My little secret: I’ve never been a big fan of gaming laptops. As a tech journalist, I have had the opportunity to test out some incredible gaming laptops – but although their performance has impressed me, I haven’t felt the need to own one.
I have always relied on my desktop computer instead. Even the most powerful gaming laptops cannot compete with my desktop PC when it comes to raw performance, despite mobile components being more powerful than ever before.
In addition, since I can upgrade my PC to keep it current, or replace any problematic parts, I can expect it to last much longer than a laptop. Eventually, my PC ends up looking like the Ship of Theseus – even if every component is upgraded, is it still the same PC? However, it is certainly cheaper than buying a brand new gaming laptop every few years.
I haven’t been able to utilize the portability and convenience that gaming laptops offer because I am averse to them. While I love my big, bulky, inconvenient desktop computer, I won’t be taking it anywhere with me.
Despite that, I didn’t feel like I was missing out on too much with gaming laptops. Yes, they were more portable than my PC (which isn’t hard), but they were still bulky and heavy enough that I wouldn’t want to carry them around. Their short battery life also meant that I’d need to plug in if I wanted to play any serious games – limiting the much-vaunted portability of these devices.
But I kept on using my desktop PC as usual. I’ve never thought about buying a gaming laptop when I wanted to play PC games on my TV in the living room – I just built a small, compact desktop PC. It’s possible I’m a bit dependent on my desktop PC.
