We have previously looked on this blog at computers for gaming. In that previous post we looked at a desktop computer as an example of a possible gaming rig.  But as laptops these days are outselling desktop computers it is probably about time to have a look at gaming laptops.  So what is a gaming laptop and what makes a good one?

What is a gaming laptop?

A gaming laptop is essentially a notebook computer that is both portable but also plays games as well as it does any of the other things you want a computer for.  A laptop that is as happy playing the latest game as it is for writing emails and running office applications.

What makes a gaming laptop?

Most modern games require power, so just like in our previous post a gaming laptop will have to have a powerful, near top of the range components.  The single most important component is the graphics processor, look for the laptop with the best you can afford.  Next important is a powerful CPU followed up by us much RAM memory that you can get.  Essentially there no such thing as a specialist gaming laptop (although there are some that are marketed as such), it just needs to have sufficiently high specification components to be able to meet our gaming requirements. A great example of a good gaming laptop would be MSI GX700-204 UK which comes with a great graphics card, an Intel dual core processor and 3GB of RAM.

Desktops still better for games

In my opinion though, unless you spend a lot of time traveling and need the portability that a laptop gives you, a gamer is going to be far better off with a desktop. Why? Well there can be big downsides to these laptops in that, they are inevitably big & heavy,  get very hot and can be very expensive.  Often for the same price as the laptop you can buy a desktop with a great screen, even better core components and this coupled with high quality peripherals such as joysticks, keyboards would ultimately deliver a superior gaming experience.

Do use a laptop for gaming? Why did you go for the laptop rather than a desktop?