Can a gaming laptop compete with a gaming pc?

Depends on what you mean by compete?

Your money will go a lot further with a desktop compared to a laptop, and there comes a point where the majority of laptops just wont be able to match the specifications of a desktop. Even if you did for example cram a 9900K and 2080TI into one it'll be limited thermally to a point and it'd probably cost several times as much as the same hardware in a desktop.
 
You can get much higher performance in a desktop then any gaming laptop would offer.

Unless you need to move the computer around a lot, and/travel a lot then I would steer clear of a gaming laptop, and get a desktop.

Another factor to consider is that laptops are not usually easily upgraded, which means they lose their utility over time, I would guess 5yrs max. Parts of my desktop are 10yrs old, but by upgrading things like the graphics card and ram it still comfortably plays modern games.
 
Even if I traveled a lot for work or something, I'd personally be tempted to build an ITX system and buy a 60% keyboard, you'd be taking a mouse with you anyway unless you're a masochist and like gaming on track pads. Pretty much any hotel you stay in will have a TV you could use as a monitor.

Something like this:

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Of course if you did need to travel for work but wanted to game at home with one laptop, I'd get something light and small that can hook up to a USB-C dock with an eGPU.

That way your GPU isn't power or thermally limited by the laptop and you can use a full-on desktop-class GPU. Sure your CPU will likely be a touch weaker due to the thermal envelope of a slim/lightweight travelling laptop, but for the most part you aren't CPU bound anyway.
 
Matt Risley said:
Can a gaming laptop compete with a gaming pc?
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In performance it can compete with many desktop PC's (a RTX 2080 is powerful). In terms of ultimate performance and especially performance per £ then no, it cannot and never will compete.

Only buy a notebook with a high-end GPU if you will move it between rooms a lot or if you carry it around to friends places/business trips/on holiday.
paradigm said:
Of course if you did need to travel for work but wanted to game at home with one laptop, I'd get something light and small that can hook up to a USB-C dock with an eGPU.
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eGPU loses you about 30% performance and you need Thunderbolt 3 (so no AMD Renoir laptop).
 
billysielu said:
If you spend 2-3x as much, I'm sure a laptop could be fine.
Terrible ergonomics though.
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Just out of interest what's the going rate for an I7-9700K, Mobo, RTX 2080, 16GB, 2 x 500GB Samsung 970 EVO, PSU, case, 144Hz display, and a keyboard?

I'm wondering how much cheaper than my laptop, with those exact components, it would be.

(Specs and benches in sig)
 
Performance is closely linked to cooling ability. If you had the same identical cpu / gpu in a laptop and desktop - that same chip would have to throttle it's performance in the laptop to avoid overheating.

However, there's a point where 'enough performance' is enough. If you're gaming on a 15in screen - how high a resolution / performance do you really need? The horsepower required is a bit different to gaming on a 39in ultra wide monitor.
 
Bug One said:
Performance is closely linked to cooling ability. If you had the same identical cpu / gpu in a laptop and desktop - that same chip would have to throttle it's performance in the laptop to avoid overheating.

However, there's a point where 'enough performance' is enough. If you're gaming on a 15in screen - how high a resolution / performance do you really need? The horsepower required is a bit different to gaming on a 39in ultra wide monitor.
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Why do you think there would be a difference in horsepower required because a screen size is larger?

4K is 4K on a 15" display or a 75" display with the same refresh rate, performance to match the display's capabilities would need to be identical.

It's the same amount of pixels at the same refresh rate. Size of display is irrelevant.
 
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