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May 17th, 2008 by WordPlop
Why do so many people buy gaming laptops? It doesn’t make any sense because laptops aren’t meant for gaming. Laptops are supposed to be lightweight and for doing things on the go. Gaming laptops are useless, and here’s why.
Gaming laptops are very heavy. They usually weigh around 10 pounds, while normal laptops weigh around three pounds. They’re also big and bulky. I wouldn’t want to carry around a gaming laptop in my backpack. It’s just inconvenient to have a heavy laptop.
A terrible battery life makes a laptop pointless. If you’re going to be gaming on it without it being plugged in, it won’t last more than an hour if you have a new laptop, especially with dual graphics cards. Laptops are for portability, and they become useless if the battery life is so low.
Gaming laptops produce a lot of heat. While normal laptops get very hot, I can still usually put one on my lap for an hour. After all, it is called a laptop. However, gaming laptops get so hot you will need a surface with fans blowing at the laptop if you don’t want it to overheat while gaming. Again, if it has dual video cards, it will produce a lot more heat, will weigh more, and will drain the battery more. SLI just doesn’t belong in a laptop.
Another factor is price. A gaming laptop will run you about $1500 or higher. A normal laptop will cost you $700 or higher. And here’s the thing – you can buy a desktop for $700 that will have better parts and will be faster and better at gaming than the $1500 laptop. So there is absolutely no point.
Laptops are for word processing, bringing on trips to stay connected on chat or email, and things like that. They were never meant for gaming. If you’re looking to buy a gaming laptop, do yourself a favor and get a desktop instead, and use the money you saved for buying a normal laptop.
Posted in Desktops & Laptops, Gaming, Performance
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17 Responses to “Why gaming laptops are useless”
I disagree. Stinker McStinknoggin.
completely agree. i think it’s stupid when people buy gaming laptops. for the same price, you can buy a desktop with better specs. laptops cost more than desktops in general. also, the screens are smaller, keyboard are more awkward, etc.
Gaming laptops would be cool if they worked. Picture a home with 3 teenage boys all of whom want to be able to play their games. Desktops require 3 separate desks and fixed locations. Laptops can be used anywhere, anytime. Much better solution for the average home. Again, only if they worked. I didn’t know it until it was too late. Have managed using a tabletop fan sitting behind the laptop blowing air into the back of it – that and having my son wear a sweatshirt when he plays to handle the cold air
I blame Gateway for using a high-end video card that overheats 15 minutes into a high-end game that actually uses the card’s features and then marketing it as a gamer. If it can’t handle the heat, they should eat the cost, but when I used that argument on them, they could suddenly only speak Hindi.
The idea is for LAN parties, do u like carrying ur monitor, pc, keyboard, mouse, headset and wat ever alse or would u rather a laptop. Do LAN’s and u will see. Anyway our technology has increased that we “increase power in smaller units”. Im sure gaming or powerful laptops will become lighter
This comment has been edited to remove signs of retardation.
I totally disagree! Gaming laptops are the most advance laptop in the world. It can do anything a normal laptop can do. Sure it weighs more, but that’s because a normal laptop only have the lowest components. It can only play solitaire or freecell games which is way too boring even for a 5 year old. But the real reason why some people dont want a gaming laptop is because they dont have the money! And they’re stuck on having the lamest laptop money can buy. So get over it! Co’z the GAMES over!
I totally disagree! That is what you call “Versatility”. As technology develops, of course, laptops will evolve and will have all the performance needed for gaming. If not, we will all get stucked into boring laptops forever and no one will want a boring laptop. Boys/Men, usually buy Gaming laptops because a woman is so weak to carry it around. They are the useless once. They are to blame and I hate their nagging. Gaming laptops are the most advanced laptops in the world. It can do anything a normal laptop can do. So Gaming laptops is the way to go. (PERIOD). Games over.
@ Chamberlain
First, I don’t know why you wrote so many comments restating the same fact. Second, have you considered that not everyone wants to play video games? There are plenty of people who just need laptops to take to class or to work. Those laptops are meant for work, not games. And it’s not because of money, because smaller laptops cost more. A lot of people would rather have a smaller laptop for the additional cost instead of a gaming laptop. So basically everything you’re saying is wrong.
I’m in disagreement, I bought the biggest and bulkiest gaming laptop back in 2005, it was the best at the time, I would always bring it on trips and provide hours of halo, oblivion, cs, and grand theft auto,
until this loser I used to know broke into my house and stole it, I will be getting one later soon though, you just can’t go wrong.
This is really funny because i have always thought that if it isn’t a gaming laptop its useless. because most laptops are usually way to weak to even run vista correctly unless it is a gaming laptop with a fatter juicer processor and better ram. if all you do is check your email and write pointless articles that everyone knows are false, go but a netbook their a lot cheaper than your $700 laptop and weight like 2 pounds that should help you out because 10 pounds sounds like way to much for you to carry. But if you want a laptop with some balls, that can take anything you throw at it even if you want to call it work or not. i would say go for the gaming laptop. Btw my hp multimedia laptop which cost around 1000 weighs more and runs hotter than my asus gaming laptop which weighs 7 pounds and cost 1000. i have had all types of laptops and the ones that seem to work the best for me are gaming laptops. i also bought a gateway not long ago for 659 to use as a little check your email and go on facebook type deal and it is about the same size as my asus. the only difference is that i can actually do things on my asus with out all the lockups. overall gaming laptops are better, and “work” laptops are just crappy watered down versions of them.
@ mason: you completely missed the point. Of course they’ll be more powerful, but that comes at the expense of battery life and portability. If you don’t care about carrying 10 pounds that’s fine, but the battery life is the important thing here. If you want to take it anywhere you have to take the charger, which goes against portability.
P.S. I did get a netbook.
how many hours or battery do you get out of your netbook?
And i really think the name of this article should be “Why gaming laptops are useless to me”.
@ mason: about 10 hours – http://www.wordplop.com/2009/09/21/acer-aspire-one-review/
I realize not everyone is going to agree with me, but I still stand by my claim that gaming laptops are useless for 99% of people.
where do you get your statistics?
if you hadn’t noticed all the advances in laptop technologies are based on gaming because it is so popular. I agree with mason on this one, the name of this article should be why gaming laptops are useless to me.
why a gaming labtop ill tell you why because with a gaming labtop you can go house to house with an amazingly fast comp yes the battery life sucks but when do u need to use the battery i take mine from my house to my dads house in idaho on a plane and plug up there. desktops are not convient you cant get them on a plane and to hard to move and also to many peices this dude who rote this dont get a gaming labtop is a moron and does not understand what he is saying so go buy one there great for on the go
Although I agree with this article, I’d say that the main factor why gaming laptops are useless to ME is cost and value/bang-for-buck.
You pay more for convenience. Along with convenience comes obstacles/side effects like extra heat and added weight/size.
If you have the money to spend, go ahead and buy a gaming laptop.
Wow… This is such a biased article its retarded. People buy gaming laptops for the portability of having a high end gaming system which would rival a desktop with the portability of a laptop. It may be heavy but would you wanna lug your Desktop, monitor and all other accessories to a LAN party? Or would you rather toss your gaming laptop in the bag and be in the go. Its all about preference if you want a laptop that you can jump on and surf the web at any time, then by any means go out and buy your net book. But don’t diss Gaming laptops because they don’t suite your needs. I love my gaming laptop because I’m always on the go and playing games is a hobby I love. When I can pull my laptop out and my friends house and go to work at some Call of Duty and get a beautiful 50 fps. Lets see your note book do that. Don’t hate because they made a line of laptops suited for gamers when your not a gamer.