[SOLVED] Can a gaming laptop be worth it?

[Jb122]

I game pretty frequently but I also am a full time college student. Previously I have built my own PC and used it the past 6 or so years. My PC is now pretty outdated (it wasn't amazing to begin with) and some of the newest games my GPU is actually below the required minimum.

Instead of just building and buying a new PC I kind of just want to buy a laptop. Is this completely a bad idea or is it acceptable? I know PCs are more value efficient and stronger but I honestly got sick of cables and the tons of dust and mess that can come with PCs.

Also, would I be able to get a good gaming Laptop for $1500 or less? Like would I be able to run brand new demanding games like cyberpunk on it on medium settings.

 

[Nemesia]

Do you want to bring your laptop with you? If not buy a desktop again.

 

[Jb122]

Do you want to bring your laptop with you? If not buy a desktop again.

It is possible I would but I would be more so buying it to not deal with the upkeep (cleaning) and cable management with a PC. Which I know is not really that bad but it still got annoying to me.

If I were to get a nice PC I think I would need a higher budget, in terms of going for something really nice. Its hard for me to decide I just think a laptop is much easier to use, just uncertain if it is worth paying more for less power

 

[Nemesia]

It is possible I would but I would be more so buying it to not deal with the upkeep (cleaning) and cable management with a PC. Which I know is not really that bad but it still got annoying to me.

If I were to get a nice PC I think I would need a higher budget, in terms of going for something really nice. Its hard for me to decide I just think a laptop is much easier to use, just uncertain if it is worth paying more for less power

I understand what you mean but I think you should still deal with the annoying things because with 1500 you can get something like this below which is pretty good. You can even drop the 5800X and get a 5600X. Second builds with 2 SSD instead of 1. Great deal on that 665p. You will never get that kind of hardware in a laptop for 1500 dollars. That's a 2000+ dollars laptop for that performance.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X 3.8 GHz 8-Core Processor ($450.00)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($89.95 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI B550-A PRO ATX AM4 Motherboard ($139.99 @ B&H)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory ($92.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Intel 665p 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI GeForce RTX 3060 Ti 8 GB GAMING X TRIO Video Card ($499.99 @ Adorama)
Case: Corsair 275R Airflow ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.98 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx (2018) 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1562.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-01-08 23:31 EST-0500


PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor ($300.00)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($89.95 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI B550-A PRO ATX AM4 Motherboard ($139.99 @ B&H)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory ($92.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Intel 665p 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Intel 665p 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI GeForce RTX 3060 Ti 8 GB GAMING X TRIO Video Card ($499.99 @ Adorama)
Case: Corsair 275R Airflow ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.98 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx (2018) 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1502.87
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-01-08 23:33 EST-0500

 

[cyrust]

It is possible I would but I would be more so buying it to not deal with the upkeep (cleaning) and cable management with a PC. Which I know is not really that bad but it still got annoying to me.

Laptop fans still gets dirty and affects cooling. If you do it right you could have a desktop with 3 wires. A power cord for the tower, a power cord for your monitor, and HDMI for sound and picture. You would be able to drop a new GPU in a tower in 2 years and not be obsolete. Then I do not know much about casting but you might be able to drop the other two wires and a monitor and use your tv?

 

[Why_Me]

I game pretty frequently but I also am a full time college student. Previously I have built my own PC and used it the past 6 or so years. My PC is now pretty outdated (it wasn't amazing to begin with) and some of the newest games my GPU is actually below the required minimum.

Instead of just building and buying a new PC I kind of just want to buy a laptop. Is this completely a bad idea or is it acceptable? I know PCs are more value efficient and stronger but I honestly got sick of cables and the tons of dust and mess that can come with PCs.

Also, would I be able to get a good gaming Laptop for $1500 or less? Like would I be able to run brand new demanding games like cyberpunk on it on medium settings.

PC's are better for gaming and with the motherboards that now support wi fi 6 along with bluetooth 5.2 the cords aren't an issue as they used to be in the past. As far as dust goes .. several decent mid range cases come with dust filters.

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/gigabyte-a5-a7-specs-ces-2021 <--- If you're looking at a laptop for gaming then these new Gigabyte's look solid.

 

[geofelt]

I see a lot of laptop gamers with heat issues causing throttling.
Laptop coolers are, of necessity, small and light.
They are not very efficient.
If you go with a gaming laptop, buy less than the strongest cpu and gpu.

Laptops are not upgradeable as to cpu or graphics.
The size of the display is limited.

If you need portbility, then of course a laptop is good.

But a better strategy is to buy a strong desktop gamer and a light less expensive laptop for classes and notes.

 

[Elros]

No.
I have bought a gaming laptop this year for the first time in my life and I already regret it.

Average gaming laptops are around 1500$. The price will decrease if you are looking for a desktop replacement gaming laptop with the <Mod Edit> build quality and no battery life, or increase if you are looking to buy something looking sexy and could be used as an ultrabook up to +3000$.

For1500$, you can buy an ultrabook/Chromebook for a school that has 10 hours of battery life + Xbox series X + 1440p Monitor.
A gaming notebook will do all of this but not good at any of this.

I don't know where do you live, but in most countries, you can sell your monitor in a couple of days, keep Xbox if you travel, which is already very portable comparing to other consoles and performance is still better than any laptop you could buy at around 1500$.

Not to mention that you must be careful with carrying your 2000$ gaming laptop around, never leaving it in the classroom, being extra careful if people might spill coffee in Starbucks, etc, but you wouldn't care 230$ notebook that much. Gaming notebooks have huge power bricks too, consider them as well, and you most likely will want to have a mouse and cooling pad as well, so on the longer term, they aren'T very portably, so why not just buy tv and box?

 

[LordVile]

I game pretty frequently but I also am a full time college student. Previously I have built my own PC and used it the past 6 or so years. My PC is now pretty outdated (it wasn't amazing to begin with) and some of the newest games my GPU is actually below the required minimum.

Instead of just building and buying a new PC I kind of just want to buy a laptop. Is this completely a bad idea or is it acceptable? I know PCs are more value efficient and stronger but I honestly got sick of cables and the tons of dust and mess that can come with PCs.

Also, would I be able to get a good gaming Laptop for $1500 or less? Like would I be able to run brand new demanding games like cyberpunk on it on medium settings.

Could always buy a console and a usable laptop. Or upgrade the desktop