How much faster is desktop vs laptop gaming machine

Just how much faster is the fastest desktop gaming machine compare to the fastest laptop gaming machine? No overclocking is involved and I am asking about performance in real life games and not benchmarks.

 

Depends but I can say no notebook GPU is nowhere near a GTX 260 and upwards. The latest Nvidia GPU´s are not even at the same level as the old desktop 8800GTX, same amount of shaders though.

 

whats your budget for the desktop?

a sub-$500 desktop can become a budget gaming desktop (10k on 3DMark06) with:
- quad-core CPU
- 4GB of RAM
- Nvidia 8800 or 9800 / ATI 48xx
- DVD-RW
- 500GB-1TB for HDD

the same performance for a notebook would be around $800-1000.

 

for example mobile vs desktop gpu (same series and same model) the difference is like 20-25% in most cases.

 

thats only for mid-range and lower cards.

the high-end cards for mobile and desktop are another story.

Nvidia still uses the variation of the G92 core in their videocards... up to the GTX 280M .... which is a misleading name since the desktop GTX 280 is using a totally different and higher performing core.

ATI is relatively good with their numbering system to reflect the mobile/desktop models.

 

Rather than saying "The best vs the best" I'll just say that $1000 dollars in a desktop is going to give you like 40-50% more than $1000 in a laptop.

 

thats pretty much the answer

 

What is the point of this exactly? I think it's general common knowledge that desktops can pack more power and more "bang for the buck" than laptops. I mean, so far we haven't gone past 2 GPUs in a laptop while we can hit more than that on desktops so it's more or less a pointless(or say obvious) question to ask for "the difference between the best of both" no?

 

not to mention that for mobility's sake, a really good GPU on a laptop would come with a lot of heat, weight and size... desktops, depends on how you cool it and what case you use

 

The point is whether I should buy a desktop or laptop for gaming. And how much money would it cost to build a desktop gaming machine that will match or double the fastest laptop gaming machine?

 

Desktops and laptops cater to different needs though. You're basically picking whether or not to move or sit on your desktop.

I mean how intense is your gaming? Are you a huge resolution freak? Do you do LAN parties or such? Do you need to move your machine? What's your budget?

All these questions would kind of need to be answered for us to know whether or not you'd want a desktop or a laptop.

Also, the best gaming laptop so far has dual GTX280Ms in it. Therefore, anything with an SLI GTX260 or Crossfire HD4870 or better will best that laptop)(assuming you get the proper other components). In terms of price you'd have to check your area >.>

Btw why do you need a desktop which is twice as powerful as the most powerful laptop?

 

To the OP: Gophn's post should be what you're looking for considering laptops which score over 10k in 3dmark06 aren't exactly three a penny in the laptop market.

 

a few sub-$1000 notebooks can get 10k in 3DMark06.... like the ones with 9800M GS / GTS

 

Indeed, the G51, which I have, can get to over 10k with a little bit of overclocking.

 

Here's the difference:

For 2 Grand on a desktop I can get a core i7, GTX 295(or crossfire 4870s), a 500GB hard drvie, 6 GB of RAM.

Lets look at what I can get on a laptop for $2000
Barely get 2 - 4 GB RAM.320 GB HD, a single GTX 260M/280M, and a dual core processor.

As you can see, the desktop rapes the laptop 100 times over for the same price.

You only get a laptop unless you are moving around alot.If you only do gaming at home, a laptop is pointless.However for me I'm constantly visiting relatives, going on trips, etc so I need a laptop.

 

Well thats not the only reason to get a laptop, i dont move around very often but because i live in a area that has daily powercuts for usually over half the day, and also space is a issue for me so having the option to fold the notebook up and tuck it in my draw is also very attractive, so for my needs a laptop is more suitable, so actually there are many factors to reason before buying a pc.

 

I require all my games to be able to keep 60 fps at the highest screen resolution with FSAA and all details maxed out. I play Flight Simulator, 3rd person and 1st person shooter.

I don't do LAN or multiplayer, single player only. I don't need to move my machine. I already have a laptop.

I have the following constraints:

• Space Constraint: My table size is 31x23.5x.0.75". I will use a Desktop Mounted LCD Arm to keep the monitor out of the way when I am not using the computer. I haven't decided how big the monitor is going to be but probably between 17" to 20".

• FPS and screen resolution constraint: What would be the highest screen resolution that can keep 60 fps?

• Noise Constraint: I don't want a gaming machine so loud that it would bother my room mate. I want a gaming machine quiet enough that he can't hear from the next room. I am a bit worry with video cards that take 2 slots. Are they too loud? Do they require a hungry power supply which sounds like a mini vacuum cleaner?

• Money Constraint: My budget is between $2000-$2500 excluding the monitor and its desktop arm accessory.

• Overclocking Constraint: I want to have high performance without overclocking. I want to set it up once and be done with it. I don't want to spend time overclocking and then stressing the system over and over to test for stability.

The machine would be used strictly for gaming. I already have a laptop that is perfect for everything but gaming.

 

I dont understand laptops actually.I dont see why I should pay $1000 more for less performance.I would think for paying extra we should getting smaller but faster tech than a desktop, when you think about its not worth paying more for smaller but slower tech.

 

Gaming performance between a gaming desktop and gaming laptop with the same gaming level GPU is pretty big.
Yes, GPU wise it's about 20-30%, but your desktop RAM is usually faster, motherboards components are faster, CPU is way faster, and some cases the desktop HDD is faster either in speed (10000RPM or SSD solution for example, or sometimes seek/read/write time of the same speed on both system is better on the desktop).

Now going by price.. desktop are much cheaper, as they don't need to be smaller and be more optimized to use less power. So, you can go with a Geforce GTX 260, 4GB of RAM, Quad Core CPU, gaming/high-end level motherboard, for the same price of gaming laptop which about half the performance. Of course, I am talking about a generic level, it's kinda hard to show something without detailed specs.

 

You pay for all the engineering and production of the components, now add to that even further engineering to make the same component be smaller, use much less power, have a or better power management feature, reduce significantly heat level. Now, to that add even more engineering to have the each component very small so that it fits into a laptop size.
I don't know about you, but did you see a Geforce graphic card.. even a mid range one.. is about half the size of keyboard on a 14inch laptop... they have to take all that circuitry and GPU and fit it basically in a single chip or close to that (ie: chip with minimum circuit around it), and produce way less heat, use way less power, and give you similar performance. This is kinda nuts if you ask me. Now that is set.. you have the rest of the laptop... and the screen which is a faction of the size of a standard desktop LCD.

I won't be surprised if OEM's makes much less money with laptops than desktops.

 

There's an 40% difference. Yeah a lot because nvidia is going for your money thinking you have the best. Google gtx 280 vs gtx 280m

 

Well explained mate, its amazing what they are able to fit into a laptop these days, so much research is needed, if you want to get a laptop that does the basics well then its not going to break the bank, but to do gaming and other cpu/gpu intensive work, its going to cost, the fact that there are notebooks around that can max nearly if not all games around and not blowup or melt your hand off is testiment to to work some companies are putting in, simply if you want to seriously game with a portable machine its going to cost, if you dont like it dont buy it.

 

I disagree, I don't move around a lot but I still do all of my gaming on my laptop. My desktop is for everything else and is like my base of operations in a sense, I have lots of security programs, behavior monitors, Antivirus, and programs running all of the time which would slow down gaming activities.

If I game on my Desktop, I would have to either dual boot each time, disable all of those security programs or stop doing all of my other tasks that I do on my desktop while I game.

Occasionally I will go away on a trip or to a friends house and it is great to have the option of taking the laptop with me in a rucksack. With the desktop, you may well get more performance to price ratio but who wants to be confined to only one area?

Technology is supposed to give us freedom.

When you are in a different location and feel like gaming, it is really nice to be able to do this, in some ways, it is ''priceless''.

Playing a game of GTA IV in a luxury hotel after a nice day outside exploring a new area can be a nice addition lol. If you don't feel like using the laptop, at least you have an option.

 

remember that 280m is not the same card as a 280 GTX.

The desktop 280GTX is way more powerful.

 

@Laptopnut: Except for that first part, you basically just confirmed the guy you were quoting lol Laptops give people more mobility and freedom in terms of their computer which is a big reason people get them. Also, they take up less space than a desktop. Each side has pros and cons.

 

It's nothing amazing that they are able to cram all of the desktop tech into a notebook.
It's just how things work.
I'm actually disappointed at the costs of some laptops when taking into consideration their cpu/gpu performance for example.

Money is at the core of the problems actually ... if we had no such restraints and technology was developed at a proper rate, we'd probably have laptops just as powerful as desktops today.

At the speed we are going now ... I'd say it will take another 10 years or so before mobile tech reaches same/similar levels of performance ... perhaps less.
And if we retain the capitalistic pov, then the consumers will wait even longer to actually get their hands on the technology in question.

I prefer having a laptop as I can move a lot and prefer having it with me most of the times (especially since I moved to London from Croatia for example and needed to take most of my files with me).

Besides, laptop capabilities are nothing to sneeze at really.
Desktops are still best option if you intend to game or do cpu intensive tasks (better bang for the money) and if you don't move around a lot, but laptops can be better because they can take up less space, and even if you need something not as powerful, you can get a very cheap notebook.

Btw ... in terms of cooling ... there was an article on Tomshardware about a month or 2 ago about new technology for cooling that would eliminate the fans inside laptops entirely and even be better at cooling the laptop in question.
But it wouldn't hit the market for some time.
And despite the fact they claim how it is more cheaper option and everything else ... you can bet that companies will charge premium prices for such tech or couple it in highly expensive laptops to begin with.

 

What many people forget is quality components, and technology used to assemble and make every chip and circuits. Some soldering mixtures, components, and method of assemblage will make a component last much longer and more resident to heat than others. Although, I am by no means any professional, but my several years of experience in building computers suggest that it is better to have a system that is more reliable of proper quality then making is ultra fast.

Well that is because there is little competition. If AMD (CPU and GPU) products where equally match to Nvidia / Intel side (Nvidia for the GPU and Intel for the CPU), then we would be in BIG businesses, and have your dream come true. But as long as AMD doesn't beside to come back in making high-end CPU's as they did with the first desktop 64-bit CPU, first true dual core and 64-bit for desktop. Intel just relaxes. I mean without AMD high-end CPU's that they released, we would probably still use P4's and Pentium M on our systems, or the Intel Core 2 Duo would have JUST been released. That is for the CPU side. Now add that most people want Intel solutions instead of Nvidia/AMD graphic solution, you end up with what we have now.

Companies offer a price... if you believe it is worth that much, then the price will stay. Sadly, we have to many idiots and people wants to have everything first and willing to pay a high premium to have it first... you have we have now.
The best example is Nvidia Geforce graphic card. When a new one will come out, watch the price.. for 1-2 weeks it will be about 550$, than it will be 600+$ as there is a demand. After 2 months later, it will start dropping to 550$ as it was before.. then 400$ then ~300$ and stabilize at this point. At that point you will see the mid range series come out, then few months later an even better then the high-end model come out... but that one is not more powerful by much, just a more optimized model (less heat, smaller, bug fixes) which is will be sold at 350$, then drop to 300$. The moment a new GPU series comes out.. the 300$ GPU will be 120-150$, which is close to the cost of production. (prices in Canadian). Now this scenario might be different this time as we are in a recession and people are more tight with money as they learn how to spend less than what they earn, so that might change.

 

Other than high end graphic cards, Performance is very very similar (albeit more money for slightly less speed). Mobile graphics cards are usually one gen behind and then some--EX: GTX 260M = 9800 GT Desktop card. Still worth getting a laptop for the near silence, portabity, size etc.

 

That's so expensive.

Core i7 with Motherboard $500
Crossfire 4870 - $200
500GB hdd - $50
6GB of ram - $60
Powersupply/Case/Watercooling/Case Fans - $1200? LOL

For 2K, one can probably get
Corei7 with Motherboard
2xnvidia 295 or 2x ati 4890
5x500GB hdd to setup as RAID 5
12GB of ram
Best Case/Powersupply/Water cooling..etc

 

Get a budget

Figure out your needs. Are you playing games that are out now or even older games, or do you want to be future proof?

Weigh the pros and cons of a laptop vs a desktop

Make a decision.

Me personally, I'd rather have a laptop before a desktop simply because most of what I play is older, hence my graphics needs are not so high, though I do like to be future proof, but I'm not willing to spend too much money. My Asus was $1100 when I got it, when it was MSRPing for $1300 at the time back in December, and it was a great deal, and I would not go any higher than that sale price as far as budget goes. My big thing is mobility, so starting from scratch, I'll get a laptop first, one that can cater to my necessities.

I just built a desktop though with a 3.0 GHz dual core Athlon II, Radeon 4670, 2 GB DDR3 1333, Windows XP and not much other features for just under $700. Now that may seem like alot for it, it's really not considering it's a DDR3 system and extremely future proof in upgradability. When I deem appropriate, I'll drop a high end 5000 series Radeon in it, up the RAM from 2 to 4 GB (or perhaps more?), put another HDD in it with Windows 7, and at some point either a quad, hex, or octo-core AM3 processor when the time comes. But for the price, it's a good budget gaming rig, not graphically as powerful as my laptop, but not too far off since it hits ~8000 Marks on 3DMark06 vs. my Asus G51's ~9800 Marks. But the desktop's main strong suit is potentials in upgrading, something my at the time $1100 Asus (and still probably about $800-900) will never have. Plus it's got XP, I can play Age of Empires II with no problems

So my philosophy is to have a laptop first, then a desktop. It gives you mobility in one sector, and upgradability to your overall computing life at the same time. And honestly I could have a much weaker laptop, I'd be happy with something with a Radeon 4570 mobile in it. As long as I can play Battlefield 2 at max settings

 

WOW, how much did you purchase your desktop computers...
I don't know about you... but my 2000$ desktop computer (back in early 2006, see signature for full specs... video card was the only thing that was upgraded), you don't even know if the system is on or off without looking at the screen or LED indicators. And yes it's air cooled. And NO it's not in stupid beige 2$ computer case.

What are tricks in reaching such goal?
- Excellent computer case with vibration absorbing pads on the case, if possible vibration absorbing optical drive system, thick steal case, HDD suspension system or vibration absorbing system, and air flow engineering. A case with 30fans full speed can be as effective then 2 fans at very low speed. And no, such case does not require to take a mortgage off your house. They are about 100-200$ Canadian.
- Proper heatsink for the CPU.
- High-end PSU.. not only you save money as they are way more efficient (more amps per watts... it's the amps that powers your computer), maximize system stability, provides clean current which increase life span of component, design to be under heavy load for very long periods of time, design for system running 24/7. Which is quieter and produces less heat
- Cable management to not block air flow
- Clean the inside of the computer to be low in dust or dust free.

Most OEM's do/have all the above (well cleaning is your job), on the high end models. Yes, they cost more, but it's for a reason.

 

That's why its good to get a laptop with upgradable gpus so when my gpu is obsolete and nvidia gets off the butts and revision the mobile gpu market I could upgrade it

 

Right, but that not only cost more money to the OEM, but also takes a lot more room on the laptop.

 

This discussion is just a never ending story, desktop people would say "no they are too slow" to a laptop and laptop people would say "yes, the best for the price, please!" So this could go on, and on, and on, and...
A maxed out desktop will currently smoke a laptop!

That said,
People who have; - plenty of room for a big case/monitor, separate equiptment, a thight budget and do not have to move anywhere with their PC's, should buy a desktop. If not, get a nice laptop, that meets your speeds.

I would like to note! Always get yourself informed about the upgradeability of a laptop. If it's not, get the most maxed out version you can afford, so you can last longer with it. The GPU is most likely to go absolete on you! So make sure it's the best you can get, because you will be stuck with it the whole lifespan of the laptop.

If it is upgradeable, make sure it's the latest MXM version, so it can be replaced by a new version when it hits the market. This will lengthen your laptops lifespan. Note! new GPU cards are not easy to get your hands on, so make sure your manufacturer is supporting this. Never spec out on things like; RAM and HDD these are easy upgrades and will save you a lot of money when you DIY. (Unless you won the lotery... of course!) But these upgrades can make a big differance in your laptop speed. CPU's are important, it will fasten up your laptop considerably with calculating power, so buy a good one! If your very handy, you can even DIY and safe money on it in a laptop. When DIY Always check if it's easy accesable before buying, (you always can check for Service Manuals or DIY movies here on NBR for your brand of laptop)!

For the desktop I would like... hell no... this is NoteBookReview.com Wouldn't make much sense talking about spec'ing out a desktop!
There are tons of other sites for that, so Google a bit for more info on that topic. Good luck with whatever you may choose, because the speed is really in your own hands.

 

As said, the bottleneck is due to mobility GPU. Which isn't great consider it's one of the most important component for gaming.

You can get up to 3.33ghz i7 processor in a Sager 9280 laptop, same top-end limit as most desktop, not to mention the overclockability to almost 4Ghz; other expansion possibility - three HDD and RAM slots doesn't hurt neither. However, that laptop comes with 280m GTX – it performs similarly to a NV's first gen DirectX 10 flagship card 8800m GTX, launched all the way back in November, 2006. Ever since Nvidia has launched G92, a small refresh with no significant performance increases. Then came the desktop GT200 series GPU, a major step-up from the old G80 with roughly doubled performance per card.

That said, Sager 9280 is designed for workstation environment, rather than gaming thus doesn’t support Sli. Alienware M17X on the other hand, allows C2D mobility Quad and 2x280m GTX in sli, it’s the peak of laptop gaming. For comparison’s sake, 280m GTX in sli has similar spec as 2xdesktop 8800 GTX, both ought to have similar performance, but the latter has higher clock:

2x280m GTX < 2x8800 GTX
2x8800 GTX <1xGTX 280
2x280m GTX <1xGTX 280

Given that a single 280 GTX desktop card is faster than 2 of the fastest mobility cards together in Sli, and that desktop rig could take up to 3 of GTX 280/285, laptop just cannot compare in this area.

If you’re looking at uber high-end desktop setup, you can opt for Quad SLI GTX 295 or Tri SLI GTX 285 will crush any laptop to bits. Either way, on budget with i7 950 and a single GTX 285, for less than $1200, you’re getting the performance level of a $4000 M17x laptop equipped with QX9300 +280m GTX; but also desktop parts have far greater overclock yield, and expansion possibility.

Sadly the current 280m is merely another renamed G92 card, and that desktop GT200 never came out with equal mobility parts - the difference between laptop and desktop gaming raw performance cannot be bigger. With Windows 7 in coming in the Q3, along with DirectX11 and GT300, we may have a while to wait until laptop gaming gets better. Maybe the proper mobility GT200 parts will come out soon, or perhaps Nvidia has already decided that they’ll skip a generation in laptop market, who knows.

 

Another thing to consider is that a gaming laptop, will not be very portable.. I mean they will be 17-19inch as they need a lot more room to put such components, and need a larger/separate cooling component, the battery life will be very short, and to top things over you won't be able to game under battery as the GPU goes in low power state, that means the minimum clock speed it can. You can disable that, but then you'll have few minutes of battery life, on such high-end laptop.

 

Come GT300, the performance gap between desktop and laptop should shrink. For now, sli 280M is about equal to a GTX 280. Thing is, a desktop can have 4 of those 280's and overclock i7's to 4.5 ghz... rediculous. The Sager NP9280 is so seriously GPU bottlenecked, the i7's potential is wasted... but it should be the first system to see GT300 cards, and it will become more desktop-like. QX9300 is a good match for sli 280M, but down the road when sli GT300 is available, the QX9300 will show its age. To futureproof, it would be best to wait for the mobile i7 and sli MXM 3.0 combo.

 

i was going to build a desktop under $1k but when i saw a refurbished gateway 6831 for $635 back in jan. on ebay, i could not pass up that offer. i fits me perfectly, i play most games on high and can still move it with no problem. i am not a big spend anyways so this laptop is going to last me maybe 1.5 years then i will buy something that is good in performance and cheap too.

 

For 635$, I don't think your system will play games at max settings. And a Gateway... on eBay? most likely broken or "MAX" is a typo for "MIN".
Save your money!

 

a desktop will kill a laptop, end of story

 

No, they are not equal.

 

Desktop > Laptop dollar for dollar in every case.

/thread

 

but cost / value factor in as much as performance does when opting to purchase a gaming notebook.

one POV that hasn't been mentioned is power consumption. considering a desktop could have a 500-1000 W PSU, the power consumption will be much greater, and depending on the amount of use the machine sees gaming, the annual cost of owning a cheaper desktop opposed to a more expensive laptop can show much more costs owning and operating it (~$100+ with 2-3 hours of daily gaming and then add additional costs considering how much you leave your computer on... 8 hours on the computer can jack up costs very high), while being much less flexible with mobility.

 

Yes, but Desktop are more powerful. And remember that, desktop DOES NOT continuously eat your PSU size Watts. First, it consumes what the system needs UP TO, the the size of a the PSU. Meaning, if you have a 620W PSU, it does not consume 620W. But more like (excluding the monitor) 30-40-50W at idle... this is less than a standard light bulb. But under load, now it consumes a lot more, but still.. assuming that the system eats 500W under heavy load... this means that IF and ONLY IF your sound card, CPU, motherboard, GPU, HDD, optical drive, fans, and everything else goes at 100% capacity... it will eat 500W.. which is rarely the case. It is just that no one wants to have the computer shut-down on them while they use it, and again.. I can put 1000 Watt PSU vs a 500W model, and the electric bill wont' change. (of course, that is excluding power efficiency... but just saying).

Now, my desktop run 24/7, and do game about 3-4 hours a day.
One day, my motherboard broke, and the fantastic service I got from ASUS , took about 1 month and half to get a dusty refurbished one from the RMA office. Any who, I was unable to use my desktop during this time, the system was turn off. I had no laptop or replacement system at the time. Guess much I saved on my electric bill? insignificant, feels like a light bulb. I know that were we live electricity is virtually free given compared to other placed in the world as we have hydro based electricity, but still. I have a friend in Texas who did a similar test, used his Dell 12inch XPS system instead of his gaming desktop (which is more powerful than mine), for 1 month, and there was "no significance savings shown on the power bill, and simply not worth it".

 

Gaming notebooks are an item of necessity. You buy them when you want to game, and a static desktop doesn't in with your lifestyle, whether it's because of space, a need for mobility, or reasons unknown. The decision to go mobile should be made knowing that those who are blessed enough to have access to the desktop side of things will be buying massively higher performing components for half the price. It's just a part of the game.

 

I really don't see the point of a massive beast of a gaming laptop. I mean, what's the point of notebooks?

Practical, portable, good battery life, and access to essential items such as email and the like on the go.

These "gaming" notebooks fail at these. Why spend so much money on something that will most likely stay at the desk anyhow? Get a desktop that is 3x as fast and half the cost if not more. TigerDirect has Core i7 barebone kits for sub-$1000.

Anyone configured a M17x recently? Outrageous.

 

You are correct. The idea of these gaming laptop, is not for portability.. I mean 17-19inch.. please... They are for those who go a lot to LAN parties, and don't feel like bringing their desktop computer and monitor every time. Especially if you don't have a car, it could be a issue.

 

This...
I used to LAN a lot back in high school, and having a gaming laptop was awesome. Even though it didn't perform quite as well as everyone else's desktop, it definitely beat carrying around a 50lb desktop + 17" LCD (which at the time cost about 500 bucks) + keyboard, mouse... ugh.

Now that I almost never need to game on the go, I have a gaming desktop, and multiple laptops that serve other tasks. My portable gaming is a midrange, last gen laptop that can handle any modern game on low-medium settings. Tis plenty.

 

I'd like to put my two cents in your slot. That is... uhh... yeahhhh... anyways.

I currently have a gaming-capable laptop, as you can see in my sig. Had to pay a fair bit for it, as far as laptops are concerned, though certainly not much compared to an Alienware. I do, however, find that for me it works out to pretty good value for money, because I am constantly shifting where I use the machine. Sure, I -might've- been able to build a comparable desktop and possibly get a netbook for that amount of money, but not build a comparable desktop -and- get a laptop that isn't going to make my eyes crossed and my fingers cramped in about three minutes of usage.

Point? It's not as simple as whether you game on the go. You do get certain fringe benefits to go with the increased weight of having a gaming-capable laptop. Benefits like having a snappier experience - especially notable for Vista users, heh - or a higher-resolution screen.

Desktop - Value for money.

Gaming-capable laptop - Portability without sacrificing usability. In addition, contrary to what most people here seem to think, you DO have portability, and you DO get value for your buck. This is, of course, assuming two things. One, that you do game on the go, and two, that you're capable of carrying an extra couple of kilograms around. Heavy, but certainly manageable.

People! Not everyone who's buying a gaming laptop has to get an Alienware m17x. Or a HP HDX. There are options which are cheaper, more portable, and still capable of playing modern games at high resolutions.

Desktop + netbook - Ultraportability. But come on. A netbook?

 

Well.. my laptop has a smooth Aero experience under Vista and Win7 64-bit, using a Quadro NVS 160M (equivalent to a Geforce 9300M overclocked), And I can play games at low-medium settings, and I do have the same experience (other than gaming due to the GPU) as I do on my desktop computer. See signature for my desktop and laptop specs. Sure my desktop is old, I will upgrade it next year (CPU, motherboard, and RAM), yes my laptop CPU is a little faster. But, it currently fit my needs for my gaming, and programming projects.