Desktop vs Laptop

[Quintillus]

My argument sides on the lines for using laptops for gaming. Dont tell me that newer generation notebooks are powerful when yet they crap out after a year or two and eats up video cards like there is no tommorow. Sure you can play non graphic insensive games on a notebook, but it can only go so far if you play a graphics intensive game (Half Life 2, Garry's Mod, Crysis, etc) before finaly the video card just craps out on you due to overheating issues.

That's a quality issue, and it doesn't affect all notebooks. The overall failure rate probably is a bit higher because of the higher average operating temperature, but if you get a notebook with a decent cooling system, it's quite possible for the video card to last a long time even with heavy use. Consider that some laptops use desktop Pentium 4's or desktop Core 2 Quads - it's certainly possible to design a laptop with a good enough cooling system to run a power-hungry video card heavily.

And performance-wise, if you get a high-end card a notebook can certainly give quite good performance even on very demanding games. I've yet to have any problems in 17 months playing some pretty intensive games (Medieval 2, Trackmania, even CoD4 runs well), and I've got the less-heat-tolerant-than-average 8600M GT. And it hasn't overheated at all - most of the time the temperature peaks in the lower 70's. And that's without cleaning out the vents. So if you have a decently designed notebook thermal-wise, there's no reason you can't expect a good video card to last a long time.

My laptop's a Dell for reference; they tend to be rated fairly well in thermal design recently. The only other company I know of to have a reputation there is Apple, whose notebooks tend to run hot (partly the cost of being thinner).

Now certainly a desktop will have slightly better average lifespan for its parts due to the greater airflow (usually - my parents' desktop has absurd hard drive temperatures), and not moving around. But I think the fragility of laptops is fairly overstated these days.

It's true that desktops will get you the same performance for less money, and thus I'll probably get a desktop the next time I get a computer, assuming my laptop is still working at that time. But it is nice to be able to use a laptop wherever, and as someone who attends an out-of-state college it's extremely nice to be able to have my laptop's performance at home and at college.

2 years for upgrades though, stickciv? I'm used to more like 4 years, and after 1.5 years with my current laptop I don't anticipate that changing. If I felt compelled to upgrade every 2 years, then yes, a desktop would certainly have more advantages.

So if I had to have one, it would definitely be a laptop. But I don't really see any reason to have two laptops that both are respectably modern (I'd define that as anything Pentium 4 or later these days, off the top of my head).

 

[azzaman333]

I've abused my laptop's video card for 4 years. Still runs CS:S fairly well, although it does glitch if it's warm, or I have other programs open in the background.

 

[Grisu]

My argument sides on the lines for using laptops for gaming. Dont tell me that newer generation notebooks are powerful when yet they crap out after a year or two and eats up video cards like there is no tommorow. Sure you can play non graphic insensive games on a notebook, but it can only go so far if you play a graphics intensive game (Half Life 2, Garry's Mod, Crysis, etc) before finaly the video card just craps out on you due to overheating issues.

I've yet to have to see a video card fail on one of my notebooks. stickciv's right, what you're talking about is a qualtiy issue, not something notebook specific.

my older notebook's 7 years old now, my newer one 3.5 years. neither has had any failures so far. the latter still runs stuff like Oblivion. true it's not Crysis or anything like that, but not too shabby for a 3.5 year old notebook....so notebooks can be used for games (with the exclusion of a few high-end, visual effect orgy games), it just depends on what kind of notebook you have.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

2 years for upgrades though, stickciv? I'm used to more like 4 years, and after 1.5 years with my current laptop I don't anticipate that changing. If I felt compelled to upgrade every 2 years, then yes, a desktop would certainly have more advantages.

As I said, its if you want to stay on top of the game. If you dont mind hitting the 'Low Settings' button in games, then it doesnt apply to you.

 

[GenMarshall]

I've yet to have to see a video card fail on one of my notebooks. stickciv's right, what you're talking about is a qualtiy issue, not something notebook specific.

Well I have, I've had the video card replaced three times (The first time was on July of 07, and two times recently between Nov and Dec) on my crummy Dell laptop and it was three years old by the time I bought a desktop and migrated back to a desktop platform. To tell me that is not something notebook specific or qualitity issue is just BS. I know people who have horror stories with their Dell products. I would not trust another notebook to be use strictly for gaming.

If a piece of hardware fails on a laptop, you're basicly screwed because you cant fix it yourself (And don't give me the old "yes you can fix a laptop on your own" because there are people who are not that teach savy to fix a laptop or do not want to risk voiding the warranty on the machine). Even the Dell technician that was sent over to fix my laptop's video card was clueless on why it keeps frying video cards!

 

[Grisu]

Well I have, I've had the video card replaced three times (The first time was on July of 07, and two times recently between Nov and Dec) on my crummy Dell laptop and it was three years old by the time I bought a desktop and migrated back to a desktop platform. To tell me that is not something notebook specific or qualitity issue is just BS. I know people who have horror stories with their Dell products. I would not trust another notebook to be use strictly for gaming.

If a piece of hardware fails on a laptop, you're basicly screwed because you cant fix it yourself (And don't give me the old "yes you can fix a laptop on your own" because there are people who are not that teach savy to fix a laptop or do not want to risk voiding the warranty on the machine). Even the Dell technician that was sent over to fix my laptop's video card was clueless on why it keeps frying video cards!

funnily enough the notebooks I own are Dells as well....feel free to call it BS, but in your case it really does seem to be specific to exactly your notebook, not notebooks in general...a notebook that fries 3 video cards has something wrong with it, a correctly working unit wouldn't do that.

and no, I don't suggest fixing a notebook yourself, I wouldn't fix a notebook myself unless I was prepared to accept a total loss (I did 'fix' the display of the notebook of my wife, but there it was either that or throw the thing away....)

I'm not saying that notebooks are better than desktops or anything like that. A notebook will never achieve the same performance as a desktop unit (at least not for a reasonable price), but depending on someone's specific needs and taste in games, a notebook certainly can be a good choice. unqualifed statements like 'notebooks suck for gameing' are just silly, IMHO

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

As I said, its if you want to stay on top of the game. If you dont mind hitting the 'Low Settings' button in games, then it doesnt apply to you.

I hit the low settings. It speeds the game up greatly and any change in quality is minor.

 

[Reno]

I'm not saying that notebooks are better than desktops or anything like that. A notebook will never achieve the same performance as a desktop unit (at least not for a reasonable price), but depending on someone's specific needs and taste in games, a notebook certainly can be a good choice. unqualifed statements like 'notebooks suck for gameing' are just silly, IMHO

What the good Captain here said.

I have a laptop myself, mostly because I need to move it around and I can't really do that with a desktop machine.

The main point of getting either a laptop or a desktop computer is mostly what you use it for; don't expect to play high end games on a 800 € laptop just because you can on a desktop computer with the same price tag.

 

[GenMarshall]

I'm not saying that notebooks are better than desktops or anything like that. A notebook will never achieve the same performance as a desktop unit (at least not for a reasonable price), but depending on someone's specific needs and taste in games, a notebook certainly can be a good choice. unqualifed statements like 'notebooks suck for gameing' are just silly, IMHO

No offense, but my first impression was that you came on as a Notebook evangical. The main reason why I switched to desktop format is so that I can play games with no hassle on high settings as well as repair, replace, or upgrade any component with ease and not be restricted to the confines of a notebook where (except RAM) there are limited hardware components that are specialy made for that notebook model. Where as a desktop, it's more standardized. For me, interchangable parts is a big thing for me.

 

[Zelig]

I hit the low settings. It speeds the game up greatly and any change in quality is minor.

The hell there isn't much quality difference.

Supreme Commander:
Low:

Spoiler :

High:

Spoiler :

Spore:
Low:

Spoiler :

High:

Spoiler :

Age of Conan:
Low:

Spoiler :

High:

Spoiler :

UT3:
Low:

Spoiler :

High:

Spoiler :

Not even taking into account resolution differences.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Well, I never seem to notice them. Maybe 'cos I just got a medium-end computer.

Anyways, I actually adjust whatever I can. So it's more medium-quality really.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Well, I never seem to notice them. Maybe 'cos I just got a medium-end computer.

Anyways, I actually adjust whatever I can. So it's more medium-quality really.

Of course there isnt much a difference then. Usually in games, the biggest change is low -> medium settings. medium -> high is less noticeable, although still pretty nice, especially in newer games.

 

[Bllasae]

Desktop for home. Laptop for travelling. Of course, if you prefer your laptop over the desktop, that's even better, in my opinion.