You must log in or register to comment.
I’m also in the desktop camp. But I just purchased a Framework 16. The upgradable dGPU (assuming they release new ones) might make laptops more viable for gaming.
Desktops. Don’t have to worry about batteries and easier to swap out parts.
I love both. And handhelds. And consoles.
I just like videogames and things that can run videogames. Videogame tech is cool.
I genuinely don’t get why people have such a grudge against gaming laptops. It’s like they got stuck regurgitating talking points from the mid 2000s. There have been so many super cool gaming laptops in the past couple of decades. Big, chonky powerhouses, sleek stealth workhorses, quirky nonsense builds… It’s awesome.
Alright, alright, just because I got myself excited. Top three gaming laptops, rating for sheer cool factor with no regard for practicality or value for money, but in no particular order:
1- MSI GS65. It could be the Razer Blade, which is the OG, but the GS65 was legitimately the best of that first batch of thin and light gaming laptops that looked classy without looking tacky. It had a 1070 in it, it could run every contemporary game just fine and it made you look downright stylish working on a Starbucks. So cool.
2- ASUS ROG Flow Z series. Asus put a dedicated GPU. In a tablet. Like, up to a 4070, you can get in one of these. It’s fat, it’s clunky, it’s underpowered for the hardware, it’s heavy, it sounds like the speaker in your first smartphone… but guys, 4070 in a tablet, are you kidding me? How cool is that?
3- Framework Laptop 16. It’s a modular laptop with a dedicated GPU module and a bunch of random configuration options. Gaming laptop lego. Again, how cool is that?
High end gaming laptops are a curse. It’s a package that cannot be performant, you simply don’t have a good space to cool it and keep it portable. Focus on it has made a big part of development in good hardware to be restricted to space and heat efficiency in a non optimal package.
Desktop is the way to go for gaming, you get much more affordable power and bang for your buck. If you want a machine for gaming you want a space where you can chill out and be confortable, desktop on a table with a good chair and nice monitors are the way to go and cheaper than the laptop counterpart.
Laptop is pretty handy for taking it to wherever you need it. But you cannot enjoy that high end performance on a comparatively tiny screen. If you are just carrying you laptop from desk with monitors and keyboard to another, you’re just using a less effective and expensive desktop in two spots.
Even for working, it’s handy to have a way to take your stuff elsewhere, but the way workstations work you’d much more benefit from having a cheaper desktop at you office and/or home and have a notebook to stream the content you need.
All the while all the money and research spent on high end laptops and graphs cards that live in them is being used to fuel a worse product that will invariably overheat and not work at full capacity.
Many people I know don’t have room to spare for a PC, small desk etc, nowadays for gaming handheld PCs are more and more obvious choice, as you could use them connected to a TV like a conventional console, and do actual work with a wireless kb/m combo, it’s not ergonomic than a laptop IMO,
Personally I’d go ITX in a small <15L case
You need to spend a lot of money for a gaming laptop to be good. The are really a compromise if you absolutely cannot have a PC where you are. Especially now with the steam deck.
Desktop. However I’m looking at gaming laptops just to have a sturdy, powerful laptop for work. And I hate touch screens.
Laptop:
-
Cheap when buying used, meanwhile used PC parts still are insanely expensive. So on the used market in my country you get the most value when buying a used gaming pc.
-
Especially cheap when considering I don’t have to buy a laptop. A useful laptop would cost like 400€, I bought my gaming laptop for 900€ (3 months used, instead of 1400€), same performance in a desktop would cost 1000€+ So normal laptop + gaming desktop would be 1400€+, I only spent 900€.
-
Portable. Not much to say here.
-
Both, each have their place. I have a desktop in my office. Decent recent spec and kept fairly up to date.
Laptop I have a reasonable “gaming” spec in the lounge we both use it.
The laptop will always be a compromise. You cannot shift the dissipated heat from a full power gpu at all in that form factor, and most cpus are going to also be lower power editions because they need to work on batteries as well as connected to power. But they’re still for sure usable.
Desktop will always outperform. Even the stock cpu and gpu options will perform at a higher tdp, and you can usually improve cooling in a big case to either improve stock boost frequencies, or over clock.
Physics is the limiting factor for laptops, both in terms of power delivery, and heat dissipation.
Gaming PCs by far.
Since some computer games require the mouse, I’d rather use a PC mouse than the touchpad or a mouse plugged to the laptop.
No particular reason, it’s just more pleasing to the eye.
