Gaming laptops have become the new trend for gamers and offer many positives over traditional desktop PCs.  

Gaming laptops have been a central part of the technological curve in recent years. The speed at which gaming laptops have caught up, and now very close, to overtaking traditional desktop gaming stations has been immense. Recently with the introduction of the new Nvidia 3000 series of GPUs, laptops have become more efficient and run a lot smoother than before. I interviewed PC specialist Matt Collens on the 24th of April to hear his thoughts on buying a gaming laptop for himself.  

At the beginning gaming laptops were heavy, barely durable and were never able to live up to desktop PCs. However, in recent years gaming laptops have seen a rise in sales due to the immense development they have been through. Technology companies such as Lenovo and ASUS have been able to constantly upgrade their laptops throughout the years. Gaming laptops have become more powerful machines with higher efficiencies that live up to their desktop counterparts.  

I asked Matt Collens some questions to see his outlook on the subject: 

Why did you buy a gaming laptop – why not a desktop? 

My main focus was mobility. Often, I travel to Wales and want to be able to play a few games whilst I’m up there. If I had a desktop PC it would be extremely tedious to take it all apart, moniter and all, and set it up in Wales. Therefore, a gaming laptop was the perfect choice for me as I was able to move it around as much as possible. My gaming laptop easily fits into my bag, and it makes my work more efficient, especially when I start something at home and have to complete it at work. It’s a bit of effort having to take a whole PC everywhere and even with my laptop I’m able to sit anywhere and get working or gaming. Also, I discovered that buying a laptop in America, where I sometimes travel to, is often less expensive than buying everything for a desktop. For example, the laptop I have now I bought for $1000 and if I wanted to get a similar desktop PC it would cost just over $1300 to buy the keyboard and monitor along with the PC. Therefore, it was logical for me to get a laptop.  

What are some of the positives of a gaming laptop? 

 The processing power of some of the new laptops is immense and they share the same qualities as a traditional desktop. Again, the main positive is mobility. A gaming laptop gets rid of the need for a desktop and the new gaming laptops are becoming much thinner, almost as thin as a MacBook whilst still holding the processing power to run demanding games. If you want to be a part of a LAN party its easy with a gaming laptop as you just bring it along and plug yourself in. For desktops you’d have to stay at home and wouldn’t enjoy the experience with others. One thing I like about my laptop is that I can also use remote play to play on ps4 no matter where I am. If I had a desktop, I'd plug my ps4 in there too however I wouldn’t be able to play abroad. With good WIFI I'm able to play through my laptop.  

Are there any negatives? 

However, some gaming laptops lack the almost necessary upgradeability needed in today’s gaming world. There are some where you can upgrade system storage and the CPU (central processing unit) however you’re stuck with the graphics card that comes with the laptop. I’m currently looking at the new Lenovo legion 7 series where I could get a laptop with a NVidia rtx 3000 series GPU, one that will last for a long time especially with the more demanding games that are coming out. Gaming laptops also suffer a lot from poor battery life, for some its only up to 5 hours, but in today’s world I'm always near a plug so that doesn’t bother me much. Gaming laptops also use up more energy through their CPUs and GPUs leading to thermal issues within the laptop. This can be a real issue as the keyboard can get hot and you risk burning yourself. However, the newer gaming laptop models have become more refined and don’t risk that.  

The gaming laptop field is constantly evolving, and laptops have become so much better over the past few years. Because of Matt I've actually bought a gaming laptop myself which I hope to use regularly throughout my life, being able to work from all places. Perhaps you should buy a gaming laptop next time you’re in need of an upgrade?