$1800 Gaming Laptop VS $1800 Gaming Desktop

[Trident]

Hello,

I have a question that I cannot quite figure out on my own. I currently have a desktop that i built 3 years ago which cost me roughly $2500, it still runs pretty much everything but I can tell it is slowing aging. I plan on upgrading soon and I was wondering what would the performance difference would be if I spent $1800 on a Asus Gaming laptop vs spending $1800 building another desktop?

How far advanced are we in terms of power on a laptop compared to power you can achieve from a desktop?

Thank You

[Saithes]

Laptop performance never matches Desktop performance and becomes out of date quicker than Desktop parts. You can get MUCH higher performance from parts on a desktop.

[Herecius]

You will get exponentially better mileage out of the desktop, which you'll also be able to incrementally upgrade however you feel like. The laptop will not have the staying power that the desktop will.

[Volsung]

+1 Desktop

The difference would be night and day. Assuming you buy/build/assemble the desktop correctly.

[Wrestler10307]

Laptop performance never matches Desktop performance and becomes out of date quicker than Desktop parts. You can get MUCH higher performance from parts on a desktop.

This. Also its much more difficult to upgrade a laptop than it is to upgrade a desktop computer, and you're going to have heat issues with most any gaming laptop.

[Deleted]

people who buy laptops are idiots, i know this from experience. A desktop will have way more performance, with less maintanance and easier access. plus trying to replace keys on your laptop keyboard is both expensive and painful

[ruuBEN]

Just to throw this out there, too, a laptop gets hot quickly. I don't care if you have a 'gaming grade' laptop, I've never seen a laptop that has as good of airflow or cooling than any desktop case. Build your desktop and get a good cooling case (best: Antec nine hundred). That way, your stuff won't overheat, and either get shot, melt, or basically just die out on your in general. This will also allow you to play for horrifyingly long periods of time and not have to worry about it over heating.

[Lolhand]

people who buy laptops are idiots

Damn, let me ask my college professor if I can bring my desktop to class

/sarcasm

But yes +1 desktop, if you don't need to bring it to school or travel a lot, then definitely get a desktop. It is WAAAAAAAAAY more bang for your buck and it will stay that wasy for a LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time

[S7orm]

laptop, you can cook your food directly on the CPU after few hours of gaming

yeah, was kidding, even a 1000-1200$ desktop beat a 1800$ laptop, and you can use the extra 600 bucks to buy keyboard/headset/mouse and an Android phone to browse AH when you're away o_O

obviously if you need a laptop for work/school (moving a lot) you should buy it (there are 3 new Alienware laps)

[Dashield28]

Definitely desktop. for $1800 you can put together a sick gaming piece.

1 month ago i spent $1200 on the following and I am about to add anouth $500 worth of stuff)

i7 2600k Sandy bridge
MSI P67A- GD65 (B3) mobo (SLI ready)
Gigabyte GTX 560 Ti (OC to 900MHz) (About add another in a few weeks)
2x 60GB SSD OCZ Vertex 2 (About to add either 2 60s or 2 120s) RAID 0
8GB G.Skill 1600 DDR 3 RAM.
Icy Dock (for the SSDs)
CoolerMaster Hyper 212 CPU FAN/Heatsink (w/ second 120mm fan)

Just think what you can do with $1800.

I fraps raids at 60 fps on ULTRA everything. Not even a bump. Run rift at 50+ FPS on ULTRA everything.

Just a funny edit: I once ran a whore raid at 60ish FPS without realizing i had Rift running in the background. Didnt notice performance degradation.

[haxartus]

A $1800 gaming desktop will allow you to play the latest games for minimum of 2 years ahead.

[Korgoth]

Your new laptop for $1800 will probably be faster then your old Desktop for $2500, but realistically not enough to justify it as an upgrade unless you really want the portability. Your graphic card(s, $2500 I would have gotten 2!) in your Desktop are probably comparable to what you can find in a laptop right now. An $1800 desktop on the other hand should be remarkably faster since you are now 2 generations behind on the CPU and GPUs.

[dyzz]

people who buy laptops are idiotsl

I love people who make generalizations.

I have a new alienware pc (because im lazy and dont have the time to spend building my own stuff anymore: Wife, 2 kids, 40hr Work Week, Full time student) and a decent laptop. I use the pc when I am home and raiding, doing fps games, whatever. I use the laptop (which is a $700 Toshiba satellite) when im loungin in the living room, watchin my kids. Typically on the laptop im just watchin videos or farming or running 5 mans or farming honor. Basically I only use the laptop when I am not being "competitive".

Most gamers who have both a pc and laptop that i have run into, use thier computers the same way i use mine. THe laptop is just a backup. So i would say maybe upgrade your pc a little, and get a 600-800 dollar laptop to use when your not infront of the pc or at home. Maybe get a laptop now, and save up some more money and next year build a new pc.

Nobody here is going to have the perfect example for your situation.

[Deleted]

Damn, let me ask my college professor if I can bring my desktop to class

/sarcasm

But yes +1 desktop, if you don't need to bring it to school or travel a lot, then definitely get a desktop. It is WAAAAAAAAAY more bang for your buck and it will stay that wasy for a LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time

But then again, your sarcastic joke failed, since we're talking about gaming laptops which are mainly going to be used for just that - gaming. Not studying.

But aye, you can't even get close to the same performance on a laptop as you could from a desktop. Maybe if the desktop cost about 50% of the laptop (assuming you know what parts to buy and how to assemble it).

[Retsucks]

people who buy laptops are idiots, i know this from experience.

http://www.notebookreview.com/defaul...asus+g73+g73jh

This is what I play WoW, FFXI, FFXIV, Crysis, Crysis 2, and Portal 2 on. Never had a single god damn problem with it. Sure, I can't upgrade it. But for people who don't have a lot of extra room for a bulky desktop, this is an awesome choice.

Also, LOL at people thinking high end gaming laptops overheat. THEY ARE MADE FOR GAMING. Derp.

You're the idiot imo.

[wildemu]

laptops are only meant for business/school use and that necessity should cost you 500-700 dollars tops. Never buy a gaming laptop.

[Saithes]

http://www.notebookreview.com/defaul...asus+g73+g73jh

This is what I play WoW, FFXI, FFXIV, Crysis, Crysis 2, and Portal 2 on. Never had a single god damn problem with it. Sure, I can't upgrade it. But for people who don't have a lot of extra room for a bulky desktop, this is an awesome choice.

Also, LOL at people thinking high end gaming laptops overheat. THEY ARE MADE FOR GAMING. Derp.

You're the idiot imo.

Made for gaming doesn't mean anything. It's just a common occurrence for laptops "made for gaming" to overheat because they still skimp on the heatpipes and still have a confined space. It wasn't even until recently that Asus even started putting a better heatpipe between the CPU and GPU.

[Dashield28]

I love people who make generalizations.

I have a beastly pc and a decent laptop. I use the pc when I am home and raiding, doing fps games, whatever. I use the laptop (which is a $700 Toshiba satellite) when im loungin in the living room, watchin my kids. Typically on the laptop im just watchin videos or farming or running 5 mans or farming honor. Basically I only use the laptop when I am not being "competitive".

Most gamers who have both a pc and laptop that i have run into, use thier computers the same way i use mine. THe laptop is just a backup. So i would say maybe upgrade your pc a little, and get a 600-800 dollar laptop to use when your not infront of the pc or at home. Maybe get a laptop now, and save up some more money and next year build a new pc.

Nobody here is going to have the perfect example for your situation.

I agree with this person. I also have a decent laptop for when i travel but it is no where near my desktop (My laptop is a Vaio i7 740 C/M, 6GB RAM, Nvidia 330M 1GB dedicated) runs wow pretty dang well. Runs rift also on low settings.

[Deleted]

It seems everyone forgets that for <50 euro's you got a laptop cooler fixing all your heating problems
Still, desktop > laptop.

[deevicoos]

people who buy laptops purely to game and nothing else are idiots, i know this from experience. A desktop will have way more performance, with less maintanance and easier access. plus trying to replace keys on your laptop keyboard is both expensive and painful

Fixed for context.

Laptops don't seem to have a very good lifetime, if they make it to 3 years, you've been very lucky. Note also that this guy is telling us he made this mistake and is still kicking himself over it for this day. Laptops trade cooling, power, durability and reliability for being mobile and power efficient.

Laptops are ideal if your concerns are mobility and convenience. But if you're gaming seriously they're a waste of money.