Gaming Desktop v Laptop

[DudeThatsErin]

Would you rather own a gaming desktop or a laptop? I own a desktop and I don't use the gaming part of it as much as I thought I would so I wish I would have gotten a laptop so I could do the same things anywhere and use my monitor as an external one whenever I needed the extra space.

It is what it is though, I like my desktop and I can't see a reason to get rid of it.

[The Blackangel]

I hate laptops, regardless of what it's used for. They crap out too easily and way too damn fast. And that little scratch pad that is supposed to be a mouse, is just annoying as hell. Sure, they're convenient, but I want something that is going to last more than a month. If my keyboard fucks up, I can just buy another one. If the keyboard fucks up on a laptop, you're screwed. I've never seen one that you could hook up another keyboard to, without it rejecting it.

Laptops are in my eyes, useless for most issues. I have a small one that I only use to write on. But even with it, the scratch pad quit on me and I had to buy an actual mouse to use it.

They're junk.

 

It's desktop all the way for me.

[Crazycrab]

Laptops have the advantage of portability of course but for gaming I prefer a desktop.  Better cooling options and easier to maintain.

[Shagger]

A few years ago, I would have agreed with you completely @The Blackangel. Laptops are expensive and more difficult to repair compared to an equivalent Desktop PC. However, I'm not convinced that's the case any more. My last two PC builds I've done both had problems. I was contemplating a new PC build, or at least starting one, near the end of last year. Due to next gen being on the horizon and the fact it was looking like a very real possibly (and it is still possible) I was going to be sent to work away from home, I decided to buy a gaming laptop instead and hold off on a new PC build. More specially, this one;

 

It was cheaper than this when I bought it, around £950, but man I've been so impressed by this thing. It's feels solid, it's a performs so well in game at 1080p and easy it's to use. Having a single 512GB NVMe drive is a problem. A brilliant boot drive, but one needs more storage that, so I added a 2TB eSATA SSD, bringing the total cost to about £1,100. The point is, so many of the drawbacks and compromises and drawbacks to laptops, especially gaming laptops, I would have expected only even 4-5 years ago just aren't there. The mousepad is still a thing though, and it's just as useless in-game as they always have been, but one can use a controller or separate mouse along with the keyboard easily enough and modern keyboards  on laptops aren't nearly as finicky or fragile as the used to feel.

 

This thing is brilliant, and I'm just saying that to avoid buys resource, even if it was given to me I'd say it's fantastic.

 

Despite what I've just said, if the practically and portability of a laptop is something you don't really need out of your gaming computer, a desktop is still the better option.

Edited July 20, 2020 by Shagger

[The Blackangel]

4 hours ago, Shagger said:

It was cheaper than this when I bought it, around £950, but man I've been so impressed by this thing. It's feels solid, it's a performs so well in game at 1080p and easy it's to use. Having a single 512GB NVMe drive is a problem. A brilliant boot drive, but one needs more storage that, so I added a 2TB eSATA SSD, bringing the total cost to about £1,100. The point is, so many of the drawbacks and compromises and drawbacks to laptops, especially gaming laptops, I would have expected only even 4-5 years ago just aren't there. The mousepad is still a thing though, and it's just as useless in-game as they always have been, but one can use a controller or separate mouse along with the keyboard easily enough and modern keyboards  on laptops aren't nearly as finicky or fragile as the used to feel.

I understood absolutely none of that. I've been out of the game on the technical side of computers since Win98. So when you guys get talking about this stuff, I don't know what the hell is going on. It's why on so many posts in the PC board, I just click them so the icon goes dark. Because I don't know any of this shit.

Edited July 20, 2020 by The Blackangel

[Crazycrab]

55 minutes ago, The Blackangel said:

I understood absolutely none of that. I've been out of the game on the technical side of computers since Win98. So when you guys get talking about this stuff, I don't know what the hell is going on. It's why on so many posts in the PC board, I just click them so the icon goes dark. Because I don't know any of this shit.

 

If you really want to know I can explain, all you need to do is ask.

 

I'll start with simply saying that an SSD is, actully, very similar to the technology found in the old N64 or even older SNES or NES cartridges or SD cards.  Unlike CD's/DVD'S or even hard drives which need to be spun and read like an old record player SSD access the information stored almost instantly.  You probably remember that N64 games loaded WAY faster than PlayStation games did back in the day, that's why.

 

Solid State Drives are only limited by the bandwidth of the semiconductor connection, which is where NVMe comes in.  A standard SATA connection is limited to about 6Gbps, a NVMe connection goes up to 32Gbps. So SATA SSD's are faster than hard drives and optical discs and NVMe SSDs are faster than SATA SSD's.

[Shagger]

1 hour ago, The Blackangel said:

I understood absolutely none of that. I've been out of the game on the technical side of computers since Win98. So when you guys get talking about this stuff, I don't know what the hell is going on. It's why on so many posts in the PC board, I just click them so the icon goes dark. Because I don't know any of this shit.

 

I was basically referring to storage. As standard the laptop has one very fast, but fairly small 512GB SSD (Solid State Drive). This helps windows run very efficiently and the computer boot up very quickly, but doesn't have that much in terms of space to store other files, be that games, music, videos or whatever. I installed a second, much larger, 2TB SSD to hold more stuff, something I'm forced to admit with this laptop is something you would HAVE to do rather than call it upgrade.

[skyfire]

Thanks to shaggers recommendation in another thread. I am definitely moving towards gaming laptop. Though my work in design demands a better graphics and CPU. That's one more reason why I'd get gaming laptop in the first place. My reason for not picking desktop is that it's not going to serve me any purpose in near future with my mobile movement for the client and gigs. So I'd go for gaming laptop from here onwards, this may not be all who are into gaming and want to use it for graphics content. 

[DudeThatsErin]

On 7/21/2020 at 8:32 AM, skyfire said:

Thanks to shaggers recommendation in another thread. I am definitely moving towards gaming laptop. Though my work in design demands a better graphics and CPU. That's one more reason why I'd get gaming laptop in the first place. My reason for not picking desktop is that it's not going to serve me any purpose in near future with my mobile movement for the client and gigs. So I'd go for gaming laptop from here onwards, this may not be all who are into gaming and want to use it for graphics content. 

That's true.I'm thinking I should have gotten a laptop instead of a desktop.

On 7/20/2020 at 11:24 AM, Crazycrab said:

Laptops have the advantage of portability of course but for gaming I prefer a desktop.  Better cooling options and easier to maintain.

Exactly my thoughts.

On 7/20/2020 at 11:17 AM, The Blackangel said:

I hate laptops, regardless of what it's used for. They crap out too easily and way too damn fast. And that little scratch pad that is supposed to be a mouse, is just annoying as hell. Sure, they're convenient, but I want something that is going to last more than a month. If my keyboard fucks up, I can just buy another one. If the keyboard fucks up on a laptop, you're screwed. I've never seen one that you could hook up another keyboard to, without it rejecting it.

Laptops are in my eyes, useless for most issues. I have a small one that I only use to write on. But even with it, the scratch pad quit on me and I had to buy an actual mouse to use it.

They're junk.

 

It's desktop all the way for me.

That's true. That's one of the reasons I got a desktop. 

[Alexander.]

I have voted for Gaming Laptops. They're much more portable than regular desktop machines, and I find myself regularly playing some of my favourite titles at the comfort of my own sofa/couch. I don't have to worry about a power cut too, as these types of PC don't require a constant power supply to them. 

[skyfire]

On 7/30/2020 at 4:05 AM, DudeThatsErin said:

That's true.I'm thinking I should have gotten a laptop instead of a desktop.

Yes if you can have budget and steady own home, then go for both that way upgrades in future would be easier. if you live moving lifestyle then laptop is inevitable.