The revival of the gaming laptop and death of eGPU

ver01@

ver01@

ver01@

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With GPU prices going crazy does it make more sense to just buy a laptop with a good GPU? You will get better performance compared to an eGPU and you will also have another computer.
 
ver01@ said:
With GPU prices going crazy does it make more sense to just buy a laptop with a good GPU? You will get better performance compared to an eGPU and you will also have another computer.
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Nope laptops are considerably more expensive and have less power and the cooling on them is awful so they are extremely loud and hot.

Only buy a laptop if you need the portability of a laptop. Otherwise desktop.
 
ver01@ said:
You wont be able to upgrade for years now.
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Yeah but on a laptop you cannot upgrade at all.

Let's say you want to change screen. For example I've had 7 different monitors in the past 10 years.

You can't do that with a laptop.

Laptops have many many cons and only one pro which is portability.

If you don't need portability then you would be dumb to buy a laptop.

My mate at work bought a laptop for gaming and he had a desktop at home. He said he would use it when away on work trips. He ended up taking it but never using it as he was busy socialising or working, etc. He ended up just selling it after losing £500 on it and never using it.

He didn't need a portable solution as all his gaming was done at home in his room.
 
I have always built several high end desktops with top components over the years. I also require a very powerful laptop with discrete GPU for work. Over the years, I have found I just don't bother using my desktops at home as I can take the laptop around and sit wherever and just get on with it, as well as take it to work. Dual/large screens aren't much of an advantage but I can easily plug into one if I need to. I honestly can't say I've been severely limited in gaming. Even Cyberpunk 2077 runs fine (50+ fps) in high settings with raytracing and DLSS on balanced on the 2.5 year-old laptop in my signature.

I never thought I'd be leaving my desktops to gather dust and fully appreciate the improved price to performance compared to laptops. That's been my experience though. Agree, if you don't need a powerful laptop for work or portability, I'd always build a solid desktop instead of buying a gaming laptop. The issue is clouded by the lack of latest gen desktop GPUs too. Not likely to get one for months.
 
I've switched to a laptop as my main machine ever since I got married.

It's been brilliant as I can sit wherever - downstairs in the kitchen / in the living room + TV / in the study + monitor / in the loft + projector.

Sure, I miss the fun and power of a desktop, but as long as I accept that I'm not going to be gaming at more than 1080, I've really enjoyed the flexibility.

Plus, I only upgrade every ~3 years now.

If I was living alone or happy to just have a stationary machine, I would definitely still have an awesome water-cooled desktop getting a new GPU every few months! (Present times excluded of course!).
 
Jimbo Mahoney said:
I've switched to a laptop as my main machine ever since I got married.

It's been brilliant as I can sit wherever - downstairs in the kitchen / in the living room + TV / in the study + monitor / in the loft + projector.

Sure, I miss the fun and power of a desktop, but as long as I accept that I'm not going to be gaming at more than 1080, I've really enjoyed the flexibility.

Plus, I only upgrade every ~3 years now.

If I was living alone or happy to just have a stationary machine, I would definitely still have an awesome water-cooled desktop getting a new GPU every few months! (Present times excluded of course!).
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I can completely relate. Legion 5s are great too. Some of the best performing gaming laptops out there. Can't wait for the new Legion 5/5 Pro and 7.
 
Not a welcome topic I know, but my life has changed dramatically having a toddler.

I just got rid of my mid range gaming desktop and replaced it with a Chromebook and solely game on the cloud. It's been fantastic.
 
jrwagh333 said:
Not a welcome topic I know, but my life has changed dramatically having a toddler.

I just got rid of my mid range gaming desktop and replaced it with a Chromebook and solely game on the cloud. It's been fantastic.
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I tried gaming on the cloud and it's just not viable for competitive FPS. Not at the level I play at anyway.
 
I'm basically the same hot desking around the house.

I've alternated between desktops and laptops, including gaming laptops, for decades.

At one point I had a desktop Pentium 4 in a 16" Laptop.
 
Maybe the eGPU will have a resurgence with Thunderbolt 4 or 5, whatever number were up to and PCIe 5 when it arrives. The eGPU must beat a laptop if the bandwidth over the connection isn't the limiting factor opposed to a thermally compromised mobile edition equivalent of a top tier GPU.
 
thenewoc said:
Maybe the eGPU will have a resurgence with Thunderbolt 4 or 5, whatever number were up to and PCIe 5 when it arrives. The eGPU must beat a laptop if the bandwidth over the connection isn't the limiting factor opposed to a thermally compromised mobile edition equivalent of a top tier GPU.
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Problem is that you take away all the best benefits of a laptop and it's portability adding an external gpu.

Why not just build a small form factor pc?
 
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