Gaming laptops sound great - until you realize these 4 things

Summary

Gaming laptops are inherently more expensive than desktops relative to their performance.
They can’t be upgraded much, and battery life tends to be weak.
They also produce a lot of heat and noise when running at full speed.

Before anyone berates me in the comments, let me say that gaming laptops can be fantastic — I’m writing this on one as we speak. They’re more powerful than consoles and handhelds, while offering the portability missing from a desktop PC. If I hadn’t bought one, moving from the US back to Canada would’ve been a horrendous experience, costing me workdays without any guarantee my desktop system would survive the trip.

It’s just a fact that laptops aren’t for everyone, and there are several reasons why. If you want to get into PC gaming, it may be better to turn to desktops or handhelds instead. Let me elaborate.

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1 Prices can rocket up to sky high

How important is portability to you?

Razer

Gaming laptops use miniaturized components with state-of-the-art technology, plus specialized cooling systems and enormous batteries. That makes them inherently more expensive than their desktop counterparts, so much so that the price tags can be eye-watering. A Razer Blade 14, for example, starts at about $2,200 before any upgrades or accessories. Meanwhile, a fully-equipped Blade 18 is well over $4,000. It’s possible to find affordable laptops closer to the $1,000 mark, but you won’t be playing in 4K or maxing out game settings.

A desktop PC will deliver more frames per dollar.

If portability doesn’t matter to you, a desktop PC will deliver more frames per dollar. If portability is essential, you may actually prefer a handheld like the Steam Deck, Legion Go S, or ASUS ROG Ally X. Those machines can’t deliver ray-traced graphics at 120fps, but they can still play triple-A titles like Elden Ring or Cyberpunk 2077 at an acceptable quality.

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2 Upgrades are limited or impossible

Pushing the cost of ownership even higher

Powertoys on a laptop running windows 11.

Asus / Pocket-lint

To keep size and weight under control, modern laptops are engineered to the nth degree. Many components are glued or soldered together, making them difficult or outright impossible to swap out. Usually, the most you’re able to upgrade on a laptop is RAM or internal storage.

That makes them even more expensive than desktops in the long run. A tower PC will let you boost performance with the occasional GPU, CPU, and/or motherboard swap — your only choices with a laptop are an external GPU enclosure or a complete replacement.

Few people like the idea of spending thousands of dollars every two or three years.

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3 Battery life is abysmal

Think twice about replacing your work machine

Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 on a purple backdrop.

Asus / Pocket-lint

High-performance CPUs and GPUs consume a lot of energy, and the consequence is weak battery life. Whereas some non-gaming laptops can last 24 hours or more, you’ll be lucky if a gaming laptop lasts eight, even when you aren’t playing anything. Depending on the model and what you’re running, you may get as little as one to two hours of runtime before you have to plug into a wall outlet.

You may get as little as one to two hours of runtime before you have to plug in.

You should probably avoid a gaming laptop if you need something that can double as a road-worthy work machine, or keep you entertained on long international and cross-country flights. You’ll have to plug into outlets whenever possible, and carry a gigantic charging brick with you — my Razer Blade 17 depends on a 240W monster.

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4 Gaming laptops can be hot and noisy

Watch your lap

Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 two characters fighting.

Ninja Theory / Pocket-lint

While recent technology has improved the situation, gaming laptops still get hot when they’re running at full tilt. If one sits on your lap for long enough, it can make your legs sweaty, and there’s a risk of a machine overheating without enough ventilation. You may want to buy a metal laptop stand, and/or keep your computer out of prolonged sunlight.

When heat mounts, a laptop’s fans spool up, sometimes generating tremendous noise in an otherwise quiet room. More typically, it’s not enough to bother anyone — but you might get self-conscious about it if you’re trying to play Civilization during a long flight to Texas. In a library, everyone will know who’s using the expensive gaming rig.