R.Boss - 3/9/2018 14:07

If you aren't going to take it with you a desktop is better in every way.

You want at least an i5 processor preferably from one of the more recent generations, 8 gigs of ram (can get by with half but won't save much money), at least 160 gig SSD hard drive for a system disk (solid state drive, where windows lives--SSD's are much faster than traditional drives...will greatly affect startup and general system speed). If your SSD is on the small side you will also want a traditional hard drive to use for bulk storage.

If anybody plays fancy games on it (anything beyond web-browser games), plans on doing CAD work, or you want more than one screen attached to it you'll want a discrete graphics processor rather than an integrated one.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&IsNodeId=...

Just curious..why do you think a desktop is better "in every way"? Can't you get the same things in both? I can always use an external mouse, keyboard, and monitor on my laptop so it works just like a desktop, plus I have the portability if I need or want it.