with monitor selections and laptops for the last 8-10 years. Desktops are probably last 5-8 without much experience. So anything that you can provide whether it's stuff to read or try to see in person would be helpful. Thanks.
**Laptop**
Now I know people will say I could do all of this with just a laptop, and I think so too, but I keep running into one basic problem: The laptop is a gaming system with terrible battery life and seems counter to what I would actually use the laptop for in every other circumstance rather than sitting at my own desk. I don't see myself playing games on the laptop anywhere else. I also don't want it to weigh a ton and have incredibly short battery life, though if I had to pick between those two options, I'd rather it weigh more to get more battery life out of it.
The unknowns I have on the laptop is if I would benefit from using it in tablet mode or touch screen in anyway. I can see the benefit of being able to draw on it like a piece of paper and mark things up when thinking about designs, but when I tried it before (admittedly a long time ago) I was never happy with the experience. I could see myself using a 15 inch screen at the largest and nothing smaller than a 13. Not sure whether 4k would matter to me or not.
Thought the Microsoft Surface new offerings were cool, but they felt light on ports. Lenovo Yoga, HP Spectre seem like nice 2 in 1s. As for straight laptops, everyone seems to be raving about the Dell XPS series. To cover all my bases I am tempted to get a gaming machine, but I just can not see myself lugging it around with me if I go that route.
Main concern with laptop right now: That it can support at least 2 additional monitors while using the laptop screen too. Reading around it seems like some of the options out there can't do this, but I am not sure how you determine if a laptop can for sure do something like this or not. Especially if you are using higher end monitors that can do 4k, which I don't know if that will be something I do or not yet, but I don't want to rule it out until I have good reason to.
I'd like it to also have charging via USB C, have a phone that does it and it'd be nice to have one charger type for both. Not necessary, but would be very handy.
**Desktop**
Have no idea what AMD and Intel offer now in terms of gaming experience or how big of a deal the CPU is in gaming now versus the GPU. I doubt I would really tax any hardware when it came to gaming unless something comes out that really intrigues me and needs high end. Generally I am mostly an MMO or RPG kind of gamer. So think Witcher, Guild Wars 2, World of Warcraft. Maybe some games like Saints Row or Just Cause. Maybe Overwatch, though FPS doesn't appeal like it used to anymore. I don't really care about ultra high end settings on my games, it's cool but it's usually too much of a headache to keep it running well when they do updates and what not.
One thing of note was that the Android development stuff when I looked at it in the past, Intel had ways to run the environment faster due to whatever. So that may be something to keep in mind if it hasn't changed.
Don't care about form factor, have seen the wall mounted PCs, neat looking but simple is better for me probably. Small case would be cool, but I worry about cooling issues with how large video cards generally are anymore.
Liquid cooling on the CPU would be nice, not mandatory, but it seems like it's something that could be done without it being a major ordeal. GPU and the like, I have no idea how much of a PITA it would be there.
Minimum 16 gigs of ram. Minimum 256 gb SSD. Additional storage drive of at least 1 tb, larger is better.
Easy to dust and good cable management.
Needs to be 3 monitor setup, don't care if the games use all 3..would be nice but not a deal breaker for me. Will talk about the monitor needs below.
**Monitors**
3 of them at a minimum. Ideally they'd all be 24 or larger, but I think there would be benefit in having the center monitor be larger, like a 30ish inch or so. I can't speak for orientation of the monitors or preferred resolutions at whatever sizes. I haven't had experience with any of the very fancy monitor options out there. They provide some 1900x1200 ish resolution monitors at work that I think are about 22-24 in size (2 of them) with the laptop serving as the third on a docking station.
I don't mind paying out more money for monitors if they will last. I have an old Dell from 2001 I am still using that I am happy with. Will have to look up it's model number to share if people care. The AMD/Nvidia Sync technologies may matter here, so something to consider if they really make a difference. Also if paying more gets me more connection options to the monitor that might also be beneficial.
Could see the benefit having a monitor in portrait mode to see more code, but I am so used to seeing monitors in landscape I am not sure if it would bother me or not.
Not sure what the benefits of 4k are besides better resolution/picture. I can imagine it'd make games look really nice, though I don't know how it would impact the desktop experience. More real estate is great, having to squint/lean in to read to use the real estate is not.
I'd like all 3 monitors to be suspended off the desk, preferably by a desk mount with arm. But I'd consider a wall mount with arm. My concern with the wall mount is that if I end up renting I won't be able to use them.
**Other Peripherals**
Mechanical Keyboard - I see people are getting into building their own keyboards to fit their needs/style/etc. Would be an interesting experience, but generally I like my keyboards to be large. Spread out numpads, extra function keys...backlit, volume controls, USB hub, etc. Don't have experienc with switches to say one way or the other, but using the keyboard at work versus my Corsair K90 is night and day. Work one drops my key presses often, and I find myself jamming down on the keys because they don't have any feeling or much of a click to them. Though if I had my K90 at work, I'd like it more but I could see it driving other people slowly insane due to how much noise it makes.
Laptop Docking station - Don't know all the varieties out there, but it needs to allow me to get 2 additional screens hooked up to the laptop, a keyboard, mouse, potentially speakers/headphones, and more USB 3 slots for whatever may come up. If the laptop physically docks with it, that's fine. If it doesn't, I would like to have something where the laptop would rest on it to make it place the screen at a more usable height/angle with the other screens.
Speakers/headphones - If there is something that really stands out or would make sense in this setup please share. But I think these are just going to be personal preference.
I have a general idea on where I'd like to end up, but I'd like to get there in a way that makes sense and where I'll be happy with what I end up with.
Right now I have a desktop that I think will last another 2 or 3 years for what I use it for, mostly only have time to play Guild Wars 2 with any regularity. Lack of time has kept me from keeping up with other possible game options. However I am also getting more interested in tinkering with programming and maybe some Arduino/Raspberry Pi projects for a hobby.
So I am hoping I will get some suggestions and personal anecdotes from people who've tried things out and why they did or did not like the way they turned out.
What I'd like to end up with basically is a work area with a desktop w/ 3 monitors and a laptop with docking station that could theoretically use 1-2 of the monitors the desktop uses if it was desired. So I could have a 2-3 monitor setup on either the desktop or laptop without needing to have 5-6 monitors. Maybe there's a way to do this makes more sense I am unaware of, but I was thinking 1 or 2 of the monitors could have dual inputs and be able to switch from the desktop to the laptop docking station to move monitors.
There might even be ways to make the laptop and desktop integrate more that I am not aware of. At work our machines are so locked down due regulations that I haven't been able to see them use the stuff in any cool ways for ideas.
Overall I need to come up with some basic idea on what I need for each item and what the general price range will be. Those areas being Laptop, Docking station, Desktop, Monitors, mounting arms, and other peripherals. Also what order it makes the most sense to buy them in. Right now I think the desktop would be last. Laptop would likely be first, though it really needs to "fit" me. Monitors depends on how large of an investment I am going to need to make to get what I want/need. I realize a lot of it is subjective, but it's just too many factors to consider and I have almost no experience with monitor selections and laptops for the last 8-10 years. Desktops are probably last 5-8 without much experience. So anything that you can provide whether it's stuff to read or try to see in person would be helpful. Thanks.
**Laptop**
Now I know people will say I could do all of this with just a laptop, and I think so too, but I keep running into one basic problem: The laptop is a gaming system with terrible battery life and seems counter to what I would actually use the laptop for in every other circumstance rather than sitting at my own desk. I don't see myself playing games on the laptop anywhere else. I also don't want it to weigh a ton and have incredibly short battery life, though if I had to pick between those two options, I'd rather it weigh more to get more battery life out of it.
The unknowns I have on the laptop is if I would benefit from using it in tablet mode or touch screen in anyway. I can see the benefit of being able to draw on it like a piece of paper and mark things up when thinking about designs, but when I tried it before (admittedly a long time ago) I was never happy with the experience. I could see myself using a 15 inch screen at the largest and nothing smaller than a 13. Not sure whether 4k would matter to me or not.
Thought the Microsoft Surface new offerings were cool, but they felt light on ports. Lenovo Yoga, HP Spectre seem like nice 2 in 1s. As for straight laptops, everyone seems to be raving about the Dell XPS series. To cover all my bases I am tempted to get a gaming machine, but I just can not see myself lugging it around with me if I go that route.
Main concern with laptop right now: That it can support at least 2 additional monitors while using the laptop screen too. Reading around it seems like some of the options out there can't do this, but I am not sure how you determine if a laptop can for sure do something like this or not. Especially if you are using higher end monitors that can do 4k, which I don't know if that will be something I do or not yet, but I don't want to rule it out until I have good reason to.
I'd like it to also have charging via USB C, have a phone that does it and it'd be nice to have one charger type for both. Not necessary, but would be very handy.
**Desktop**
Have no idea what AMD and Intel offer now in terms of gaming experience or how big of a deal the CPU is in gaming now versus the GPU. I doubt I would really tax any hardware when it came to gaming unless something comes out that really intrigues me and needs high end. Generally I am mostly an MMO or RPG kind of gamer. So think Witcher, Guild Wars 2, World of Warcraft. Maybe some games like Saints Row or Just Cause. Maybe Overwatch, though FPS doesn't appeal like it used to anymore. I don't really care about ultra high end settings on my games, it's cool but it's usually too much of a headache to keep it running well when they do updates and what not.
One thing of note was that the Android development stuff when I looked at it in the past, Intel had ways to run the environment faster due to whatever. So that may be something to keep in mind if it hasn't changed.
Don't care about form factor, have seen the wall mounted PCs, neat looking but simple is better for me probably. Small case would be cool, but I worry about cooling issues with how large video cards generally are anymore.
Liquid cooling on the CPU would be nice, not mandatory, but it seems like it's something that could be done without it being a major ordeal. GPU and the like, I have no idea how much of a PITA it would be there.
Minimum 16 gigs of ram. Minimum 256 gb SSD. Additional storage drive of at least 1 tb, larger is better.
Easy to dust and good cable management.
Needs to be 3 monitor setup, don't care if the games use all 3..would be nice but not a deal breaker for me. Will talk about the monitor needs below.
**Monitors**
3 of them at a minimum. Ideally they'd all be 24 or larger, but I think there would be benefit in having the center monitor be larger, like a 30ish inch or so. I can't speak for orientation of the monitors or preferred resolutions at whatever sizes. I haven't had experience with any of the very fancy monitor options out there. They provide some 1900x1200 ish resolution monitors at work that I think are about 22-24 in size (2 of them) with the laptop serving as the third on a docking station.
I don't mind paying out more money for monitors if they will last. I have an old Dell from 2001 I am still using that I am happy with. Will have to look up it's model number to share if people care. The AMD/Nvidia Sync technologies may matter here, so something to consider if they really make a difference. Also if paying more gets me more connection options to the monitor that might also be beneficial.
Could see the benefit having a monitor in portrait mode to see more code, but I am so used to seeing monitors in landscape I am not sure if it would bother me or not.
Not sure what the benefits of 4k are besides better resolution/picture. I can imagine it'd make games look really nice, though I don't know how it would impact the desktop experience. More real estate is great, having to squint/lean in to read to use the real estate is not.
I'd like all 3 monitors to be suspended off the desk, preferably by a desk mount with arm. But I'd consider a wall mount with arm. My concern with the wall mount is that if I end up renting I won't be able to use them.
**Other Peripherals**
Mechanical Keyboard - I see people are getting into building their own keyboards to fit their needs/style/etc. Would be an interesting experience, but generally I like my keyboards to be large. Spread out numpads, extra function keys...backlit, volume controls, USB hub, etc. Don't have experienc with switches to say one way or the other, but using the keyboard at work versus my Corsair K90 is night and day. Work one drops my key presses often, and I find myself jamming down on the keys because they don't have any feeling or much of a click to them. Though if I had my K90 at work, I'd like it more but I could see it driving other people slowly insane due to how much noise it makes.
Laptop Docking station - Don't know all the varieties out there, but it needs to allow me to get 2 additional screens hooked up to the laptop, a keyboard, mouse, potentially speakers/headphones, and more USB 3 slots for whatever may come up. If the laptop physically docks with it, that's fine. If it doesn't, I would like to have something where the laptop would rest on it to make it place the screen at a more usable height/angle with the other screens.
Speakers/headphones - If there is something that really stands out or would make sense in this setup please share. But I think these are just going to be personal preference.