Gaming laptops vs gaming PCs: What should I buy?

If you’ve always enjoyed your games on a console or a smartphone, moving to a gaming PC or a laptop will be a massive upgrade both in terms of performance and flexibility. That said, do you need a gaming PC or a gaming laptop? There are pros and cons to both as both fulfil distinct roles. Today, we’re here to break down the most significant differences and help you choose the right platform for your gaming needs.

Laptops are portable (Duh!)

The most obvious difference between a gaming laptop and gaming PC is of course portability. Laptops are designed to be transported easily while PCs are not. If you’re someone who travels and needs to carry their computer with them, the only option is a gaming laptop.

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There are different types of gaming laptops of course, so you do get some flexibility in that department. For gaming, we’d recommend getting the largest laptop you can afford, as the size serves two purposes. Firstly, a larger screen is more comfortable to play on, and secondly, a larger laptop can hold a larger battery and cooling system, leading to better performance and usage time.

PCs have more power, but they’re larger

Speaking of performance, gaming PCs are far more powerful than equivalently priced gaming laptops. The components you find in gaming PCs might have the same model number, but they’re simply larger and more powerful than their laptop counterparts, which have been designed with power efficiency in mind. There’s also the fact that PC components get very hot and this heat needs to be dissipated. 

Laptops, given their size and limited volume, simply cannot have an adequate cooling system to maximise heat dissipation and thus, performance. Do note that gaming laptops run hot and are quite noisy for this reason.

PCs are more upgradeable

Another factor to take into account is the fact that laptops cannot be upgraded or have limited options for upgradability. Most laptops use soldered components that can’t be easily swapped out, and while some let you upgrade your storage and RAM, these will not have as meaningful an impact in the long term as a CPU or GPU upgrade. Once you buy a laptop, you’re essentially stuck with that configuration for the rest of its life.

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PCs, on the other hand, can be easily upgraded over time, maximising their value and longevity. It’s also much easier to swap out damaged parts, while damage to a laptop component might require that you replace the entire mainboard at an exorbitant price.

Space constraints

While PCs are better for a desk setup and laptops for portability, it can sometimes be the case that you simply don’t have enough room in your home for a large desktop PC. You can opt for a Small Form Factor (SFF) PC that can literally fit in a trash-can size cabinet, but you could also opt for a good laptop in such a scenario as now you have the added portability. SFF PCs are nice, but they do compromise on upgradeability to some extent, owing to their small size.

PCs are better value

To put it simply, a good gaming laptop is far more expensive than a good gaming PC. For the same budget, the PC will give you much better value in terms of performance, and if you’re on a tight budget and don’t need a portable device, a PC is the way to go. 

As you can tell, the decision to go for a PC or a laptop largely comes down to cost and portability. It’s only when these aren’t a concern that you can look at other factors such as performance vs cost, the availability of space for a PC in your room, and so on when choosing your next gaming rig.