Laptop for gaming?

[BaldEagl]

AH play as good as your desktop depending what kind of processor and video you have. Laptops are not made for gaming. They call it a gaming laptop for sales and it probably performs better that most laptops. MrRip is right. That bugger will run nice and hot and when it burns up you will see. There is little ventillation in laptops causing cpu to run nice and hot. You cannot upgrade to a video card and have to use onboard video. Laptops are worthless to gamers but if you do not play often I guess it is OK. Its good for poker and hearts...LOL. Wait till the screen goes from gaming if you use it a lot.

Hmmm... why didn't my Toshiba Sattelite Pro ever burn up (I gamed on it constantly for two years)?  Why hasn't the screen quit working on my Sony Vaio after eight years of use?  Why are certain laptops listed as including "discreet video cards"?

I'm not arguing the fact that you can get a better desktop system cheaper than a laptop and that it will be more flexible in terms of upgrades over time but if you don't know what you're talking about please keep your mis-information to yourself.

[Fulmar]

My wife has has her Toshiba Satellite P15-S429 (P4 3ghz, fx5200go) for just over 4 years now.  I've always been a desktop person and would never consider using/owning a laptop as my main computer...ever.  She had her laptop serviced under warranty twice (once was for fried mobo/video card) and the second was immediately after she got it back (the wireless was not working/reinstalled correctly).  Turn around time for the this debacle was about 6 weeks.  And about 6 months ago I had it serviced for a loose power connection on the motherboard (wouldn't charge).  After researching how to fix the problem and how it required complete disassembly of the laptop reach the plug, I forked over $150 for someone to do it for me. 

I actually just ordered a new hard drive for the laptop since it has been making some louder than usual accessing clicks and I'd rather spend $50 replacing it than her gripes about it when it would die some day.  What she uses it for (and me) its a great laptop, but I've learned some good lessons with it.  Like Ripley stated, upgradeability  outside of ram/hd is not gonna happen.  If a major component were to break outside of the hd, you're probably stuck to used parts on ebay for a replacement.  *When I did take out the old hard drive to just check the specs on it, I did notice that someone who had serviced it in the past (either Toshiba or the PC place) had bent one of the IDE pins on the HD.  Still works fine...

I enjoy the comfort of knowing that I can go into a machine and easily replace a failed or dying part or upgrade to something faster with out trashing the entire system.  For her, she doesn't really need it for Facebook/Solitaire/Email/Purse Shopping.  High end games are pretty much not gonna happen on that machine, though I've never really tried anything beyond Sims 2 on it (which was a jerky fest).  But laptops are sure handy on the long trip to watch movies or surf the web from your hotel room.  Even the late night in surfing/email in bed is handy.

She spent about $1900 back in 2004 and it was a pretty high end laptop at the time.  She said she'd want another one, but anything beyond $500 is plenty for her.  At $2000, I can see buying the extended 3 year or whatever warranty.  At $500 laptops, I'd wouldn't think about it.

[Fulmar]

With laptops also, its very much how you take care of them.  Dropping, spills etc can very much affect the life of machines.  My wife's at 4 years is still very much in near mint condition (and she uses it daily).  I came across her identical laptop owned by someone else a couple years ago and it had looked like it had been through hell and back three times.  With the exception of SSD HD's, you have to remember that your desktop HD is probably going to last longer since its not being carried around and banged up as a laptop one.

I read a consumer reports article not too long ago with their desktop and laptops reviews on it.  I wasn't surprised to find that repair rates on desktops (physical repairs) were half of what laptops were.  Granted I've never been in the PC repair business so I can't give you anything beyond my opinion.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Hmmm... why didn't my Toshiba Sattelite Pro ever burn up (I gamed on it constantly for two years)?  Why hasn't the screen quit working on my Sony Vaio after eight years of use?  Why are certain laptops listed as including "discreet video cards"?

I'm not arguing the fact that you can get a better desktop system cheaper than a laptop and that it will be more flexible in terms of upgrades over time but if you don't know what you're talking about please keep your mis-information to yourself.

Lol as an IT professional I've run through enough hardware to not recommend a laptop for gaming use. I'm not saying it's impossible to use one or that they will always break there are exceptions like you obviously. But the risk of ending up in deep trouble is much higher than with a standard desktop. And it really is so that once the warranty runs out even a single component failure can make the laptop an expensive pack of junk.

[drdeathx]

Baldeagle. OK i will make this statement. Laptops are not the best to run games on. They will work and obviously you understand this.

[drdeathx]

OOh and please don't make a statement about mis information.  This was not any information sir. Laptops will run hot plain and simple. #1 They do not have ventilation as a desktop will. #2 if you feel you can run some games with the onboard video without the option to upgrade to a real video card.   High end expensive laptops may be able to handle most games but any computer savy person would never recommend running games your basic laptop. Remember some of these thread readers don't have top of the line laptop and may get the notion they can run games on a laptop with generalizations.

Try downloading demo version of crysis and benchmark your laptop.

If you have a choice between desktop and laptop use a desktop.

[drdeathx]

I find this article amusing rip


http://www.theinquirer.net/en/inquirer/news/2007/07/17/gaming-laptops-are-a-complete-joke