to all gamers - how is gaming on a laptop vs. a desktop?

I've been thinking about purchasing 17 inch notebook to replace my oldschool desktop. Sometimes i'd like to game. Could you tell about your experience on gaming on notebook vs. desktop. Is it comfortable to run games on laptop ? Do you plug full keyboard or use the one on notebook?

thanks in advance

 

I have a gaming laptop. It is definetly a good choice if you are on the go and don't have any room to house a desktop. The down side is that they can become extremely expensive if you are looking for a powerful machine. Of course, desktops can become expensive too however desktops are more capable of giving even more power than a laptop.

 

For medium gamers like myself.. Laptops are the best thing to happen to me.

It saves so much space.

I dunno. THEY BE THE FUTURE!

 

Own both (gaming desktop and laptop,) Laptop is better for portability; desktop is better in every other way: power, upgradeable, quality, cost, compatibility, etc, etc.

Gaming on a laptop is always a compromise.

I generally use the laptop's keyboard, but an external mouse (IMO, touchpads are rubbish for gaming)

 

I had a gaming laptop, and I found it to be too heavy to be carried around as a portable machine. As a result, I now have a lighter and smaller Macbook, which I carry around with me very often. Gaming laptops also tend to me at least twice as expensive as their desktop equivalent spec wise. Also, regardless of how powerful a gaming laptop you buy today, it will become slow and almost unable to play the games that will be released in around three years time.

The best combination in my opinion, if you do not need to game on the road, is to get a gaming desktop, and spend the money you have left over on a portable laptop. Given that desktops are relatively easy to upgrade, you do not have to purchase a top of the range model if you want your desktop to last a few years (which you will have to do with a laptop). You can just stick in a new graphics card when it gets a bit slow.

 

Yeah, but the problem is i'm not high-end gamer, i mean - crysis or similar games are not for me. I can do a bit of CS, CS:S, FIFA football - mid-range games. And notebook for me is not for portability, i'm not going to carry it around all day. Just sometimes maybe to university for writing my thesis.
At the moment i can afford 1 thing - good notebook or desktop. However, as stated, not being an intense gamer, is desktop the best choice? Plus i kinda find desktop can take space in my room, and all those cables and cords. From this point of view laptop fits better. So it's just a dilemma.

 

Laptop can reduce cord usage.

However, you can also get wireless keyboards and mice for your desktop if you want...

 

So...what exactly is your budget? If it was £1000 (~$2000, the price for a decent gaming notebook), you could spend around £500 (~$1000) and get yourself a decent desktop (for example a Dell Inspiron or Vostro with a 8600GT, or a custom build with a HD3850 or 9600GT) and spend the other £500 on a low end Dell XPS M1330 or a refurbished Macbook.

 

If you don't need the portability, don't buy a laptop. Unless you like the idea of paying more for the privilege of using a device with a small low-quality screen, driver issues, cramped keyboard, small HD, flaky DVD recording, and very few upgrade options.

 

Well, although Tony A is certainly exagerrating the problems with notebooks (one with all those issues would be incredible!), I have to agree that if you don't need the portability there's not much point to a laptop. A desktop with a nice big screen and lower cost for the specs is just as good, and if you get one with decent amounts of ports on the front wires don't have too be too big of a headache.

But if you do want a notebook for portability, I'll say that I haven't found gaming on a laptop any worse than on a desktop. If you're used to a big screen there will be an adjustment there, but if your laptop has a good keyboard (which not all do), using the laptop keyboard to game works excellently. I've never used an external keyboard because my keyboard has no flex and types excellently, so there's no need to. I actually prefer my laptop keyboard to desktop keyboards.

I wouldn't use a touchpad for most gaming, however (actually I never use it when I'm at my desk). An external mouse is pretty much a must. I'll play turn-based strategy and racing on the road as the touchpad (or even only the keyboard) works OK there, but for shooters, real-time strategy, and, I'd imagine, sports games (don't have any 21st century ones), a mouse is a must. I tried playing with the touchpad at first just for the novelty - it wasn't a very impressive novelty!

 

Honestly, if you want a flexible PC that you can move around and game somewhat decently well (obviously not going to run Crysis in high or whatnot), then a Vostro 1500 may be a good choice.

For one thing, a Vostro 1500 equipped with a highly overclockable 8600M GT (even if it is GDDR2) will run you significantly under $1000. You can probably get one with a decent CPU and an 8600M GT and 2GB of ram for around $750 before tax. If you don't care so much about a screaming CPU, probably ~$650 after tax.

Otherwise, though, as others have said, if you want to get into PC gaming but still want some portability for taking your work around with you (depending on your budget), go ahead and build a gaming desktop and get a modest notebook. I mean, ~$1000 for a pretty decent gaming rig + monitor, and the ~$400-500 for a good enough laptop for your surfing/browsing/typing/productivity needs.