TGC2019/Skytrak Laptop vs Desktop

[Dewey]

Hey everyone,
My question Does it matter if you use a Desktop or Laptop to run TGC/2019 on a skytrak? From the reading on this site, it seems most of you prefer a desktop, but I am not sure why? My first thought is just to get a laptop with the proper specs to run it. Reason being I am also in the market for a laptop anywhere for personal/school use. Seems to me I would spend roughly $400-500 on a laptop anyway (used for wifi internet, Microsoft office, zoom meetings, etc). Also seems to me that a desktop build for the garage sim would be in the $600 range (at least).

So on the surface, I feel like I could just get a gamer laptop that meets the specs for around $900-1000 and kill two birds with one stone. The only two negatives I can think of is the hassle of moving the laptop around to the garage and not being able to upgrade the graphics card down the road.

Anything else you guys think I should consider to go one direction or the other?

Thanks guys!

[Brettster]

Look up my posts, I've covered this before. You're right cannot upgrade graphics card, chips run hotter, less upgradable, and don't last as long are all laptop problems you don't want. I'm speaking from 30+ years of software engineering work and personally going through probably 10 machines during that time. The laptops last 1-2 years, the desktops 3-5 years and sometimes more.

[Dewey]

Thanks Brettster, and i can tell you know a lot more about this than me. You say the laptops last 1-2 years, are you referring to gamer laptops? My current laptop is now six years old, but I can tell its dying. Its not a gamer laptop, but surprisingly, it ran the sim last winter pretty well. My only beef was the delay between the strike of the ball, and the action on the screen.

[3on3putt]

Desktops generally get you more bang for your buck. And with a dedicated desktop for the sim, you can clear everything else off of it. Sharing a laptop between the sim, work and personal use is just more memory being eaten up. Not to mention always toting it back and forth. If you're investing the money into a Skytrak, TGC19 and everything else required for a sim, there's no reason to skimp out on this final piece of the puzzle. Get a desktop that can be used just for the sim. If you're only using it for the sim it will probably last quite a while. And if you have a projector you won't need a monitor, which will help keep your cost down a little.

[Brettster]

Dewey

You say the laptops last 1-2 years, are you referring to gamer laptops? My current laptop is now six years old, but I can tell its dying.

No, that's as a development machine (which is much less demanding than a gaming laptop) that was running all day, every day, probably about 60-80 hours/week on an average week. At that rate, I was lucky to get 2 years out of them, before they were either so slow they could not do anything, and had already been upgraded, or they were overheating so badly that the fan was running continuously all day while I was working (annoying as heck)!

Also see 3on3putt and what he says above... Get a dedicated desktop, you won't go wrong, and if you use it only for sim play, it will probably last you 10-12 years! That's my guess and what I'm expecting out of mine. You don't want it doing double duty, and keep it patched and updated as needed - just make sure it has a RAM upgrade path, and a SSD hard-drive that is replaceable and you might use for a long, long time, much longer than a laptop would ever make it.