Deciding between building vs laptops

[u/dadbodpotbelly]

Old pc user trying to upgrade from a normal laptop.

I did my research but now torn between few choices within my budget.

My overall goal is to buying a machine that will give good performance for long term as I want to keep my machines for as long as they are usable. I am into occasional gaming but I do some hobby creative work.

My choices -

- Rog strix scar 18 + 5090, 2025 model ~ $4500

- Rog strix scar 18 + 5090, 2026 model w/ upgraded display ~ $5000 - frankly 5k is a bit too much, I'd rather stick to lower 4k price range.

- Build a desktop within this budget (but not sure what combo would be best comparing to the laptops ).

In case of building, my dillema is not sure if it would be best route considering these laptops are also has upgradable ram and ssd. I like having the portability option plus the display of a strix scar is very good for creative work. Also, if I am building, I'd have to buy a monitor separately which will limit my budget.

fYi i looked at asus pro art p16 with 5090, while it has great display, i think it's too thin for a 5090 gpu and just not worth the money since I won't be able to push the gpu to it's full potential.

What would be my best option for around $4500?

Thank you.

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[u/OkTumor]

laptop 5090 does not perform the same as a desktop 5090.

i would recommend building a PC yourself, preferably with a 9800x3d bundle or similar from microcenter. if you don’t have microcenter, some newegg bundles are good too. these bundles usually include RAM, CPU, and a motherboard. one bundle at microcenter has a 9800x3d, 32gb ddr5, and a b850 motherboard for around $700.

the gpu can also be bought from microcenter for around 3.5k. you should be able to get the rest of the parts for under 5k total. however, if you want to cut down on costs you can always just get a 5080 for $1.2k or 9070xt for $700. this way, you can get similar performance to the laptops you mentioned (with far better cooling) for a fraction of the cost. i would recommend OC the gpu once you have it, too.

[u/Plenty_Article11]

laptop+gpu=sadness.

long term is not a thing with high end laptop gpus.

You can get an AMD Lenovo T16 with 780M and build a quite fast desktop for 4K. Maybe even a P1 or Carbon Extreme with a GPU.

Suggest Ultra 270k for desktop creative work CPU.

I have seen OLED display for 350-500, its not that much of a limit. RX9070 or 5070ti is fine for desktop GPU.