The progress of gaming laptops has been awe-inspiring in the past few years. Thanks to the recent shortage in desktop graphics cards, gaming laptops are now excellent value for money for most gamers regardless of their budget.
Though traditionally gaming laptops have been seen as the more expensive options, now many gaming laptops are just as powerful and more portable than their desktop counterparts and offer a wide range of features that make them excellent value for money. Despite the increase in the power and performance of gaming laptops over recent years, they aren’t without their drawbacks.
That’s why it’s important to factor in the advantages and disadvantages of a gaming laptop before you commit to such a large investment.
Advantages of a Gaming Laptop
A gaming laptop has many advantages over desktop PC’s thanks primarily to their smaller form factor.
1. Portability
Computer gaming is not just a hobby, it’s a lifestyle. You know you’re a true gamer when your motherboard specs are just as impressive as you are. To achieve that, you need to find your perfect partner. A laptop that won’t leave you hanging when you’re exploring new worlds in games like Elder Ring and Diablo 4. But there’s more to consider than just horsepower
When you daily carry a laptop, you are basically carrying a minicomputer with you capable of both work requirements and playing games.
Modern laptops have gotten quite portable over the years. On average, a high-end gaming laptop currently available in the market weighs over 4lbs while having a thickness of around 2.5 inches.
Taking this into consideration, it is quite obvious why many gamers lean towards using a gaming laptop because of its convenience.
2. Power on the Go
Technology has gotten very good over the years and as a result today we have gaming laptops that carry immense performance potential under the hood.
The ability to have unprecedented power at the tap of the button allows gamers to use gaming laptops for more than their gaming needs. These laptops are also perfectly viable for demanding tasks like rendering, graphic designing, CAD modeling, etc.
These are the tasks you wouldn’t envision being possible for a couple of years but now with the performance capabilities of gaming laptops, we are at a point where these tasks are a non-issue.
Hence gaming laptops allow you to perform these days on the go which is a great selling point of these laptops.
3. Unique and Captivating Designs
Gaming laptops carry often carry unique and sophisticated design which makes them stand out from the crowd. There are many gaming laptops with unique and interesting designs so take your pick which you like the best.
This trait of a gaming laptop is highly valued by gamers that want a bit of customization and personalization on their gaming machine. Oh, and how can we forget RGB lighting. The RGB lighting is the new normal and makes gaming laptops look very pleasing.
4. Low Power Consumption
Though I agree that this is not the biggest attraction of a gaming laptop, you would be surprised to know how little power gaming laptops draw as compared to a fully-fledged desktop PC.
This is because modern gaming laptops are very efficient and therefore consume less power due to good operating efficiency, making them perfect for off-grid or solar powered usage.
Disadvantages of a Gaming Laptop
Despite having many advantages, gaming laptops also have many disadvantages that cannot be ignored.
1. Heat and Noise Issues
While gaming laptops have gotten very efficient recently, the compact design does not leave a lot of room for heat dissipation. Therefore, despite having modern technology gamers still have to experience heat and noise issues due to the inherent design limitation.
To dissipate as much heat as possible, the fans of a gaming laptop also spin at very high RPM hence producing a lot of noise.
Many gamers are not fond of heat and noise because they are not only annoying to deal with but also shorten the lifespan of the machine. If you fall in that crowd a good alternative, in this case, will be a prebuilt gaming PC.
In contrast,
2. Lack of Upgradability
The upgrade path on a gaming laptop is quite restrictive. These machines, unlike their desktop counterparts, cannot be upgraded which is a huge deterring factor for many gamers because gaming computers are known for being user-friendly and easily upgradable.
3. Expensive
For similar hardware, gaming laptops can get very expensive especially if you move to the more high-end machines. A top-tier gaming laptop from a reputable brand like Asus will set you back around $2000 while a similar spec gaming desktop can be had for approximately $1500.
Prebuilt gaming desktops can be just as useful and come from the factory with a pretty much offer a plug-and-play experience the same as a laptop would. How2pc has all the information you need on prebuilt gaming PCs if you want to learn more about them.
Conclusion
It is quite clear that a gaming laptops have some obvious advantages and disadvantages compared to traditional desktop gaming PCs, makingit is hard pointing out a clear winner.
Either way will have to compromise on something. The rule of thumb is to base your decision on whether the advantages outweigh the disadvantages based on your own specific needs and budget.
