The PC Report

I have always been a PC gaming sort of guy, as I’m sure you know, but in all my years of PC gaming I just cannot see the point of gaming laptops. I personally play on my gaming desktop with my nice and large monitor and proper peripherals, and I paid less than half that of an equivalent laptop of the time. And I wouldn’t even consider playing games anywhere other than my house at my desktop.

Here is why you should never buy a gaming laptop, ever.

Gaming laptops are not worth the cash you pay for them. I can whip together a gaming rig that packs an Intel Core i7-930 @ 2.80 GHz, 6GB of DDR3 RAM, a 1TB hard drive and a ATI Radeon HD 5850 for just under US$1,250 and it packs enough power to play almost any new game maxed out. Good luck finding a gaming laptop for the same price that packs all the goodness and power of my desktop. In fact, you could probably forget playing Crysis on all maximum settings because I doubt any laptop could pump out suitable frame rates for such a demanding game. With that HD 5850 though? Easy!

The screen real estate is also a turn-away for me. I don’t want to game on an 18″ display, I want to use at least my 22″ monitor – if not something larger such as a 26″ or maybe a Full HD TV which console gamers use to enjoy their games. In fact, I could even plug in 3 (or 6 if you really wanted) monitors into an ATI card that supports Eyefinity for a superb gaming environment. Some people may plug their laptop into an external display, but what’s the point? You’ve practically made it stationary so why didn’t you buy a cheaper desktop?

The form factor is also a pain. The laptops weigh in excess of 3-4kg and are usually thick and cumbersome to transport. If I’m going to work or maybe college tutorials I don’t want to lug a huge 4kg+ beast around so I have the chance to play games; that would kill my back one day. As for the keyboard and mouse: smaller than a desktop keyboard and a trackpad as a mouse. Feel like carrying around on top of your 4kg laptop the mouse and keyboard you need to enjoy the games in their glory? Also, forget surround sound unless you have some pretty cool 5.1 surround headphones that you also would need to carry with you if you did want to whip out a game of MW2 on the run.

Did I mention battery life? Unplug your gaming laptop from the wall and you’ll have maybe an hour or two (if your lucky) to enjoy your games on the move, if you can stand the weight and heat on your lap. So much for playing hours upon hours of your favourite game whilst on the move. Of course you could just leave your laptop in one place, but why do that when a desktop could replace it or even a console. I’ll stick to a PSP or DS which can last at least 5 hours while gaming.

Of course, there is that one shining benefit of a gaming laptop – the looks!…. or not. Some gaming laptops are so thick, heavy or just plain ugly that they stand out comapred to other standard laptops. Take a look at the Asus G73 above, it’s truly an eyesore with that whopping sticking out back.

So guys, if you’re in the market for a new gaming machine or looking to get into the fabulous world of PC gaming, I implore you not to go and grab a large, heavy and overpriced gaming laptop with little power. Go for something truly powerful and spend your money on a gaming desktop so that you can enjoy games in all their glory without wasting your cash.