I'll admit to making the gaming laptop mistake during my university years. I convinced myself the $1,300 price tag was justified because of the other high computing needs I'd be relying on it for. Turns out, I only ever did those things while I was sitting at my desk at home.<p>So a year or so after buying it, I now have a dated machine that has horrible battery life and is dysfunctional to use unless plugged in with a number of peripherals and I might as well just have bought a desktop with a notebook for the things I <i>actually did</i> while on the run.<p>For the average user (who the article is obviously targeting) they'd be hard pressed to justify the price tag of any "gaming" laptop anymore.
Except you'd have to maintain two computers and sync the data all the time.<p>I prefer notebook+external monitor at home. Although I admit to an extra gaming desktop PC, but who still uses those?
I upgraded my system a few months ago with a setup like this. Most of my heavy usage happens in my home office, while on the laptop I primarily write, browse the web, or at the most, SSH into my VPS for some reason or other.<p>To buy a laptop that matches the desktop system I purchased would have cost nearly twice as much and it would barely be portable. I find desktop computers to have a longer life expectancy. They're more viable to upgrading, and don't take the wear and tear of lugging around a laptop.<p>For portability I went with a used netbook for under $200. It's more than sufficient for most usage, even if not as fast as a real laptop. My old laptop had a 17" screen and weighed a ton. This I can toss into a shoulder bag, or easily pack into a larger backpack if I'm carrying other things. Its worth is so low that if it happened to be damaged or lost, it wouldn't be catastrophic.<p>There are so many options for syncing with today's software that it's hardly an issue. Even Chrome keeps the history, bookmarks, and apps in sync between the two.
<i>Replace the iMac with a Hackintosh…</i><p>Installing a premium OS and not paying for it is one way to save money. Do they have a lifehacker on stealing toilet paper from restrooms too?