Is a mid range desktop worth it over a mid range laptop?

[Nomial17]

Hello!

I'm going to be in the market very soon for a new pc. I've been doing hours and hours of research back and forth trying to find what i want at the price I want.

I dont really intend to build my own pc. That's a first thing to know. I'm really just...not very good at handy work or building things and i dont want to trouble anyone with building it for me.

After looking around so much, i've come down to some fair conclusions. The Alienware Aurora that I have set up is as follows.
Alienware Aurora-R4 $2,252.04 $2,252.04
338-BDSX
1 Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4820K Proc (4-cores, 10MB Cache, Overclocked up to 4.2 GHz w/ Turbo Boost)
317-8672
1 16GB Quad Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz
331-9635
1 Alienware Multi-Media Keyboard
320-7810
1 If accessories are purchased, they may ship separately
490-BBPP
1 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 with 2GB GDDR5
342-3695
1 256GB SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive
403-BBES
1 Standard Chassis in Matte Stealth Black with an 875W Power Supply (for Ivy bridge processor)
619-ADTB
1 Windows 8.1 64-bit English
330-6082
1 Alienware Optical Mouse, MG100
313-8750
1 AlienFX Color, Quasar Blue
410-0565
1 Document Reader Included
318-1455
1 Single Drive: 24X CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) w/double layer write capability
658-BBTV
1 Cyberlink Media Suite Essentials for Windows 8.1 without Media
313-9776
1 Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
340-ACQQ
1 No Dedicated GPS
412-AACR
1 Alienware Aurora with Standard Liquid Cooling
421-1424
1 Alienhead 3D
630-AAAU
1 Software: Microsoft Office 2013 Trial
994-4453
1 Dell Hardware Warranty Plus On-Site Service, Initial Year
994-4473
1 Next Business Day Parts and Labor On-Site Response, Initial Year
950-3337
1 1 Year Limited Warranty
950-9797
1 No Warranty, Year 2 and 3
906-5260
1 Warranty Support, Initial Year
951-6380
1 Accidental Damage Service, 1 Year
800-BBKV 1 FREE game with purchase of a GeForce GTX 700 GPU-powered desktop
340-ACQQ 1 No Dedicated GPS
340-AIXJ 1 Win 8.1 Resource DVD
* -DISCOUNT/COUPON APPL

Subtotal: $2,252.04
Shipping & Handling: $0.00
Tax: $157.65
Environmental Disposal Fee: $0.00
Total Price w/Discounts: $2,409.69

Versus!
The Asus ROG 750 JS
(I could also go with the model up, which includes a 880m instead of 870m)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...=ATVPDKIKX0DER


if I was going for price alone, the Asus is a clear winner. No need to buy a monitor or keyboard and its good to go. But is it really a good buy for the future? I need this machine to last about 4-5 years. A lot of my friends who have the Asus previous models bombard it with excellent comments about how long its lasted them. But I want to be sure that what im buying is going to last me. The Aurora (yes expensive) just has that extra...aesthetic that i really enjoy, and i'm willing to pay for if the rest of the hardware is worth it.


Opinions? Help? Other Recommendations? I'm just coming to all of you as someone who knows the basics, but not enough to make a truly informed decision. I feel as though after all my research, its hard to still figure which is better than which. For example, although GPU boss shows the GTX 770 to outperform the GTX 880m...is it really by that much?

I do mainly play Blizzard games, along with league. However, I just want to buy something that if something else nice catches my eye, the computer will be able to run very well...especially going into the future. (I do have a ps4 however, so many demanding games such as Watchdogs can/will be played on there)

[Snipersteve]

If you aren't willing to build a computer I'd say go with the upgraded laptop. As for pre-built desktops look into ibuypower. Check out xoticpc.com, I've never ordered a desktop from them so I don't know what the experience is like with that but I haven't gone wrong with laptops from them. Unless you really want the fancy alienware bloatware and case lights and stuff it's really not worth the price and you can get fancy cases like that if you build your own, the computer you listed there is probably ~1200 in parts. As for Laptop GPUs vs Desktop GPUs the desktop gpu is always going to be miles ahead if you're looking at top of the line stuff, for example a 780 is about 30 fps higher in most games than the 880m.


If you do decide to go with the desktop really decide if you aren't comfortable building one yourself, it isn't that hard and there are plenty of videos on youtube that can help you through the process. My first build I used the video series by newegg here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPIXAtNGGCw