by Gaming laptop vs desktop PC – what you need to know
Updated December 19, 2022 11:49 am
In order to, Is a gaming laptop as good as a desktop PC? Well, in terms of raw FPS generation per dollar (or currency of your choice) spent, the answer is no – you’ll always have to pay significantly more for a gaming laptop to get the same performance as a gaming desktop PC to achieve.
The cap for the most powerful gaming desktop is also higher than that for the most powerful gaming laptop – the limitations imposed by the portable chassis only mean there will always be a cap on comparable performance.
However, a gaming laptop comes with the significant advantage of portability, and you can easily use it as a dual-use machine for work and play on the go.
READ NOW: Top 5 Gaming Laptops enthan December 2022
Gaming Laptop vs Desktop PC: Things to Consider
- Gaming laptops cost more money for the specs of the same name: An RTX 3070 gaming laptop usually costs more than an RTX 3070 gaming desktop.
- The laptop CPU or GPU SKU of the same name will underperform its desktop counterpart: An RTX 3070 gaming laptop, while costing more, isn’t as powerful as its desktop equivalent – cooling and voltage limitations mean that laptop GPUs (which invariably have to be much smaller to fit into a laptop case to fit) does not perform the same in-game FPS performance.
AMD CPUs and GPUs often have slightly different names in gaming laptops than their desktop counterparts, but Nvidia and Intel products often don’t.
- Always consider TGP and VRAM when looking at a gaming laptop GPU: TGP, or Total Graphics Power, is essentially the amount of power a GPU can draw on. Measured in watts (W), a high-TGP graphics card can sometimes perform better than a low-power graphics card in the SKU above.
The maximum TGPs for various Nvidia 30 series graphics cards are as follows. You don’t necessarily have to have the most powerful of these when shopping for a gaming laptop, but be aware of what you’re paying for:
- Response times tend to be faster on laptops than on desktop gaming monitors: You can still get true, average grey-to-grey response times that are fast enough for competitive gaming (3ms is common on the best), but the 1ms you get on gaming monitors (actually measured – not just the number). claimed by the brand) is currently outside the scope of laptop display technology.
Is a gaming laptop as good as a desktop PC? Last word
We hope this guide has helped answer the question Is a gaming laptop as good as a desktop PC? At least as far as your needs are concerned. Be sure to check out our various best gaming laptop guides covering different price ranges including best gaming laptop under $500, best gaming laptop under $1000 and best gaming laptop under $2000.
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