PC upgrade question

[JRR]

Hi all,

The good folks at TWC helped me around 5-6 years ago when I was choosing specs for my current PC. I thought I would post here again to benefit from the collective wisdom on offer when considering where to go next.

I'm currently deciding what route to take when I eventually upgrade my current PC. The specs of my current machine are as follows:

Windows 10 64bit
8GB DDR3 2400MHz Ram
Intel i7 4770K CPU @ 3.50 GHz
Matrix HD Radeon 7970 3GB
250 GB Samsung SSD
2TB WD Caviar Black HDD
Gigabyte 787X-UD3H ATX Motherboard
OCZ ZX 850w PSU

It's still pretty quick, although I'm starting to run out of space on my SSD and on certain tasks it has begun to slow down. I use it for a mix of general work, photo editing, and a bit of gaming (although I do less of the latter these days). I'm currently running it on a 24 inch monitor, which I want to upgrade to a 27 inch in the near future (mainly for photo editing purposes). I'm now considering that it is probably time to move to a newer PC, although this being my first one that I built I do have rather a emotional attachment to it.

My situation has changed since I last built this machine. I now have my own place with my GF, and although I do have a dedicated office space where the PC is located, I do often consider whether to get a higher end laptop for my needs that so I can use in our lounge (and also plug into a monitor where required). Long gone are the days where I can spend half a day locked away in front of my PC...

I did a bit of research on laptops that would suit my needs and the one I keep coming back to is the Dell G7 - either the 15 inch or the 17 inch - although on the UK site the 15 seems to have better specs. See here for more information: https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/lapt...laptop/cn71504

I want the usual decent processor, RAM, GPU etc. but I also want a decent sized SSD and a HDD (Ideally no less than 500GB on the SSD and no less than 1TB on the HDD) to store my games, applications and photographs. I'm not a high end gamer as such, I play some of the more recent Total Wars (Rome II, Attila, Thrones), CIV 6 and a selection of games from Paradox Interactive. I want to have some head room to play any new releases coming out over the next few years with good graphic and frame rates. I'm mainly play these sorts of games, so not particularly interested in FPS/RPG games. Again, if I went with the laptop I want to be able to game and edit photos on the laptop itself, plus on a 24/27 inch monitor.

Essentially, my question is should I invest my money in the Dell or something similar? Or should I look to build myself another desktop, although I think this would be less practical for me at this point in time. My budget is likely to be similar to the cost of that Dell laptop that I linked (£1,600 - £1,800 ish). My main concern is whether these 'gaming' laptops are suitable and worth the cost.

Also, is it possible to run install and run games/programmes off an external HDD/SDD? - This would be very worthwhile considering many of the laptops that I've looked at appear to be a bit light on storage space.

Thoughts and comments gratefully received