A laptop?

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Well, it was a thought.  Then I thought again.  If I am going to build a desktop in the future, a higher tier one... and I hate laptops and would just be using it as a desktop... why... buy a laptop?  Silly me.  I guess it just seemed easy.  After a bit of thinking, I believe I am simply going to buy, and build, a desktop, but a lessor one.  I keep trying to pare, but every time I cut something back, I remember something else.  I am overdoing my build, for what I want.  And it will, even if I dump to just a dual core, be killer compared to this pentium IV.  I think I only have a gig and an half of RAM.  Bleh. 

Yes, build my own.  I don't want, nor need, nor like, laptops.  Their keyboards are small and have no tactile grip, the monitors suck, and in all ways save portability, they are inferior to desktops.  They are the McDonalds of the computer world.  On the other hand, I prefer the real deal to the electronic, by far.  A slider and fries, hold the laptop?  Yeah.  Plus, it will be good practice.  So far, I have optimized down to $1k.  But I want it lower.  This will just be an internet tool, not a gaming platform.  And yet I would like to, maybe, do a bit of gaming.  Just to tinker.  Maybe, if I optimize correctly, I will never build that massive machine, merely adding bits to this build. 

So... I am looking at ways of not having to backtrack.  Some of it will have to come and then go.  RAM, for example.  I need, currently, to buy 8 gigs, in a 2x4 configuration.  But with a gaming rig, I would want, at least to start out, with 16 gigs in a 2x8 configuration.  That will simply have to come and go.  The motherboard is a thing of contention.  Buying a very good board now, even if with a much lessor chip, might be best.  Not quite, but nearing, the top of the line will allow for almost any upgrades I could want.  As far as the case goes, I won't be doing triple or quad, but might do double graphics cards, into crossfire or sli configuration.  The simple cost of triple or quad makes me not want to play.  That is simply too much money, time, and effort tied up into a machine.  I think I can go rather tame on the case.  I really wanted a full size tower, but I won't be overclocking, at least not in a large way.  Probably not at all with this first setup.  And I won't be putting in six hard drives, two flash drives, and three blue-ray/dvd readers or read/writes.  So a smaller case should do just fine.  The only problem might be if, as I add things, heat becomes an issue.  A smaller case can only do just so much.  The problem is price.  The case for the smaller build is more like $60, for a gaming rig, I'm looking at, starting, around $130 on up to $200.  Then again, perhaps I could go skin on some of it, pricey on some, and mix and match in the future, to still have two complete machines.  But transferring chips and motherboards and such gets ugly, fast.  Though the graphics board and memory would be easy to switch.

The thing is, I had set an outside dollar marker at about $600-$800 for a laptop, in my previous thinking.  I would like to hold to that as much as possible.  I just have to think through components, what could be transfered, what will be cheaper, and much cheaper, in the near future.  The choice is a gaming machine or a new console.  The console would be cheaper, but it isn't upgradable, it is very expensive for what it offers, the gaming experience is sometimes limited by both the game maker and Sony (or Microsoft if you are a total sucker), and I think they are changing the rules, again, to favor themselves over my wants.  Hey, I'm a gamer.  It's part of what I do in life.  I simply have to deal with it.

I'm thinking... I'm thinking...  But I do know I will roll my own, get back into the tech field, and see where that leads.  I almost am considering AMD, but I simply don't know where to even begin with that.  While it would be less expensive, how much quality would be lost I don't know.  Cheap comes with it's own costs.  Bleh.  Later.