Need new computer for gaming... desktop vs laptop?

I'm a graphic designer/ flash animator/ video editor and have always been a PC guy at both work and home. When my old Dell desktop finally died at home I bought a used Mac from a friend becuase all i needed it for was basic web/email since i primarily work in the office, but with Battlefield 3 on the horizon I'm looking for a new PC again.

I also have a laptop that will need to be replaced in the near future, but i don't have high requirements for it, however if i can get a laptop that can handle BF3 well, it will be killing 2 birds with one stone.

All of my friends are telling me to definitely NOT get a laptop and I definitely don’t want to compromise the gaming experience for portability, so if a desktop is going to give me a better overall experience I'll get a Digital Storm desktop and some cheapo replacement laptop later on.

I've been out of the PC gaming world for quite some time, and a lot has changed... any input would be greatly appreciated. THANKS!


Budget:
$2000

Expectations:
I have keyboard, mouse, and monitors (Dual ViewSonic VX2739WM 27-Inch 1920x1080)

Usage:
Gaming (Battlefield 3), Graphic Design / Flash Animation / Video editing (Adobe Creative Suite)

If going with a Desktop I was looking at something like Ticket# 583029
If going with a Laptop I was looking at something like Ticket# 583030


Edited by Fungus1024 - 04 Aug 2011 at 4:06pm

Ok well a laptop for $2000 wont be able to run BF3 for probably 3 years or so lol

You will always get more performance for your money with a desktop tho

From what we know so far about BF3, we won't know more until we get system requirements, the PC you made (fungus1024) will not hold a finger to BF3, your best bet would either going ODE lvl 1 or 3, heres the url

http://www.digitalstormonline.com/comploadode.asp?id=566405

lvl 3 should be able to play BF3 on medium to high settings on your monitor, this is still purely speculation though

If you could deal out the cash for ODE lvl 3, since it is prebuilt by Digital Storm, it will be you best money for performance. At your res I would recommend sli 570's, but its hard to tell what bf3 will need at this point

For graphic designing and such would you need 16 gb of ram? It would be an easy DIY installment onto the ODE, you wouldn't need DS to do it, but for gaming you wont see any improvement.

You could buy a system that could go SLI in the future (dual video cards) which may be necessary for this generation of cards to run BF3, but for your money you'd be better off either going ODE 1 and maybe installing more RAM and a SSD for speeds (it cannot go SLI ever )

getting an ODE lvl 3 will save you the most in the long run tho

Edited by HAL - 04 Aug 2011 at 6:56pm