Desktop PC or Laptop, which is better for design?

[Rockman Striker]

So I'm planning to buy a computer some time soon, but I was wondering if a laptop can be of utility for design and gaming? I don't have any problem if a desktop PC is better, but a laptop can certainly be of help since I won't have to share it with my brother (Since he plays all day on the computer I didn't have much time to work on my project)

What I need is a machine capable of handling tasks such as run high polygon 3d games, using gimp to draw, recording the screen and editing video and sound... so I need to be able to do everything on this one.

My question is: Is there any laptop worth buying? or should I buy a desktop PC?

Any recommendations on brands and models will be greatly appreciated, but please don't recommend any Mac, I don't have anything against Apple, it's just that I may not be able to afford it sooner (Remember that in Mexico prices are higher than on US and Macs aren't really popular here) thanks!

[HF]

If we're talking long-term use without much lugging around, I would recommend building your own desktop so you can upgrade as-needed.

If portability is important for you, I would recommend getting something which you can also draw on like the T-Series Dashe (T902) and I (T901) use as they have actual WACOM tablets built into the displays. The price for Fujitsu laptops are high, but they are very long-lasting and feature a modular bay system to allow a hot-swappable choice of extra storage / optical drive / battery.

Edit: For these two models in particular: With just a screwdriver and the necessary hardware of choice, you can swap out the RAM and primary drive that came with it. With existing technology for a decent price, you can have up to 16GB RAM and an SSD of choice in a laptop/tablet convertible form factor with the power of a low/mid-end desktop.

[Dashe]

The T-Series isn't that great for 3D gaming, though. Or big rendering projects. The graphics card is about par for a laptop, so if you want a beefier gaming machine for testing Master System and whatever other games you make, or you need to composite special effects and render large files, a custom desktop is probably your best bet.

Then again, I'm also me. You probably know more about machines than I do.

[Chiz]

If you want to do any sort of work with 3D applications - gaming, rendering, modelling, CAD - you definitely want a full-sized desktop graphics card in your machine. There are laptops that can accept such a graphics card in a sort of docking station setup-thing, but building a desktop machine from individually picked parts is, by far, the cheapest way to go, especially if you can take advantage of the various deals online that occur around this time of year. A machine that can handle anything you could reasonably throw at it ought to cost you $700 if you were in the United States, and this is assuming you are building from scratch; even if you assume a 25% increase from importing select parts, that's still only $875, and your machine will be much more impressive and must more suitable to any sort of resource-intensive task you throw at it.

Any remaining budget you have can be put toward a cheap, second hand tablet or touch screen laptop that could be used for any drawing tasks. Maybe an iPad or Android tablet that's a few generations out and can be rooted/jailbroken. If you're lucky, you could find one for as little as $125, making the price tag for a budget digital art studio $1,000 USD.