I Can’t Decide Between Fixing my Desktop or Getting a New Laptop
I’m a little unsure what to do with the computer right now. I’ve been enjoying using my laptop as a dedicated desktop. I have it plugged into the monitor I used on my desktop and the laptop is the second screen. It only has one HDMI out, so the original second monitor is in storage right now. But it works just like the desktop did, just a little slower. And it can’t play games very well. And it can’t edit video at all. Okay, so it’s not quite the same.
But I feel like I don’t miss that. I haven’t played many video games lately (as in, none since early September). And I’m honestly not missing making videos. I was taking some time off from Josh’s Junk Drawer and the computer died just as I was finally working on a new script. I don’t really feel like I’m in a hurry to get back to it. So maybe this laptop is good enough? I like the freedom to work at my desk, then throw it in my bag and head to work or the library and do some typey-wipey, is the technical term, whenever I want. No worrying about putting stuff on the cloud or connection issues, it’s all right there.
But I do want to make videos again, even if I’m not in a rush to get back to it. What then? And I’m going to want to play games again. I’ve got a ton of games on Steam, Itch, Epic, GOG, and Big Jim’s Digital Closet. I’m going to want to play some of those again at some point. So maybe I should get a new laptop? My Dell Latitude E7470 is on life support thanks to Linux Mint.
But new laptops that can play modern games and edit even 1080p video are expensive. I learned my lesson with the GPU, I want to buy new. It’d be way more expensive buying a new laptop than getting a mid-range GPU for my desktop, which is all I need.
But if I go all-in on the laptop, I can sell the parts from the desktop to fund it, maybe even have some cash left over. The motherboard, the CPU, the RAM, and even the case could probably pay for most of the laptop. They’re all about three or four years old, not cutting-edge, but still have plenty of life in them.
But then I’d just have one computer. It was nice having the desktop and the laptop in case, well, something happened to one of them I’d always have a backup. Maybe have two laptops? And any laptop I could afford wouldn’t really be as good as this desktop, anyway, in terms of power and performance.
I guess I’ll just get a $400 or $500 GPU, new, from Newegg or Microcenter, and just use the laptop like I did. Status quo. It’d be cheaper than buying a better laptop, and I can get a new one of those when this Latitude finally goes. I swear I was thinking about these for a few days, but when I lay it out like this it seems incredibly obvious that I should just get a new GPU. Sometimes writing these out like this makes coming to a decision really easy, that’s all I can say. Thanks for wasting your time with me!
