SFF vs laptop

[Epinephrine]

I have been on the fence regarding this for some time now. I'm again at a point when I'm deciding whether to buy S4Mini or a new laptop and I don't know what to do.

Could you please sell me one or the other? Or perhaps the question should be, to what degree is it worth it to compromise user experience for mobility?

 

[Kwirek]

Depends on how much you plan to move it about, and what you're doing with it.

If you have peripherals ready everywhere you want to go with the S4 (ie screen, keyboard and mouse) or don't mind lugging that around with you then it should be a superior choice. More choice in components, better performance etc.

The laptop is generally much more portable, but you have to be realistic with what you're doing on it to keep it that way (and not obscenely expensive). Some can even interface with an external graphics card if playing games or doing gpu-accelerated things are your thing.

Personally I'd mainly do "office work" on something portable and thus chose a quite slim and quiet laptop with integrated graphics and good battery life from Intel's latest crop. It would also be enough to do some more graphical heavy lifting if need be (but nothing extreme).

Basically it all depends on what your needs are.

 

[GuilleAcoustic]

Laptop can also be stored in a drawer when not using it, if you do not want it to sit 24/7 on a desk.

 

[Duality92]

There are PCs like the ECS Liva Z Plus that are basically laptop equivalents without a battery and monitor. It's what I use in my living room.

 

[a13antichrist]

I have gone fully the other way and have collected as many Dell laptops as possible from work and other sources, all with the E-port docking connector and I use those interchangeably in any room of the house depending on need. One is my current HTPC also although that's about to be superseded. That will become the only 'fixed' PC I own; the answer though of course is, if you feel like you might benefit from the mobility, then the laptop is a good bet. If you don't think you will benefit, then build the SFF.

The one factor often overlooked is that a laptop also provides a built-in UPS, perhaps not significant, but perhaps yes.

 

[rcodi]

Is portability an absolute must? Are you actually gaming on the go or do you just need something for productivity?

I've been down the gaming laptop and portable ITX build routes myself. I traveled for work last year and tried a portable ITX setup but it became exhausting setting it up, tearing it down, and carrying it around. I settled on a gaming laptop which was perfect for that use case as it was far easier to carry and setup was minimal.

I sold the laptop as soon as I was stationary again as there was no point in having a gaming laptop as my primary machine or even a secondary machine for the price. Ergonomics, larger displays, upgrades, and many more reasons make this the obvious choice. My conclusion is that buying a gaming laptop is either a compromise or a huge waste of money if you don't need portability. I went all out on a desktop and have a non-gaming laptop for the occasions I actually need a mobile workspace. Also note that modern iGPUs are surprisingly capable if you're just playing indie titles.